Dreaming Big

Have you even had a dream so big that you thought would never happen? A dream of going on a trip around the world or to Hawaii or Australia? That is a reality that can happen, but you have to plan don’t you? You have to save and sacrifice and scrimp. You go without now so that you can take that trip later. Nothing else matters. You do what you have to do to see that happen. In the church the same is true. We plan with the big picture in mind. The big picture being our ability to minister to the needs of others in a big way. It begins small and grows in increments. The point is, if we don’t dream, then we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we die. Of yeah, I know that is a pretty pessimistic point of view, but it is truth never the less. Fortunately for me these moments of pessimism are brief and without any permanent damage.

Back to our dream? What do you believe that your dream for the church here on 81st and Douglas is all about? Does it involve seeing the pews filled with fellow worshippers? Does it involve honoring God above all? Does it have to do with leading people into a relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior? Does your dream have to do with continuing to help care for people, both physically and spiritually? Does your dream have to do with seeing our sanctuary filled with the holy presence of a Holy God? A sanctuary filled with others lifting up praise to their Heavenly Father? If so, then you’re on the right track! This is what we should be dreaming about. We shouldn’t be dreaming about just the next Sunday’s service but about the next year’s worth of services and the year after that!

Don’t limit your dream based on how much money it will cost or how much time we’ll have to invest. Dream with God’s ability in mind and His limitless resources available to us. When we trust in someone and something bigger than ourselves it motivates us to either put our fears behind us or to jump in with both feet. I’m all for jumping in who else is with me? I hope you are!

Another New Year!!

Something tells me that this new year is going to be an outstanding year. I am now 53 and think that some of the new year's that I've seen my fair share of not so good new year's. I'm thinking specifically of the year that my mom died, 18 years ago this October, that was a tough one. It wasn't that I thought mom would never die but that she would live way longer than she did. She was only 62 and I know it sounds selfish but I wasn't ready for her to go. But because God did take her it gave me a chance to get to know my dad better. We had always had something in common. We could always seem to find something mechanical to work on together or a project to work on that needed attention. I had 14 or 15 extra years with my dad
that gave me a new appreciation of what it meant to be a dad. I was able to glean from him what it truly meant to be a dad in ways that I might not have known had mom lived.

I love and miss them both very much. But as they say, life goes on. I can't stop living my life because their's comes to an end. And has it really ended anyway. I plan on seeing them again in heaven, not tomorrow but at God's appointed time for me I want to go to heaven and fellowship with Him and them. I look forward to it and trust that this year will be the year that we can move ahead with His joy and presence driving us deeper into a relationshiip with Him.