A Reality That Exceeds The Dream

My heart was taken with the preacher's words,
"He shall mount up as if on eagles' wings,
If he attends the Lord, and undergirds
His Kingdom; if lost souls he to Him brings!"
I daydreamed of standing before great throngs,
In large cities and small towns ev'rywhere,
Preaching the dangers in doing vile wrongs;
Of rewards for those who for Jesus care!
In my dreams the Lord did my strength renew,
And with His power, I did not grow faint;
Telling millions how their dreams could come true,
By choosing Jesus who forgives sins' taint!
My real life story fell short of the dream,
Yet my rewards will be e'en more supreme!

You cannot daydream your way to heaven. Fortunately, my youthful daydreams of being a champion for Jesus came after I had given my heart to Him at age 9. The rewards of my real life in His service do not depend upon fulfillling my dreams; they are based on His true promises given in the Bible. If they depended upon my real life matching the dreams, I might find myself among the "goats" on Judgment Day instead of the "sheep" (See Matthew 25, Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats), for I suspect the daydreams were based upon my own talent in securing the plaudits of popular opinion, rather than my uplifting the Savior while I receded into obscurity. That's really how He insists that we serve Him; He is the hero---we are the peons that lift Him up.

Daydreaming is for youth. It is the first thing that leaves us as we age. If you are over 40, have you had a daydream lately? I doubt it. The thing about daydreaming that is always present: The dreamer is always the hero. That's not a charecteristic that Jesus admires. In fact, it is actually sinful, because the Bible tells us to be subject to authority, to turn the other cheek, to eliminate all personal pride in favor of pride in God. But don't condemn daydreaming. My own dreaming undoubtedly had great influence on my real life, and fortunately again, it led me into a life of Christian ministry, serving God. Another influence was a sermon on the following scripture from Isaiah.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:30-31)

I hope other young people out there will daydream a lifetime of service to our Savior and God; it cannot do anything but help them to live lives approved by Him, and guarantee the promised rewards in heaven. Another great influence upon the course of my life was the traveling tabernacle of two preachers named Phillips and Sullivan. They may have been chased from town to town, because the local pastors almost never approved of them, and no one ever knew how much money they collected or what it was used for. They set up a large tent in the spring of 1935 or 1936 on a vacant lot in south McComb, filled it with folding wooden chairs, and opened up for revival services 6 nights a week; this lasted almost 6 months; one morning they hurriedly took everything down and left town. Despite what we might imagine, they were good old fire-and-brimstone peachers, and the tent was filled every night, despite the grumbling of our own church pastors. Lost people were saved, and the young people always had a place to go every night. We went regularly; probably our purpose was not so much to worship God, but the boys might be worshiping a new girl, or vice versa, and some of what God wanted said rubbed off on us; I know, for myself, that was the beginning of my daydream train about being a great preacher for Jesus. Who knows how much good they did? God knows.