Never Stop Dreaming

When Moses ran into the burning bush, he was 80 years old. He had been on the back side of the desert herding sheep for 40 years. You remember, Moses had been brought up as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter in Egypt. He grew up rich, in royalty and luxury. He likely had everything he could possibly want. Then he witnessed an Egyptian taskmaster mistreating a Hebrew slave and in a rage, he killed the Egyptian.

So he had to flee to the back side of the desert where he stayed for 40 years herding sheep. Can you imagine the contrast in his life. He went from having everything to a very plain, hard life in the desert. I wonder how hard the adjustment was. And what about his dreams? What kind of dreams did he have? When he had to get used to the lowly life of a shepherd, did he also have to give up his dreams?

I am quite sure Moses thought his life was over. He was probably resolved to being a shepherd for the rest of his life. Did he go through depression, having to adjust his life-style from luxury to the life of a shepherd?

Then he encountered God in the burning bush and everything changed. Although he didn’t know it at the time, his life was really just beginning. The first 80 years was just preparation for the real stuff, leading the Israelite nation out of slavery into the promised land. He was in for a lot of excitement, although I’m not sure he counted it as excitement. It was some pretty hard stuff.

I remember very vividly a time in my life when I was ready to stop dreaming. I had been in the multi-media business for over twenty years, and I had started a ministry that was now about six years old. The ministry was the dream. I dreamed about thousands of young people coming to Christ. I had carried that dream around for the greater part of my life.

But the ministry up to that point had not seen a lot of fruit . . . and we were out of money.

So, I had to go to work. I was hired by a Minneapolis multimedia company as a producer. I was deflated, I was depressed. I really thought this was the last stop, that I would work here for the rest of my life, just paying the bills and getting along, never seeing the dream of thousands of young people coming to Christ.

I was 50 years old at the time, and I thought my life was over. I would just exist now, never realizing my dreams.

But I was wrong. It all happened after I was 50. Really, at the age of 50 it was all just starting. I only worked for the Minneapolis company for two years. From the age of 50 to 55, I did see thousands of young people come to Christ. The evangelistic events I produced between the age of 50 and 55 reached over 40,000 people.

After that I went through a financial meltdown when the ministry income didn’t keep up with outgo. I lost the family farmland my father gave to me, my house, and ended up homeless for seven and a half months. For two years I lived in a duplex in Shakopee, Minnesota trying to keep my head above water. I didn’t have any credit cards so whatever money I had in my pocket, was all I had. Some days that was loose change . . . not enough to buy a cup of coffee.

Still, I never stopped dreaming. After seven years of separation from my first wife and divorce, I met a young red-haired woman and we were married. Her encouragement and support enabled me to keep on dreaming.

The ministry experienced a new birth, with a concentration on teaching and writing. Our website, Georgeandlorraine.com has received visitors from around the world. At the age of 20 I received a revelation that I was to write a book. This last year that book was released and is available in the store on our website. Speaking engagements have increased. Currently, we do the Sunday morning service at the Waskish Baptist church twice a month. We are close to launching a radio show featuring great Christians from our past.

How about you?

Are you still dreaming?

Maybe the years are closing in on you and you think it is too late, that you will never achieve your dreams. Remember, you are only as old as you feel. Age is a state of mind.

Remember, Moses was 80 years old before God launched him on his real mission in life. There is another  figure whose career wasn’t launched until she was nearly 80. Ironically, her name was also Moses . . . Grandma Moses.

She was born on a small farm in upstate New York and experienced poor farm life most of her life. Late in life, after her husband died, she began making pictures with needle and thread to keep her mind off the death of her husband, which weighed on her heavily. At the age of 78, arthritis had set in to her hands so that she could no longer hold a needle. So she tried painting.

For a few years five of her paintings were displayed in the drugstore at the nearby town and didn’t sell. Then an art collector from New York City happened through the town and saw the paintings. He bought all five and asked for her address. At her home he bought every painting she had and promised her he was going to make her famous.

He tried to get several art galleries to display her work but they declined because she was too old and they didn’t want to invest money in a “grandma.” Finally, Gimbels agreed to show her work and the rest is history.

Hallmark printed a series of greeting cards featuring her paintings, and other galleries began to show her art. Finally, Time Magazines ran an article on Grandma Moses with her picture on the cover.

Grandma Moses became famous worldwide. One of her paintings sold for 1.3 million dollars. When she died she was worth between 1.5 and 5 million dollars. She continued painting right up until her death at 101 years old.

My pastor of 25 years once told me at a lunch meeting, “If you stop dreaming, you are as good as dead.” Dreaming is the substance of life. It is what gets you up in the morning, keeps a spring in your step and a song in your heart.

Never stop dreaming. It is the stuff that life is made of!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

   It All Hangs On a Promise

When I look at my life, I wonder how God is going to do the things He has promised. There are still promises out there. He has told me many times the biggest things are yet to come.

In my limited, human sight, I don’t see them, nor can I do anything to make them happen, except to everyday put one foot in front of the other and keep going. How do I keep going? I do the things He has told me to do. If today I do what He has told me to do, then all the little acts of obedience will add up to the whole . . . and the whole is the promises He has given me.

Believing his promises is like believing something that seems to be floating in mid-air. Like the balloons in the air, moving around with each air current, the promises are there. I see them by faith.

When God told Abraham that he was going to make a mighty nation out of him, and his descendants would be as the sand of the seashore, Abraham was just one guy. What did he do? He believed the promise. Romans 4:3 NKJV says, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

This is what we do. We simply believe God and keep obeying . . . keep doing the things each day He has asked us to do . . . and God will come through.

We are very close now to launching our radio show, “Those Who Have Gone Before,” stories of great Christians from out past. It is another piece of the puzzle. We are excited!

As you begin 2025, reassess your life. What has God told you to do that you have not yet done?Recognize what you have still to do in God’s mighty plan. Keep going, and God will come through.

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama