Dare to Dream... and Do

I was recently engaged in a discussion about Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Life. We are about to go through the PDL campaign as a church again this Fall. Things have definitely changed since the last time we went through the study; back in 2003. Now Rick Warren is a household name in America, on the cover of Time magazine and having articles written about him in major periodicals all over the place. My conversation reminded me of some of the things I have heard recently about Rick and his church Saddleback. I had a chance to go to a Small Groups conference hosted by their church back in April, and in that conference we heard quite a bit about Rwanda and what God is doing there.


The short version of this story is that three years ago the President of Rwanda asked Rick and his staff to come and lead his country through the Purpose Driven Life. The results over the last few years have been enough to garner even more national attention as one church and big-hearted pastor are attempting what most feel is quite impossible... to eradicate AIDS and poverty from one of the hardest hit countries in Africa.


And, you know what, it might just be impossible. And, this movement may indeed fail. But in one of the many articles I was reading I saw a quote from Teddy Roosevelt and it is something that I think many Christians today need to hear.


"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."


So many times we take the role of critic or counselor, when what is really needed are partners and co-laborers. I applaud Rick Warren not because he is some special person, but because he has the guts to give away his life. I have to wonder if I would do the same were God to pour out millions of dollars and a national audience on my life?