Dreams After Hours

Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast. So, sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here, now.

Welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours. We are glad that you're with us. And we have a really interesting topic this week.

I think we have an interesting topic every week. And I know I say those kinds of things. It's like, I'm glad you're with us. You know, because those are legit. I just don't say them as a platitude. I do actually mean them. And I think I used that word correctly. Jim will tell me later if I didn't. But this is really pretty cool because I think it affects everybody, but they don't really realize it affects them. And so, Andy, it's your topic. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Yeah. I was driving along about a year ago and heard the song Dream Weaver. And I thought about, you know, who's my dream weaver?

And how does he play a role in my life? And I don't get a ton of dreams, overnight dreams. There's stuff that I've gotten. And a lot of them I wake up, it's about if you guys have been to boot camps or whatever, you heard the movie, Brazil. It's like, it's just like, no context.

Just no story. It's just you wake up somewhere and some crazy stuff's happening. And that's kind of what it is. But there's a lot of times we get dreams that God's trying to speak something to us. And then I think, you know, in the broader sense when you read the Bible, dreams are for what God puts in your heart about your future. A lot of times about your purpose, your calling, you, yourself, becoming who you are is a dream. A lot of times we spend our whole life living in our false self. And just, it's a dream to become who you were created to be. And you'll get all these things, these results, these things that come about. But ultimately, he's going for our heart and dreaming and dreaming and how that relationship with him will impact your life. Absolutely. You know, in a lot of how we live our life today is a result of other people living out their dreams.

If people didn't want to find a land that was free, America wouldn't exist. And so it's just really kind of cool that those dreams continue to impact generations to come if we just follow God's lead. The dreams in the Bible that we still read about today that impact us, it's just like, wow, those are so many years ago, but they're so relevant even now. And there were a lot of them. Yeah.

Yeah. We named a few in the previous show, but you had Joseph, Daniel. I mean, Joseph, Jesus' dad, you know, the dreams about fleeing. And, you know, there's tons of stuff out there.

There's the book of Acts when Peter was in his trance and the whole thing of the slaying and eating about take the gospel to the Gentiles. That's a pretty big dream right there. Absolutely. And I'm glad he did. Yeah, me too. Yeah, because I like bacon, too. And then there's John, I mean, and all of Revelation and all this still unfolding. Oh, yeah.

Way to top us. You had to start out there. Well, you know, I did have the first clip to totally change that subject.

On a flight, I got to see Brazil. You don't need to know the context. It's stupid. No, yeah, I tried watching it. I think it's the point of the movie. Yeah, I tried watching it.

It was not good. Well, I actually have the first clip. And when you hear this clip, you're going to think it's frivolous. But it's not. And I used that term last time. You're going to think it's just silly, right?

Why would this even have any impact? But this is from the movie Fletch. And if you haven't seen it, it was in the 80s. I don't remember what year it came out. This is the original Fletch.

It came out. There's been a couple of sequels since then, one with Chevy Chase, one with John Hamm, I think, played it. But this is the original and the good one.

And so at least what I enjoyed the most. But when you watch it, there's a dream sequence here that I'm going to play. But what's happened right ahead of this is someone who's been after him for some money. He's been trying to escape from having to pay something that he owes some alimony. And I'll talk more about his life on the backside of the clip and why it was important that this dream was.

But when he falls asleep, he's taking a nap. And the Laker game is just finishing up. And Chick Hearn is interviewing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and then his dream takes over.

And so I'm going to listen to it. Then we'll talk about why I played this clip and about him specifically. Ladies and gentlemen, our guest is the most valuable player of the National Basketball Association six times. From the Los Angeles Lakers, the all-time scoring champion of the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

And he's coming off a game that was second to none in his brilliant career. You got to be proud. Oh, definitely, Chick. It was a great effort. But, you know, I had a lot of help and we're just glad to be here. Hey, how about Fletch?

Well, wow. What can I say about Fletch? He's been fantastic. He boxes out for us, gets the tough rebounds, does the tough things that we need to win. It's great working with him. I don't know where we'd be without him. Let's take a look at the play.

He is actually 6'5 with the Afro 6'9. Pretty good dribbler. Comes in deep.

His club is behind by one point at this stage. Fletch comes in, puts the ball through the legs. What a great play. And he puts it up and in and the Lakers have the lead.

Hope, was that some kind of a play? You know, this pretty kid from the streets of Harlem really creates excitement. Four million dollars a year, that's true. But he earns every nickel of it. Look how he shakes off four or five defenders with ease.

Fletch, he truly defines grace under pressure. Yeah, it made me laugh. Thinking back to that, some of the things in the 80s, four million a year, we would have thought was, oh, that's just so ridiculous. And now you hear it in a sports context, you're like, that's all? That's the seventh or eighth man.

Yeah, he's probably not even on the team very long if he's only making four million a year in basketball. But yeah, this clip was pretty key. And when you watch the movie, the movie plays out that little bit at the end that Chick Hearn says, grace under pressure. Fletch gets in all these different situations throughout the movie, but each time he has grace under pressure.

And it's really pretty cool that that was something that was being told to him and something that was important to him to have grace under pressure. And I really identified with that because there's a lot of dreams I had as a kid. And when I look back, it's the typical things of wanting to come through. When the chips are down, when you don't think that you can come through. For me, it was baseball.

It was always dreaming of hitting the home run at the bottom of the ninth, that kind of thing. And it was coming through when people were watching. It's one thing coming through when no one sees you. There's a pressure to come through for your family every day. There's pressure to come through at work. There's all those kinds of things.

It's a hero role. Yeah, but there's even more pressure when you're under the lights of everybody seeing you. You're under the microscope. And I think that that was something that God was trying to tell me that you're wired to want to come through under pressure. And I got to remember that because sometimes it's easier to want to run under pressure. That pressure can make you want to flee, that old flight or flee. And knowing the wisdom to have the difference of when do I need to stand and fight, when would it be wise to flee. And that's where I got to lean into God and say, okay, yeah, God, I have this desire you've given me, but how does it play out now and what's my steps in it, right? And so looking at the silly dream of him playing for the Lakers is how he kind of lived his life. And I would encourage it that if you're having silly dreams to invite God into them and say, God, was there anything in that as silly as it may seem, maybe there was a nugget. Maybe there was something there. If you didn't listen to the last show yet, go back and listen to it.

Robby had an amazing nugget that affected us all on a dream that he was having about some thorns. And so I encourage you to go back and listen to that. Jim, I thought you wanted to say something.

No, you don't have to. I always want to say something, but it's usually not worth hearing. But one of the things that really hits me about dreams, I get vivid dreams that usually mean something and I remember, and then I dream a lot of other stuff that I forget immediately. But last week I had two vivid dreams about a person that had a significant impact on my life, and I hadn't really thought or dreamed about him in years. And then he had a major event in his life while I was dreaming about it that I heard about after I got home. And I said, okay, I can let that go.

It wasn't a big deal, but I recognized that God was reminding me some of that relationship while his life was falling apart. Yeah. Well, Jim, since you have a microphone, you actually have the next clip.

Me? How special. This clip was offered. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get to a clip. And so I thank Sam for the clip, but it is actually from my favorite Christmas movie, which most people are going, oh, no, not that. But it's from Christmas Story. And while I didn't have a dream about having a red rider, I do have one now, but it reminded me of when I was roughly Ralph's age, how I wanted to be a hero in stories and, you know, be defeat the bad guys. And that's what the clip is about here.

And then we'll chat more about it later. But he is defending his home with his new red rider that his family was all against, except for the dad. Right?

Yes, that's correct. Mothers know nothing about creeping marauders, burrowing through the snow toward the kitchen, where only you and you alone stand between your tiny, huddled family and insensate evil. I just know those bad guys would be coming for us in the end.

Go for it, dad. As long as I got old blue. What have we got here, folks? Well, we figure it's Black Bart, Ralph. Well, it's just me and my trusty old red rider carbine accent doing the shot range model air raffle.

Well, lucky I got a compass in the stack. Well, I think I better have a look here. Oh, no. It's all blue. Oh, no.

She's advised to change his own. Here's another one. Oh, he's a dead eye, Eddy. OK, Ralphie. You win this time, but we'll be back. Here he comes, Bart. What'll you do when you come back? You'll be pushing up daisies.

And old you forget it. Ralphie, you saved us. You saved us.

You saved us. I had a vivid imagination as a kid, and I went through a lot of those sort of things that while they were my dreams at that time, it's amazing how much joy just remembering my dreams when I was a much younger man gave me purpose and led me to be adventurous when I really wasn't terribly, as you guys have probably already pointed out, and I'll make up a word here, my bookwormishness. But in the midst of all that, I was having an adventure of a lifetime in my head, and I still do that sometimes. But I now do have my red rider that I didn't really dream about when I was a kid. But when I was young, I had a BB gun.

I think it was on my 12th birthday, which was too young still. But I killed a cardinal thinking it might be a Blue Jay, and I could have earned some money from my granddad for it. But it also broke my heart, and I must have shot it 50 times to finally bring it down, and I haven't wanted to kill any animals other than the occasional human sense. But I lost my gun when I actually shot a human and knocked out a tooth with a BB gun. Somebody went to my cop days, and the only thing I shot during those times was a rat, and that was on a dare, and I missed. So shot at was a rat. Was it a dirty rat?

Yeah, it was down on the dock, so I imagine it was pretty dirty. But how old were you on the first pumpkin gun? Well, when I shot out the neighbor's tooth when I was 12. When I shot at a rat on the wharf, it was 24 maybe. I got to watch out for those dozen invisible ears. You'll get your tooth shot out instead of eyes shut out. I was very heck glad I didn't hit him in the eye. And my father was a dentist, so it got fixed. Now, does your red rider BB gun have a compass in it like his did in the stock?

No, mine's a basic model, but it has helped keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. Okay. All right.

Well, Andy, we're going through our clips pretty quickly here, so you actually have the next clip and maybe next couple. We'll see. No, we'll see. Yeah. Back to the clippy lungs. Yeah. Look. I had more clips than he did.

He's a big red dog. He submits two or three every week these days, so I don't feel so bad. Well, truth be told, I'm usually more times than not the first one to put clips in there. And I'm like, well, at least we're going to have some clips.

If no one else gets to any, we're going to have two or three to go through. Indeed. So this clip is not necessarily what I thought I would submit earlier on, but I found it as I was looking, and I really like the idea. It's about Ryan Bingham and Natalie, his assistant, go around as consultants who fire people. And so you're ending what some would say dreams for people, at least their employment. And in this situation, he's talking with a guy, and the guy, you know, it's like, I don't want to be fired.

This is how I provide for my family. And then they get into kind of where the guy has lost his dream. And Ryan has done some research to kind of pull this out of the guy. And it's a really good conversation about how sometimes God gives us a dream, and we kind of leave it behind.

We don't think it's possible. To me, dreams are enabled through faith. And this guy had kind of lost his faith. He was a good man. He provided for his family, but he had kind of lost faith in his dream.

Here we go. What do you suggest I tell them? Perhaps you're underestimating the positive effect that your career transition can have on your children. The positive effect? Make about 90 grand a year now.

Unemployment is what, 250 bucks a week? Is that one of your positive effects? Well, we'll get to be cozier because I'm not gonna be able to pay my mortgage on my house.

So maybe we can move into a nice one bedroom apartment somewhere. And I guess without benefits, I'll be able to hold my daughter as she, you know, suffers from her asthma that I won't be able to afford the medication for. Well, tests have shown that children under moderate trauma have a tendency to apply themselves academically as a method of coping. That's what my kids will think. Your children's admiration is important to you? Yeah.

Yeah, it was. Well, I doubt they ever admired you, Bob. Hey, aren't you supposed to be consoling me? I'm not a shrink, Bob.

I'm a wake-up call. You know why kids love athletes? I don't know, because the lingerie models. No, that's why we love athletes.

Kids love athletes because they follow their dreams. Well, I can't dunk. No, but you can cook.

What are you talking about? Your resume says that you minored in French culinary arts. Most students there were gonna fry her at KFC, but you bused tables at the old Picador to support yourself. And then you get out of college and you come and you work here. How much did they first pay you to give up on your dreams? 27 grand a year. And when were you gonna stop and come back and do what makes you happy? Good question. I see guys who work at the same company for their entire lives, guys exactly like you.

They clock in, they clock out, and they never have a moment of happiness. You have an opportunity here, Bob. This is a rebirth. Now, if not for you, do it for your children. That's a good clip, Andy. I think he gave you that. It was really good. I appreciate it.

And it kind of gets into the whole purpose thing, but a lot of times we do, in doing our responsibilities, and I'm not suggesting everybody go quit their job and go do what they enjoy, be a musician because you like music growing up or whatever. But if you do that, it's A. Thomas. Andy. Well, yeah. Give him the wrong one.

Give him the wrong one. It's Andy Amasco. There you go. But seriously, I had a career change, and I'm still in kind of the same role I had, and I did kind of have to step back, but I've actually jumped forward from a salary standpoint, but I enjoy what I'm doing much more, whether it's my dream, something I dreamed of. It's something I probably didn't know possible, and it's like a gift from God to kind of lead me into it. But I think the gift or how I've experienced this dream come into fruition is it's about – I tell this story many times, but it's about the same time I joined the ministry and got involved with this, where my heart came alive. And there was a time in my life where I just felt like I was off schedule with God, and marriage, work, none of that stuff was working, and there was just a lot of defeat and a lot of frustration. And just kind of I could have – I had a choice in the road of whether I was going to follow him or not or go another way. And as following him, I began to see that this dream that was in my heart, that really the expression of that dream, if I could put it into words, was just to become who I am and to be a man of strength. And I feel like that is the biggest thing that I've experienced.

I mean, we talk about it. Sometimes I feel very redundant in saying this, but it's the fruit of what I'm living. And I know where I lived for so long, and I know a lot of people are stuck there, that there is hope, and that dream is the anchor to that hope, I think, of finding out what God has for you. I mean, God just doesn't put us down here as random evangelists just to go about.

He has a unique plan for each one of us to accomplish what he wants done but, more importantly, to experience him in that. Darrell Bock You know, it's a beautiful thing when you think about it that Christianity is the one religion that promotes hunger and thirst, right? Darrell Bock Yeah. Darrell Bock Rather than trying to manage your passions and those kind of things, you know, blessed are those that hunger and thirst, because, you know, that's that desire, and that desire comes from dreams and living life to its fullest, right?

Scott Horrell Yeah. I think we all have some examples where God has had different plans. You know, I know Robby had a significant career change that we've talked about on the show.

You know, me, when I was living in Indiana, we had a plan all planned out of what we're going to do, retirement plan and everything. God said, nope, you're going to North Carolina, and it was amazing for my ministry life and just a lot of things that never would have happened if it wasn't for God changing that direction. But I encourage you to walk with him through it. Just don't jump. Darrell Bock Yeah, right. Scott Horrell If I remember right – Darrell Bock It's Sam at Masculine.

Scott Horrell Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember I said, don't jump unless God tells you to. Danny, you wanted to say something? Danny Yeah, we were talking about, one of my favorite scriptures is he knit us together in our mother's womb. And so there's a specific plan for our lives. But the interesting part, and I shared this with a young man last night, there's specifications of where you're going to be in life and how, what God's plan is, but he decorates that with such a broad stroke of of grace and color. And so he knows you're gonna take the twist and turns, but yet his strokes of grace in your life really is what makes life colorful. Yeah, I think he factors in your desire, your gifting, your personality, your experience, all that stuff. And I think that dream is not just a static picture of what it's gonna look like.

It kind of evolves, changes. We've kind of talked about that, that it's not always easy. Plus, just like we've learned on your calling in the masculine journey is you're opposed, too. Your dream is opposed. Well, and it's not often comfortable.

No? Right, it's usually not comfortable, you know, you have to rely on God. Joseph wasn't comfortable at all, right? Pick somebody in the Bible that it was. True, yeah. God is not into easy or comfortable or convenient.

So you're messing up when you try to pursue those. Now, I've had more career changes. Amen. Everybody in this room combined.

Probably by several dozen. Don't ever ask him to tell you about it either. When you've got a half hour, you can ask me one. One thing that I learned through it is that. One thing we learned through it. Let's not ask him about that. I should have brought it up. I'll hit the highlights.

No. What God showed me through that was that I was not happy, not fulfilled in a career if I wasn't serving others. My favorite jobs, police officer, district scout executive, being in hospital work a couple of different ways. Everything that was serving others was meaningful. Most of the rest was a short career. Even at Microsoft, that was serving others and I enjoyed it.

It made me a little crazy. You were a server on servers. There were no servers back in this.

I helped with DOS, so that'll put that at a perspective. Harold will be enjoying that part of the conversation. Well, we do have one more clip, Andy. I know you weren't necessarily planning on playing it, but I wanted to go ahead and play it because it rounds out again what we've been talking about to continue to dream on. It's a revisit to the Aerosmith clip from last time. So let you figure out what you want to do with that. Okay, so Sam and I both had the idea of using dream on and it's another one of those songs where you hear and really the chorus grabs you, but what's the words from the verses say?

So I cut part of the words, one of the verses out. Let's see where it is. Would you play it, boy? I'll play it and then you can tell us when we come back.

Yeah, that's a great idea, why don't we? That's what, all right, here we go. Half my life's in books written pages Live and learn from fools and from sages And you know it's true All the things come back to you They come back to you? I just had a dream, almost though. It just came back to me. Great dream.

Let's wake him up so we can talk about it. Well, I threw a curve ball actually, to be fair. You were playing on it. It was probably intentional.

Sometimes it was, not that time. So half my life's in books written pages Live and learn from fools and from sages That could be Harold, you know, so. Which one, the sage one was Harold. You want to clarify it? No! I was saying sage.

Sage is a fool company. Harold, that's Andy at masculinejourney.org. You know it's true, all the feelings come back to you. And so, you know, in that whole thing of just experiencing life, you're experiencing your dream and it all comes back to you as you're walking through. I mean, this is music lyrics here, but it does tell a story about what we're walking through and how the dream becomes real for us.

A lot of music comes from life. That's why we enjoy it, right? And so go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp. It's November 21st through 24th. Again, I've said a few times, but if you're in a position where finances are an issue, please don't let that keep you from coming.

We have some partial scholarships and more that we can help out with. So please let us know. Reach out to any of us at our first name at masculinejourney.org. Again, that'd be like Andy, Robby, Danny, any of those. We'll talk with you next week. Love somebody well this week. This is the Truth Network.