I'm Dreaming of ...

by Roger Purdom

This is how a television critic described a programme - 'rarely has a televised project seemed so naïve and ill thought through as __________ plan to turn around the lives of Worcester offenders by showing them the rewarding discipline of tilling the soil. Not content with the inestimable challenge of getting seven people enslaved to crack, heroin and their criminal pasts to turn a field into a working farm……'

Here is someone who is trying to help a handful of young people whose lives are in a real mess and a critic slams such an effort as a waste of time. The project is not a Christian-based project but it is a wonderful example of reaching out to those in need. As I sit and watch the second episode of the series there is one of the young people who is absolutely desperate. Her self esteem is at rock bottom. Her hatred of herself depicts a tragic picture. The two leaders get alongside the young people and there are some very sad conversations between them and the young people.

Another of the young people wants to get out of the pit that he has got himself into but has no idea how to start. He has no coping strategies. He is crying out for help.

One of the team takes these two young people on a walk up a hill. They get to the top but it is a real struggle. They both admit the struggle they had to get to the top but when there they talk about the choices they now have to make. One of them says, 'now that we are at the top we can see 360 degrees all around us. We have the choice to go in any direction we want.'

As the programme runs through there are successes and failures. There are tensions and challenges. One thing is clear - there is a longing to help these young people and give them long term solutions to their desperate predicament.

The project was planned and organised from a dream of one man.

As we go into another year, do we have any dreams? Not that I am touting for other people's dreams. I've got plenty to think about with my own dreams. I have my dreams about the children and families' work. I have my dreams about greater use of our facilities. I have dreams about seeing the effectiveness of the gospel across Littlehampton. I have dreams about the effectiveness of the Word of God in our lives so that we are 'thoroughly equipped for every good work.'

I don't know where any of these dreams are going to take me but I pray that as we go into 2007 we will know God's way ahead. As I watched the programme described earlier, I watched the dream of one man beginning to work out in practice but this was a two dimensional dream with a good helping of social input. There was no spiritual input. That's where we have the extra dimension because we know where to find that extra dimension.

'There is salvation in no one else because there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.'

The news that we have just celebrated at Christmas is of the birth of a Saviour. He is able to transform people's lives. There is no one outside His reach or His touch.

'He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him'.

This is good news for ALL people, irrespective of their age, gender, background, family situation or beliefs.

If we believe that 'your gospel, O Lord, is the hope for our nation', then let's pray together and work together to see the effectiveness of the gospel across our community.

Happy New Year to you all.

Parkside Evangelical Church

I'm Dreaming of ...

by Roger Purdom

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