As I write this blog, I’m currently in my hammock under a palm leaf gazebo in Colombia. It’s so hot that the running joke is “even Satan doesn’t vacation here”. However, I am not laughing cause my sunburn hurts when I laugh, and considering it’s always cruising around 100 when I prefer 65, it’s actually a bit miserable for me.
Personally, I dream of a chilly Patagonian morning in the Andes overlooking one of their crystal clear lakes, and this is quite different from my idea of a dream.
That’s why I wanted to share this story. I don’t think people understand how truly remarkable Gods work in my life has been.
Look at a map of the United States. Now find Ohio. Good luck, but if you do, now find Kenton. You won’t find it, trust me. In the off chance that you do, look halfway between Kenton and the other town you won’t find called Dola; that’s where I grew up. It was one of those places where you gave directions by landmarks instead of by roads. “Head north at the red roofed church and we are the 4th farm on the right…not counting the druggie house.”
In high school, they told us we could be whoever we wanted to be, the world was ours for the taking. Awesome, the choices in my world consisted of being a farmer, a farmer, or a farmer!
I tried to dream big, but I literally didn’t know how to dream big. No one ever left Kenton except to go to college, and even then, most came back. Many married their high school sweetheart and I was convinced that what I saw is what I got. My bucket list consisted of vaguely conceived ideas and I never actually took it, or the idea of big dreams seriously.
Yet, here I am in Colombia, spending a year of my life traveling the world.
I’ve swam in the Atlantic and Pacific, summited the Andes, been lost in Quito, laughed with a Colombian teen, cried with a Peruvian boy, and held an Ecuadorean infant.
What the heck happened to this Ohioan, homeschooled, sheltered, country redneck?
Jesus happened. Cliché, but true.
Jesus says to give him our lives, to take up our cross and follow Him; and for many years I refused. But Jesus was patient. When I finally reached the end of my pride, Jesus said, “give me your life. I want your life, your will, and your dreams; yes, I want your dreams too.”
Honestly, if we left it right there it sounds like a controlling, insecure, and jealous God. But Jesus wants to take these things so that He can replace them with His life, His will, and His dreams….and these are God-sized dreams.
When I traded my dreams for His, my dreams changed from the next job, the next promotion, the next paycheck; to loving others more than myself, to sharing the love of God with others, to experiencing the pain of the poor and the needy.
These are my dreams. I’m not an ultra-hipster, pompadour-rocking millennial Jesus freak–I’m just a man who has been given a mission.
I can’t explain it, but carrying out Gods dreams in my life is the first time that my soul has been satisfied. I’ve learned how to dream big dreams, dreams bigger than are possible for me. And you know the cool thing? God just throws in the Andes, the 7 seas, and Everest for the fun of it!
Don’t follow your dreams, follow His dreams; only then can you live a life that satisfies.
