What If

Sharon and I met with Doug Forret, Don Purdy and Dennis Matangira this morning to talk about the dream we have of purchasing a drilling rig for Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation.

This is rough draft/sneak peak of what we are thinking and praying about. It's pretty crazy but we're asking God for $165,00 to fund this project so we can drill 20 wells a year and provide clean drinking water for villages and schools that go without.

This month I celebrate 20 years of service at New Covenant. I'm making plans to invite my friends to join me in helping make this dream a reality!

What if we could share what we have to give to those who go without? What if we could help empower villages in Zimbabwe to better care for their own? What if we could provide water for drinking, sanitation, gardening and hygiene? What if we could offer hope and help to entire schools and villages? What if we could do all this in the name of Jesus so that His kingdom and purposes are advanced? What if ....

Rachel's Dream

Everyone has a dream. A hope or desire that provides motivation and energy. A reason to get up in the morning. Something to live for.

Rachel Beckwith dreamed about providing clean drinking water to those who don't have access to this basic necessity. She set a goal of raising $300 through her own charity:water web page, encouraging people to give to this cause instead of gifts for her 9th birthday.

Then on June 9th Rachel and her family were in a tragic auto accident. Rachel died but her dream has lived on. To date, over $750,000 has been given in Rachel's name through her charity:water web page. You can watch the CBS news story and read about it here.

Several months ago I blogged about Scott Harrison, the founder of charity:water and his dream of providing clean, safe drinking water to the one billion people on the planet who lack access.

Rachel learned about charity:water through her church, Eastlake Community Church. She dreamed about leveraging her birthday for the benefit of others. Her modest $300 goal has been multiplied several thousand times over!

Os Guinness in his book, The Call, talks about living life with purpose and intention. 

"Count the cost, consider the risks, and set out each day on a venture to multiply your gifts and opportunities and bring glory to God and add value to our world. Answering the call is the road to purpose and fulfillment in your life."

I'm dreaming about purchasing a drilling rig to help provide clean drinking water in the name of Jesus in the country of Zimbabwe. Lives and entire villages can be changed through the simple gift of a well. The good works and the good news of the gospel demonstrated and declared!

So, what are you dreaming about? Is it big enough? Does it inspire others to action? Does it add value to our world? Will it bring glory to God?

The American Dream

Seth Godin has a great blog post on the importance of choosing your dreams carefully!

"Sometimes, though, we get sold a dream instead of creating our own. Is it really every girl's dream to become a princess, to be chosen by someone of royal birth and to have a $34 million wedding? Or is that the Disney-industrial complex betraying you, selling you short?

It's so easy to be sold on the combination of compliance, consumption and approval by the powers that be. Of course, you're entitled to any dream you like, but I hope you will choose a bigger one."

Somewhere along the way the American Dream lost its way. Here is origin of the term.

Historian James Truslow Adam popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America:

"The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, also too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

The American Dream ... a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are capable and recognized by other for what they are, regardless of birth or position.

So what do you dream about? Are you being sold a dream or are you in active pursuit of your own? We all have a dream. Is your dream worth giving your life to?

Scott Harrison has a dream of providing clean drinking water to the one billion people who don't yet have access to this basic necessity of life. You can watch his story at charity: water.

I dream of proving a lunch buddy for every student at Polk School. To impact this under resourced area of our community with the good works and the good news of the gospel.

I dream of providing a scholarship to every graduating high school senior in Cedar Rapids who develops a spiritual growth transition plan for their first year of college. To mentor and encourage young adults in their faith and life development.

I dream of a church that impacts eastern Iowa and the ends of the world with the gospel. People who love and live like Jesus and follow Him on mission.

These are my dreams. What are yours? Dream big!