I have a dream.
Depending on your age, those four words probably trigger a memory of Martin Luther King Jr addressing a crowd at the March on Washington, or possibly a whimsical song from the movie Tangled. Tangled is a story about Rapunzel who has a dream to see the floating lanterns that appear in the sky each year on her birthday. Through a tangled web of events, she enlists the help of the kingdom’s most wanted thief, Flynn rider, to take her to see the lights. That is until they end up at the Snuggly Duckling Tavern and a group of ruffians capture Rider and Rapunzel’s dream seems to be on the verge of unraveling. Rapunzel uses her long hair to disarm the bandits and confronts the group of thugs to plead her case for her dream of seeing the lanterns and asks them, “Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?” The ringleader grabs an ax and approaches Rapunzel with anger in his eyes when he turns and says, “I had a dream… once.” What follows is the “I Have a Dream” song where the room full of vicious scoundrels share their unlikely and touchy-feely dreams. In the middle of the song, they ask Flynn Rider what’s his dream. Rider denies his singing ability and having a dream until he’s held at knife point.
I recently watched a video of Gary Haugen, founder and CEO of International Justice Missions, who talked about leaders having a dream and not being afraid to follow those dreams. Haugen went on to say that fear was the silent destroyer of dreams. And while our most powerful dreams flow out of love, fear is a preoccupation with ourselves. His personal fear in leaving a good job to start a non-profit global ministry was the fear of looking like a failure. This was all very interesting to me, but as I listened to the presentation, I felt like Flynn Rider and not having a dream that was worth singing about. As a youngster, I had a dream to become a nurse, but that dream was short lived with the realization that the sight of blood made my head spin and my stomach roll over.
Some people have grand dreams of opening a restaurant or writing a book. Others dream of being famous or fighting an injustice. As my mind hovered on the verge of my “No Dream” pity party, the Spirit began to remind me of the dreams I do have. Though maybe not as concrete as a college degree or a Super Bowl ring, I have a dream, or maybe multiple dreams. I have a dream to help people experience the freedom of surrendering their life to Jesus Christ, to know the power of his unfailing love and accept his grace and mercy. I dream of a world where each person is celebrated as a child of God regardless of their past or present. I dream of a community that cares for all it’s people. I dream of a church where all would be welcomed and loved, where pettiness would disappear, and where people would worship with all their hearts and be willing participants. I dream of families that would stick together, respect, honor and serve one another.
I don’t think it would take much to imagine that the apostle Paul also had some dreams for the world in which he lived. He dreamed about people having the eyes of their heart enlightened that they would know the hope to which they were called, the riches of their glorious inheritance and the incomparably great power for those who believed (Eph 1:18-19). He dreamed that the people would be rooted and established in love and that they would grasp the width, length, height and depth of the love of Christ (Eph 3:17-18).
Another dream I have stems from the conversation in Mark 12:30-31 where Jesus tells the people that the two most important commandments are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. I don’t want to start a new program or develop a new ministry, but I envision God’s people being deployed in this community, wearing t-shirts that say Love God – Love People, and humbly offering a hand wherever and whenever there is a need… cleaning up after a storm, picking up garbage after a baseball game, pitching in at Hot Dog Night or Tri-State Band Festival, living a life of service for the glory of God and the transformation of the world.
So how about you? Do you have a dream? Is there a dream or vision that God has for ARC? I’m confident he does! Let’s seek that dream together!
Erin Jacobsma