khaat fan (Thai) – to expect; calculate; reckon; foresee. to dream
There are several cliches I’ve noted amongst World Racers. Nalgeens, we have our own vocabulary (Choose in!, feedback, bringing Kingdom, culture of honor, etc.) a collection of string bracelets from varying countries covering wrists, getting tattooed in a foreign country, really – this list could go on for a while. The later is one I came on the field knowing I would not be part of. I already have two great reminders permanently situated on my body, and I enjoy them everyday. Over the last few months I have seen many squad mates become proud owners of new ink, and I’ve thought, ‘That’s a great experience for them, but I’m past that.’
One of the great lessons and areas of personal healing God has led me through these last eleven months is the value of the body He has blessed me with. His holy temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. I am not anti-tattoo at all, again, I’ve got more than one, but I value my body more now than ever and though I’ve had great ideas for tattoos since my last, I came to this place on the Race where I wanted each and every square inch of my flesh, inside and out, to be consecrated unto the Lord.
And then last month He taught me about dreaming…
Another recent revelation Daddy zinged me with – I have lived all 25 years thus far functioning from a works-based mentality. Do well, as in – make honor roll, win some achievement awards, look pretty, stay out of trouble (big, big trouble anyways), get a job with a decent salary and benefits.
Achievement = love.
I have been working towards standards (I don’t know who set them, I don’t believe all of them are mine) for acceptance, and mainly to receive praise and recognition. Somehow in the shuffle from birth til a few days ago, I viewed this as the recipe for love. *enter dramatic gasp here*
Last month I had the blessing of living with two women I already respected the heck out of, but spending a month doing life with them made me fall for them even more and taught me what it means to dream. Partner in crime #1 happens to be my squad leader, Lia. Before we got to Thailand she asked all of the female leaders to spend several hours dreaming together before we cast vision to our women for what the month would look like. You would think being the head team leader over five teams I would have taken this a little more seriously. My initial reaction was, ‘Dream? Really? I have a lot to do. We don’t have time to dream – there are logistics to work out, tasks to assign, we got things to do!’
If you find yourself introduced to someone named Samantha Moor, guard your heart because there’s a slim to none chance you won’t fall in love with her. During what free time we had last month you could typically find Sami in her own world, iPod on, journaling in a notebook. I noticed a page she was working on one day. It had the word ‘Dream’ in large, colorful letters at the top, carefully shaded in. Looking back now I am alarmed that my first thought was, ‘Hmmm…she actually took the time somewhere in the day to write that word that big and color it in. I bet she has a list of dreams beneath it.’
If Seth Barnes had not taken the time to dream, what would the last eleven months of my life have been like? Through watching effective dreamers like Lia and Sami, and becoming a part of someone’s dream (thank you, Mr. Barnes) I now realize the absolute significance of the act. I like the revelation so much I caved and chose in to another Race cliche.
(Prior to. Finished product is white ink)
