DREAMING AGAIN

In a couple of weeks, my son and I are embarking on what I call, "A Coming of Age Tour." He's turning 10, and when he was born I made a commitment that at 10 years old he and I would go on a long drive, have some fun, and talk about the things that matter most...baseball, relationships (birds & bees stuff), and Jesus. I am humbled by this task and excited at the same time. I pray for the Spirit to guide my words and fill our conversations with excitement, love, and wisdom.

This weekend, as we were planning our trip, I was lamenting over the cost of gas and how I wished the prices would drop before we leave. Ayden began "dreaming."

He said, "Daddy, how much would it cost us if gas was only $1.00/gallon?" I did the calculations and told him we'd save around $600. He didn't stop there. With eyes bulging out of his head, he said, "Daddy! What if gas was only $.01/gallon? What would it cost us then?" Resisting an eye roll, stuck in reality, I mustered out, "I guess that would only cost us about $20.00."

Then he said something that really hit me. He said with a sense of pure joy in a tone that children bleed so well, "It's fun to dream isn't it Daddy?"

You know what? He was right. It is fun to dream and I had been guilty of raining reality on his parade. When I let go and really joined in the fun of dreaming with him, we had a great time.

I don't know what your reality is today. Maybe it's painful and dreaming hurts (my heart sank as I wrote the prayer requests today...reality can really hurt). But I believe that it's in the dreaming that we meet with our Creator; after all, it was His "dreaming" that brought you and I into existence. It was His "dreaming" that saved the human race. His "dreaming" that conjured up an unimaginable plan to become human in order to save us from our sins. It sounded too crazy, too unrealistic. The God of the universe coming down to earth as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, but He did it. He dreamed and His dream saved us.

Maybe today, we all need to dream about what could be. Maybe what could be will be, maybe it won't, but one thing is for sure; A day is coming when our deepest and most meaningful dreams will come to fruition if we can but cling now to the One worth dreaming about.

May we all be able to "dream" with our Lord and Savior. May those dreams wake us up to a new reality on this earth where we live in the joy of the Holy Spirit until the day when His dreams and are dreams are one. Courage my friends! Have fun dreaming!