One of my favorite songs is Aerosmith’s “Dream On”. Believe it or not, we actually rock the mess outta this song in church on Sundays. And as audacious as this sounds, I believe our band does it better than Aerosmith! But don’t just take my word for it, ask our fellow “impacters” from AZ Foothills! I do realize it’s not a typical church song, but it does present a message of hope; and, well, it just flat kicks butt.
I find myself at different moments in life clinging to the words “Dream on…Dream until the dream comes true”. I love to dream, and I really love when my dreams comes true!
We all have dreams. We’ve all had dreams. Many dreams never came to life. Many were never meant to live. Many only lived to die.
But I’d like to encourage all of you dreamers with this: No matter what dream in your life looks dead – Dream On. What the heck, right!? What does it hurt? Keep on dreaming! And remember these two things as you dream:
1. It's not over 'til God says so!
The words “Dream On” remind me of couple verses in the Bible:
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said”. Matthew 28:5,6 (NIV)
It looked like Jesus was dead. It looked like this whole Jesus/Christian thing was a done deal…dead in the water, stopped in its tracks. They had crucified and killed Jesus.
I can only imagine that every person who watched Jesus beaten, whipped, mocked and crucified to a cross - every person that saw that the blood, heard the screams, and felt the mourning and the fear from others watching -I would imagine everyone of them thought it was over. Jesus was killed. The supposed Son of God is dead.
Because it wasn’t over. What looked to be over…was just the beginning. The Dream looked dead. But it was still very much alive.
The tomb of Christ is famous because of what it does not contain. And there is no resurrection without the cross.
I don’t know what dream it is in your life that might look like it’s dying, or might look like its dead…but you've got to dream on. Maybe it’s your marriage or relationship. It was once the dream marriage or relationship, and it’s now a nightmare. Maybe it’s your finances or career, maybe it’s your your health, or maybe it’s that addiction that’s been kickin’ your tail! I don’t know what dream in your life has either died or turned into a nightmare. But, you've got to keep dreamin'. Dream on.
The second thing I encourage you to remember as you dream is this:
2. No matter what looks dead in your life, your situation didn't take God by surprise!
This always brings me peace of mind! God knows everything about everything! He’s all knowing and He loves you and cares for you. You're jacked up situation didn’t catch God off-guard. Your situation didn’t shock God or take Him by surprise.
It’s not like God’s sitting up in heaven watching the Oprah Network with His disciples and says one day, “Oh Crap! What just happened??? They’re going through a divorce? They went broke? No man, God knows what’s gonna happen before it even happens. He’s got eternal vision. He can see down the road. He’s got perfect perspective.
So, today I encourage you whether your dream never came to life, or was never meant to live, or only lived to die – DREAM ON. DREAM UNTIL THE DREAM COMES TRUE.
Travis Hearn
Senior Pastor, ImpactChurch.com
Team Pastor, Phoenix Suns
@travishearn – twitter
@travishearn – Instagram
