I had this really weird dream last night, which shouldn’t be all that surprising, because what dreams are ever normal? I woke up thinking, “That was really weird, and I’m so glad that wasn’t real. In fact, there isn’t a chance in the world that could ever be real”… which is the stuff dreams are made of – things that feel real while you’re dreaming but can/would never happen in the real world.
By the way, who determines what can/would ever happen in the real world? Isn’t that why we give up on our dreams, even our God-given ones!?! We decide, after a number of failed attempts (either at the dream itself or others that are even less challenging), that God’s dream in us can/would never happen in the real world… at least not in our world.
We look at the dream, and we look where we are, and we think, “You can’t get there from here!” That’s the problem with dreams.
You can never just do the dream.
Any dream worth its salt is totally out of reach from the immediate.
If you want to take your family to Disney World, you can’t just be there. You have to set out on a journey. No amount of wanting, wishing, believing, or talking about it can get you there. You actually have to set out on the journey. You have to plan and then execute, follow through, to make your dream vacation a reality.
If Disney World is your dream vacation, then Disney World is not “where dreams are made;” it’s where dreams are realized. And you find out that dream vacations always take longer and cost more to get there than you first realized.
Are we there yet?
What about the dream of reaching our community, our culture, with the incredible truth of Jesus Christ? What about a dream that includes not only people in mass being drawn to God but His actually transforming them? the real them? the one that never changed before and was so full of impossibilities they had long since given up?
They say the journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step. Great!? And if you take big steps, it also includes another 1,759,999 after it. Sound daunting? But wait a minute, even in playing a game of golf, you’ll walk an average of 12,320 big steps.
So get walking. Start executing – in the direction of your God-given dreams. Begin responding to God’s dreams in you. You can’t get there from here. You can’t reach your dream from here. What I mean is… who you are is not sufficient for what you need to become in order to reach your dreams. It takes movement. It takes steps. It takes execution.
So go beyond talking, actually put your life on the line. Engage your dreams. Engage the Creator of the dream. Get disciplined. GET REAL.
What you do with what you know is even more important than what you know. We often think, if we can just get the right facts, we can change life and turn around what isn’t working. Actually, we often have within our reach the keys to living life the way it was intended. The key is harnessing God’s power and clarifying Spirit to sync what we already know with the way we live our lives.
That’s what SG is all about. Each week, think about questions that are critical to you. When you’re listening on the weekend, and you get a burning question or something key comes to your mind, write it down and then email it to me. We’ll use these to build your life way beyond where you’ve been to this point.
In pursuit of the God who is already pursuing us.
Filed under: vision
If you read last week, you might be thinking, “It’s kind of confusing. What do I do? Go kid! or Grow up!?!”
Janan and I were reminiscing about the first years of our marriage and those first places we lived. One of the biggest things I remember about them was the fact that if you didn’t like something – tough luck. Renters don’t get the right to change stuff – at least not in the settings we were in. But if you own something, it opens up all kinds of opportunities.
Owning is a really cool concept. It means it’s mine. I get to choose what goes on with it – with written permission from my HOA. I get to choose the colors. I get to benefit from improvements.
Kids come by that concept naturally. They love having toys, dolls, video games,… all the fun stuff. Over time with birthdays, Christmases, and grandparents, they can accumulate an incredible amount of stuff. What amazes me as much as what they can accumulate is they know who “owns” what. They can have 50 My Littlest Pet Shop figures and know exactly whose belongs to whom. And they think having a sister is really cool, until that sister starts trying to use their stuff.
It’s all about control. It’s all about possessing. Janan and I are passionate about breaking that tendency in Carina and Christi – about teaching them to grow up.
Yet, I’ve got to confess. I’m kind of skeptical that we ever “grow up” or “grow out of” our desire to possess. In fact, I believe the greatest sign of God changing us as adults is when we stop looking at who’s touching our stuff and start investing our stuff to impact the Kingdom of God.
The truth is the best way to Go Kid! is to Grow Up! The best way to pursue those silly dreams is quit worrying about who’s touching your stuff. You can’t be looking at your stuff and your design at the same time. You either serve the Creator and do His design, or you serve your stuff and find ways to protect it. You can’t do both. That’s Jesus’ take anyway [Matthew 6:19-34].
At Cross Connection, that’s our passion. In fact, even our potential of stepping into a new building is all about other people and not ourselves. Even more, our willingness to release the death grip on our stuff will determine our ability to make that step. It will also determine how impactful that step becomes. If you stop protecting and start investing, you’ll reap the harvest of the dreams of a design God created within you. And we’ll get front row seats in seeing His Kingdom come.
Filed under: 1
What was the first thing you ever dreamed of being?
A fire fighter?
A ballerina?
A soldier?
A superhero?
A veterinarian… or someone who makes kitties better?
I know. You’re like the rest of us now. You’re mature. Mature means you don’t have silly dreams any more. Real life is too painful, too realistic, too stressed for silly dreams. Besides that, we have all kinds of examples of people who went off on some stupid idea and got creamed for it.
But I know a secret. You’re like the rest of us. You are a closet dreamer. You’ve never been happy with this part of the “mature” life. I believe we’ve never really gotten away from our dreams. That’s why we still go to movies. We want to see silly dreams become real.
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I wonder if that’s what Jesus was getting at when He challenged the disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”? [Mark 10:14, 15] The problem with kids is they have silly ideas. They’re not mature. They believe in fairies, dragons, and being superheroes. By the way, it says God got mad at them for being so “mature.” OK, the NIV says he got “indignant.” That’s mad.
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I think it makes God mad when we call His grand designs silly dreams… when He calls us to God-sized dreams and purposes, and we back down because we’re mature. I don’t ever remember Jesus getting mad at someone trying something outlandish in the pursuit of His kingdom. I do remember Him getting mad at people trying to get everyone to color inside the lines. [Matthew 12]
So here’s what I would challenge you with. Go kid. Color outside the lines. Maybe even try some new colors.
And just so you can show benefit from something you’ve learned in your mature years, give yourself permission to get mature in two things. First, go kid in response to God’s design not your own selfish desires, and second, execute – don’t just talk about it, actually put your life on the line, get disciplined, and do your design.
See you on the playground!
