I Have a Dream
A couple of days ago I watched the DVD of “The Dream Giver” my Bruce Wilkinson (who also author of “The prayer of Jabez” and “Secrets of the Vine”) This one came out last year. I found it fascinating and profoundly moving. Surely he strikes a chord with nearly every human heart when he talks about pursuing the dream that God places in you and what that journey entails. It reminded me of the passion part of the SHAPE idea in Rick Warren's book “Purpose Driven Life”...how God has fashioned us for service partly by giving us a passion to direct us. I found myself, like his audience searching for those core passions that God has sown in my heart. Using a parable-like method based on the account from the Exodus to the Promised Land he presents what he believes is a typical path to fulfilling the dream God has given you. When I first started watching it, it reminded me of an infomercial. But the more I got into it and heard his heart and his journey I became enthralled with the ideas, mostly because it so closely paralleled my recent thinking and songwriting. I wrote a song called “Dreaming Up” a while back that explored the idea of ...No eye has seen, no ear has heard....what God has prepared for us. Then in a prior post I shared the lyric of a song called “I Give It All” there are phrases in this song that kept coming to mind as I watched. Of course we all search the scripture and hopefully come to similar conclusions. What was remarkable to me was the timeliness of this video.
One of the most powerful ideas to me is that our passions seem to start out as selfish. I want to do this great thing, be somebody that matters, achieve this or that. But in the journey we find that what we really desire is a way to fill a need in the kingdom and bless others. We are really seeking the place and purpose for which He designed us.
For example, I have noticed that some people, when they experience increasing success only seem to get more humble. They somehow tire of self-promotion and start thinking of how they can encourage others with their gifts. Many years ago, I was commissioned to write a musical for a college group that toured. After the rehearsals I was invited to take the baton and conduct one of the numbers. I can't tell you how that made me feel. Stuff that had been in my head was now coming out of mouths and instruments. I went on tour with the group and the director part-way through the tour said “Why don't you conduct these numbers.” I was a terrible conductor at the time. But I will never forget that selfless act of encouragement. I currently have several worship leaders in training. I find myself more and more wanting to hand the baton to someone the way it was handed to me.
So what is my dream? I have several but one of the big ones is to write music that connects people to God.
So what's your dream?
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