Tag Archive | Arthur Hiller

An Impossible Dream?

Apr26

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go

(Joe Darion, “Impossible Dream” )

Recently, on the WordServe Water Cooler, I shared a story from my academic journey a few years ago in Spain–Sergio: A Memoir from My Writing Life.

My writing life has taken me in a different direction from learning a second language now, as I pursue writing for publication. But during that particular season of life in Spain, God taught me a lot about His strength and my weaknesses.

Sometimes God leads us to do the impossible. I’ve written more about “Facing the Impossible” on my personal blog.

In Spain, immersed in another culture and language, I discovered that I had taken on something far beyond my own abilities. I had heard that people tend to “rise to their level of incompetence” (Peter Principle). I experienced that reality in Spain.

I felt I’d been pacing myself quite well, as I pursued a course of study as a nontraditional student. But after a few weeks in Spain, I lost all energy and crashed—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. As they say in the sports world, I “hit the wall.”

But in the process, I also re-discovered several important spiritual truths.

  • Some things are impossible to do in my own strength. “Humanly speaking, it is impossible …” (Matt. 19:26 NLT).
  • All things are possible with God. “… But with God everything is possible.” (ibid.)
  • I can do anything God calls me to do. “… I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).
  • God will complete the work that He began in me. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within (me), will continue his work until it is finally finished …” (Phil. 1:6).
  • God gives me His strength, when I am weak. “That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).
In looking for a clip of “The Impossible Dream,” I found this scene from Man of La Mancha, ”which was … inspired by Miguel de Cervantes‘s seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote. It tells the story of the “mad” knight, Don Quixote, as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition” (Wickipedia)
 
YouTube/nibelungenstar (from Man of La Mancha, 1972, directed by Arthur Hiller)

What impossible task do you face today?

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