A Charlie-Sized Dream

A dream. A vision.

But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands. Isaiah 32:8

In early January I read this scripture. The ink for these words came from the heart of God.

I was riveted by this thought, and inspired by the concept… but with lingering ambiguity of what this looked like in practice.

Then, while standing in the basement of a church renovation project in downtown Spokane, Washington, the words became flesh.

Charlie is new to our staff. He’s tall, thin, quiet and courageous. He measures his words like a craftsman. He’s easy to underestimate, until he opens his mouth.

At 10:15AM last Friday, he opened his mouth, and he exposed his soul. He uncovered the blazing fire that burned with white hot intensity and with laser like focus.

The love, grace, hope and power of God had transformed Charlie and it now served as an unending fuel source for his dream; his vision; his outrageous belief.

Jeff Ross and Charlie are a part of our mission in Spokane, but more significantly, they are a part of God’s design to rescue and redeem the hearts and souls of young people who lead self-destructive, addicted, and hopeless lives.

To Jeff and Charlie, the darkness on the streets of Spokane is no match for the light of God’s love, grace and truth.

Then, in a moment of unconstrained dreaming, Charlie verbally sketched a picture of the vision… he gave me a trailer of the movie.

“We want the light of Jesus to shine so brightly in Spokane that if somebody still chooses to live in darkness, they will have to move to a different city.”

My mind froze. My heart locked.

A vision where darkness is no longer welcome. A dream where light is pervasive and powerful and liberating. A noble plan that sweeps the streets of Spokane with love and hope. With grace and truth. With courageous justice and outrageous compassion. A vision that propels a unifying mission that inspires and mobilizes, that sacrifices and empowers.

Charlie’s dream was unconstrained.

Mine aren’t. That is until last year.

For the most part I confined my dreams to the attainable, to the budgetable, to the predictable.

But then, a year ago God began to press a new dream, and outrageous vision into my heart.

I muted the voice. I confined it.

What if 1 million broken and lost young people a year could hear the timeless, life- giving message of Jesus every year in the United States through the enabling mission of Youth For Christ. Outrageous? Irrational?

Then Charlie. Then Spokane.

A dream. A noble plan. An uncontained fire.

A vision where darkness is no longer welcome… a Charlie-sized dream.

For nearly a year I’ve wrestled my dream into submission. But then, on a winter morning in downtown Spokane, with only signs of chaos around me, God pulled the cover off the dream. God gave me Charlie and Jeff. God poured fuel on the fire.

Darkness is no match for the light of Jesus.

Dream big. Dream bold. Trust humbly. Charlie. Jeff.

Noble plans.

Jesus