Dreams & Talking Veggies

Just then, something happened that could go down in history as one of those pivotal moments - those providential, existential occurences that hold winthin them the potential to change the course of humanity: My wife walked by. She walked by the spare bedroom, looked in, noticed her husband playing with a computer-generated candy bar, and uttered thos immortal, life-giving words: "You know, moms are going to be mad if you make their kids fall in love with a candy bar."

That's what she said. Divine wisdom had dripped from her lips like honey. She spoke the truth. Then she headed off with the laundry.

"Good heavens," I thought, "she's right!" I couldn't make characters that were unhealthy! That would go against everything I was trying to accomplish! I needed something good for kids! I needed something that would make moms rise up & call me blessed! Something that would make them say, "Oh, thank you, Phil Vischer, for making my kids fall in love with ------!"

With what?

The next image that popped into my head was a cucumber.

I love behind-the-scenes stuff, as evidenced by my total addiction to VH1's Behind The Music when we had cable. So, when I saw Phil Vischer's book Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God & Talking Vegetables at the library, I scooped it up, looking forward to an interesting read about how VeggieTales got started.

Phil's life (as written here with his trademark humor) has some great stories & a substantial amount of Walt Disney "worship." Bu what I didn't expect was to read a book that contained a large chunk of soul-searching and a spiritual epiphany that echoed in my own life.

What does it mean when God gives you a dream, and he shows up in it and the dream comes to life, and then, without warning, the dream dies? What does that mean?

Maybe that's your question, too... it certainly resonates with me. 5 years ago this month, I shuttered the doors on my dream, the church @ hickory hollow.

Last night, reading this book late into the darkness, I got a glimpse of what God might be doing, not only in Phil Vischer, but in me.

If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you - the dream or him. And once he's seen that, you may get your dream back. Or you may not, and you may live the rest of your life without it. But that will be okay, because you'll have God.

I'm still wrestling with this... but it feels a little like all my feelings about tc@hh were shut up in a dark basement & Phil reached in and clicked on the light.

Suffice it to say, I'd recommend this book highly.