Dreaming Big

Chasing Daylight is a call to live a life of blazing urgency. We have but one life. We are given one opportunity to pursue our dreams and fulfill our divine purpose. Every moment counts, and we must engage them with fierceness and zeal. Put an end to passive observation, paralyzed by the need for perfect opportunity, and start seizing the raw, untapped potential of your life with God. Are you willing to risk failure? Are you ready to get in the game? You may stumble, but you will find yourself falling forward, propelled toward the God-inspired adventure He intends you to live. -Erwin McManus

So many people look back on their childhood and remember the vase amount of imaginative goals that consumed their entire playtime. Children dream dreams bigger than anyone I have ever met because they have absolutely no limitations and their sense of adventure makes the impossible come true. Generally kids choose occupations such as doctor, teacher, firefighter, or stay at home mom because they all share one major quality - they all involve heroes. Everyone longs to be the hero of some situation but many of us suffer defeat within our teenage and adult years because we listen to those who use to be our heroes, who now suggest the safe pathways of life. The parents who use to encourage the outrageous dreams and fantasies are now suggesting safe degrees that offer the biggest paycheck and our dreams are snatched in front of our eyes and life suddenly becomes dull and mundane.

I asked my parents if they remember what I use to dream about as a kid and they said that I never talked about the future or what I wanted to be when I grew up. I feel like I was robbed of the joys and freedom of being a kid allowed to pretend and imagine to my hearts content, and I am ready to make up for lost time. I love to dream even though people around me do not understand what I am thinking. As I still wrestle with the concept of going to California to pursue something new, I cannot help but think of the safe routine that has been created for me by mworking at the bank behind bullet proof windows every day and then going to Brewdailys afterwards to be surrounded by some of my closest friends. I need something new. I need an adventure. I need to take advantage of every moment I live with zeal. I am tired of the mundane routine of work, coffee shop, school, and church, that is not a life but steps leading to a safe life of settling for less that I deserve, and I want no part of that. I am tired of wanting for the perfect situation with all doors opening and putting forth no effort to obtain my dream job, it's never going to happen. I am ready to lie a passionate life directing towards my new dreams that seem crazy to the average person but make every ounce of sense to me. I want to be a hero.

I do not want to fall anymore unless I am falling into the unimaginable opportunity of a true God inspired lifestyle.

Living Barbaric

"Jesus never made a pristine call to a proper of safe religion. Jesus beckons His followers to a path that is far from the easy road. It is a path filled with adventure, uncertainty, and unlimited possibilities-- the only path that can fulfill the deepest longings and desires of your heart. This is the barbarian way: to give your heart to the only One who can make you fully alive. To love Him with simplicity and intensity. To unleash the untamed faith within. To be consumed by the presence of a passionate and compassionate God. To go where He sends you, no matter the cost" -Erwin McManus

Lately I have really been into puzzles and trying to decide what my final result is going to look like once all the pieces finally come together. This disastrous masterpiece might not make sense to anyone who looks at it, but it will bring me the piece and comfort I have been longing for. It might even incorporate ideas that I have never thought of or that the church would ever recommend, but that is what makes me so excited and ready for the puzzle to come clear.

Many are already dismissing themselves as being part of my puzzle and I am also learning how to fit certain people in, but this has been very hard for me to grasp in the past few months. Letting people go is never easy for me, but for the purpose of fulfilling my deepest longings and desires of my heart, it sometimes seems necessary to let go of things that keep holding me back and preventing me from loving God as intensely as I should because generally I pour myself into others and forget about spending time with the God who wants to pour into me.

School is another puzzle piece that I cannot decide if it fits or not, but yet I continue to pay thousands of dollars into it instead of investing financially in others or investing my time into pursuing what I am being called to do or become. Essentially it might fit into my career piece in the future, but why am I wasting time now doing something that may never benefit the puzzle?

Work has been the main focus of my puzzle as of lately. My dream job has became available in my not so dream place at a not so dream time, so where does that leave me? Do I throw this puzzle piece in and hope that other pieces around it just adapt or is this the missing piece that makes everything else click just right?

The questions are definitely unending, but how God translates and rearranges the pieces is the idea of living as a Christian. However, excepting the crazy ideas and not living the normal expected way seems to be the Barbarian living inside of me screaming to try and understand the untamed faith within, no matter the cost. Am I ready for this outrageous adventure that lies ahead?