Delusions and Revelations

I remember having quite the imagination when I was younger. After seeing movies such as Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and the Back to the Future movies, I remember thinking time travel and the ability to shrink people down to microscopic size could actually be real.

Yet, it wasn’t until the end of fifth grade in Louisiana, that I recall having perhaps my most absurd delusion ever. I even shared it with a classmate on the playground one day.

“I’m going to have a concert! I’m gonna call MTV and Britney Spears, *NSYNC, and Eminem are gonna be there!”

My classmate did not say much back, except that he loved Eminem and thought that would be great. I’m sure he had other opinions though. “Jacob can’t do that! He’s sounding crazy now!” may have been some of his unspoken words.

Even as everyone was heading inside after recess, I told everyone walking in, “I’m gonna have a concert! It’s gonna be great! Be there!”

It won’t surprise you when I tell you I did not have a concert. Britney Spears, *NSYNC, and Eminem, did not come to rural Northeast Louisiana. They still haven’t to this very day. Why would they come and perform, to the request of a fifth grader, with no money, no venue, and no idea of the costs of putting on such an event.

I did not know it at the time, but that grand delusion of mine, would be the first of many, that would lead to me being diagnosed as having schizophrenia four years later.

You may not be crazy, or have had “delusions of grandeur,” but I’m sure you remember being little, believing anything was possible, that you could be a superhero, and that you could go anywhere your imagination could take you.

I’m also certain, at one or more times in your life, you recall the disappointment of things not turning out the way way you thought they would, and your dreams not coming true.

At some time or another, I’m sure many of you read Psalm 37:4, how to “delight yourself in the Lord” so that “he will give you the desires of your heart.” When you tried to then accomplish your dreams, and then things then didn’t go how you envisioned, I’m sure you debated and fought with God in your own way.

Yet, time and time again, we forget what that scripture really means. When we “delight ourselves in the Lord,” our values, our focus, our perspective changes. He “will give us the desires of our hearts” when our hearts are in alignment with Him and His desires.

At times we may be close to Him and at times we may not. Some of us may have crazy dreams that come to fruition, and others of us may spend seasons watching others succeed, without achieving much in our own eyes.

Yet, if we “delight ourselves in Him,” whether we are fast food workers, janitors, famous musicians, or renowned pastors, we all will achieve success, when in following Christ, we discover that success is whatever He deems successful, no matter how big, and no matter how small, it is in our eyes.

One day, in the perspective of eternity, the Lord will reveal that our obedience and faithfulness to Him was incorporated into His grand and master plan, which will always remain faultless and never be “crazy.”

Until Next Time,

Jacob McGowen