By Andrew Morgan

Have you ever seen shapes in the clouds – a face or a bear or a tree? When you are looking up at them with a few people, it’s interesting how each person sees something completely different. Our perception of reality is manipulated by our expectations. The simple but surprising truth is we will see what we are looking for.

If you are looking for beauty, you will see it.
If you are looking for cynicism, you will find it.
If you are looking for mundane, you will experience it.
If you are looking for hope, you will see it all around you.

What are you looking for when you look at the world?

When God saw a planet full of people, sin, and brokenness He saw something deeper. He saw people that He deeply loved; He saw hope for desperate lives, and a story that was far from over. He saw so much value that He gave the most precious thing He had in order to give new life to dead people.

It’s easy to look around you and see all the things that are wrong. You and I must begin looking at the world through God’s eyes. Look through the mess to see the beautiful - the precious people worth fighting for and the story that really is worth living for.

“Your future is a portrait painted by the brush of your present actions.”

By Andrew Morgan

The ballroom where we gathered is empty, the lights are off and the equipment is packed up. We are all back to our own lives and yet the morning after is my favorite part of an event.

Our team is praying today for everyone who was with us last night. Our hope is that what we experienced together will move us to live differently on our own. We are waking up this morning different then yesterday because of what we experienced – are you?

The beauty of the morning after is that now it’s time to begin answering the questions we asked last night. We believe your life matters, and that if lived out your dreams and ideas have the power to bring needed change to a broken world.

What now?

Will last night be another event, a memory, a moment? Or will it lead you to a deepening passion to live out who God created you to be. The choice is yours, we believe in you, and so does the God who made you. Dream big, act now, share your story!

The guys at Broken Voices are uncomfortable with what I am writing. They did not ask me to write this and considered not posting the article when I sent it to them a few days ago. Fortunately, I was very persuasive.

I am looking for one hundred fellow friends and supporters of Broken Voices to join me in helping them in their time of need. As we all know, their national fall tour is beginning shortly. What we all may not know is that they are still in need of funds. The cost of traveling 11 people and conducting 30 events for close to 30,000 people is just over $100,000. This cost is above and beyond other operating expenses for running Broken Voices throughout the year.

As someone who supports and believes in the work God is doing here, I am looking for one hundred BV supporters to join me in sending Broken Voices $100 or more in the next week to help with the tour. 100 people X $100 = $10,000.

Join me in this sacrifice and eternal investment. Our treasure is either sent on ahead of us or left behind for lawyers to distribute. We all believe in the mission of Broken Voices - we have all witnessed what God is doing. Many of us already support them – Matt and Andrew are so grateful for that help – today let’s do more. Today, let’s be more than be supporters of a ministry – let’s be partners in sacrifice for that ministry and its impact for eternity.

Here is the link to the Broken Voices support page: http://brokenvoices.org/donate

Join me in the comments section below to pledge: one hundred giving $100.

When I was younger my favorite story was Peter Pan. There were the Lost Boys, Captain Hook, and the ability to fly, but one element was absolutely unique - never growing up.

For all we learn and gain as we grow older, Peter Pan believed we lose something critical as we mature. We lose the capacity to imagine a world beyond what we see with our eyes. This ability is easy for children, but it slowly atrophies as we age. Instead of believing in the tantalizing prospect of what could be, we often settle for what is generally accepted as possible or likely.

Imagination is the fire that ignites all great change and opens the door to new and better futures. Think about this, not only are you able to create, you are capable of imagining things that currently do not exist! Imagination is one of the most powerful qualities given to human beings, and yet many of us have lost much of our childish imagination over time. We have forgotten how to fly.

A childlike imagination and a childlike faith may be more closely linked than we realize. Both operate outside of the safety and self-reliance of “our plan.” Both require us to let go of what is secure and usual. Both allow God to blow our minds and our lives wide open with the unimaginable magnitude of His plan of impact for us.

Before we begin the difficult work of creating a better world for others, we must first imagine a world worth creating. We must continue to envision a world the way God intended, and then use our lives in His strength to make it so.