The Dream Cycle

A nagging question in the mind of every man is, “How fast will it go? How fast can I go? How fast can I go in it?”

Today we’ll look at the movie, The World’s Fastest Indian to get a picture of the dream cycle. What is a dream cycle you ask?

A dream cycle is the idea that every one of us is on a journey toward who we want to be, who we were meant to be, and what we will achieve with our lives. Making progress on this dream-inspired journey will require us to grow. You can take tangible, giant steps toward becoming the person you want to be and achieving the things you want to do with your life.

A dream is simply a compelling awareness of what should or could be, accompanied by a growing sense of responsibility to do something about it.

What gets you up in the morning? Lets watch what gets Burt Munro up in the morning, in 1962 in a little town in New Zealand called Invercargill.

Chapter 1 – 00.27- 2.35

You get the picture that Burt Munro is a bit of a character, don’t you? He’s obviously mechanically oriented and very interested in speed. I admire those with mechanical aptitude. Because I don’t have a lot of it myself.

We find out that Burt Munro is retired and seeking to find out how fast he can ride his favorite motorcycle, a 1920 Indian Scout. His dream is to take it to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and get a timed run in. he runs on the beaches in New Zealand, and the roads, but not only is it hard to get a good runway for speed, it’s also very dangerous. Bonneville is the Mecca of speed.

Burt doesn’t have much by way of resources to get to the United States, so his friends hold a fundraiser for him. He ultimately gets a loan from the bank, using his ‘shack’ as collateral to secure enough money to get to the US. The dream is slowly dieing for Burt, and his lack of funding, along with a heart problem aren’t helping maters either.

The young neighbor, Tom, who really looks up to Burt asks him about his dream:

Chapter 3 25.43- 27.35

“Any day above ground and vertical at my age is a good day.” Listen to the optimism in Burt, optimism that helps keep his dream cycle going.

Anthropologist Lionel Tiger distinguished between what he calls little optimism and big optimism. Little optimism subsumes specific expectations about positive outcomes: “I will find a convenient parking space this evening.”

Big optimism refers to — obviously — larger and less specific expectations: “Our church is on the verge of something great.”

Here are some other examples,
Douglas Macarthur: “I shall return”
Robert F. Kennedy: “Some men see things as they are and say why; I dream things that never were and say why not”
Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream”
Jimmy Valvano: “Never give up”
Casey Kasem: “Keep your feet on the ground and your head in the sky”

When Munro finally gets all the dollars needed to go, he finds a disappointing feeling inside set off by the fact that many don’t believe that he can make it.

Chapter 4 29.30- 30.35

“If you don’t go when you want to go, when you do go, you’ll find you’ve gone.” That is so true, regardless of your age.

Listen to how Munro responds from deep within his soul about the opposition, or disbelief that he’s encountering:

Chapter 4 32.00- 34.00

It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worth cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

Well Burt Munro makes it to Los Angeles, having to work off his passage on a ship by cooking. While in LA he’s helped by a transvestite and a Hispanic car salesman, along with a few others on the highway to Utah. He finally sets his eyes upon the Salt Flats and watch his reaction. Remember, Burt Munro had been dreaming of this for over 25 years.

Chapter 9 78.50- 80.55

Every dream is Holy Ground.

Well, as Burt gets ready to run his motorcycle, he finds out that he was supposed to pre-register. His dream is so close to fruition, but policy and procedure Nazi’s now are suffocating it. He reaches out to a new friend, fellow speed nut Jim Moffat for help. Moffat asks the race organizers to at least let Munro’s motorcycle go through tech inspection. Let’s watch what happens.

Chapter 10 88.04- 91.04

There’s always opposition, or obstacles to overcome in pursuit of a dream. Some of us are more inclined to create goals and pursue them; while others are better equipped to follow a direction and deal with the problems that crop up. Neither way is better; they can complement each other quite well.

Burt Munro does get to run a trial. We’ll pick up his run after several miles, each one being successfully faster than the previous. His bike, his equipment leaves a little to be desired. He faces searing heat from the exhaust pipe, as well as a high-speed fish tale. Watch and enjoy:

Chapter 14 114.00- 117.05

Wow, what a ride. As Burt Munro shows us, so much of a dream is the person you become as you pursue it. The reward is in the doing it. The challenge is dealing with disappointment without becoming cynical and sarcastic.

Dreams take growth!

You have to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather is. Irish proverb

What God is often teaching us in the pursuit of a dream is refining our experience of ‘no’. Tell a young child, “No” and they’ll either pout or throw a tantrum. Sadly, many so-called adults behave the same way with God.

True dreamers understand that the currency of opposition and suffering is a necessary deposit for a later return.

At one point, Munro had just made it to LA, only to find the bike crate damaged. The customs official; suggests he sue the shipping company and Munro simply says, “I’m not going to waste my life suing anybody.”

No matter what your age, you can pursue your dreams. Several Munro’isms: getting old ain’t for the faint of heart; many a good tune is played on an old banjo; life’s a funny thing- you never know what’s around the corner.

We can learn from Burt Munro that you need the help of a community, and people that love you to pursue your dreams. Sadly, many times the church is the place people become discouraged from their dreams!

Ephesians 3:20
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

There is much confusion over the idea of our dreams, especially in Christ followers. We often start at the wrong place, which means that even with a good plan we’ll end up in the wrong place!

Munro began his quest like we need to: with God. For Burt, his was the God of speed; for us, ours is the living God Jesus Christ.

"You want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans."

Discover your divine destiny. Not our own destiny!

The quickest way to make ourselves miserable is to continually focus on ourselves. Bertrand Russell

God-inspired dreams are not placed in your heart as a taunt. If your dream really is God-given, you can reach it.

God wants us to grow to the place where we want what He wants. It is the pursuit of this dream that brings every other dream to fruition, modification or demolition, if need be.

"The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find the truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die." Soren Kierkegaard

In the movie Burt Munro, doesn’t just have a heart problem; he also has a prostate problem. He has a need to pee more often than he should. The story goes of him peeing on his lemon tree for fertilizer. Sadly, we often do this to each other’s dreams. Lets not pee on them. If we have questions or doubts, there are better ways to fertilize another persons dream. Dreams can be very fragile indeed.

Goodwin’s Expectation Principle: A potential leader tends to rise to the level of genuine expectancy of a leader he or she respects.

What if we practiced Goodwin’s Expectancy Principle with each other and our dreams: nurturing the Godly pursuit of what He has placed within us. Being there for each other during the setbacks, during the formation of Godly character, and cheering on the victories. Sounds like what a good church should be doing for each other!

Ryan quoted on his blog, The Bassic Point of Vue: Thanks to everyone who's supported our dream by coming to shows and buying our music and merch and just plain appreciating what we do! Hopefully the best is yet to come!

Robert & Lois, maybe going to Belize!

Terry & Bev, who dreamt of a holistic place for Natives North Americans to find Jesus Christ.

To all of you who dreamt of a place like CoHo where we can be a part of God’s work in transforming the broken hearted into hope filled followers of Jesus Christ.

For Ted & Bev, who uprooted the whole family to pursue God down in Alabama.

For so many of you, pursuing what God wants from your life, "Way to go!"

Hebrews 11- all about faith, ‘dreams’.

"Anyone living their dreams picks up the people around them." Dr. James B. Richards

Don't put live eggs under dead chickens. Howard Hendricks

Let your friends help you nurture your God-given dreams towards fruition!