Do Dreams Ever Have Meanings?

While taking a nap over this last weekend, I had a dream. It was a bizarre dream. Included in the cast of characters was Laura (my best friend from high school), Voddie Baucham, the ex-wife of my junior high choir director (huh?), a group of terrorists with their black hoodies on, and me in an outfit that-- apparently-- had the magical quality of changing into a swimsuit and towel right about the time you enter auditoriums that have glass staircases. We were on a train ride. All I know is, I absolutely was NOT the one who took snack items from the open bags of the terrorists, OK?

So some dreams are weird, right? Most of the time I don't remember them, but this one I did. And I'm thinking as I wake up, "wow, what a weird dream." But maybe, if I was Pharoah of Egypt (sidenote: by the way, this hypothetical situation is not a hidden confession about how I feel about Sarah Palin as VP, OK?)... but, perhaps if I were super-powerful, I might ask of my advisors, "what in the world was THAT dream about?"

And surely they'd say, "Oh powerful one, we are all convinced that the reason for that whacked out dream is related to the fact that you've gone through jet lag twice in the last three weeks with your two youngest children, and you are completely and utterly dog-tired." And they'd be right.

But it did make me wonder, what was it about the dreams we hear about in the Bible that made them interpret-worthy? Did they happen over and over? (Some of them did.... but then again, many of us have the same or similar dreams multiple times, don't we? Does that mean we should automatically be seeking their meaning?) Was there a surreal quality about them that set them apart? Had they had all their dreams interpreted up to that point, or were these unique situations?

Do you ever find meanings in your dreams? Do you think this is or is not a valid thing to do? Does God still sometimes speak through dreams? I don't have any answers on this one... it's just something I'm curious about after having had a dream train ride with a gun held to my head because the terrorists thought I took their Twinkies (who would be so stupid as to take THEIR twinkies? And who even LIKES Twinkies anyhow?)