Catching Airplanes

Ben Thomas and Lindsey were riding in the car the other night and he had his hand up to the window in a funny way.  When his Momma asked, “Whatcha doin’?”, BT replied, “I get the moon, Momma!”  He wanted to hold it.

He has one heck of an imagination for a 2 1/2 year old.

He was playing at the park with his Momma on Monday and this is what he started doing…

There was an airplane overhead, and he wanted to catch it.

There are days when I think I could hold the moon if I could just reach it. Or catch an airplane and fly to Costa Rica for dinner on the coast.  Ben Thomas reminds me of my buddy Dennis Gable and me.  We’re pretty big dreamers, and pretty big believers in our dreams, too.  Thankfully, we’re both blessed to be married to women who are patient with our wild-hair ideas and love us through the whole crazy process.

Here’s where I get stuck: I have all these ideas bouncing around in my head like the die in Popomatic Trouble, and every once in a while, I can’t stand it any more and go ahead and do Phase One of whatever project I am obsessing over at the time.

I’ve started:

• A radio show.
• A worship band.
• A blog on beauty.
• A blog for anonymous questions that you “aren’t supposed to ask”.
• A book club.
• A podcast.
• Talked about starting another podcast.
• Talked about starting a home church.

I have talked about and planned and started many things, several of which haven’t “stuck”.

But God…

God rejoices when we reach out to hold the moon, even if it’s a bit too far.

God is thrilled when we try to catch an airplane, even if the world tells us, “Get a balloon, kid.  That’s much more practical.”

God is quite a dreamer and inventor and we are His children, so why wouldn’t we dream and invent?

God loves dreamers!

Here’s a few of His words on the matter:

• Psalm 145:6, “Do you think you can mess with the dreams of the poor?  You can’t, for God makes their dreams come true.”
• Acts 2, “Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams.”
• Ephesians 3:20, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

I smile as I read these Scriptures again.  I hear God saying, “Your dreams are not your own.  Neither is your life.  They are mine.  They have always been mine and the more you commune with me, the more your dreams become like my dreams.  You dream the dreams I have for you.  Some of them “stick” and some of them don’t.  Maybe you jump the gun.  Maybe the idea is for someone else to pick up and run with.  Either way, your obedience in dreaming, vision-casting, creating, it’s all out of love for me.  And for that, I am proud.”

So dream!

Go ahead and dream!

Cast your vision!

Reach for the moon!

Catch an airplane and soar!  Allow the wind of God’s Holy Spirit to take you to place you could have never imagined for yourself.

Let your obedience and God’s whimsy take you higher than you could ever go alone!

DREAM BIG!

DREAM CRAZY, BIG DREAMS!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain