Field of Changed Dreams?
Blogging continues to be a huge place for community. I am blown away by the friends I’ve met through Jon Stolpe Stretched and other blogs. One of my blogging friends is Arny Sanchez. Arny writes a blog called The Analogous Truth where he relates current culture to life and faith. I’ve enjoyed following Arny as he’s related things like Star Wars and The Lord of The Rings to my world. Today, I have the honor and privilege of sharing Arny with you as he related my favorite movie to a real life challenge.
Oh and by the way, today marks the 500th post at Jon Stolpe Stretched. What a great way to celebrate!
(If you’re interested in becoming a guest blogger at Jon Stolpe Stretched, drop me a line in the comment section. I’m always looking for opportunities to share.)
One of the best sports movies of all time has to be Field of Dreams – Jon’s favorite movie of all time as a matter of fact.
There is just something special about a guy chasing a dream that everyone thinks he is crazy for, and he is willing to sacrifice it all.
But, what if you had to give up that dream, or change it drastically? For the sake of another.
One of my favorite characters from the movie is The Mysterious Ghost of Dr. “Moonlight” Graham…
The scene:
Graham played baseball when he was young but only got to play one game in the Major League and never batted. Ray, (Kevin Costner) finds out Graham had passed away and never pursued his true dream again. Even the ghost of Graham tells Ray that he is too old to be chasing young dreams.
Well, on the ride back, Ray picks up a hitchhiker with a bag with baseball gear in it….he looks like a really young kid. They ask him his name and he says, “Graham, Archie Graham”. So cool, right?!
The next day, the team is out playing a round of baseball on the field of dreams. After teasing him a little, he hits the ball and gets out, but hits an RBI (runs batted in).
He looks so happy. He is living his dream. He is playing with the best Major Leaguers. Nothing could go wrong. But,
Moments later, Ray’s daughter gets caught in a commotion and falls off the bleachers. She is not breathing and turning blue fast.
Ray turns to the field, and he sees Graham getting closer to the side lines.
Without hesitation, Graham walks past the side line, and BAM! He turns into the old man, the Dr! He quickly comes and sees that she is choking to death. He pops her back a few times and out pops a piece of hot dog.
Living to Serve
Given the opportunity to grasp our dream one day, would we be hesitant to let it go or change it, for the sake of another?
Maybe Peter and the other disciples were living their dream of owning a fishing business.
Maybe Paul was close to his dream of being the most educated Jewish lawyer.
Maybe the people of the church in Macedonia had individual dreams of their own to pursuit.
But these dreams were interrupted by a man who showed them a different dream.
People.
Serving People.
Helping People.
Feeding People.
Healing People.
Crazy People.
Strange People.
Hostile People.
Sinful People.
Bad People.
Good People.
Big, Small, Young, Old, Black, White, Yellow, Green, Orange People.
Do You have a Dream that involves People?
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About
You might be wondering where the “Stretched” thing comes from. For starters, when I was in high school at Rancocas Valley Regional High School, I was short – 5’6″ to start my junior year. Since then, I’ve grown to almost 6’6″. Many of my friends started calling me Stretch.
On a more recent basis, I often feel “stretched” by all the things going on around me – career, marriage, parenting, church, running, reading, friendships, extended family, relationship with God, etc. (in no particular order). My hope is that this blog will provide an opportunity to express some of my “stretch marks” and to possibly hear your thoughts as well. 
So here is a bit more about me: I’m a Christ-follower, husband, dad, son, uncle, engineer, runner, chicken farmer, gardener, saxophone player, operations manager, adventurer, and the list goes on…. I’m extremely blessed to have the best wife in the whole world. We met at Grove City College. We were engaged on top of the Eiffel Tower. We got married in Greensburg, PA. Now, we live in Schwenksville, PA with our two incredible kids, and our black lab.
Field of Dreams is not my favorite movie, but it certainly is a great example of the point of many blog posts over the last se real months. And let’s face it, without our dreams including the Lord or His work, they are pretty vain dreams.
How could Field of Dreams not be your favorite movie? So…what is your favorite movie?
[...] Go Read My Post….(Which signals his 500th! post) and then stick around and check out some of Jon’s Previous posts, you won’t regret it! [...]
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Thanks for the plug, Arny! And great job on the post!
By the way, I’ll throw in a guest post when you need it. Tell the general erection you want me to go.
LOL! Dude…hope that was a typo! lol….the general what?….
First of all, I’m barely catching up on your blogs Arny, sorry! But you know even if it’s late I always read them
Second of all L-M-B-O!! I’m trying to unbore myself at work but still look like I’m doing research and I can’t contain my laughter about that typo. Nutrition research is not that funny! lol. Good blogs guys, thanks for sharing your thoughts and knowledge!! 
Lesly, Welcome to the Stretched Community! Arny is awesome!
Hope you’ll come back for more.
Have a great weekend!
I’m assuming erection was supposed to be direction…. At any rate, I’d love to have you guest post. I sent you an e-mail earlier today. Let me know what works out for you. And thanks in advance!
Wonderful!
The christian dream is all about people. How we serve, how we disciple, how we cherish and love our neighbor. I feel that we need more of that today. Even in large churches, I see more loneliness than ever before.
“I feel that we need more of that today”
You said it Moe…
Seems to be all about me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me,…not enough you, you , they, they, others, others…
Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve! woo whoo!
Moe, welcome to the Stretched community! And thanks for the comment. Didn’t Arny do a great job?!
The meaning of life is….people. Love it. Great post Arny.
It truely is Ryan…because it brings Glory to God!
And God’s Glory is what it’s all about…Always!
Ryan, welcome to the Stretched community! I agree “Great post Arny.”
500th post, wow. Congrats.
We emphasize loving God a lot of the times, but we often forget that a main way that God wanted that love manifested was by loving others. Good reminder.
It’s how we show the World we are HIS Followers!
Loving People Baby! Yeah!
Welcome to the Stretched community, Loren. And thanks for the congrats on number 500. It’s been a fun 500. I’m looking forward to seeing where things go from here.
Congrats on #500. That’s a huge milestone!
And Arny, great word today. Our dreams need to be about people, because if not what good is a selfish dream?
You know whats Ironic Dustin…
This post was a huge milstone for Jon! I think we can all agree that if we are fortunate enough to hit 500 post most of us would vast in the Glory of reaching a great accomplishment…but you know what? Jon didn’t he made it a guest post!
He asked me what day to post it….i said friday please…
would have been sooo easy for him to say…hey dude sorry but try another day…i want it to be all about ME, ME ME on my 500th post…BUT he didn’t! and that’s awesome!
When people come first….GOD IS GLORIFIED!
You both are too kind! I’m thankful for the first 500, and I’ll keep posting one at a time. We’ll see where this thing goes. Glorifying God is definitely at the top of my list of reasons for blogging in the first place. On top of that, I get to meet great people like Arny, Dustin, Ryan, Mike, Loren, Larry, Moe, and many, many others!
Awesome post, Arny! By the way, congratz on the 500th…I’m only in the 190′s!
Thanks brandon!
I agree…Awesome post, Arny! Thanks for the congratz. This blogging thing has truly been a blessing.
Excellent movie! It’s one of those movies that if I’m channel surfing… I have to stop and watch.
Loved your thoughts about this particular scene too. What a great lesson that serving other is what it’s all about. And sometimes, God comes along and interrupts our “dream” and points our feet in a different direction.
It really is about serving people Eileen.
Thanks for commenting.
I’m with you Eileen. I have to stop and watch it as well. I’m especially a sucker for the last scene when Ray has a catch with John (his dad).
My passions (Dreams) are to help others become better leader’s. Great post!
That’s a good dream – passion.
[...] Field of Changed Dreams? Guest Post by Arny [...]
True, Jon. When God is in our boat, we get better directions to our destination!
Joe, Thanks for the comment and welcome to the Stretched Community!