Barnum Community United Methodist Church

A United Methodist Church serving Barnum and the surrounding communities

From Your Pastor

                                    Dream Chaser   

“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.  Give your servant success today y granting him favor in the presence of this man.”  Nehemiah 1:11

 

Nehemiah had a dream.  Not a dream from his sleep but from a goal, a plan he formulated in his heart and mind.  To most it probably sounded impractical because of the improbability of accomplishing the task.  The obstacles would be staggering.  Progress would be slow.  Keeping energy and focus would be work enough let alone getting the job done.  Nehemiah’s dream of course was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 

 

The other day Megan Myhre was running down the hill in Barnum.  I assume, perhaps wrongly, she was finishing off a basketball workout.  She will be playing this Fall at Concordia.  I’ve heard of the occasional big farm boy who will unexpectedly be invited to come and play football, but most of the time to play college sports at any level takes a dream constantly mixed together with work and determination. 

 

As we move into August I’m again reminded of all the young people returning to school, especially those finishing up high school and those moving on to college, but also those who have chosen a different path.  If you don’t have one, take time to dream dreams and set some goals you want to pursue.  Don’t allow anyone outside of God and yourself to set the parameters of the dream. Then, go after it.  Whether it’s sports, music, ministry, the sciences, farming, whatever, pursue the desire placed within your heart. 

 

Sometimes those dreams reach fruition; sometimes they do not.  I have yet to meet someone who had a dream, pursued it to its fullest, and regretted it.  Whether the dream was fulfilled or not was immaterial.  It was doing everything possible to bring it to fruition that mattered and what occurred along the way.   If you walk together with the Lord, God will indicate if it’s time to change direction, keep on, or bring fulfillment.  Regardless, what you pick up on the way will be invaluable throughout life.

 

By the way, this isn’t just for the young people.  Hopefully whatever stage of life you are in you have some goals you still want to attain.  We know Moses wasn’t a young man when he led his people to the land God promised.  Like him, Nehemiah had a dream that would be for the benefit of all of his people.  It was a dream started in the heart of one man who knew the enormity of what lie before, but saw the fulfillment of that dream and all it would mean.  May you also use your dreams to bring glory to God!    

 

                                                                              The Good Shepherd’s Sheepdog,

                                                                                                        Lee