By Ryan Romero
I was attending a church of about 200 people when I had my first big dream—a vision for my future that I knew didn’t originate with me. It was a calling, one much greater than anything I could accomplish on my own. I was involved with the worship team and was a leader in the youth group. I was still a young Christian and spent a lot of time poring over the Bible and learning from my leaders. I was also struggling to do ministry with people who didn’t think as I did because they were from a different generation or a different cultural background. I was learning the beautiful, difficult struggle of life in the local church. But deep down, I knew I was destined for more.
It wasn’t that I believed I was entitled to more or that what I was doing wasn’t important. I knew it might take decades for my dream to come to pass. I also knew that what I did in that small church affected the outcome of my bigger dream—that what I did in the small and the everyday really did impact the big and the someday. But I also knew deep down in my bones that there was more to come.
So I walked around with my head in the clouds. I listened to Delirious or Passion or David Crowder—pure late-’90s worship goodness—and felt that that was a world I’d one day be in. I imagined big crowds of people and worship events that would change everyone who attended—events that would show the world the love we had for Jesus and the love we had for one another.
That was my dream. I had a deep passion for events that centered on worship and a passion for the church. In all its beautiful vagueness, that is what I felt called to. I didn’t know how I’d get there. Didn’t know what I’d be doing once I got there. Didn’t know how to make it happen. I knew only that I felt called to it.
The problem? I lived in Tucson, Arizona, for one. Not exactly a place flourishing with big opportunities for worship events. Not even a place with many Christians, let alone a place to gather many Christians. Wasn’t this sort of dream supposed to come from Nashville or LA?
I was also in a small church. A little church with, honestly, no aspirations of becoming a big church. Wasn’t this sort of dream supposed to come from a megachurch or a music promoter?
And I didn’t have any connections—or even any hope of making those connections. I didn’t know anybody of influence in the Christian music world. Wasn’t this sort of dream supposed to come from a well-connected insider?
There was literally nothing around me to indicate I was on the right path. I was a tumbleweed drifting in the desert of nowhere (not to be melodramatic).
Nevertheless, I took a risk and shared my dream with the people around me—to mixed reviews. A couple of people were encouraging, but many told me it was a pipe dream. “Everyone wants to do things like that,” they said, looking at me as if I were a child who’d said he wanted to live in a candy factory. They smiled and tried to be kind, but the thought bubbles over their heads said something more like, “This deluded young man has a big dream but has no idea how difficult the real world is.”
What hurt the worst was that what they said was basically true—I had no reason to believe I could achieve such an impossible dream. Their words eroded my feeling of being called. The faith-filled corner of my heart that believed God would equip me for such a calling crumbled. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d just run headlong into dream killers, otherwise known as seemingly insurmountable circumstances—or in my case, critics. External critics pointed out my greatest insecurities, and internal critics—the voices in my head that told me that those critics were right—threatened to relegate me to the sidelines. These and other hostile forces came together for one purpose—to kill the dream God had placed in me.
Fortunately, the dream killers failed. Eventually, I discovered that obstacles that seem huge and insurmountable when they are right in front of me appear much smaller in the rear-view mirror.
After nearly 20 years, my initial dream has come to pass, beyond anything I could have imagined. Nearly one million people attended the OUTCRY worship tour. Tens of thousands have been saved. Tens of thousands of kids were freed from the cycle of poverty. And as amazing as those numbers have been to experience, seeing the dream I had long ago come to pass is truly the greatest privilege. And I truly believe my best chapters are yet to be lived.
Keep Your Head in the Clouds and Your Feed on the Ground
Over the years, I’ve learned a few survival tactics. I’ve learned how to silence the dream killers. I’ve learned that their attacks are predictable and uncreative. I’ve learned that God wants to build a foundation in us before we can embark on the calling he has for us. The work required to build this foundation isn’t boring homework or head-patting busywork. It’s real work, and it matters because the quality of the foundation we build is the difference between life and death for our dream.
You need to know two things about building this kind of foundation. First, God gave you your dreams. God already knows everything about you. He does not care where you come from. He knows your past. He isn’t clueless. He knows the seemingly hopeless situation you may be in right now. Whatever it is you’re up against, he knows. And he still gives you dreams. In fact, he’s more committed to seeing your dreams come to pass than you are. You’re in safe hands! Never let your “seemingly insurmountable circumstances” derail the “what-if” dreams in your heart. Keep your head in the clouds.
The second thing you need to know is this: your habits in the short term impact your calling in the long term. Today matters, even when it doesn’t feel like it—especially when it doesn’t feel like it. How you treat your current job—and how you treat your current boss—matters. How hard you work right now matters.
If you think it’s okay to give 50 percent of your effort to what you’re doing now because you’re waiting until your “ultimate calling” to give 100 percent, you’re laying a cracked foundation from the start. The truth is that you’ll end up giving half your effort for the rest of your life because that’s all your foundation can support.
Remember the parable of the talents? If not, check it out in Matthew 25:14–30. The bottom line is that Jesus expects us to invest whatever talents or resources he gives us. Invest now, not later. Do the hard work, put in the time, develop the skills—whatever it takes to get a return on what’s been entrusted to you. The journey to your dreams may be long and filled with circumstances that don’t make sense, but keep going. You must work hard with what you have now. Keep your feet on the ground.
My book Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground is meant to empower and equip you to do both—to keep your head in the clouds and keep your feet on the ground. I want to help you keep your dreams alive, even when the dream killers try to relegate you and your dreams to the sidelines. And I want to help you do the hard work of building a foundation for your dream. No one else can keep your dream alive if you let it die, and the foundation for your dream will not build itself.
Any dream built on a faulty foundation is almost certain to come crashing down. And even if it doesn’t crash, it will be stunted because a dream can grow only to the size that your foundation can handle. That’s why achieving your dream begins with giving 100 percent to the seemingly small and unimportant things. That’s how you keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds right from the start. And this is a habit you can begin now.
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Adapted from Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: A Survival Guide for Creatives, Visionaries, and Dreamers by Ryan Romeo. Click here to learn more about this insightful book.
Co-founder of the Outcry Worship Tour, Ryan Romeo, empowers you to live well in the present as you dream well about the future in this practical guide to doing the impossible.
When it comes to pursuing our dreams, Ryan Romeo is convinced of two things. First, God knows where you come from. He knows about your past. He knows about the seemingly impossible situation you may find yourself in. And yet, he is even more committed to seeing your dream come to life than you are.
The other thing Ryan has learned is this: Your daily habits bring about the reality of your calling. What you do today matters even when it doesn’t feel like it. Especially when it doesn’t feel like it. How you treat your current job, your current boss, and those around you matters. How you serve your leader’s vision or your church’s vision? That matters too.
So as you pursue your calling, don’t forget to keep your head in the clouds. Never let the worries, the fears, the “what-ifs?” in your heart dampen God’s unique call on your life. At the same time, you need to keep your feet on the ground — to stay engaged and connected right where you are, so you don’t miss out on the foundation God wants to build.
How do you do that? That’s what Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground is all about. Looking at examples from his own life and from others who have followed big dreams, Ryan shares three practical and powerful ways to:
- Lay the groundwork that will strengthen the dreamer (you!) for the task ahead.
- Overthrow the dream killers that try to sideline you.
- Take the first steps!
It’s time to become a steward of your dream. Are you ready? Stand firm. And then look up.
Ryan Romeo is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of the OUTCRY worship tour and author of the book Outcry. In the first 3 years, the OUTCRY tour traveled to over 86 cities, and has reached nearly a million people. He is currently the Pastor of Creative Arts at Living Streams Church in Phoenix, AZ, where he lives with his wife, Blake, and their three children.
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