How Crazy Are Your Dreams?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

How crazy are your dreams?

Over the weekend, Felix Baumgartner skydived from over 128,000 feet above the earth. I don’t know the full story, but the video above captures the highlights. This daredevil obviously had a crazy dream. Who would every dream of jumping out of a weather balloon at the edge of the atmosphere with nothing more than a parachute and a space suit?

Our dreams don’t have to be that crazy, but how big are our dreams?

We were talking about this the other night at dinner as we discussed the parable of the talents. Did you ever stop to realize that God has given us gifts to use and dreams to pursue? Sometimes I think that we dream way too small. As we were talking about it at our dinner table, we asked the question – what dreams has God-given us?

I commented that I have a dream to write a book someday. My wife quickly responded that this dream seems rather small as that dream isn’t all that far off considering the amount of writing I do these days. She challenged me to think bigger – to dream a crazier dream.

Okay, here goes. I want to write a library of books – at least 10. I want to build a village – not just one house in Guatemala. I dream of being 100% debt free – including the mortgage. I dream of making over two million dollars and giving most of it away. I dream of leaving a legacy that goes way beyond my life time. I dream of standing on top of Mt. Everest – of visiting Sweden – of showing people God’s love by the way I live everyday.

So often, I limit my dreams. I become content with having three meals a day, living a comfortable life, and going through the motions and routines of everyday living. I think life can be so much more than this.

I don’t think I’ll every jump out of a weather balloon over 20 miles from the earth’s surface, but I want to do things in my life that matter – that go beyond my hopes and wildest dreams – that leave a dent in this world.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. But he has given us a spirit of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7

How about you? How crazy are your dreams?

What are you doing to pursue your dreams?

Pint Size Dreams Or Ocean Size Dreams

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

Over the course of this year, God has definitely been working on my understanding of faith. Back in the spring, I posted about taking a leap of faith. That message is still working on me. This weekend, we had the honor and pleasure of hosting Dave Sgro and his son, Luke, at our house on Saturday night and to our church on Sunday morning. Dave and his family are missionaries in the town of Xenacoj in Guatemala. Our team worked with his organization (Guatemala Outreach (Go!) Ministries) while we were in Guatemala this summer.

Dave and Luke arrived at our house late around 10PM on Saturday night. I’m sure he was tired from driving and we were tired from a busy day, but we stayed up for a couple of hours to hear more about Dave’s ministry. It’s exciting to hear how God is providing ideas and resources for things that are having a huge impact on the town of Xenacoj. Dave also shared his families’ story about their decision to sell everything they owned in North Carolina including their home and business and to move their entire family to Guatemala two years ago.

As we talked, Dave talked about our expectations for God. He says that we often limit God through our expectations and dreams. We expect God to fill our pint size hopes and dreams when God is actually capable of filling ocean size hopes and dreams. It was a reminder that we need to dream big. I wrote about this earlier when I talked about building a house in Guatemala. This gave me a taste of this. I could have just sought out enough money to go on the trip, but I decided to see if we could build a house through The Stretched Community. I wonder even in that thought if I my expectations were too limited.

What would happen if we really dreamed bigger – if we realized that God is able to do far more than we could ever imagine?

Here are some of the ideas that come to mind for me:

A family missions trip this summer to Xenacoj with other families. No, a lifetime of Kingdom Journeys that change families both here in America and around the world.
Another house built by and through the Stretched Community. No, a real Stretched Community built by and through The Stretched Blog and The Stretched Community.
A book. No, ten books!

It’s my prayer that you and I would wake up to the vast love and power of a God who is able to do far more that we could imagine. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 makes more sense to me now than ever:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

(Ephesians 3:14-21)

Seriously, how are you putting limits on your dreams? How can you enlarge your dreams? What is one area where you need to grasp how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is for you? What’s your dream – is it pint-sized or ocean-sized?

WOW! Guatemala Goal Met!

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

For those of you who have been following along, The Stretched Community has been working together to fund the costs to build a house in Guatemala. If you read my post this morning, you may have noticed that we still needed $2,550 to meet this target.

Well…

You stepped up! The goal was met as of 1:36PM today!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I am amazed and blown away by the power of taking a leap of faith and by the power of community.

Thanks to your generous support, The Stretched Community will be responsible for building a house in Guatemala.

The goal has been met, but there’s still an opportunity to be involved. You can give towards another home by hitting the fundraising page, and you can definitely pray for our trip. My post from earlier today provides some specific prayer requests.

God is great!

When was the last time you were blown away?

The Stretched Blog Visits Living Better Stories

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

Today is an exciting day here on The Stretched Blog. I have the privilege of guest posting over at Jeremy Statton’s blog (Living Better Stories) today. My post titled Rediscovering My Dreams shares some of my journey and thoughts regarding overseas missions. Here’s an excerpt to get you started:

It was almost two years ago that my wife and I were making final preparations for the missions trip of a lifetime to Nairobi, Kenya.

A Painful Death

As we finalized our packing list and visited the doctors for our final immunizations, the wheels began to fall off our plans. My wife was starting to deal with significant anxiety issues and her health began to deteriorate. We wrestled with a decision we dreaded.

Should we go on this trip and risk health problems in an unfamiliar country? Or should we cancel the trip and miss out on this adventure?

[To read the rest, click here.]

Please head over to read the rest of the post. Also, check out the rest of Jeremy’s blog, and sign-up to become one of his regular readers.

As I mentioned earlier, Kevin Haggerty is guest posting here today. Check out his post titled Learning To Count To Five by clicking here.

The Stretched Blog Visits Expect The Exceptional

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

Happy Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you). If you’re looking for this week’s Stretched Ice Breaker, you’ll have to go back to yesterday’s post. Today, I have the honor of guest posting over at Tony Alicea‘s blog, Expect the Exceptional. Head over there to check out my post titled Dreaming Big Again. While you’re there check out the rest of Tony’s writing, and sign up to become one of his regular readers.

How are you celebrating Star Wars Day?

(I love guest posting and I love guest bloggers! If you have an idea for a “stretched” post that you’d like to share, please contact me so we can connect. Also, if you think I could help out at your blog with a guest post, let me know as well.)

Sleepwalking

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

Last night, I had a strange thing happen to me. I walked in my sleep. I haven’t done this since I was a kid (as far as I know). It’s an odd feeling to wake up in front of a window. I must have been struggling to open the window in my sleep. When I woke up, I had just opened the window. I don’t remember walking over to the window. I’m not even sure how I got over there. I just know I was standing there when I woke up. The whole thing was kind of weird!

Did you know that sleepwalking is mentioned in the Bible?

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul talks about sleepwalking:

You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. I Thessalonians 5:5-6 (NIV)

But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation. I Thessalonians 5:4-8 (The Message)

What’s Paul saying here? He’s encouraging Christ followers to be awake – to be alert. He’s teaching us not to coast through life asleep or even drunk. It can be easy to go with the flow. We need to live with intention. We need to live like it makes a difference. We need to stop walking in our sleep.

I’m not sure why I walked in my sleep last night (other than I was pretty tired), but I know it was good to be reminded of Paul’s teaching. It’s time to wake up!

Have you ever walked in your sleep? Share your sleepwalking story with the rest of us.

Ice Breaker – I Have A Dream

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Jon Stolpe

It’s that time of the week again…time for an ice breaker question! This week we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We’ve all heard his famous “I Have A Dream” speech where King dreams out loud about a day when black men and white men will live together in harmony. In keeping with this theme, today’s question deals with dreams. For those of you who are new or who forgot, ice breaker questions are used to help people get to know each other – to “break the ice” so to speak. I love hearing what other people have to say and how they think. So for today, I’m excited to throw out another simple ice breaker question. I’ll answer it first, then it’s your turn. Answer the question by leaving a comment for us all to enjoy. Thanks!

Question: What’s your dream? (You can take this in many different directions!)

My Answer: Here you go….

As a child and teenager, I had many dreams. I dreamed of writing plays and becoming an actor. I dreamed of becoming a firefighter, a pharmacist, and a baseball player. I dreamed of building a new Mt. Holly, NJ (my hometown growing up) where people got along and things worked more efficiently. I dreamed of building my own house. I dreamed of marrying a wonderful Christian woman. Some of my dreams came true (like marrying a wonderful Christian woman), and many of my dreams never came to fruition. As I’ve grown and my responsibilities have increased through marriage, parenting, and work, I honestly haven’t dreamed as much. This question is definitely STRETCHING for me.

Last Sunday, I shared that I’ve been thinking about doing something bigger with my blog. I truly believe that God can use The Stretched Blog for a much greater purpose. I’m not sure exactly what that is yet, but I dream that The Stretched Blog and The Stretched Community would be able to build something that outlives us and that ultimately brings glory to God. When this dream becomes clear, you can be sure that I’ll share it here.

So there you have it, my answer to the question. Now it’s your turn….I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say!

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