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“And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring;”
- Genesis 28:12-13, Jacob’s Ladder
“Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.”
– Kermit the Frog, The Muppet Movie
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one.” – John Lennon,
Imagine in the bible dreams are important things! In them people find challenge, warning, revelation, vision, and transformation. Dreams guide and give identity. Dreams are important today as well. They can help us imagine what might be, remember what has been. They can guide, reveal, grant vision, and transform. Daydreaming is a pastime of children – I remember spending many a summer day with little to do, when my parents or babysitter thought I had watched too much TV and sent me outside to play, daydreaming – pondering what it would be like to be grown up and be able to go anywhere or do anything, pondering what I might do with untold riches, pondering grand adventures with me as the hero. Daydreams fed my imagination, but more than that, they were fun! They seemed to create an energy, a tingle of their own.
While I have grown up and realized that much of what I daydreamed about will not ever come true, I do like to think that in those daydreams the seeds were laid to what I have become. As an adult, I try to go places – to see new things and revisit old. I have even been to places I couldn’t have imagined as a child and they have a different meaning to me now than they would have then. I like to think that I have an adventurous spirit that has been enlivening and enlightening. And while I haven’t hit it rich in the lottery or a bag of money falling from the sky into my backyard, my life is enriched by other treasures: my family – especially watching my children grow and be active in things, the friendships that I have found, and the joy I find in being a minister and serving in ministry with Ankeny Christian Church and the region. For the past couple years it has been necessary in many aspects of our lives, and the church is no exception, for us to react. We have had to be nimble and change plans in such fashion that it has been a challenge to even make them – because we knew that whatever we dreamed up, the odds were that much of the work we put into them would be wasted. We’ve had to change times, places,
events at the last minute, and it has been grueling. It is not a lot of fun to have to be nimble all the time, ready to change and react, and it requires a lot of energy. We need the spark and energy of imagination. We need the guidance, revelation, and transformation that dreams can give us! It is time to dream, Ankeny Christian Church, to dream big dreams…to listen to those dreams and hear in them the voice of God.
Shalom,
Pastor Owen
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