A Dream Came True!

Joseph was a seventeen-year-old young man. He took care of the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph told his father about the bad things his brothers were doing. Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because Joseph had been born in Israel’s old age. So he made Joseph a special robe with long sleeves. Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them. They hated Joseph and couldn’t speak to him on friendly terms. Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, "Please listen to the dream I had. We were tying grain into bundles out in the field, and suddenly mine stood up. It remained standing while your bundles gathered around my bundle and bowed down to it." Then his brothers asked him, "Are you going to be our king or rule us?" They hated him even more for his dreams and his words. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream: I saw the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to me." When he told his father and his brothers, his father criticized him by asking, "What’s this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers come and bow down in front of you?" Gen. 37:2-10

We all have dreams. I am not referring to our dreams in a fantasy world while we slept soundly but to those vivid dreams we had when we were younger, at least once upon a time in our colorful life. Everyone must have had a chance to say, "One day, I’m going to be this and that… go there and beyond….own those and that…." On and on the list went. That was when we were younger. As we grew, our dreams grew, too. Others had their dreams grow much bigger and more challenging. Some had theirs dumped on the shelves, accumulating dust, or worse by far, fell into oblivion. Many had constantly transforming dreams caused by their ever-evolving circumstances. If you are a person who had his or her dreams came true, then you are one of the elite. I admire you with all respect and would like to learn how you reached there. And if you are a person who has thrown the towel with regards to his or her dreams, or probably one who is sweating it out to fulfill his or her dreams, then keep reading. We are in the same boat, my friend, tossed by ghastly winds of bewilderment and gigantic waves of burdens that come in lengthy series like a TV sitcom – seemingly unending, gobbling much of our costly attention every now and then.

Let us carefully and attentively learn from the life of Joseph, "the dreamer", whose name means "increase or addition" in Hebrew. His dreams, and the manner he devoted his life chasing it, engrave boldly several essential principles on how we may reach the place of "a dream came true".

First; do not let anything or anyone PUSH you into a dream that is not your dream. Joseph must have delightfully cherished his days as the "special son" to his father, Jacob. Whenever they had lamb for dinner, Joseph’s portion was the tenderloin or lamb chop. His brothers shared among themselves the ribs, hinds and the spine. If they had turkey or chicken for lunch, Joseph got the legs or breast, and his brothers satisfy themselves with the wings, back and neck. Joseph had a dream. His father’s special treatment of him did not at all blur his focus on his dreams. That was why he always talked his dreams to his father and jealous brothers.

I know a man who was brought into a Bible College by his father in his early teens. This young boy did not even have a clear idea what he would become after graduating from a Bible College. But in the course of his studies, he started to recall the words of his old pastor who walked limping with the support of a cane. That chubby skin-head pastor who used to lay his hands on the boy’s head to pray for him, and after the conclusive "amen" , looked to the boy’s eyes and declared few prophetic words, "you will be a pastor one day".

Each person living in this planet has his or her own life’s purpose. I agree with Pastor Rick Warren’s book, "The Purpose Driven Life", although I may disagree in some of his statements. God has already masterfully designed His divine plan for everyone who receives Christ as Savior and Lord. You may call that God’s prevenient grace. Many people out there are spending their lives chasing somebody else’s dreams. Your families, particularly your parents, can guide you into a dream. It’s not wrong to chase your parents’ dreams as long as you know that it is what God wants you to chase. Even your friends can cheer you into a dream. But only God can carry you into a place of "a dream came true".