Last night I had a dream. It was a really good dream. Usually my dreams or nightmares occur in the "moderate" range. That is, my dreams are rarely ever so great that they don't have at least some negative elements in them, and my nightmares are hardly ever so scary that they can be described as horrifying.
But last night's dream was an exception. I dreamed that I was in my senior year at Washington Bible College, and I had just returned from an away game where I scored 26 points. (I think that in the dream we won the game, but it's interesting that the only thing I really recalled was my outstanding individual performance!) Upon returning to the school, I found my bride-to-be, Ruthie, sitting out in the picnic area (apparently it was early spring) with dozens of other students having dinner. She asked me how I did, after greeting me with a kiss. (Again, this could only happen in a dream, because students were not allowed to kiss on the WBC campus, so we would have never done this ... at least not out in the open!) I was more than happy to tell her. She along with everyone else was rather impressed. At that point I joined her and our friends at the table, and that's right when the dream ended.
Then I woke up. It's almost twenty years later. My basketball skills are yesterday's news. I haven't scored 26 points in the last two decades, but I have picked up 26 pounds. My right knee is arthritic and is constantly giving me grief. Two of my children have already beaten me legitimately in one type of basketball game or another.
Now normally I would have been depressed waking up to such hard, cold reality. But honestly I wasn't. Because whatever I've lost in the last 20 years or so has been far outweighed by what I've gained: a beautiful, godly wife ... five precious children ... seventeen years of full-time pastoral ministry ... the formation of many friendships ... and, by God's grace, a closer walk with Christ.
I couldn't help but think of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outward nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day." Amen! This body is slowly wasting away, but one day it will be better than it's ever been. And it's all because that when God saves a person, He doesn't do a half-way job. He redeems both the outside and the inside so that one day, faster than the wink of an eye, "this mortal body [will] put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:54), and all the thanks goes to God, "who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:57).
I'm looking forward to that Day. In the meantime, I'll work hard at taking care of both my soul and my body, getting both the spiritual and physical exercise I need to serve the Lord at an optimal level.
And, of course, I'll take those dreams as often as they come.
Hoops, anyone?
I remember being 16, and being able to run and effortlessly vault myself over a tall picket fence in my parents' back yard.
ReplyDelete"The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old." -- Proverbs 20:29
As you say - think of how we've grown in the Lord since then!
Pastor Matt, did you have Pizza last night? I did and I had the wierdest dream. I don't usually remember my dreams, but this one I did. I dreamed that God had given me 3 new babies to take care of. I'm just getting beyond middle age now and I woke up thinking I had these additional children. In my dream I resigned myself to having the children, but I thought I haven't got the physical energy to do this again. As you state, our physical endurance wanes (as I am slowly finding out) but I see that I'm growing spiritually in a way I hadn't when I was younger. I wonder that gray hair, aches and pains are associated with God slowing us down to really gain our attention so we understand how really dependent he wants us to be on him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have pizza tonight again so God can reveal something else to me in a dream!
Pastor Matt and Eddie, reading this post and your response has caused me to reflect on not just the physical but the mental as well. Many people will talk about the physical things they accomplished, but do you ever think about some of the creative ideas and solutions that came with youth and fearlessness?
ReplyDeleteI recall doing things that I was told “can’t be done”. I look back and scratch my head at some of the solutions I came up with years ago and wonder how I ever came up with that. Of course this process only makes me realize the decrease in hair that accompanies the increase in age. But that’s for another posting.
With all that said, I praise God for replacing worldly thoughts and ideas with those of a different world; those of His kingdom. We should all be careful to give glory where glory is due and praise God for His grace, knowledge and our salvation for without that, what good is anything else?
(Philippians 3:8-11 NASB)
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I think the dream was meant to help you understand why Ruthie hasn't kissed you for the last 20 years! Even imaginary crime committed at WBC doesn't pay.
ReplyDeleteWow--I'm sorry I missed this blog until now. Pastor, you should come out some Monday and join Matt (Jr.?) and Elijah on the court.
ReplyDeleteI had one of the "highlights" of my basketball life journey this Monday (the 31st) at FBCW: I had the ball on a two-on-one fast break, and, for the first time in my life, lobbed a successful alley-oop to (horror-of-horrors) a kid 8 years younger than me. Today, I woke up to tortured knees, ankles and lower back, so I quite understand your appreciation for the non-physical ways in which God helps Believers to gracefully mature.