Monday Morning Devotion-May 23, 2022

Dream Chasers

 In the last days, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.   Acts 2:17  

*reprinted from July 31, 2017

        Let me share a story from Mark Batterson's recent book "Play the Man:"

            When Diana Nyad was nine years old, she stood on a beach in Fort Lauderdale, FL, looked out on the ocean and asked her mom: "Where is Cuba?  I can't see it." 

            Her Mother pulled her close and they gazed out on a seemingly endless ocean.  She pointed out to the ocean and said, "It's there.  It's right over there.  You can't see it but it's so close you could almost swim there."  Cuba was 100 nautical miles away.

            That day the little nine-year-old Diana conceived a dream in her heart.  She dreamed that one day she would be the first person to swim across the straits of Florida to Cuba.

            In 1978 at the age of 29 Diana tried to swim to Cuba and failed.  The dream lay dormant for three decades, but it didn't die.  In 2011, Diana tried and failed again.  Then again.  And again.

            But she didn't give up.  Diana Nyad continued to chase that dream and on September 2, 2013, at the age of sixty-four years of age she gave it one more try. Her motto had always been;

"Find a Way."  This time she did it. She found a way.

            Finding her way through "inky black waters, dehydration, and hallucinations for fifty-three hours and 110 statute miles," Diana Nyad caught the dream she had been chasing all her life.  She became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

            How did she do it?  In her words slurred by a swollen tongue Diana Nyad dispensed this sage advice. "One, is we should never, ever give up. Two, is you are never too old to chase your dreams.  Three, is what looks like. A solitary sport, is a team (effort)."

            What dream are you chasing?  How long have you pursued it?  Actively chased it or just in your mind?  Diana Nyad said that you must "set your will."  Will power is a virtue!

            Our dreams don't get accomplished in a vacuum.  As we so often hear in any sport it takes teamwork to accomplish a goal.  It takes teamwork to fulfill a dream.

            When USA golfer Jordan Spieth won the British Open and to do so he made some incredible golf shots, even some when he couldn't see the green he was aiming for.  It would be easy to think of golf as an individual sport, one that doesn't require a team.  After all nobody else was out there hitting those golf shots for Spieth, not even the remarkable one that followed a poorly hit tee shot that went so far out of bounds he was left with an unplayable lie.  His tee shot had landed so far off course that he couldn't see the green he was hitting to, or the fairway he was supposed to be on.

            Then Spieth hit a remarkable recovery shot that enabled him to pull off a bogey out of a hole fraught with such danger he could have blown the entire tournament right there.  Instead, because of his miraculous escape from the edge of disaster, Jordan Spieth was able to realize his dream of winning The Open far across the ocean from his home in Texas.

            Afterwards he was quick to give credit to his "team."  First, his caddy had continued to encourage, advise and keep him focused when disaster seemed eminent.  He credited his "swing" coach for helping work out the potential flaws in his golf swing.  He thanked his parents and others like college golf coaches and teammates who had helped him along the way.   While it was Jordan Spieth's name that was etched on the Claret Jug with all the others who have won this tournament along the way, he had pointed out this dream fulfilled was because of teamwork.

            Diana Nyad gave her team strict instructions that nowhere along the swim route were they to tell her how far she had to go.  Sometimes your team helps you achieve your dream by the things they don't reveal instead of simply what they advise.   By the way, her Dream Team consisted of thirty-five people.

            There was one more part of Diana's dream that laid the groundwork for her success.  When she was five years old her dad, Aristotle Nyad, revealed to her what her destiny would be.  He showed her that her name was the only one among her friends that was in the dictionary.  He turned to the "N's" and pointed to this word and its definition: 

             naiad: 

            1.  Any of the nymphs living in and giving life to springs, fountains, rivers, and lakes. 

            2.  A girl or woman swimmer.

            In Acts, Peter addressed the people and informed them that in "The last days," which is

defined as the period of time between the ascension of Jesus back to heaven and the time of His second coming, i.e., the days we are living in, that the Holy Spirit will be active in our lives. 

            And through the Spirit we will have visions, predictions, prophesies and will dream dreams.  Peter is pointing out that young and old alike will receive this Spirit. So, it is written in His Word that we will become dream chasers.

            The good news is that our team who will help us fulfill those dreams is the best.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit form our team.  That is why we are encouraged to dream big so we provide plenty of room for our team to work them out.

            Young.  Old.  Male.  Female.  Dreamers all!  And all are blessed!

Prayer: Help us to dream big Lord because our dreams need to fit in your master plan for our lives.  Amen