On the 28th of February 2001, Buck and Luciene moved to the Amazon Basin of Brazil. We lived in Macapá, right on the equator. Why would a web designer give up his career and take his family from their comfortable life in Columbus, Ohio, USA, to live on the Amazon River? We came with a vision to save the Amazon, to tell people about Jesus, and plant a Vineyard church. We have planted a church, and we are turning it over to the national leaders, heading back to the States in Sept. 2009.

 
Modest Dreams

I have been reflecting on many things lately. One of them is how modest- indeed, how really small sometimes, are the dreams we have for the future. Not really humble, not really even modest- I guess just plain small.

We dream of, indeed have dreamed for many years, of getting screens on the whole house so that we don’t get a horrible mosquito born illness like dengue fever or malaria and get ill or die. A very small dream, and yet, years later, one we are still working towards. A dream, so small, so infinitesimal, and yet, a dream yet unfulfilled.

Our dreams for the future are so often so limited, so linear. And our limited dreams, our unfulfilled dreams, can cast a shadow over us and our families. For example, our house has had this grey pallor, bland, boring, daunting grey cement, like a heavy cloud, hanging over us and over our heads for years. Having the funds to just plaster and paint, seemed like something impossible, so far out of reach, so unattainable. This last year, before Christmas, Luciene was determined that we would have a white Christmas, and not a gray one.

We had bake sales after church, we took stock of what materials we had on hand and found some old paint, some old plaster, worked towards getting some more, friends and family offered to come and help, and we started sanding the cement walls and ceiling. A certain excitement built in us as we stood in the clouds of cement dust, readying the cement surface to receive the plaster. As we plastered and painted, it was like a small miracle took place. The gray squalor was replaced by brilliant white. It was like something prophetic took place also, like some dark, depressing cloud lifted off of us, and things began to look so much brighter, so much more filled with hope and goodness. It was not just the color change, I’m sure, but also the fact that friends and family worked together to bless us, and united together the darkness was pushed back, and new hope was born.

It makes me wonder, how many other dreams, bigger dreams, much more impossible dreams, are also just waiting? Waiting until someone takes stock of the situation, and figures out what resources may already be available. Waiting until unity forms, until friends and family come together with one common goal and one common mission. Waiting for innovation and just plain stubborn perseverance to break down the barriers and lack of resources, waiting until the darkness is pushed back, and new hope is born.

Dare we to dream large, impossible dreams? If the small, infinitesimally small dreams are yet unfulfilled, dare we dream large, impossible, God sized dreams? Can we be happy living in mediocrity, knowing that our God is so big, so powerful, and that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us?

If we fail to dream large, impossible, God centered and God sized dreams, we have failed to live life to the fullest, and without a doubt will not reach the full potential that God dreams for each of us.

Labels: dreams, unity

posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, February 21, 2008