Our Daily Bread Designs Forum Bible Verse Thursday Challenge #90 - Dream On!

"Where there is no vision, the people will perish" ~ Proverbs 29:18

One of the most incredible abilities God has given the human person is the ability to dream.  We are able to look into the future and imagine something better than today and then return to the present and work to make that richly imagined future a reality.  

I invite you to reflect on today's verse from Proverbs.  "Where there is no vision, the people will perish." (Proverbs 29:18)  If you think about it, this short verse is true in every area of life.  In a country where there is no vision, people will perish.  In a marriage where there is no vision, people will perish.  In a business, a school or a family where there is no vision, the people will perish.

And it is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge that is seems as a church community of Christians we are without a vision, and as a result, people are perishing.  We need a vision for this place and time, something simple and yet profound.  A vision to inspire and mobilize Christians young and old.  A vision that can be understood by a seven-year-old as easily as it can by someone with degrees in theology and philosophy.

Some people may take offense at my suggestion that we are without a vision.  Others, I am certain, would consider this thought crazy.  But if you asked one hundred Christians about the vision for our times, I suspect you would get one hundred different answers.  Or maybe none at all.  So either we don't have a vision or we don't know what it is.  Regardless, the result is the same:  people are perishing.

The vision we are in search of is not solely the responsibilities of priests, pastors, bishops, teachers, and other people who lead the church.  We each have a role to play in imagining and working toward a future for the church that will confound skeptics and inspire the masses.

God never goes back - He always moves forward.  Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden.  God could have redeemed them and sent them back, but he didn't.  God always wants our future to be bigger than our past, and He always moves forward.

So let us press on toward the future that God has envisioned for us!  It is time to become a people of possibility again!   To stop allowing ourselves to be governed by a very limited way of thinking.  To stop gravitating toward what is manageable and start imagining what is possible.  Now is the time to imagine what incredible things we can do if we walk with God.  Now is the time for Christians to become a people of possibility.  Imagine what billions of Christians are capable of!  What is your vision?

There are many who do not want to rediscover the vision.  Others who think that religion has no place in the modern context.  They think that Christianity is old.  Well I admit that it's old, but if you had an ancient treasure map, would you throw it away just because it was old?  No.  The age of the map doesn't matter.  What matters is whether or not it leads to treasure.  The Christian faith is a treasure map:  it may be old, but it still leads to treasure.

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Your challenge this week is to use this scripture or another verse to create a project that reminds you that it's important to have a vision.  When uploading your project, please use keyword ODBDBVT90 and then hop over to Our Daily Bread Designs Forum and share it with us!

Blessings,

Supplies for this project

Cardstock:  Truly Yours – White Card Base; Bazzill – Intense Kiwi, Coconut Swirl; Glossy White Cardstock

Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs – Dreams, Butterfly Path

Inks, Stains, Paints & Colored Pencils:  Kaleidoscope Ink – Spectrum, Caribbean Sea; Tsukineko Brilliance – Starlite Silver;  Versamark - Watermark

Dies, Punches & Embossing Folders:  Cheery Lynn – Mini Butterflies

Accessories & Other Stuff:  American Crafts Ribbon