Heart of a Graveyard

I have considered myself a gamer since I was a child. I only vaguely remember opening that first Nintendo on Christmas day and then falling in love with games. I had hopes and dreams from the time I could remember, that I would grow up to make games, and play games all the time. I think that is fairly normal for all kids. But as I got older, I found less time for games, and more time having to work, and those hopes and dreams ended in a pile of used games in my closet. Soon new things took their place like hopes and dreams of just having a life outside of games.

But all of that got me thinking about our hopes and dreams. Think of your biggest dream. What have you always wanted to be? Writer? Dancer? Pit Fighter? What happens if you never get the chance to be or do what you have always dreamt of being. I find it a rather depressing thought that when people die, all of our hopes and dreams end there. Well they do if you aren't a Christian. Hopes and dreams make up so much of us, that we they slowly define who we are.

Picture found from this blog

If you frequent my blog, you may have noticed that there is a very common theme in them. Firstly it is the importance of keeping Jesus in the center of our lives, and then it is dealing with, combating, and overcoming depression and anger. I have, as I have mentioned, wondered why I deal with so much anger and depression in my life, but maybe it is because my hopes and dreams are not lining up with the hopes and dreams Jesus has for me.

I think Jesus has many dreams for us, and they can only become reality if we let Jesus work in and through us. We can see a writers dreams when we read his/her book. We can see the dreams of the whole group of people who make games by playing that game. So many times in my life, those dreams turned into mine for a short time. I hated seeing the dream come to an end. Wouldn't it be cool if we never had to have our dreams die?

Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What if I told you we didn't have to? There is a band I love very much, they are called Demon Hunter. They have a new album out called Extremist, one of the songs on there is called Heart of a Graveyard. There is a line that was the seed for this blog, it says: "Tell me that your final home is not a shot in the dark, Tell me your hopes and dreams don't end in the heart of a graveyard." It seems a pretty profound thought to me.

I believe in Heaven we will have work to do, but all the work we do will be centered around the deepest dreams we have. Here on Earth, if we were to use those dreams to glorify God, great things would be done. But in Heaven, great things will have already been done, and we will glorify God with all we are every day for forever. I always felt those dreams we have, for me it is writing, some it might be painting, others be singing, are there because, coupled with the spiritual gifts that God gives us, can be one of the greatest tools we have available to us.

For those who do not believe in God, Jesus, or anything like that, their hopes and dreams end in the heart of a graveyard, six feet under ground and dead. But for followers of Christ, our hopes and dreams never die because our real hopes and dreams are the same as Jesus'. We can read about what he dreams for us by reading the Bible. I think it'll be so amazing in heaven, working for the express purpose of giving glory to God.

While Heaven may still be a ways away, we should work daily to put Christ first in all that we do. When I started this blog, I intended to write about gaming, post my written stuff, and sometimes mention God. Little did I know, God would want to mix it up a little. So I want to take a moment and, before all of you, say that I give this blog to Jesus. It may never grow into something more than it is, but it will be here for a time when someone needs it. I hope that I someday see that.

So let's build our hopes and dreams on Jesus. Let's make them bigger and better for his glory. Let's cultivate them so when we do get to heaven, we will all be experts in our dreams and we all can sing in praise of our Lord. How great it is to know our  hopes and dreams are eternal.