Flow into this tired soul. Awaken light into my eyes. Fill me with your dreams and visions. Unleash my faith. Awaken my imagination. Strengthen my hands. Quicken my feet. Set my joy free. Set my heart on fire. Blaze a trail of hope into every place you send me today.
A few days ago I was driving along a winding, two lane road between our home city and another area in Southeast Asia, where Mustard Seed is in the planning stage of opening a new Christian school. I drove for about four hours, winding my way around the occasional horse drawn cart, enjoying the green rice terraces, the simple villages, the mango trees and coconut palms bursting out of the fertile earth everywhere. As I took in the spectacular slopes sweeping upwards toward a towering mountain, I began to reminisce.
When my father was still a teenager studying at Prairie Bible College, his soul was drawn to this exotic area - this island of earthquakes and volcanic fire. His fantasy was to travel on a motorcycle from town to town across the island and preach the Gospel among the Muslim people. Instead, he and Mom ended up ministering on another jungle island where they gave 16 years of their lives to serve among the tribal people.
Did God misplace my dad’s dream? It would seem so. He never did live in the place he thought he would. And, he recently shared with me that he may never be able to come back to this part of the world.
Yet it is truly astounding to quietly ponder how God works. In fact, it was God who painted a passionate love for this part of the world onto the canvas of my dad’s soul. And, as I recently heard John Piper say in one of his recorded messages, “God does not waste even one brush stroke.”
Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:38). The Spirit of the Living God flows in and through our souls, planting his dreams and visions along the way. Then in his own time He overflows, causing those dreams and visions to burst out into a new living, breathing, touchable reality. And the amazing thing is, sometimes it is not even us who see the ultimate fruition of our own dreams and visions.
In 1999, when my wife and I were preparing to go and serve overseas, we could have gone anywhere. We were taken with Nepal, India, Pakistan, Russia, and Africa. We were even fascinated with the idea of starting youth ministries among the lost teenagers living on the streets of Ireland. Then somehow we ended up getting recruited to Southeast Asia. We had no special love for this area at the time. In fact, when she and I had led a team of college students here in 1996, we spent some time right here on this island. In the middle of a blazing hot day I remember telling her – there’s no way I will ever come back to this miserable, dirty, filthy city again. It astounds me that we now live here. How great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!
Our very existence in this place is a small, yet amazing demonstration of God’s artistic sovereignty. I have become convinced that when God paints a dream onto your soul, we can be assured that He will press that dream through to its fruition. When we express those dreams and visions verbally, God is listening and God is smiling. The apostle Paul voiced his dream of seeing the Gospel of Jesus penetrate throughout the city of Rome. He purposefully sacrificed his freedom to go to that city in chains and die. As he was sitting in a prison cell on death row, contemplating what some people might have perceived as a pitiful, wasted ending to an amazing life, could he have imagined the thousands of souls in that very city who, in the next generation, would surrender their lives for Christ as they were fed to Nero’s lions or burned on Nero’s torches?
My point is, even if it is our physical or spiritual offspring who end up holding in their hands what we have only imagined in our souls, no dream is ever wasted. Brother and sisters, speak out with your dreams! Voice them over your cup of coffee. Whisper them to your children as you kiss them good night. Who knows but God...those dreams might just be planted deep in the fertile soil of a child’s soul.
Here is another irony. While my wife and I now live in this place, my soul also burns for another island, the island where I was born. That island urgently needs transforming, relevant, effective, discipleship-focused Christian schools. Schools that serve as a wellspring to awaken the Spirit of Christ in the hearts and minds of children. Anyone with eyes can see that the island's tribes are in danger of extinction within the next century and need an awakening to the reality of Christ.
If only I could have two bodies or some form of Star Trek transporter. But, strategically speaking, there is too much going on here, and at our other Mustard Seed mission sites across this Southeast Asian nation, for me to seriously consider moving my family to a remote place on another island.
A few months ago I was approached with an amazing proposal. There is a new district of the country where Mustard Seed has no active ministry. The governor area has approached Mustard Seed to create schools in his district, and to develop a network of education that will impact thousands of island children. Fast forward a couple of months to late February, 2007. This very week our team will launch the training of indigenous Christian teachers who will be sent to that area to open this network of Christian schools. So, while I myself do not live there, the seeds of love that God has planted in my soul for the those people are sprouting, rising up from the earth and becoming a new reality. And I don’t even live there! One plants, another reaps, and it is God who makes our dreams grow into a fresh new day!
With deep love and gratitude for all who give financially and pray earnestly so that we might overflow with visions and dreams in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia Field Director, MSI