I have always been a dreamer, and I may have passed this “gift” on to my daughter and other family members. I am often back in PNG, and my dreams are disconnected. They bear some resemblance to what has happened in my life but are largely surreal and impossible.
I am not referring to this kind of dream, nor am I talking about idle daydreaming. What I want to consider is the kind of dream that Joel referred to when he said that old and young men would have them: “Later, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2.28, repeated in Acts 2.17)
Old men as leaders and young people as future leaders should all have dreams of their future. Without them, there is often a general lack of motivation and a spirit of apathy—a spirit of the age. We live in a time of despair about the future, yet at the same time, our society has a tremendous faith in what science and technology will accomplish. Advances in medical technology in particular hold out a magic wand for the future: babies will be born perfect, even prescribed according to the genetic tuning of their parents or surrogate parents; terrible diseases will be overcome by drugs and genetic engineering; the feeble will be eliminated painlessly; utopia will reign, suffering will end. These too are dreams, but not God’s. Suffering is a part of the Kingdom of God on earth.
We are told to consider ourselves pilgrims and strangers in this present world, not bypassing the necessities of life, nor ignoring the enjoyment of life, but also clearly oriented, as one writer put it, “We are citizens of a heavenly city,” or as Augustine called it, “the city of God.” Only with this perspective can we truly dream. Only by recognizing that God is supreme and supremely in charge, can we have the confidence to dream about the future.
Paul had dreams and revelations, Peter had a vision that changed the direction of his ministry and work, and John had startling images revealed to him of the future. So perhaps we should not be so surprised when God reveals himself in this way. Such insights may often come during prayer and meditation.
Several years ago, I was at a conference in Brisbane, Australia. I was rooming with Alphaeus Zobole, a translator from the Solomon Islands. I was to give the devotional that day and I gave it on the notion of “dreams and visions,” citing some great dreamers (or visionaries), like Martin Luther King and Gandhi. Later that day, when Alphaeus and I went out for a walk, I asked him, “What is your dream, your vision, for the Solomons and your people?” He didn’t really have much in mind—whatever God wanted and brought to pass, but he certainly did not want to be presumptuous. However, he must have thought about it more, because the next day when he gave a devotional he had a great vision in mind for his people. He later completed a PhD in Biblical studies, went back to his island, initiated classes in Bible and Greek, formed a translation committee, and translated the Bible into his own language.
For such things to happen, we must have a vision, and we can’t be afraid of it or be disappointed in it. Things will not work out exactly how we wish, because it is our vision and God integrates our vision into a larger plan, which we don’t see clearly at present.
When Joice and I joined Wycliffe and SIL we were of course young, and our vision was to translate the New Testament for some group of people. Gradually, we saw that vision fulfilled, but other aspects of it were not. The people with whom we worked did not suddenly drop their work and read God’s word, any more than we do in Waco.
I grew up in the rural area of Appalachia, Pennsylvania, where there were no street signs and only the natives knew when you left one community and arrived at the next. Like many rural boys, my dream was to play professional baseball, so I devoted myself to playing and practicing baseball. I had a dream: to be a good player or at the very least a coach. But it never happened. I baseball quite well, but was converted in my last year in high school and my whole perspective changed. For various reasons (I was not brought up in a Christian family), I was motivated to become a missionary.
In college I met and fell in love with the woman I eventually married. Love is a great motivating force and a natural environment for dreaming. Now I had someone to dream with: we would become missionaries, we would follow the leading of God to wherever, we would …. It was time to dream again. At first our dream was not Bible translation—we knew little about it. Another dream was to have children. We had two, not without difficulty (a tubal pregnancy along the way) and as the children grew, they were encouraged to have their own dreams as well.
When some of our dreams were accomplished—the publication of the West and East Kewa NTs—we moved to a different role, one of administration and training. I had a dream of having a supporting group of Papua New Guinea Christian men and women who would provide input into the Bible translation work of SIL. In 1973 an Advisory Council was formed and later it became the Bible Translation Association of PNG. Today it manages over 70 language programs.
When we were assigned to the US with SIL International and I was a senior administrator, I had a dream that we would start our own linguistics school. Another man and I took the dream to the SIL International Board, and it was approved. Today it is the Dallas International University. I learned lessons from this and other dreams: sometimes you may be in the right position to help initiate or make a dream come true—like Esther. If you are, ask God to use you in the position and to give you the wisdom to attempt or support the dream.
It follows that you may also end up in a place or a position where you can spoil someone else’s dream. People have the power to ruin another person’s dream. Martin Luther King did not live to see his dream—he was assassinated. Many of God’s special people that we read of in the Bible did not see their dreams fulfilled. None of the people that the author of Hebrews mentions in chapter 11 lived to see what God had promised (Jesus), yet they all received God’s approval. The approval of God was based on the faith that the people exercised in carrying out God’s plan.
That is my continuing dream as well.
Karl Franklin
