Which Dream??

Janny and I getting awful “NASCAR” for the night up at Mt. Hermon

About a year ago Janny and I had some unsettling stuff going on in our souls. Hard to discern, but strong enough to know we needed to do some good ‘ol fashion soul searchin’. Did I just use two slang apostrophe’s in that sentence? Odd. Anywho, I am pretty sure the unsettlin’ stuff was God’s Dream knocking on our soul’s imagination.

Now, we have not mastered living out God’s Dream by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems that every time we do take some strides in that direction it doesn’t look anything like the American Dream.

God’s Dream is REALLY hard to explain. It doesn’t seem to fit inside the 2 sentence allotment given at the beginning of a conversation. For example, my life in two sentences: “Married, with dog and living in a one bedroom house in Santa Cruz and not going to a church. Recently turned down full time employment, with benefits, to substitute teach, finish writing a book and go to a (REALLY) expensive grad school to study theology(VERY practical).” Not too “Dreamy” maybe? Even embarrassing to say at times??

If given a few more sentences I would say: “Janny and I have never felt more connected to each other, God and those around us than we have since we started listening/living towards God’s Dream He has put on our souls. For us, living out that Dream hasn’t allowed us to live the “practical/secure” lives that are so tempting, but has FREED us to live out the practical/secure vision of Jesus in our lives. We love sharing our home and conversation with close friends/neighbors, we were super blessed to have experienced life with our friends at Mt. Hermon this summer and we are completely open to participating in the Kingdom of God whatever that may look like. For now that involves teaching high school history for a few months before starting my Master’s in Theology full time at Fuller Seminary, while considering initiating the gathering of the church on our patio for a meal, conversation and shared commitment. These are the things that make our heart beat really fast and in pursuing that, the bills have been paid. Apparently God takes care of His children, so it has been sweet since I stopped worrying so much about that. It’s super scary, but super fun.”

I am hoping this is a slice of God’s Dream being played out in our lives…it sure feels like it is!!