If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm a dreamer. I have a dream list for my life, for every trip I've ever gone on, even for the qualities I'd love in my future wife. I see people like Daniel and Joseph in the Bible and the huuuuuge dreams they had that were beyond human reason and yet here's this big God who comes alongside and says "you and I are a majority, and we will see this through to completion". When you have written dreams then it gives you a focal point, it allows you to kinda pass by the distractions and focus on those things that really matter.
When I used to lead trips down to Latin America I would describe it to my guys like this: The first time I went to Guatemala and we had our market day, I went in with no expectations no real goal of what I wanted and so I had to go to every single stall in the market and look at every single object they had for sale, making a full day of it and coming out with way more things than I'd ever need or use. When I returned the following year though I knew what to expect and I had it set in my heart what I wanted and needed and so this time when I went to the market, I was able to go in and out in a couple hours, coming out with only the things I knew I had my heart set on, and being able to just skim the stalls looking for what I was after. Of course naturally something might catch my eye that I wanted that I hadn't thought of before but overall…. This gave me a purpose when going. (I should point out that this example was used for them finding the right woman but it applies across the board haha)
The point is, dreams are huge and quite frankly, I strongly believe that God's just dying to find people who will boldly come up with the biggest dreams they could ever imagine and then partner with Him on them and see cultures shifted, mindsets changed, and revival sweep like a wave across the earth. Businesses have money but dreamers change the world.
This being said it should come as no surprise then that one of my first priorities in preparing for the World Race was to start compiling a dream list and seeing what God wants to do in all these places. I've been working on said list for the last two weeks but I ended up throwing it out last night and restarting, the reason being that as I looked over it, it was all things like "visit this place" or "go to this beach" etc etc and while that's great and I'm all for that stuff happening….the fact of the matter is that that's not the kind of trip I'm going on. I'm going on something even more incredible than that….I get to live with the poorest of the poor of the unloveliest, of the dirtiest, of the most untouchables and I get to speak into existance that which is not as if it is. I get to bring hope to the hopeless, release joy for their mourning, praise for their heaviness, a purpose where there was none before, and then say go and do likewise.
So that being said and with that mindset in mind, here's my new and improved dream list for the World Race 2013 and what I can't wait to see God partner with me in:
- Save a nation
- Pray for a mentally handicapped person and see them restored
- Live in an expectation of the presence that shifts atmospheres
- Raise the dead
- Start a landslide revival in 5 different countries of those we disciple bringing it farther than we ever could have
- See a creative miracle (i.e. people growing knee caps or metal disapearing from their body etc)
- Be a father to those who never dreamed of one
- Minister to 5 heads of state
- Be noticed by the news/media
- Wash the feet of 50 "mighty men" (those who look lowly now, but God has a huge heart and plan for, just like David's mighty men)
- Preach the gospel without agenda
- Drink a beer in an irish pub.
- Sheer a sheep in Ireland. (yes, I realize these last two are kinda more fun than anything but a guy needs a break sometimes right??? haha)
- Make traditional easter eggs in the Ukraine
- Remind the Ukraineans of their history in cell churches and relationship.
- Glean off The Ukraines high value for the beauty of God's nature.
- Have a gypsy birthday party in Romania.
- Capture the world through stories, movies, and pictures in a way that brings people to their knees and spurs them to action.
- Release the freedom to dance that prophetically breaks chains.
- Break the back of religion by exposing the Father.
- Introduce my team ladies to a Vallentines Day they'll never forget and raises the bar for every man after we leave.
- Have a love encounter with a witch doctor.
- Declare life over the dying nation of Swaziland and see their Kingdom potential released.
- See AIDS/HIV healed
- Buy a prostitute roses.
- Love on a ladyboy.
- See purity restored. Release freedom for those oppressed by past traumas.
- Be a daily display of God's heart.
- See people grow limbs.
- Find home.
- Gather soil from every country.
- Be a giant killer so that, like David, it rubs off on those around me and they also become giant killers.
- Make my life a wake up call to those stuck in mundane routines that never change the world and leave them unremembered.
- See love transcend race, ethnicity, gangs, and past wrongs.
- Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely I have received, freely I will give.
