Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Dreams in a Box

In our OMTL reading today, we read about dreams. Do you have dreams for your life? Probably so. Most of us have dreams. Maybe it's what we wanted to be when we grow up, or what we wanted to do with our lives. Maybe is was a fireman or a rock star or an athelete.

What are your dreams like now? Maybe it's a dream for your marriage, or family. Maybe it's a dream in the business world or a ministry dream.

We all have dreams, but how many of us actually live out those dreams? How many of us are living for God's dreams for our lives? Do our daily lives reflect the active pursuit of those dreams?

Erma Bombeck said "There are people who put there dreams in a box and say 'yes I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.' Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look in it, and yep they're still there."

How many times do we do that in life. We put our dreams in a box, and bring them out every once in a while, but we never really do anything to live them out.

Let's look at a couple of the questions from todays reading, and discuss our answers.

1. What would you attempt for God if you knew you couldn't fail?

2. What is one thing you can do today to further your pursuit of God's dream for your life?

4 comments:

Pump Dude said...

1. While my dreams of become a professional baton twirler seems to constantly be just out of my grasp, there's a larger dream that I have for writing as a ministry geared towards men. However, I'm absolutely scared to death about baring my soul to the entire world. Once it's out there, you can never get it back. It also leaves me open to criticism/judgement by others which I can sometimes handle with no issues but other times it's liable to get under my skin and fester until it explodes. If I knew I couldn't fail I would definitely pursue this dream. Even now the thoughts go through my mind about erasing this blog, but perhaps this is the right "shove" I need to pursue a dream that I strongly believe could help others that have gone through or are going through the struggles that I have.
2. The best thing I could start doing today to accomplish this dream is to simply start writing; write about my life, my successes, my failures, my additional hopes and dreams for my walk with God, my marriage, my kids, my church, etc. I know it seems trivial to just start writing, but I can consistently find a million and one reasons to put it off until later (much later) or current shortcomings in my life that I think should be overcome before starting to write for the sake of ministering to others.
Your prayers for encouragement, wisdom and dedication to this dream would be GREATLY appreciated!
Talk about stretching me out of my comfort zone!!! Thanks for allowing another opportunity for us to grow, Padre!
**Even after reading over it about a dozen times and praying about it, I still hesitated about posting this comment, but here goes.....

Chad Benson said...

Man Kurt, that is so awesome. It brings tears to my eyes to think that God has put that dream in your heart, and that you have trusted us to share that with us even though it is scary. I can truly see you doing something like that. I think your on the right track, start writing those things down as God gives them to you. Keep a journal. Maybe you could set up a blog or something for men if or when you felt ready to do that. I don't know where it could go but God has awesome things in store. Thanks for opening up and sharing that. You are in my prayers today.
Love ya man.

James Like said...

Thanks for being so up front Kurt. It has given me the courage to lay my dream out there. I have been hesitant on stating my dream. It is even sometimes hard to share it with my own wife! I have hesitated like you Kurt, because I feel there are definitely some things I need to prioritize and get in line first. Some shortcomings and spiritual things that need to be taken care of. Anyhow, I have always felt since I was 15 that God has called me to pastoral ministry. I have always held this dream through the thick and thin, good and bad times, up and down spiritual times. It excites me to hear pastor Chad talk about planting churches. It makes me want to be the first one to make the jump and lead the way. Through this study and small group leader opportunity, I hope is the beginning to becoming what I have dreamt and what God has called me to do.

Pump Dude said...

Chad: Thanks, Padre. That means more to me than you'll ever know!
James: That's awesome! We'll definitely lift that up in prayer until it comes to fruition!