All my Landlocked Dreams:

For those who know me, they know my favorite band is Switchfoot.  Switchfoot is a contemporary band.  Their songs talk a lot about love and hope, and it is very apparent that they are believers, but they are not necessarily singing worship songs.  I love their song lyrics.  Listening and trying to fully understand the song lyrics is my favorite part about listening to them.  There have been many times where I have been struck by a comment or a lyric.  It makes me sit back and really try to process everything it could mean. One of their songs is “Saltwater Heart,” with the lyrics “All my landlocked dreams, maybe I can believe.”   

I love the illusion of landlocked dreams.  Being landlocked as a country means the country does not have access to a large body of water.  Being close to a body of water is good because it would give access to travel, and it would also really give the country access to trading partners. With the addition of air travel, landlocked countries are not as limited, but they still do have limits compared to countries with water surrounding them.  When those countries were landlocked, it would be hard to think of achievements beyond what their eyes could behold.  

Sometimes I think we can have landlocked dreams.  Our dreams are always limited, and they will only reach a small distance.  I can only see so far ahead, so I don’t have big dreams for the future.  I keep my dreams to something that seems practical.  I don’t let myself dream for something bigger than I had originally expected.   While being realistic, practical, and responsible is necessary, it is also important to remember that God is a big God who can make some pretty big things happen.  God is a God who wants us to have good dreams through him.  He wants us to believe in him.  That is why the second part of this lyric in this song is “maybe I can believe.”  There is a prayer for belief.  It is a prayer of hope to believe in what could be achieved through God.  

Remember there were many times that Jesus would tell his disciples to believe in him as a bigger God. Jesus often had to remind the disciples that they had little faith.  The disciples needed to know how important it is to have faith in God.  Jesus often completed miracles while the disciples were awestruck by the amazing things Jesus could do.  Some examples of these miracles include Jesus sleeping on a boat while there was a huge storm.  Jesus was awoken by scared disciples until he finally calmed the waters. (Mat.8:23-27), Another time was when Peter went to walk on water (Mat.14:22-33), and when Jesus raised a man’s daughter back to life (Mark 5).  

The story I really want to highlight is when Jesus helped teach the disciples how to complete a miracle.  There was a man who had a son with epilepsy.  He was suffering a lot.  The father first went to the disciples, but the disciples were not able to cure the son.  Because of this, the father then went to Jesus himself.  He knelt and prayed to Jesus to cure his son of the disease, and Jesus did just that.  Jesus was a bit upset though.  He was upset that the disciples did not have enough faith in order to cure the boy’s epilepsy.  

The disciples asked why they were not able to cure the boy, and Jesus said it was because they did not have enough faith.  They didn’t believe in the power from God that was going through them.  This is when Jesus would remind the people that believers just need to have faith as small as a mustard seed.  “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”  Then Jesus cured the young son, and there was great joy.

Again, I am not saying this means that you have to go out and do something irresponsible.  But it does give us reason to dream bigger than sometimes we as practical, unbelieving humans may want to. I know for me that I am currently pursuing a job in some other place.  I am highly considering a different career path and now I am taking the necessary steps of applying to different jobs.  I am fearful that I will not get anything.  However, that is not me dreaming big. I also have a dream to be able to write books.  I want to be a published author where I will have many others who want to read my books and my words and learn from them.  I want to get my life lessons that I have learned out there to many others who are in the world.  

My challenge for you this week is to think about your dreams.  What is the maybe slightly crazy idea that you have had, that you never really thought could happen?  What are the dreams that seem too far off, across the ocean, not attached to the land?  Do you think there is a way these dreams could be achieved through faith and prayer?  The second part of my challenge, after reflecting on your dreams, is to pray to the Lord our God for that faith to complete all that he has put in front of you and all the dreams that are in your heart.