I'm back! Reminds me of the line made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (By the way - did you know he flubbed that line? In the original script, he was supposed to say, "I'll come back." Wow! Talk about change and opportunity. There must be a sermon in there someplace!)
Mary Kay and I had a great time with my dad and Julie down in Mytle Beach. Dad fed us every day - usually twice a day. Between returning to a more normal (sane?) diet and not hearing the ocean surf anymore, I'll admit to some withdrawal pains.
One thing I'm not withdrawing from - at all - is my commitment to an awesome Church Requel worship service this coming Sunday evening. We begin the new Dreamcoat sermon series this Sunday. I've enjoyed putting together our first thematic service to support these dream sermons. This Sunday we'll be talking about Dreaming Ugly, a study of Joseph's first dream recorded in Genesis 37.
Jana will read this Scripture for us Sunday. She does an awesome job! You could just close your eyes and dream yourself away listening to her read!!! (I only exaggerate slightly. Ha!)
We've found a way to sneak in some great dream sequences into our videos ("I have a dream!" - how could we not include that one?) along with some great music. I'm not a fan like Mary Kay, but some of you love the music recorded by Celine Dion, right? Then you'll want to come early for the countdown and listen to her famous "Power of the Dream."
A new soloist - at least to me - Shirley Murdock - will sing during our communion time. You've never heard Shirley sing "Dream? Take 5 minutes for a little soul lift over on YouTube! Her Journey CD and DVD will be released next week!
Speaking of new releases, we've also found a way to sneak in a movie clip from a new movie, The Mighty Macs, being released nationally one week from today. This inspirational true story highlights the coaching career of Cathy Rush, who took the women's basketball team of tiny Immaculata University to 3 national championships in her six years as head coach.
Why are we showing this clip? There is a scene in the movie where her star basketball player tells the coach she has to quit so she can take on a part-time job at a department store. The coach asks the player a key question: "Is this something you've always dreamed of doing?" The player responds - and this is sure to become a classic movie line - "No, but I do get a 50% discount!"
This Sunday we'll talk about ugly dreaming. What can turn our dreams into nightmares? This Sunday we'll learn that it's not my dreams that make a difference in my life, but what I do about my dreams that matter! (Let that roll around in your brain a few times!) We'll also explore three ways to take a beautiful dream and make it into something ugly!
I promise you won't want to day dream through this service. Not only that, but you won't want your friends to miss out either. So forward this little blog post their way along with your personal invite. Tell them that this church service will be beyond their wildest dreams!
Sweet dreams! Pastor Mark
