What if....

Have you ever asked yourself the question...

"What if............." 

I have.  This last week I let myself dream.  I asked God to use dreams to speak to me about His awesomeness, His power, His sovereignty, His love, His pursuit, His glory and His compassion.

I asked God to let me have a glimpse of 'heaven on earth'



Dare to dream with me?  Have you ever thought....

- What if everyone in your church decided together one day to cancel all outreach programs and instead committed to pray and care in action for the street where each member lived?  What if we all set out to bless one neighbour once every week?

- What if we were to forget about introducing people to 'come to our church' and instead focused on letting Jesus introduce Himself to them through our lives?

- What if we were to pray with true faith in God that He could use us to turn 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or all of the homes on our street into homes filled with followers of Christ?  What if we started by finding out the names of the people in each of the homes on our streets?

- What if we were to pray with true faith in God that He could use our children as missionaries in their class?  That their classes would become the LIGHT in their schools?  That they would lead their teachers and principles to know who God is?

- What if we were to commit to engaging in conversation with our next door neighbour every time we see them park their cars at the same time you come home from work?  At the same time you take out the garbage on garbage days?  At the same time you mow your lawn?

- What if instead of passing out candies during Halloween (or leaving home so that we don't have to be faced with the decision of whether to participate or not), each small group in our church were to claim one of the streets where one of our families live, and in addition to passing out candies we also made soup or chili and served it to the parents and engaged in conversation with them?

- What if instead of doing Vacation Bible Schools for children in the summer we brought a mobile VBS to our neighbourhoods just like the ice cream trucks in the summer?

- What if instead of doing Ladies Bible Studies, each of the 4-6 ladies in the group were to go to the Community Centre in our neighbourhoods and just engage moms we see, who are playing with their kids, waiting for their kids to finish a ballet class or hockey class, or are just simply sitting there to kill time at the library?

- What if instead of joining our church's yearly Christian baseball/hockey/soccer leagues we were to join the community's leagues and made a commitment to let our teams know we are followers of Christ?

- What if instead of watching the next Jeremy Lin game at your best friend's home you were to go to a sports bar and watched it with other strangers?

- What if instead of being bogged down on how many 'converts' we make in a year, we focused on how many people we 'bless' in Jesus' name in a year?

- What if instead of playing with our iphones while waiting for our kids' karate or swimming lessons we were to engage in meaningful conversation with the mom or dad or grandma sitting next to us?

- What if instead of just paying for the double double we buy every morning we were to smile and introduce ourselves to the guy that serves us the same coffee every morning?

- What if instead of looking down at our credit cards when we pay to the cashier at the grocery store, we engage in conversation with them, look them in the eye and really mean it when we ask "How are you doing"?

- What if we were to give up one Sunday lunch a month and were to spend it instead to give it to our missionaries so that they could go and tell people who have never had a chance to hear about Jesus?  In my church, at $5 a lunch, that would mean $1250 a month, $15,000 a year.

- What if we, for once, decided to share our dreams with others, and decided to unite our ideas and efforts together, and were to commit to invest our resources into something that will bless others in Jesus' name?




Do you see my point?

The experience was quite something.  As I imagined the "what if's" my heart rushed to contain my emotions.  I wanted to stop them from flooding my mind.  I kept on thinking:  "don't dream any more, Sandy...you cannot do these things...you are busy enough...you are doing enough...you are going to burn out"

God's point?  I was not dreaming because God wanted to give me more ideas so that i could DO more things

God reminded me of the brokenness He has already surrounded me right here right now: on my street, with the people I see every day. 

God wanted me to acknowledge that His awesome power IS indeed enough. 

I needed to accept the fact that He does not work in a box.  He is a creative God, not limited by human plans, logic or timelines. 

God showed me how simple and yet difficult it was going to be for me to truly live out loud for Him.  It will require commitment, vision, but above all, learning to listen to His voice.  


It cannot be all about doing.  It was all about being

What makes these 'dreams' difficult is this:  for most of them, there is no set time to 'plan' and 'meet'.  They are not really 'events'.  They do not have a beginning and and end.  They simply require one thing:  for me to be real every day of my life; to be willing to not only think about myself and my family but to be aware of what goes on around me.

To be or not to be...that is the question.

Do you dare to dream and be with us and for Him?


What are some of your "what if's" for you, your family, your church?  

Share with us!