Training for dreams

Like many fathers, I always wanted my boys to have the university degree I never had. I knew this motto from the Work Manual: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it’ (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV). It’s a good motto, isn’t it?

From a young age my boys knew that their education journey would include primary school, high school and university. But the Bloke Upstairs showed me that ‘education’ and ‘training a child in the way he should go’ is much more than school or TAFE or a Cert III or university. Sometimes the university of hard knocks can be the most handy training tool.

It ain’t all about reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. It’s about what you learn from life’s challenges. It’s about discovering who you are and where you want to go. 

I could tell you lots of stories about my 3 son’s journeys and how they kept plugging away at their dreams. Some of their dreams took longer than we expected. Some of their dreams changed over time and ended up as goals. They learned a lot of things that aren’t taught at university, about real-life people skills and appreciating your fellow man, by doing life with many different people as they grew into young men.

Their Creator’s plan was bigger than any of my expectations. I am so proud of them.

The Creator’s plan is bigger than your expectations too. This book is to encourage you on the journey to where you want to go – your real-deal dream. Whether you go to university or TAFE or not, it doesn’t matter. And let’s look for opportunities to become a dream-maker for someone else.

There’s still time for a bloke to mature, even at 33 or 35. We need to stop rushing our young men, and just encourage them in their future. If we keep alongside them we can help their dreams to emerge.

I’ve grown to become a big fan of a bloke named Jesus as I’ve heard more about him. He was a carpenter, a chippie, who trained up for the first 30 years of his life to get ready to teach and challenge people for the next 3 years. He hit the mark for us all at 33 when he died to save the world. He wasn’t late, he was right on time.

Could that mean something for each of us blokes? We’re never too old to learn and change, so keep on dreaming your dream.