Good Dreams... God DreamsSample

GOOD DREAMS… GOD DREAMS

You’re NOT Crazy… You’re Called!

Day 2

Back in my Nashville days, it seemed like I was continuously struggling to get ahead.  I often found myself hoping and praying for just a little more success, a little more notoriety, a little more money, another cut, a better record deal.  It didn’t seem fair that I hadn’t achieved what I’d set out to do.  I often asked myself, “Man… what are you doing here?”  And then I’d look myself in the mirror and say, “I deserve to be there.”  There being that destination better defined as YOU’VE FINALLY MADE IT!

But where is there?  Is it even possible to arrive there?  Crazy thing is, at this point in my career, I had achieved some really cool things.  A lot of people only dreamed of being where I was.  A lot of people would have said that I was already there.  But in my mind, there was way off in the distance, somewhere over the rainbow to speak. 

I was so focused on my there, that I forgot about the here and the now, just living and loving life and being thankful for each and every breath.  In other words, delighting myself in the Lord.  

And as far as my there goes, had I been living with the right focus, the only there on which I should have hoped was God’s ultimate destination for me, Heaven.  The Bible says it this way:  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

You don’t have to be a dreamer like I was to be a there hopeful.  There hopefuls are everywhere.  From the bored housewife to the ambitious salesman to the poor college student to the rich corporate C.E.O.  So many of us are there hopefuls, a tad bitter, anxious, and dissatisfied with our here and now.

So how do we get off the there track?

When your focus is on everything and anything but God, you might be on a path of worldly success, but you are far from the path of real peace.  It’s a futile journey when your focus isn’t first and foremost on Jesus.  Your steps might feel like you are moving forward, it might feel like you’re getting ahead, closer to your there, you might even have it all mapped out, but you’re headed to destination nowhere.  

In the book of Philippians, I love what Paul says about being on the right course:  "My friends, I don't feel I have already arrived.  But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead.  I run toward the goal, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven."