LIFE'S DREAMS: #1 Shattered Dreams

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford
Scripture: Revelation 1:17-19

BASEBALL DREAMS 

When I was a kid, at least in the place where I lived, we didn’t have organized sports such as Little League. The only ball games I knew anything about were the yard games at home and recess games at school. The other kids were my only coaches. I always thought it would be nice to know more about baseball so that I could play better. I disliked it when at recess time we chose up for teams and I was one of the last to be chosen.

It was the summer between seventh and eighth grades. I was twelve years old. My father had decided to change pastorates. We would be moving from Mount Carmel, Illinois to Birmingham, Alabama. I experienced a mixture of both fear and anticipation that summer. While I was afraid of going to a new school, I looked forward to the excitement of living in a new part of the country and of making new friends. In the early part of the summer before we moved, I started dreaming about being a good baseball player at my new school in Birmingham. If I could play ball well I was sure that the kids would like me. And so, in the front yard of 227 East Second Street in Mount Carmel I practiced daily a special pitch that I had developed. In fact, I did it so many times that I can still do it. It’s part and parcel of me. Taking the ball in my right hand, I swing out to the right, quickly pull it in toward my stomach, then pull back toward the right, turn my wrist and come forward with the pitch. What a beauty! I thought. My confidence soared. I was sure that I had mastered it, and the kids in Birmingham would be so impressed with it that I would be one of the star players.

We moved. The summer was over. I found myself in the eighth grade at Woodrow Wilson Grammar School. Recess time. Baseball was the game. Team leaders started choosing players. Surely, they would choose me. But, of course, they didn’t even know me. First choices were made; I wasn’t among them. Second choices, third. With each choice made, I felt worse and worse. Finally, everybody had been chosen except me. I was the left over kid. They didn’t even know my name. Obviously, I wasn’t the pitcher. And when I got up to bat, I couldn’t even hit it, and when I tried to catch the ball in the field I dropped it. They shook their heads in disgust at the new kid. I knew then and there that there was no chance I would ever be chosen as the pitcher. My dream had been shattered. Things hadn’t turned out the way I had hoped they would. The walk back into the school building that day was lonely and embarrassing.

No doubt you, too, have had some shattered dreams. It may be that even right now you are going through such pain. Is there a Christian perspective that will help us cope with such experiences?

Yes, there is. We can put it in three words: Concentrate, Compensate, and Consecrate. 


CONCENTRATE 

First, Concentrate. Concentrate on the God who is still there when your fondest dreams are shattered. One of the places where we see this at work is in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. This book has so much symbolism in it that most people find it exceptionally difficult to understand. Even though I have read and studied the book for years, there are still passages which are unclear to me. Due to the difficulty of understanding many of the passages, we often ignore the whole book. But that is a major mistake. Whether we understand all of the details or not, the fact of the matter is that the human author of this book, a man named John, was, like us, a man with shattered dreams.

John was a minister to the churches in Asia Minor. He had some important things to say to them. Wouldn’t it have been better if he could go from church to church and deliver his messages to them orally, in a face to face relationship? But when the political authorities captured him and exiled him to a windswept, desolate island some 37 miles from the mainland, that obviously was not to be. Patmos is only about ten miles long and at its widest point only about 6 miles across. Eusebius, and ancient historian, says that John was confined there for about a year and a half. It was a place of shattered dreams.

But what John did there was to concentrate on God. He was convinced that God was bigger than what had happened to him. In chapter one, he has a vision of Christ. According to verse 17, John says, "Then I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last.”[i]

In the midst of John’s ordeal, he sensed the presence of his risen Lord who placed his right hand on him. It was a hand of blessing and of assurance, a hand of empowerment and of encouragement. Accompanying the touch of the Lord'’ hand was the sound of the Lord'’ voice telling him not to be afraid. Why shouldn’t he be afraid? It was because as the first and the last, our Lord always has a perspective that is far greater and grander than any dream any of us could ever have. The Lord precedes all dreams and will be there long after they are shattered.

And so, the whole book of Revelation is about John’s concentration on God. He does not concentrate on what might have been in the future but on the God of the future. As a result, songs of praise are found throughout the book. In one such song, we find in Revelation 19:6 the words, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”

Regardless of the brokenness of our dreams, the fact of the matter is that the Lord God reigns. He still has plans for us. He is still in control. He will not leave us or forsake us. With his hand of love on us, he says, “Child, do not be afraid.”

COMPENSATE 

The second word is Compensate. God always compensates for that which has been lost. If John had delivered his message to each of the seven churches face to face, it is unlikely that they would have been written down. While they would have been beneficial to the seven churches in Asia, we would not have had them. Thank God for the divine compensation that came into place when John was prohibited from visiting the churches in Asia Minor. He would write down what he had to say to the seven churches, and more. In the course of time, this written work would benefit not only the seven churches of Asia in the first century but in the church in all places and for all ages. For some 2000 years now the church has been reading and studying the book of Revelation. Multitudes have found great encouragement from it. What a compensation!

Ours is the God of generous compensation. If a dream is shattered, God is able to take the bits and pieces and build a glorious temple for his presence.

CONSECRATE 

But linked with the words Concentrate and Compensate is the word Consecrate. God calls us to consecrate ourselves to the new thing that God wants us to do in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

That is what John on Patmos did. In Revelation 1:19, the Lord instructs him as follows: “Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.” And that is precisely what he set out to do. He consecrated himself to his new work. It is of interest to me that in the whole Book of Revelation not a single word of lamentation can be found about the dismal circumstances of Patmos. Instead, all of his energies are consecrated to the task to which he has been called in his new set of circumstances. He gets on with the task to which he has been devinely assigned.

BACK TO THE BASEBALL STORY 

As I look back on my eighth grade experience referred to earlier, I see evidence of these same components. My shattered dream was the occasion for me to rely on God as never before. In fact, there were times when I felt that God was the only friend I had in the eighth grade. I concentrated on God.

But not only that. The disappointment had lots of compensations. While at that particular time, nothing would have been more important to me than to have been a baseball star hearing the cheers of those who watched my fancy pitch, something far more important was coming down the line. It was in eighth grade when I started getting positive feedback from my class mates and teachers about class reports. It was during that year that I began thinking seriously about what I might like to do with my life. I decided that I would like to become a radio news commentator. It was in the eighth grade when my love for radio was born. While I never became a news commentator, I have had the privilege for the past ten years of broadcasting the best news in the history of the world. I am more than satisfied with the divine compensation for the shattered dream.

Also, it was during that eighth grade year that I got serious about consecrating myself to the kinds of endeavors that led eventually to the Christian ministry.

I would not take anything for the joy of being a minister of the gospel, not even the hoped for cheers of students watching the fancy windup and pitch on the school ball field. My shattered dream on the Woodrow Wilson playground became the entry point into the realization of something grander and greater than I could ever have imagined that devastating day. My dream had been shattered but God’s designs hadn’t been. Neither, my friend, are his plans shattered for you.

PRAYER 

Please join with me as I pray this ancient prayer with one slight addition:

“Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee [even when our fondest dreams are shattered], and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name; Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.[ii]

[i] New Revised Standard Version used here and throughout.
[ii] Book of Common Prayer, 1695

Script 2592 (GWS)
September 1, 1996
SERIES: LIFE’S DREAMS
1. Shattered Dreams
Scripture: Revelation 1:17-19