What My Dream of Visiting Australia Taught Me about Life
You know, I’ve always had this dream about going to Australia.
Australia seems like it would be an awesome place to me. The way the people talk; the Great Barrier Reef, blue ocean, wombats, and kangaroos. I thought it’d be a great place to visit, so I started doing some research. It didn't take long to discover that just about every poisonous thing on the planet lives there.
It's as if God had made all the regular animals and insects and then was like, "Okay, now for the poisonous stuff, where should I put all of that? Oh, I know! I’ll break the Pangea into seven continents and cram all the dangerous things over there on that big island…no one will go there." (Thanks Great Britain for your prison colony idea!) And so deadly spiders, insects, snakes, Irukandji jellyfish, etc. all deposited right there. At this point, I’m thinking maybe I don’t need to hear "G’day mate" after all.
BUT...there are also koalas in Australia too! They look so cuddly and cute as they chew on their eucalyptus leaves. So I asked myself, would it be worth dealing with all the poisonous creatures to hug a koala? I needed to find out, so I did some googling on koalas only to finally hear one making noise. The thing sounded like a cow just got harpooned. It’s going "Mooo-awww-aaahhh-oooh." I mean, have you ever heard one of those things? I was like, "Is this one possessed by a demon? Where are the normal ones?’”
Once more, I’m really concerned. Poisonous creatures, possessed koalas. What could be worse? But, believe it or not, those things aren’t the most dangerous part of Australia, not even close.
You know how you were taught to look both ways before crossing the street, and you always look left first? That’s what we do. Because, for us, here in America, if you’re on the curb, oncoming traffic is closest to you coming from your left. So, we Americans venture to Australia thinking it’s going to be great. We get to an intersection, look left; it’s all clear. We instinctively take a step into the street before looking right. We go to look right and BOOOM! We’re hit by a car because they drive on the wrong side of the road!
What's the point of my lament, you ask? Well, you see, we all have ideas in our heads about how things are going to be. In our dreams, we picture everything going perfectly and smoothly, but that’s not real life. Real life has dangers and pitfalls and pains that our dreams never see. That’s why, even though you hear it all the time on TV, following your dreams is a terribly bad idea.
God already has the best plan for our lives. His dreams are the ones we should seek to follow because He knows everything and has already factored in the all the bumps in the road. Of course, following God’s dream takes patience, brave and courageous patience. The devil always wants to distract us with right now, and with what we want, but those distractions usually cause us to get hit by a car driving on the wrong side of the road.
Looking to chase after a dream? Chase after God's dream for your life. You won't be disappointed.
