Living the Dream
Category: Faithblogs
A few months back I came across a show on HGTV called A Place in Spain: Costa Chaos in which a young British couple, Rocco and Dawn, are going through the process of trying to buy their dream home in Spain. The show was a little ‘off the wall’ to say the least; not your typical HGTV show. My family and I had a few laughs at the antics of Rocco, lead guitarist for that ever popular band Flesh for Lulu. Never heard of them? Me neither!
Turns out that I missed part one, so I joined Rocco and Dawn in part 2 with them trying to come up with 50,000 euros, the deposit on their dream Spanish house. In one hilarious but revealing scene, Rocco takes three of his guitars to a dealer in the West End of London and is offered 25,000 euros which is half of the deposit needed. After contemplating this offer for about 2 seconds he decides he cannot part with his beloved guitars. Instead he leaves the store exactly as he had entered it, laden with guitars.
At this point in the show I knew he couldn’t be that serious about buying his ‘dream’ Spanish house if he would rather keep his guitars than pay the deposit.
A few weeks later I watched the brilliant movie The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith. The amazing thing about this movie is that it is based on a true story. I don’t know how much of the movie was “artistic license,” but if the original Chris Gardner went though even a tenth of what the on-screen Chris Gardner went through my hat’s off to him!
The basic message of the movie is that if we believe in something enough then nothing can stop us; the movie is really a testament to the human spirit and one man’s desire to succeed at all costs.
Let’s face it, we have probably all aspired to some form of greatness, yet so very few of us ever follow through with our dreams to do something with our lives, settling instead for a mundane, here and now existence. In fact, the one thing that sets people like Chris Gardner apart from the rest, is that even at their lowest point, in the darkest valley, they still have the ability to see the big picture.
This got me to thinking… if someone like Chris Gardner can dream big in a secular way, for a secular reason, and do everything in his power to realize his secular dream, then why can’t the majority of Christian’s do the same with their faith; after all wasn’t Jesus asking this of us in Matthew 28:16-20?
Going back to Rocco. Here is a guy who wants something, i.e. a house in Spain, but is unwilling to go out of his way to get it. It turns out that his “stuff” is more important than the dream. However, Chris Gardener had a dream and did whatever it took to realize it. Two very different people with very different outlooks on life.
This all leaves me wondering how different this world would look like if all the Christian’s in the Western World dreamed big, the way that Chris Gardener did, and then followed through with their dreams no matter what the cost?
It dawned on me today that many people in the church are like Rocco. They may have a dream, but are unwilling to do what it takes to make it happen. What the church needs are more people that dream like Chris Gardener; those who chase the dream and are willing to do whatever it takes to live it!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his masterpiece The Cost of Discipleship wrote, “Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship. Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word.”
Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
November, 2008
Picture by Anna Viljoen (The picture is of a young lady who had a dream of singing to the children of South Africa. Here she is living her dream.)
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Hey Chris,
I wonder if it was easier for Chris Gardner to pursue his dream because he had nothing but his dream. If you remember, he was homeless, spent a night sleeping in a subway bathroom. Whereas Rocco, still had ’stuff’. Was it harder for Chris to pursue his dream or easier because he had nothing?
Is it harder for Christians to pursue Jesus when we have ’stuff’ than if we didn’t. Personally, I believe that if you have nothing, at your the end of your rope, it is easier to pursue Jesus because there are less distractions. How hard it is for many of us then!
I’m not saying that selling everything is the answer. I think we need to recognize that we do have ‘distractions’ and to pray that God will use our ’stuff’ for His glory, rather than ours.
Always appreciate your writing Chris! Thanks!
I totally agree. In Luke 18:18-23 Jesus meets the rich young ruler and tells him to go and sell everything he has and give it to the poor. We can only come to the conclusion that having money was his distraction. It’s wrong in and of itself to have money or nice things, but when they interfere with our following Jesus, helping the poor, outreaching to our communities, or worshiping God then it becomes a problem. I personally know many Christians who have plenty and give plenty. Luke 12:48 tells us that those who have been given much will be expected to give much.
Thanks for your comments Rob… always something good to add!