Today is a beautiful day here in Houston. One of those 70 degree spring days that just begs you to come out and play. The reading today was something like that to my heart. My wife and I have been talking all day about some professional opportunities that just came our way.

First here’s one of the quotes from before the chapter.

There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say,”Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.” Then they put the box away and bring it out once and awhile to look in it, and yep, they’re still there. – Erma Bombeck.

Currently how connected do you feel to your dreams? Does your day-to-day life reflect an active pursuit of your dreams? What prevents you from such a pursuit?

Right now I feel very connected to my dream. I guess a lot of that has to do with the OMTL study, and it has to do with new ways of accomplishing it opening to me. There have been a number of risky things I’ve done in my life on faith and I get a feeling in my head when I know they are going forward. I’m getting that feeling.

There are a number of obstacles to accomplishing these dreams, but I know if God wants it to happen it will. Money is an issue, though not one that scares me. There is a relationship issue, but only one when I thought there would be two. I thought I’d have to sell the Mrs on pursuit of my dream, but she discovered her own dream inside and we’ve got two dreams moving in the same direction together.

How do you distinguish between your own selfish dreams and the God-given dream planted in your life? How has God revealed and reinforced His dream in your life?

Last night at church I wondered the answer to this question. I even wrote it on my bulletin during church. In today’s chapter Pastor Kerry gave an answer.

First, God’s will never goes against his Word. My dream isn’t against God’s Word. I could do things with it that were, but the dream is able to be used for good or evil.

Second, is the dream must require faith. This was a new one to me. It can’t be easy. “If a dream is from God, it will be so big in your life that you can’t do it on your own.”

Third, it makes a difference in the lives of others, it is not a selfish dream. Again my dream could be used selfishly, but I think it could really help people as well.

Fourth, it comes from your heart. “He wants you to go for it because it’s incorporated in your being, not because He’s trying to hijack your life. He doesn’t give you a passion for one dream and then call you to fulfill a life plan that’s completely unrelated.”

Pull out your “dream box”. What’s in there? Write out a description of one dream you have that you believe is from God. How has it “floated to the top” in your life?

Been talking about my dream as a secret. Well here it is. I want to be a filmmaker. Not a big surprise to readers of this blog. When I was a teenager is said, “I want to make movies like John Hughes, but with a Christian theme.” John Hughes was the writer/director of 80s teen flicks, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Buller’s Day Off. All of which really touched me. Today I’d still like to do that. Though now there are more adult films I’d like to see done with a Christian point of view, like Hughes’ She’s Having A Baby But not an over the top approach like many Christian movies are. I want to make “secular” movies, movies that appeal to a wide audience, but have Christian themes.

Now the question is how. When it comes to dreams that God is going to do, it is best not to be real specific how he should do them. He has a way that I may not know at all. So I’m putting out fleeces. There are two main ways I’m doing that today.

I’m going to be shooting my Beauty and Brains show next weekend for the purpose of creating something I can take to SXSW in March. Maybe something will come of that. May seem B and B isn’t Christian, but you might be surprised. We’ll wait and see.

The other how I’m pursuing is going to film school. Specifically I want to go to Full Sail in Florida. I’ve been doing a lot of research and find there are varying views on Full Sail. Some people hate it, some love it. Having been on the internet for decades I’ve started feeling if there is a serious hate filled rant against something, then that something is probably good. How twisted is that?

A lot of the negatives people have with Full Sail are about the cost and the lack of regional accreditation. Cost is always an issue, but I don’t think they are much different from any private college. Accreditation would be an issue if I didn’t already have two other BA degrees. I’m going to learn the stuff not get a degree. I want to learn is quickly which Full Sail better than anyone else. I want films to show for it at the end and Full Sail promises that for every film grad.

So that’s my dreamsicle. And God will have to make it happen. Please pray he does.