I’m living my childhood dream, almost. I lived with my grandparents until I was five years old when my mother remarried. During those early years, Grandma Walls took me to church every Sunday. She said when I was four-years-old I wanted to be a missionary.

The denomination we belonged to had a program for children called Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade. (It’s still around with a slight name change – Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge.) The children took home wooden barrels (now they’re plastic) which they saved coins in. Once a month they returned the barrels to church. The money went to missions around the world.

B.G.M.C. evidently made a huge impact on my life. I wanted to be a missionary. Unfortunately, the closest I came to being one was going on a mission trip to Mexico. I did travel for four years with an evangelistic team in the 70’s called “Early Church on Wheels.” Even that didn’t fulfill my dream of impacting lives for Jesus in a foreign country.

And yet, I feel like I’m fulfilling it now. At the church we’re attending, I’m the B.G.M.C. director. How cool is that? I may not reside in a foreign country but I help support the missionaries who do. Who knows? Perhaps I can influence some of our children to become what I always dreamed of becoming.

What childhood dream did you have? Is it possible for you to pick those desires up again? If you dreamed of being a classroom teacher and you’re not, maybe you could teach Sunday School. If you longed to be a professional singer and it didn’t happen, maybe you could conduct a church or children’s choir. Did you want to be a doctor or nurse? Most folks in the medical field have compassionate hearts. Maybe you could volunteer at a nursing home or homeless shelter allowing your compassion to flow towards those who desperately need it.

I may not be living my childhood dream in the way I’d hoped but I’m living it in the way God intended. Perhaps you could too.