Youth Ministry

If you're feeling stuck in a logjam in life, then here's a question that can help you get unstuck: "If you could do anything in life, what would it be?"

We get locked down by reality, immobilized by the bleak prospects of limited resources and options. A featureless horizon stretches out before us and hope goes begging. But a "what if" question can crack open our possibilities and activate faith.

Your dreams aren't trash; they may seem crazy to you, but they can come to life if you dare to believe in them. So many things have seemed crazy to the dreamer…Windows Operating System by Bill Gates (that was a crazy idea to most of the computer world), the Apple/Mac computers and the three college students that created the idea in a garage in southern California, Tang Breakfast drink by NASA, and let’s not forget Chik-Fil-A. All of these were dreams that the outside world saw as crazy, and in most cases seemed as crazy to the dreamer as to those watching the dreamer. The one consistent message of all of these dreamers was the dream. When life became boring and average, they spent time with a journal and some quiet time just dreaming of a better tomorrow.

Living a humdrum Groundhog Day-existence can sap the verve and gusto right out of you. You can forget the habit of dreaming. Responsibilities, overloaded extra-curricular activities, and debt can weigh you down. For some of us, depression comes calling. And depression can lead to everything opposite dreaming. Our dreams are destroyed and replaced by fear, reclusiveness, and thoughts of failure.

But what if you could do anything? What if money were no object and you were unencumbered by responsibilities? Would you write a book? Learn to fly? Sail around the world? Start a business? Start a nonprofit? Reach out to a group of hurting people?

We need to dream more. We may be wearing the saddlebags of responsibilities, but we serve a God of miracles who delights in rewarding our faith. He loves it when we trust him and especially when we trust him with something important like a dream he gave us.

We're far too practical, asking the "glass-half-empty" question of "how?" when God wants us asking "why not?" He is the author of ideas - he drops them in our spirit all the time.

What if you could do anything? It's a beautiful, spirit-liberating proposition. We need to unshackle our imaginations and our notions of how personal and powerful God is. What is your dream? Speaking it out and sharing it is the first step in the process of bringing it to life. It's time to start asking "what if?" more.