Or read the rough draft of the manuscript here...
Coming back from mission trip is often when I am most on
fire for my faith. And I've had a week
to recover from the trip, but not yet come down from that high. Y'all are in for it. ;-) The trip was incredible and gave all 19 of
the youth and 7 of us adults the opportunity to serve an immigrant community in
Costa Rica known as Pavas. As you've
heard from our TWAMers this morning, it was a transformative experience... for
the people in our neighborhood, and for us.
For the families, it was a lifelong dream realized,
giving them a future and a hope. And for
our kids, it inspired a few dreams of what their lives can be, and we pray as
leaders, alters their future and gives them hope. And we, as adults, are inspired once more to
dedicate our lives to serving the Lord every day, not giving up on dreaming
what God may be calling us to do.
One of my favorite films centers on one man following his
dreams with his family and the people put in his path along the way, the dreams
of everyone he encounters. Field of
Dreams, starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, among others, is one I've
seen countless times. As Kostner's
character Ray lies awake one night with his wife, having already plowed his
cornfield for a baseball field, he muses that his father must have had dreams,
but he never did anything about them.
He never did anything about them.
On Ray's journey, he encounters some wild and colorful
characters and feels driven to help people reach their dreams. He learns of a man named Moonlight
Graham. He goes searching for him and
discovers that DOCTOR Graham passed away some years before. A retired journalist reads them his obituary,
detailing a life of quiet service and love.
Not just a doctor, but a hero who provided children in need with the
necessities and the occasional ticket to the ballpark, a real hometown
hero. In interviewing the townspeople
who knew him, they learned how this saint had changed the lives of everyone who
lived there, famous only for caring for the needy and loving his wife in equal
measures of devotion.
What on earth does any of this have to do with baseball?
wonders our hero, Ray, he muses as he goes for moonlight stroll. In his stroll, he wanders back in time and
meets Doc Graham. They share a cup of
coffee and the elderly doctor tells him his story. He played in the minor leagues and finally
got called up. He rode the bench and
finally got called out of the dugout to outfield for a game. The ball never made it out of the infield and
he never got to bat. Knowing he was
going back to the minors was crushing, and he went home and became a doctor.
Ray asks him if he could fulfill any dream, have just one
wish, what would it be?
Doc Graham says he never got to bat in the majors. He says he'd like to face down a major league
pitcher, let him go into his windup, and just before the pitch, wink. Make him think he knew something he
didn't. Connect with the ball, run the
bases, stretch a double into a triple, and flop face first into third, wrap his
arms around the bag. That is his wish.
Ray excitedly tells him that his baseball field is where
dreams come true, that players long gone come back to play and live their
dreams and begs him to go with him. He
politely declines.
On Ray's drive home with the author played by James Earl
Jones, he sees a young kid hitchhiking.
They give him a lift and he introduces himself as Archie Graham. They take the kid to his Iowa farm where he
gets to play with the legends, they greats, and even fulfill his dream, arms
around the bag and all.
Ray has done it, fulfilled his dreams.
And then in the climax of the film, Ray's extended family
come to ruin things. They don't believe
in the magic and can't see the ballplayers.
A confrontation occurs and Ray's daughter falls from the bleachers,
laying motionless on the ground not breathing.
As the mother runs for the house to call the paramedics, Moonlight
Graham jogs in from the outfield. He
stops at the edge of the field, a boundary the players have never crossed in
the film. He drops his glove and slowly
steps across, instantly becoming an old man in his wool suit and overcoat,
carrying his medical bag. He sits the
young girl up and sees she's choking. He
gives her a few hard thumps on the back, she coughs up a hotdog, and is just
fine. Ray and his wife begin thanking
him profusely, and he says, "No.
Thank YOU."
Oh my God, you can't go back, Ray says, realizing the
profound sacrifice he's made. He begins
to apologize and he's interrupted. Doc
Graham tells him it's worth it. He gives
him a look, and Ray remembers his words in the diner several nights before when
he tried to persuade him to come with him.
The doc had told him to have his dream come so close was devastating,
like having your dreams brush by you like a stranger in a crowd. Ray says, it
would kill most men to come so close, to only have 5 minutes to live their
dream, that they'd consider it a tragedy! Doc Graham shakes his head and says,
no. If I had only gotten to be a doctor
for 5 minutes, that would be a tragedy.
And the doc leaves, making his way through the legends who had razzed
him as a rookie for days, patting him on the back and giving him accolades, he
was their hero.
Ray spent the movie trying to help people fulfill their
dreams, their one wish, only to discover that many of those dreams were a
passing fantasy, and while exciting and momentarily fulfilling, it was not the
dream to which they were called by God to be who they were called to be. James Earl Jones helps him to see that his
true calling is not to run around as an errand boy to a voice, but to love and
appreciate his family, his father, and all he'd been given with the same
passion he'd gone he distance for. He
had to learn to pursue not what was fleeting and personal, but eternal and
godly (that which God dreams for God’s people and creation)…
How many of us doggedly pursue dreams of ambition,
personal fulfillment, and good intentions for ourselves and others without
pausing for a moment to consider if it is the dream God is calling us to
pursue? In the busyness and whirlwind of
our lives in this country and this day and time, are we truly pausing to ask ourselves
what plans God has, how God calls us to use our gifts to serve all those in
need. The master in our Gospel story
gives gifts to his servants. The good
servants don't use those gifts for self-improvement, but rather to show their
thankfulness to the master for his trust and generosity. Have we done the same? Do we pursue what is fleeting and personal, or
eternal and godly?
Have we used our vocations, our skills, our resources to
acquire and maintain at our worst, accolades and a lifestyle, and at our best,
security and safety? Have we challenged our
kids to give selflessly, to risk their popularity, their future, and themselves
to follow God's call on their lives? The
Bible challenges boldly with these questions!
The psalmist does not speak of the mother sparrow who builds a safe nest
far from danger and risk, but one who builds her nest close to the altar, the
mother who offers herself and her young before the Lord to go and be and do
what the Lord calls her to go and be and do.
But, Brian! Your
story was about a doctor! I am working
hard to put my kid in the right private school or AP class or get them a sports
scholarship! They have talent! Yes, they do!
Yes YOU do! So are you pursuing a
life of service or a life of security and self satisfaction and comfort? This is a question we ask of ourselves every
single mission trip. That is one of the
most valuable parts of these trips. I
was reminded of a talented young man at a Florida university who had the
opportunity to play starting quarterback and told the offensive coordinator he
was thrilled for the opportunity, but would need a week off during camp to go
on his church mission trip. The
coordinator told him he was nuts to jeopardize this chance and possibly his
career to miss out and go do this. The
brave young man said he understood that was a risk, but that was a priority to
him and his family. The head coach heard
about this dedication to this calling God had placed on his heart and Tim Tebow
was able to go on his mission trip AND start as quarterback, retaining his
chance for a career in the NFL, but that was not promised to him for the risk
he took. He pursued not what was fleeting
and personal, but eternal and godly.
Are the dreams you are chasing or building your life
around, or preparing for your children the lives of safety, security, and
acclaim, or lifelong service and pursuit of God's ongoing call? Have you carved out time for your family to
be dedicated disciples present in worship, active in faith community, and
prioritized your time and resources, and dedicated your entire family to
serving others above the fleeting dreams we all have? If I'd only gotten to be a doctor for 5
minutes, that would be a tragedy. The
kind of doctor that Doc Graham was.
The youth on our trip don't just give a week of time and
energy. You don't just give money to
build houses or send kids out of the country. Our youth bring love and hope to the hopeless
and downtrodden. Your resources provide
HOMES for families who have dreamed of nothing greater. Our youth come to appreciate who greatly and
richly they are blessed AND how they should respond in gratitude for the rest
of their lives. We help them grow their
roots down deep into the lord so they respond in thankfulness, so they respond
as good and faithful servants who seek every opportunity to serve the Lord
because God expects them to use what he has given them!
It's risky! I
don't usually recruit for mission trip by telling kids and parents how risky it
is. It's not the neighborhood, or the
travel, or the governments, or the poverty, or the people we encounter, or the
groups we work alongside, or dangerous heretical ideas with which they could
come into contact. Those are not the
risks and the dangers. The risk is that
they will begin to dream dreams of God's call on their life, to seek and save
the lost, to put service and love above safety, security, career, or the
American dream. They will dream big and
pursue what is eternal and godly.
Our YWAM liaison, Mark, is a Kiwi, a New Zealander with a
heart for the world and for mission, who shares his dream with his wife and 3,
soon to be 4, kids to serve others in love and with all his gifts of leadership
and music and hard work. His father, he
told me, once asked him what he would do about money and retirement. Had God provided for those things? What would Mark do when he was old? Mark bravely, and with no naivety at all,
told his father that then perhaps he would go to Asia and die in poverty like
most of the world does. I was
floored. Mark trusted God to provide for
his needs so completely that he was going to give his all and follow the Lord
wherever he called, whatever is eternal and godly.
I've told some of you that I spoke at length with Pedro,
the father of the family that my work team built a house with and for. His arm around me, he told me in Spanish that
GOD had built this house, that we were his family now, that we were always
welcome, as all of you are, and that one day when he saw God, he would tell him
about us.
God dreams for us, brothers and sisters, and God dreams
BIG. We are the wicked servant whenever
we dream small or dream for ourselves and our children in small ways. But when we step aside, when we pray, when we
seek, when we find need and meet it with great love, giving all of our heart in
thankfulness with our roots deep in the Lord, we are the good and faithful
servant. When you pour out your
resources to send young people to change lives and be transformed, when you
join us and travel to those in need, when you step aside from micromanaging
your life and the life of your children to set them on a road measured by
success and security and prestige and allow them to seek God's call, we dream
big, we love deeply, and discover the hopes and future God calls us to be a
part of.
I challenge you this week... yes, more homework... sit
down. Sit down alone or with your
spouse, your children, your parents. Sit
down and dream together. Ask yourselves
about your own gifts. What do you have
in small portion or abundance? Then ask
yourself what dreams God may have for each of you. How will you serve, how will you make use of
what the master has given you? Will you
be serving this year here, in our community, on mission trip? Will you be volunteering or giving of your
time and resources in some new way? Make
a list of the biggest dreams you can dream for how you are maybe being called
to serve and use those many "talents" the master has given you. Put that list on your fridge and keep looking
at it, adding to it, changing it, and keep dreaming big.
There's a big old mission field of dreams in this
world. And when you have dreamed and
done and become, you will stand before the Lord, and a little man named Pedro
will be there to introduce you, and the Lord will say, "well done, good
and faithful servant." Amen.
Charge
Isn't it strange, that
princes and kings,
and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
and common-folk like you and me,
are builders for eternity?
To each is given a bag of
tools,
a shapeless mass and a Book of Rules;
and each must make 'ere time has flown,
a stumbling block or a stepping stone.
