What is your dream and what are you doing to make it happen?

I believe Coldplay’s song, “Paradise” captures that thought….

When she was just a girl she expected the world

But it flew away from her reach

So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of

Para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise

Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl she expected the world

But it flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth

Life goes on, it gets so heavy

The wheel breaks the butterfly every tear a waterfall

In the night the stormy night she’ll close her eyes

In the night the stormy night away she’d fly

Think back when you were young and the world was wide open. I know when God told me youth ministry when I was a teenager, I had no idea what it truly meant. I knew that I would be doing youth ministry the rest of my life but no clue what the dream meant and the roads it would take and continue to take me today.

Saying yes to God’s calling was a powerful moment in my life and it transformed everything. I was able to dream bigger than ever before. I had pastors, teachers, mentors, professors, and youth volunteers that poured into me and constantly breathed life into my dream of youth ministry. I still do! That’s the paradise part.

Then real life hit. All of a sudden, that dream starts to dimmer because of the hard real world stuff. I interned for a ministry and learned the negative parts of being a business. I saw politics and racism within the church world. My oldest son was born with a terminal illness. Almost lost my wife and our second son during his childbirth. I had to walk through two back to back layoffs. One happened the same week my daughter was born with her terminal illness. Followed by multiple cystic fibrosis tunes ups for our kids in the hospital. Then the pandemic hits and we are on high alert for our kids safety and our own. And most recently I’m having to explain to my kids why the protest is happening and the sad reality how racism is still rampant in our country.

But the dream still lives on! As Coldplay shouts, “Para, para, paradise!”. Through all of life challenges, the ministry has never stopped. The dream stayed the same but morphed in the “how” from traveling across the country with an evangelist, to full time youth ministry, to full time children’s ministry, to leading a volunteer youth outreach, and now to create a community center for the youth and their families (Hacer210.org). Every obstacle I mentioned earlier only strengthens my faith in God. Instead of breaking pieces of the dream apart, it only solidified it, and made it grow bigger!

This is where I’m excited. When I was 16yrs old and said yes to God, I never imagined being 41 and starting a nonprofit. But I have never quit dreaming. I tell my kids every night to dare to dream, live the vision. I want them to dream bigger than I ever could, and live out the vision that God gives them.

God, I continue to give you my dreams. God, I say yes to your vision Lord keep my dreams focused on you and serving others. Let my dreams inspire others to dream big. Amen!