Today at Project Searchlight we watched the first 25 minutes of a movie called UP! (if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend). 
After the clip we were asked a few thinking questions and given about a half hour to journal our thoughts. Before I share my journal entry, let me catch you up to speed. Mr. Fredrickson and his wife have a dream of going to South America. It’s a dream that they have had since childhood and even have a scrapbook entitled “My Adventure Book.” Many of the pages in the Adventure Book are left blank waiting to be filled in with stuff they will do once they get there. The book sits on the shelf for years and it’s not until after the death of his wife that Mr. Fredrickson finally starts to go after their dream.
After the clip we were asked a few thinking questions and given about a half hour to journal our thoughts. Before I share my journal entry, let me catch you up to speed. Mr. Fredrickson and his wife have a dream of going to South America. It’s a dream that they have had since childhood and even have a scrapbook entitled “My Adventure Book.” Many of the pages in the Adventure Book are left blank waiting to be filled in with stuff they will do once they get there. The book sits on the shelf for years and it’s not until after the death of his wife that Mr. Fredrickson finally starts to go after their dream. Here’s my reflection:
My Adventure Book is full of exploring many other parts of the world. This year I got a taste of world needs and I’m currently starving for more. My adventure book has pages dedicated to girls’ in inner-city America and other pages dedicated to children in third world countries around the globe. My book has pages of myself working within organizations leading up to pages of starting a ministry/orphanage/school from nothing. My adventure book is full of faces as most importantly I LOVE people and have a desire to shower them with a tangible LOVE that directs them back to the sometimes intangible yet ever complete true LOVE that come from the Father alone!
In the movie clip Mr. Fredrickson is kept from filling the “Stuff I’m Going to Do” pages of his adventure book simply due to life. Life got in the way and passed by much quicker than he had ever intended it happening. Bills had to be paid, so money had to be made, etc. etc. Before he knew it he lost his wife and after her death he sat down a bitter, angry old man still in need of fulfilling his big Adventure Book full of dreams. This clip beautifully portrays one of my biggest fears since arriving back home. I have been terrified that I am going to forget, get stuck, give up, or just get distracted by life. Everyone grins and tells me that I’ve got plenty of time, I’m young and my life has only just begun. I have no desire to be Mr. Fredrickson yet have become increasingly aware at the capability for that to happen. It begins to happen each time I lose focus of my dreams and let myself become overwhelmed with the reality that I am a 23 year old living in my parent’s house with absolutely no current form of income. It’s LIFE, plain and simple, staring me in the face that tempts to change me into a Mr. Fredrickson with an Adventure Book full of empty pages of things I was going to do.
In order to ensure this doesn’t happen I am daring myself to continue dreaming, even bigger than ever before. I am committing to believing God’s promises that He, no only has a HUGE plan for my life, but also delights in granting me the desires of my heart. I am surrendering to His will and dedicating my tiny little life to the cause of His BIG Glory Story!
