You may be familiar with the movie quote that I allude to in my title. It comes from “Gladiator” where the Caesar tells his general, “There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it – anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.” As I was asking God about what to write this month, this came to mind. There was once a dream that was Freedom Centre. Such a statement can be provocative – eliciting a strong emotional response. Whether you have been at Freedom Centre for long or not, we all become part of something bigger than ourselves with a sense of destiny or direction. We face this in our own lives as we graduate from grade school with a vision or promise of some sort of achievement in life. We all have a dream. Then when the circumstance of life intersects with that dream, we can become discouraged and disillusioned. The second word, disillusioned, is probably a most accurate way of describing it and yet to say so is to also risk losing the dream. The difficulty we face is that we often interpret and extrapolate the dream instead of investigating and exploring the dream. The dream God puts in our hearts often does not come out how we envision it. A good example is to consider the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning Jesus. If Jesus had looked and lived as many expected, they would have received Him as their Messiah. We can look back and see how Jesus fulfilled prophecies concerning His being rejected and needing to die for our sins. However, how easily would we have seen it if we were with His disciples at that time. Jesus even told them that He had to die and rise again but they still missed it. Also, consider how visions and prophecies can seem to be speaking of something that happens in an instant or over a short period of time and yet the realization of them can take time and process. I believe there still is a dream in the heart of God for Freedom Centre. I believe there is a dream for your life in Christ. It is not a thing of the past but of the present and future. We may have missed seeing the process that brings a completeness to the dream, but it is still at work. We may not see the valleys between the mountain tops but they are part of the journey. I want to encourage you to press forward in God for the promises of God are “yes” and “amen.” (2 Cor. 1:20) Journeying with you, Pastor Merril