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Dreams are meant to be a little crazy! We are four days into the new year. What are you thinking about? What are the hopes and dreams that are churning within? What is the excitement that is drawing you forward? There is something there…what is it?
Orville and Wilbur had a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. As they made and repaired bicycles they were dreaming about other things – airplanes. They both had their feet on the ground but they had this vision of belonging up there. They had a dream that they could make a flying machine, that was heavy, and yet, a machine that could stay up in the air. Don’t waste your time, Orville. You can’t do what you can’t do. Just make bicycles Wilbur. Oh, they failed again and again and again and then they tried one more time, and then one more time, and then one more time. They had a great idea, a great vision, a compelling dream that just could not get off the ground. And then, and then, …this is really important, they decided that the wind was not right. They had this great idea, this great dream but the wind was not right. Because of their compelling dream, they changed location. This is the reason they moved from Dayton, OH to Kitty Hawk, NC. They had a great idea but were in the wrong place. Maybe you have a great idea but the time is not right, the place is not right, the wind is from the wrong direction. Orville and Wilbur followed their dream. So, on December 17, 1903, the first flight took Orville 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds. Today, because of their crazy dream, there is nothing crazy about flying across the country.
Jesus had a crazy dream. The dream was called Church. He started with twelve. Twelve people who were maybe average, under-performing folks whom Jesus shaped and formed and would entrust the future of his ministry into their hands. He wanted his disciples to be salt, light, and leaven. Jesus wanted his disciples to get mixed up in this world. Jesus gave them power and authority to preach and teach and baptize and make disciples in every nation. He handed the keys of the kingdom over to them. We might say, “Don’t do that.” They failed again and again and again but THERE was Jesus. Jesus has a strong faith!
We too are invited into something bigger and greater than ourselves. The future that God is calling us to might look crazy and foolish. It might be hard work. It might take time. Maybe we are not in the right place or the wind, we might say, is not quite right. We might fail again and again and again but Jesus always promises to be THERE. We know profoundly, like Wilber and Orville Wright, albeit for different reasons, we know that even though we have two feet on the ground…we belong up there. That is, to say, we belong to a different kingdom!
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