I think I’ll probably feel this way each Monday of December: Worn out, but inspired; Exhausted, but excited; Too busy, but not wanting the days to just go by without really experiencing them - kind of like walking around in a sleepy dream…

I have very vivid dreams - I always have. I often have to fight against my day being determined by what I dream at night. Sometimes they prepare me for things - Sometimes they give me another opportunity to work out my feelings. A few months ago, Byron carried a little lamb onto the platform to illustrate how one job of a pastor/shepherd is to protect the “sheep” - this came from a dream/nightmare that I had just days before that message. I woke up (crying) and said, “You have to carry a lamb…a real lamb. You have to!”

On the days after a particularly vivid dream, I feel all day like I’m walking around still in it…like you feel right after watching a very moving movie - like it’s hard to shake it and concentrate on “real life”. That’s also how a lot of Mondays feel - after C3. Somethings coming…something bigger than we are - you can feel it in the air.

Recently, I dreamed I was driving through the mountains on a very curvy mountain road - the kind where you get to the top of the hill and for a moment you feel like you’re falling off the end of the earth. It’s a strange feeling - like riding a roller coaster. I liked this dream because I was going to see the ocean (I love the ocean!), and the ride there was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time - that’s how I feel most of these Mondays.

This “ride” is often both thrilling and terrifying - and many times I’ve felt like I’m falling off the end of the earth…but we are headed to a place where the view will be worth the journey. We’re headed to an ocean of beauty and change - a sea of opportunity and hope.

We’re going there together at C3, and when we begin to see the horizon, it will take our breath away...

Dreams are wonderful and a little scary when you see them unfold in reality - but how often do you get to really live a dream?

For now, I’m just trying to remind myself to pay attention to these days, remember what they feel like - even if they’re scary sometimes - because someday I’ll want to recall what these days were like…

Hold on. Remember. Don’t lose your courage. The horizon is coming into focus…maybe just around the next bend lies our destiny.

It’s going to be breathtakingly beautiful, and I don’t want to miss a thing…

Peace.