Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

Have you ever dreamt the unimaginable only to be awakened by its possibility pulsating within?  Dreams can leave us confounded – suspended between our present reality and a starry-eyed fixation on what could be. Our inner thoughts or divine call can either get lost in an unsearchable cosmos or become a tangible actuality. Whether or not our dreams become is not based on the dreams intensity, yea all dreams have their genesis within but are not discernible until shared.

Hence, Dreams (Visions) Always Have A Casting Call

In January, we celebrate the world renowned Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.  Rev. King etched the words I have a dream in the minds and hearts of people around the globe.  He had an unshakeable pulsating within, a dream of a world where every living person received equal and fair treatment. King understood the nobility of his dream, yet even more so recognized, if kept to himself, his “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” would remain a fiction without hope. Subsequently, this speech emerged as one of the most prolific casting calls in United States history. People from all walks of life, known and unknown have made and are making Dr. King’s dream become.  

What dreams (visions) have you kept to yourself?

With a casting call (sharing) your dream (vision) can become.

In Luke 4:18–19, Jesus provides the greatest example in world history of a vision (dream) saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Jesus courageously spoke this vision aloud. This dream, a nightmare to most of his original audience, pronounces hope to the downtrodden and judgment to the oligarchs. Jesus announces the dream in the synagogue then conducts the casting call on the beach, in towns and in the mountains, simply saying, “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people” Mark 1:16 and “Follow me and be my disciple” Luke 5:27 and Mark 3:13. Jesus’ first casting call netted twelve disciples but today his dream continues gaining followers and producing disciples. Jesus’ dream born above, seeps into the spirit of those on earth summoning us to “Come follow me”.  Seemingly meager, Jesus’ initial twelve has ballooned to billions, according to www.pewforum.org, “there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion”.

Will you dare to speak aloud your dream?

Without a casting call, our dreams (visions) are deferred withering like raisins in the sun, festering like sores. Without partners living out the dream, our dreams stagnate sagging like a heavy load destined to implode.

Casting calls are the lifeline through which our dreams become.

Questions to ponder

1. Have you answered yes to Jesus’ casting call of “Come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people”?
2. Naming your dream and having a casting call could be your next step toward obedience to God.
3. What dreams (visions) are pulsating within you?
4. Think about the 10’s, 100’s, 1000’s, and more that await your casting call.
5. Your dreams (visions) might be the answer to someone's prayer

Much Love,

Pastor Singleton

I Am Love - I am loved!

You, my sister, you, my brother are loved!  Entering this New Year may the words, I am loved, resonate within your every thought. Along life’s journey, it seems both our experiences and some people have conspired to steal our ability to accept love. Instead of love being our companion, its absence dries our wells leaving us lost and longing for love’s reemergence.

Adversary is an unfamiliar and unwanted role for True Love;

hence, True Love is a relentless missile and you are its target.

This year accept the invitation to abandon any conversations insisting that you lack worth. In this moment embrace the truth, you are a person with immense value. Perchance, these three words have escaped your hearing, from my heart I say, I love you!  More importantly, with assurance that Jesus loves you, you can confidently affirm,   I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

The coldest winter hibernates within the hollowness of the human condition.  

Yet, the love of the Savior slivers through the cracks and shortens our chills; unraveling the frigid blankets of our sin, addiction, anger, bitterness, confusion, depression and feelings of rejection. . .warming us with rays of His Light. Covered in forgiveness, filled with hope we can discard our wintry garments with anticipation of being clothed in the freeing power found in His spring of love.

We can refuse the love of Jesus, but we can’t deny the summer intensity with which God pursues us! Who alone loves us, accepts us, forgives and welcomes us after and during our every fall? Ultimate love, the love of and from Christ, is undeterred by our sins, our experiences, our defeats or our victories.   True Love stems only from the One inhabiting heaven and earth. . .the One with power over body and soul. Love triumphant consistently stoops to distant and destitute places lifting the lost to discover –       

I Am Love enabling each of us to say I am loved.

In the opening of the Parables of the Lost, we witness Love in action and have a glimpse of the willingness and desire of Jesus to make known His love for us.  In Luke 15:1 – 2, the relentless missile overlooks the complicity of our sin and the critics of our sin meeting us in our storms; feasting and fellowshipping with us, communicating I Am Love:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.””

Release yourself from the weariness accompanying any absence of love, knowing that Jesus welcomes you hoping to fill you with His love.  True Love is the missile, I Am is the name and your heart is the bulls-eye! Let today begin the season that you believe I am loved. Repeat with me, I am loved!

Every New Beginning Or New Achievement is Born in Death!

Entering a new year often stirs our ambitions and inflates our dreams and we write and utter amazing goals both of great dimension and small diameter. The New Year seems magical and without limitations; thus, we make daring resolutions and proclaim courageous I am gonna(s) . All the while our inner selves know we have traveled this road before with unimpressive results.

Hence, the reality of our resolutions is part hope, part doubt and part cynicism.

Every year many of our resolutions become mere Disney notions filled with low (to no) expectations that we will follow through this year.  I could share statistics of unfulfilled resolutions but I invite your reflection of – the many people you know (even consider yourself) from last year that haven’t:  begun exercising, lost weight, looked for a new job, saved any money, started a new career/business, quit smoking, begun volunteering, removed themselves from toxic relationships, etc., etc.? So, why am I making such venomous claims so early in our desire to believe we will _____?  Because I know, we (me included) can reverse our dismal outcomes.

Speaking of possibilities and the New Year, Howard Thurman says: “The individual stands in the midst of a stream of vitality, awareness, and fluidity, and is able, by an act in the present moment, to do for him (her) or for the context in which he (she) is operating, something that nothing else in the world can do”.

Yet, I must inject a sobering truth serum – reversal of our dismal resolution outcomes and our ability to take action toward “something that nothing (no one) else in the world can do” begins with our realization of:

Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death!

As we enter this New Year, we need not wear the bridle of low expectation. In fact, we must remain daring and courageous! But if our resolutions, dreams and goals are to become – embracing the requirement of our death (and burial) is imperative. Furthermore, if we are to nurture and birth “something that nothing else in the world can do”, forging to create fertile places (such as our spirit, mind, actions, sphere of influences, etc.) is an absolute necessity. I know we have this potential because the Ultimate Creator promised anyone who believes in me will do even greater works than I.

Why is death the beginning? A seeds greatest hope to become - is the soil where it is planted. We make resolutions, dream dreams, write goals then plant them in toxic soil. For example, when one resolves to become debt free, and precedes to max out a credit card then opens a different credit account because they did not have any money is an example of the need for death.

The challenges we face are not our resolutions but our resolve.

Making the resolution of financial freedom is noble but the first challenge is pronouncing death on the impulse for immediate satisfaction and an inclination to fulfill wants before meeting needs. Without a stalwart resolve, the seed of being debt free is suffocated and stifled by the old habit of financial recklessness.  If our dreams and resolutions are to crystallize, intense evaluation of: our habits, choices, the people we permit to influence us, our spiritual, emotional and physical wellness, etc. is urgent. Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death.

Resolutions, dreams and goals are seeds pregnant with possibilities requiring a death before they are realized. Jesus’ own death and life is the consummate example of the new life and the new beginnings that can be wrought from death. In the below scriptures, Jesus bears witness to the origin of new achievements and the consequences for overlooking them:

 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink

and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before”. Matthew 9:16

 “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.  But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives”. John 12:24

^“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and

those who lose their life for my sake will save it”. Luke 9:24

As we enter this New Year, let us focus on death not in a morbid sense; rather, as a precondition to fulfill our every resolution, dream, goal and promise. Let us commence to discovering, evaluating and pronouncing death on anything and anyone that is a hindrance to our new beginnings and achievements. I know we can fulfill our resolutions, dreams and goals but we must first pay the price.

Will your resolutions remain Disney notions or

become “something that nothing else in the world can do”?