Dreaming

If you could be successful at any career on earth, what would you do? Relax your brain a minute and humor me. I mean if you could have the talent to do anything at all and be the best at it, what would you do? President of the United States? Architect, engineer, movie star? I love that question! I think the answer tells something about a person but I am not sure exactly what. I just like to think about it. It makes one wonder why one would want such a career. Is it for the money, fame, power? Maybe you just want to have the most fun? Or maybe it is a combination of it all? There's nothing wrong with that, in fact, if all you wanted in you dream career was a lot of money or a lot of power there might be something wrong there. Even if all you wanted was a lot of fun, that might not be the best thing either. So probably your dream career should be a combination of money, fame, power and fun and probably several other things, too.

I have to admit that my dream job leans heavily to the "fun" side. Maybe it is because I have never had a lot of the other things and I do not know how much I would enjoy them. Money is nice but money is just a tool for happiness. I have never had any kind of fame but I can imagine some serious drawbacks and power would be nice but with power comes corruption and greed and who has time for all of that drama? Boys just want to have fun! Sure, my dream job is accompanied by some of that stuff but it also has other benefits such as self-expression and the ability to help others enjoy themselves as well. Also, as long as we are dreaming I would want my dream job to remain balanced and not become something that brings too much money, fame or power. That might be hard, though, if I were the best!

I remember going to see Garth Brooks in the height of his career at Reunion Arena back sometime in the nineties. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. It was incredible not so much because I was such a Garth Brooks fan but because of the whole experience. The entire stadium was filled to capacity. Not a person there was sitting down the whole show and everyone was singing along to every song as loud as they could. Garth was singing and performing like there was no tomorrow and I thought that must be the greatest feeling! He was telling stories with his music and the crowd was just so into it! They were eating out of the palm of his hand. That was when I knew. I knew...that was never going to happen to me. But I could dream about it!

Even years before that concert I think I was being prepared to have this dream. While I have always been a country music fan, the eighties were the golden years (of my life) for rock music. Not just any rock but especially for the heavy-metal hair bands. If you do not know what a hair band is just think about eighties rock for a second. Rock 'n rollers have always had long hair (part of the rebellion thing) but the eighties were the time to have really long, really "big" hair. It was great! Not that I ever had hair like that. By the time I could make that decision to have long hair, I started losing my hair. It was probably for the best. But I could dream!

When one thinks about eighties rock and the great bands of the era, several groups come to mind. Aerosmith, AC/DC, and ZZ Top are all ubiquitous choices for great eighties rock but the greatest, without a doubt...Van Halen!! Yeah, Dude, they rocked!! See, it's coming back to me and making me want to say "Dude"! Eddie and Alex Van Halen with Michael Anthony and of course, David Lee Roth. Yes, they were still good with Sammy Hagar doing vocals but Van Halen just was not the same without David Lee. The scratchy voice, the attitude, the outfits-what a character! Who has not sung along with Dave belting out "Jump" or "Panama" or played air drums along with " Eruption"? Dude, that's fun! I even used to try to do that spread-eagle jump thing that Roth used to do off of the stage. I never could pull it off like he did maybe because I was not wearing leather pants. But I could dream about it!

I have always loved to sing although I am not good at it. I do not know how to read music and I do not have the voice for it. But that is my dream career. No, I am not going on that stupid "American Idol" because I know I do not have the talent but I will continue to sing. We have an extremely talented musician at our church that leads our worship time every Sunday. I am very proud to call Mel my friend as he is awesome at everything musical. I am sure that he could go somewhere else and make a lot more money and have a lot more prestige than he does at our church but for whatever reason he and his wife choose to stay with us at Hulen Street Baptist. Sunday morning worship time is my favorite time of the week because not only does it not matter that I can't sing but I get to truly worship God in a way that I only get at that time. No, one does not have to be in church to worship but one would surely miss out on a very special time found when worshipping with friends and family who have come to speak to and hear from Holy God. Now I do not know that even Mel could do the spread-eagle jump off the stage wearing leather pants like David Lee Roth nor would I recommend that he try but I would rather be worshipping with Mel and the rest of my Hulen Street family than even seeing Roth do it. There is even talk of an upcoming reunion tour with the original Van Halen getting back together and that would be fun but you will definitely find me singing at my church every Sunday. I look forward to Heaven when I will have a perfect voice but until then I will just have to dream.