Dreams & Reality

When I was a kid, I had a dream. I wanted to patrol LF for the St. Louis Cardinals and wear #7. I started playing baseball when I was in 4th grade and absolutely loved it. At that time, when they didn’t really know where to stick a kid, he ended up in the outfield, and that’s where I played for the majority of my Little League career. I was pretty good as an outfielder. I went through a couple bad seasons at the plate, but I could catch just about anything that was hit near me, and I earned a reputation for not being afraid to try to throw out somebody at the plate (which I did on more than one occasion).

At that time in my life, I loved to play baseball and I loved to bowl. It never really dawned on me that I could do both of them, so for a couple of years, I gave up bowling in favor of baseball, and then I gave up baseball in favor of bowling. In the end, I hurt my development in both sports. Don’t get me wrong, I was still a decent baseball player, and a pretty good bowler, but I could have been better.

I actually gave up on baseball after my 8th grade year. I never tried out for the middle school team because I didn’t think I was good enough. Of course, after hearing stories of people getting hit in the face with a fly ball in the outfield during tryouts, I should’ve rethought my decision. My dream of pursuing baseball ended up fading away. Let’s flash forward 15 years.

Fifteen years later, there’s a guy patrolling left field for the St. Louis Cardinals. He wears #7, and his name is Matt, but it’s not me. I gave up on my dream of baseball, but what I have found in its place is a reality that is far greater. I’m a pastor. I’m following God’s call in my life. Looking back, maybe it’s a good thing I couldn’t hit worth a lick for a couple of years. It helped me see that pursuing baseball was not going to be the ultimate end for my life. God had a much greater plan.

You always hear people say, “Follow your dreams!” But I’m actually going to discourage you from doing that… in a sense. There’s something someone much bigger that we need to be following: Jesus Christ. Let’s face it, we’ve all had some crazy dreams. I had a dream once where I was playing golf. After I sunk a putt, a bunch of gophers came charging out of the hole after me. Some of our dreams are just nuts. But there’s nothing crazy about following God’s call in your life. Follow Jesus, and let your dreams come from Him.