Dreams

A friend recently returned from a conference where one of the speakers was the creator of Veggie Tales, Phil Vischer. He shared of how this crazy idea of armless, talking vegetables sharing God's truths rapidly spread and grew in popularity and became a huge success. More people came on board, enthusiasm was contagious, but quite suddenly it all fell apart. It was a dream that ended far too soon. They prayed it would be saved that God's work would continue. It was the moment they needed God to show up and intervene to keep the work growing that more lives would be touched. But God didn't.

Phil asked this question: "What does it mean when God gives you a dream and He comes and shows up in it, it comes to life, and then without warning the dream dies? What does that mean?"

Isaac was Abraham's dream, his promise, the word God spoke and would surely fulfill. When time felt too long to wait, they intervened with their own game plan, and named him Ishmael. I often pray that God will give us the Isaac, His promise, His best -- and that we wouldn't be too tired of the wait and come up with our own Ishmael.

Just as God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the child of promise -- to lay his dream, his gift, on the altar -- so He asks us to give up our dreams too. God is asking us what matters the most to us? Him or our dreams? It's not that He doesn't want to fulfill His promise, or make us suffer in giving up our dreams. But what a fine line we walk when we celebrate the gift more than the gift Giver.

Our church became this to us. It was a place that we loved to be, loved to serve, and so wanted to connect in to relationships and belong. I believe God gave us a great love for the people, and we had great joy in being there. Maybe just maybe, though, it became our dream. The dream job, idealizing the blessings, and finding our identity and need to belong there. We didn't see it that way until God allowed the dream to die. The clarity of vision was worth the pain it caused us. As great as a gift it was to be there, it isn't God. For as much as we need the body of Christ to belong to, our identity and fulfillment to belong is rooted and found in Christ Himself. We are refined by that difference.

A friend once told me that God wants us to be velcro Christians. Able to connect and invest where He has us, but also ready to be pulled out and taken somewhere new. We aren't meant to get too comfortable and settled here, where our priorities shift to our wants instead of His call. What if God says that our purpose in one place has been fulfilled, completed -- are we willing, open, and ready for Him to move us to a new place? Are we more moved by God's heart to go, or are we more determined to stay where we've planted roots?

Phil Vischer said, "Who do you love more? God or your dream? Put your dream, your everything, your way God will use you to change the world, on the altar. Let go of everything but God, and then He can use you."

This is a timely message.

We miss the mark by hoping in the answer that will come, the dream fulfilled, the word spoken -- the promise revealed. I have faith to believe the answer will in fact come, God's plan will unfold, the hidden will be revealed. Forbid it, Lord, that I see that as the gift. You are the Gift. You are our Reward. You are the One that we wait for. Advent means coming or arrival. He has indeed come!

A Refuge for the poor, a Shelter from the storm -- This is our God. He will wipe away your tears and return your wasted years -- This is our God. A Father to the orphan, a Healer to the broken -- This is our God. And He brings Peace to our madness and Comfort in our sadness -- This is our God. This is the One we have waited for -- Oh this is our God. A Fountain for the thirsty, a Lover for the lonely -- This is our God. He brings glory to the humble and crowns for the faithful -- This is our God. You are the One we have waited for. You are the One we have waited for. You are the One we have waited for. This is our God. (Chris Tomlin)

We needed some work. Kind of like a quirky car with things going wrong with it, some things even seemingly small (others noticeably large), but in fact any of it could have gotten us into a fatal accident. God in His mercy let our dreams die, so that our dreams wouldn't become our everything. Even in our wait, He has come! He got our attention so that we could see so much more clearly -- He is our Refuge, our Shelter, our Father to the orphan, our Healer of all our brokenness. He alone is our everything! He has done everything He said He would! Hallelujah! Glory to God!