Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday June 24, 2008

Early on the morning of May 21, 1927 Charles (Lucky) Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Airport in New York hoping to complete the world's first transatlantic flight. He did just that flying from New York to Paris in slightly under 331/2 hours. I wasnt' yet born, but I have read about this flight many times over the span of my life. I still get chills when I read it. I actually touched the Spirit of St. Louis one time.

Why do we humans get so inspired by first accomplishments? We have sent space ships to Mars, landed men on the moon, plumbed the ocean depths, reduced Mt. Everest to a blind or old mans recreation, yet some new, wonderful feat will set the media ablaze and our hearts on fire with renewed enthusiasm.

Shortly after Lindbergh's flight F. Scott Fitzgerald commented on it with a few brief lines:

"In the spring of 27, something bright and alien flashed across the sky. A young Minnesotan did a heroic thing, and for a moment people set down their glasses in country clubs and speakeasies and thought of their old best dreams."

Some American Indian tribes have a gadget they call a "Dream Catcher" the idea is that somehow dreams flow into this circle of feathers etc and get caught thus enabling the owner of the catcher to hold onto their fondest dreams. I suppose this came into being as a result of so many of the dreams of the tribes being set aside for a glass of wine during happy hour, where the folks drink away their misery and search for just one hour of happiness in a vain effort to numb the pain of broken or set aside dreams.

To dream again "Old Dreams" is a good thing, but a better thing as we grow long of tooth is to learn to dream new dreams, sometimes new and impossible dreams more in line with the God given gifts we have. You do realize that Lucky Lindbergh did not just climb into an airplane or as they called them in those days, aeroplane, and fly off into the wild blue yonder. It took years of preparation to pull his dream from the "catcher" and turn to it into reality. The difference between a dream and a day dream is that a true dream drives the dreamer to do the things necessary to make the dream come true. The millions of folks who traveled in airliners across vast expanses of oceans have no idea of the enormous risk Lindberg took in the spring of 27.

Have you read, in the Bible, of the dreams of Abraham, of Joseph who dreamed such big dreams that when his brothers saw him they muttered among themselves, "What will this dreamer say?" As I travel around the country it is obvious that far too many Christians have set aside their once fondest dreams and much like Fitzgerald's country club set, gather around in little cliques occasionally remembering the dreams of yesterday.

Can it be that a renewal of the human spirit is really people beginning to dare again to dream? One of the aspects of the age of the Spirit is that God's young people will see visions, and our old men will dream dreams. At the outset all great dreams are impossible. But with God…

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2008 Use with credit.

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