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March 2000 Table of Contents
Food For Thought
Hope With A Blueprint
By Derric Johnson
J.C. Penney was sitting behind his executive desk when Dr. David LaShana was ushered into the large penthouse office. Dr. LaShana, then the President of George Fox University, was on the East Coast making foundation and corporation calls to raise money on behalf of his school.
Arriving at the Penney headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas (not far from Radio City Music Hall) he took an elevator to the top floor and entered the luxurious reception area. A secretary accepted his business card and disappeared down a long hall to verify the appointment.
It took only a few minutes until Dr. LaShana was standing In front of the great James Cash Penney. Even though he was nearly 100 years old, he was still spending a few hours every day in his office. He was wearing his polka dot bow tie and still sporting his white "walrus" mustache... the familiar trademarks of the man who had made retail history in America.
As Dr. LaShana approached the desk, he noticed Mr. Penney squinting at the business card. "You will have to forgive me," he said. "I'm losing my vision." Suddenly he stopped, slammed the card on the desk and exclaimed, "No, sir, I am only losing my eyesight... not my vision!"
Life without vision is like a hamburger without onions...It just doesn't stick with you. Vision is the world's most desperate need. There are no hopeless situation...only people who think hopelessly. We don't see things as they are. We tend to see things as we are...and vision is a renewed sense of the possible. It is seeing what others don't see.
One day Michelangelo entered his studio to examine the work of his students. Looking at the painting of one of his favorite pupils, he shocked the class by suddenly writing in broad, black strokes one word across the canvas.
That one word he splashed on the picture was AMPLIUS, meaning "larger." Michelangelo was not rejecting the work. It exhibited great skill and was good as far as it went. But the small canvas made its design appear cramped. The whole thing needed to be expanded...it just wasn't developed enough. To quote a friend of mine, "We need a bigger sky!" Faith calls us to the heights of impossibility, up in the rare air where God says, "All things are possible."
Doubt sees the obstacles...
Faith sees the way!
Doubt sees the darkness...
Faith sees the day!
Doubt dreads to take a step...
Faith soars on high!
Doubt questions, 'Who believes?"
Faith answers, "I!"
When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing ship. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship.
Mr. Taylor," he said, 'We have no wind. We are drifting toward an Island where the people are heathen, and I fear, cannibalistic."
"What can I do?"
"I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind."
"All right, Captain, I will...but first you must set the sail."
"Why, that's ridiculous! There's not even the slightest breeze. Besides... my sailors will think I'm crazy if I set the sail before we feel the wind."
"You must show your faith, Captain. Until I see the sail... there will be no prayer."
The officer finally agreed. Forty-five minutes later he returned and found the missionary still on his knees. "You can stop praying now, Mr. Taylor. We've got more wind than we know what to do with!"
Just like that Captain, some people have a hard time expecting or experiencing anything that deviates from the norm. It seems that their main function in life is to demean your dream, vilify your vision and hurt your hope. To them, vision and dream would be classified as la creme de la junk. Albert Einstein said that great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
It's the attitude of the media critic who shared, "It's the kind of movie that grips you by the eyelids and won't let go until you've fallen asleep."
And then there was the editor who summarized a book: "Once you put it down, you can't pick it up."
But not to worry...George Bernard Shaw often said, "A critic is to the arts what a pigeon is to a statue."
I was speaking to a Pastor the other day that told me, "We can no longer use the word 'dream' in our sermons or promotions. The New Age people have taken over the word and given it a new connotation."
Well, I don't know about you but I'm not going to give that piece of vocabulary away to anybody. Anyway we had it first. It belongs to us. (AMEN! -ed.)
In early patriarchal times, God often appeared in theophany (His visible appearance) to godly men, but from the time of Jacob and onward His revelations were more often in dreams. For Instance…
Jacob Genesis 28:10-17
Abimelech Genesis 20:3
Laban Genesis 31:24
Pharaoh Genesis 41: 1-36
Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 2:1-45, 4:5-33
The Prophet Joel wrote, "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy and your old men shall dream dreams" (Joel 2-28), and on the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Paul quoted those words regarding dreams (Acts 2.17).
The archangel Gabriel appeared to Joseph in a dream when he announced the coming of Jesus through Mary (Matthew 1:20). Joseph was told in a dream to take the young child and his mother, and flee Into Egypt (Matthew 2:131. The angel appeared in another dream and said to Joseph, "Take the young child and his mother, and go back into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life." (Matthew 2:20)
The Wise Men were warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod...so they departed into their own country another way. (Matthew 2:12)
For the most part, dreams were given to holy men in service of God, and those dreams were often not recognized or perceived by their associates.
And today, a dream is defined as a fond hope, which may be understood as grand expectation, abundant confidence, or distinctive anticipation.
The word has everything to do with intention, ambition, yearning and enterprise. It embodies aspiration, endeavor and purpose.
To dream is to imagine things as possible and desirable. It means giving free reign to the visionary call of God...without which...the people perish (Proverbs 29:1 81).
Anybody can see the seeds in an apple...that is normal. But to see the apples in a seed...that is vision.
In that landmark book, CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL you can read about Monty, the son of an itinerant horse trainer who traveled from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch practicing his trade. As a result, Monty's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on the 200-acre dream ranch.
He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he got his paper back. On the front page was a large red 'F' with a note that read, "See me after class."
Monty went to see the teacher and asked, "Why did I get an F?"
The teacher said, "This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an Itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land...pay for the breeding stock...and later the stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it. But if you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade."
Monty sat with his dream theme, toying with it and adjusting it for a whole week. Finally, he turned in the original paper, making no changes at all. He said, "You can keep the 'F'...and I'll keep the dream."
Monty Roberts lives in his dream house today on his dream ranch with his dream horses. It all came true...and he still has that school paper. Its framed and hung over the huge fireplace.
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible...it is hope with a blueprint.
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