What’s Your Dream?

On a trip to Boston my husband and I decided to visit Harvard University. At lunchtime we ate in a sun-filled atrium, crowded with students coming and going. Our little white table for two was tightly flanked by similar ones. Sitting down next to a good-looking young man, we found it impossible to be that close and not speak to him. We said hello and asked where he was from and what he was studying. Not wanting to pry, and assuming any student at Harvard was intelligent and perhaps guarded, I searched for a safe, but stimulating topic for conversation.

“What’s your dream?” I asked.

Justin smiled and replied, “I’m a history major, but I’m not sure what I will ever do with that. What do you do?”

“When we were young, we both had a dream of being involved in Bible translation. We lived out that dream and now we work supporting other translators through IT consulting, and writing.”

“Wow. That’s interesting. Tell me more about it.”

We did, and then Justin said, “My dad knows someone in our church in Texas who is the president of a Bible society. He would be interested in hearing about your mission.”

We smiled, saying he probably already knew all about it. We talked some more and then Justin had to leave, but not before he said, “Thanks so much for talking with me. This Bible translation business is amazing. I’m going to look into it.”

I gave him our business card with our website address. “Here, you can read more about it, and contact us if we can ever help you.” As Justin walked away, we felt strongly that we had just experienced a connection planned by God.

Almost immediately another young man took Justin’s seat. We talked with him too and asked him, “What is your dream?”

“I want to be a doctor.”

Before several girls arrived and stole his attention, we said, “We also had a dream when we were young and were able to see it fulfilled. Here’s our website if you would like to read about it.”

“Hey, that’s cool,” he said, as he tucked the card carefully into his hip pocket. “Nice to meet you.”

The next day we continued on our journey, stopping in an old-fashioned soda fountain for a malt. Sitting on high stools at the counter, we chatted with the pretty college-age girl as she prepared our drinks. After a while, I asked her, “Lisa, what’s your dream?”

She stopped short, looked up and around, and replied, “Oh, I have lots of them. I’m not sure yet what I want to do.”

Just before we left, I handed her our card and said, “If you would like to read about our dream, here’s our website.”

“Oh, how neat. OK, I’ll do that.”

A few hours later, pulling into a gas station in Vermont, I got out to wash off our car’s dirty windows. A young man about eighteen years old appeared out of nowhere and said, “I’ll do that, ma’am. We’re a full-service station!” Amazed and thankful, I passed the cold, drippy sponge to him.

“What’s your name?”

“Steve.”

“Are you still in school, Steve?”

“No, ma’am. I’m working here now.”

“Is this really what you want to do? Or do you have a dream?”

Steve looked up at me from scrubbing the windshield, stopped and sighed, and said, “You know, what I would really like to do is have my own garage and service cars.”

“You know, God could help you do that.”

“Yeah … yeah, He could.”

“Do you get on the Internet much?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well, here’s a card with our website on it. We’re getting older, but a few years back we had a dream too and I’d like you to see what it was, and how God helped us fulfill it.”

“OK, I’ll do that.”

As we drove away, tears filled my eyes. Everywhere we stopped we met young people glad to have someone talk to them, to care about them. They need to know too that God cares for them and has plans for their lives—plans beyond their wildest dreams.