Crabb - Shattered dreams: Gods unexpected path to joy

S HATTERED D REAMS
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked ( MSG ) are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NLT ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Italics in Scripture quotations reflect the authors added emphasis.

ISBN9780307459503
Ebook ISBN9780307822666

Copyright 2001 by Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., PhD, PA
Workbook copyright 2001 by Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., PhD, PA

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Literary Agent, Orange, California.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

W ATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crabb, Lawrence J.
Shattered dreams : Gods unexpected pathway to joy / by Larry Crabb.1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Spiritual lifeChristianity. 2. Christian life. I. Title.
BV4501.3 .C73 2001
248.86dc21

00-054084

v3.1_r1

I wrote this book in 2000. A year earlier, in the church that was my church home at the time, I spent eight consecutive Sunday school hours teaching the book of Ruth to about sixty adults. On a few Sundays, the number swelled to nearly one hundred. Something was happening in that class. The thoughts that were later organized into Shattered Dreams came to life in my mind and soul during those eight weeks.

The publishing house that had contracted to print my next book turned down the manuscript. Too negative, they said. Nobody would buy a book titled Shattered Dreams. People want to be happy. Im grateful to the folks at WaterBrook Press for taking a risk on what many might see as an unnecessarily negative message.

I was in my midfifties when the book first released. The road Im walking seems narrower now, and strangely more appealing. A deeper, muffled, more subtle dream is in the process of being shattered. And a new kind of happiness is slowly releasing, a kind that the sort of shattered dreams I had in mind when I wrote the book cannot destroy. That seems clearer now.

At the time, I was a two-year cancer survivor, a cancer that came within hours of claiming my life. Now, the cancer is backa very slow-growing kind, Im told, and nonmetastasizing. By the time you read this, that assurance may have been proven false or it might be confirming the hope that I wont need surgery until Im pushing one hundred.

Id prefer to get a phone call today telling me that the radiologist misread my scan, that the concerning spot is no longer concerning. That preference has been a prayer, one of many not answered according to my preferences. And I have no biblical guarantee that my dream of symptom-free living till Im one hundred will not be shattered. The cracks are already visible.

The dream of good health is an obvious one; its visible and measurable, like dreams of a great marriage, fulfilling vocation, or sufficient income. And obvious difficulties call for obvious responses to manage the problem, to make it go away or to keep your sanity if it doesnt. Get a second opinion, find a good counselor, train for a new job. Obvious shattered dreams keep alive the hope that there are ways to manage the crisis and get through without falling apart with something that will help you feel better, at least for a season.

Perhaps this is a dream only those of advancing years have, but in my midsixties Im aware of a deeper dream than good health, relationships, employment, and finances. I think its a core dream thats at the center of every human being, subtle, and so imbedded in our makeup that we experience it as an entitlement, a given of how things should be. Its a dream we dont believe might come true, but one that we think should if there really is a God.

Its the dream to be truly happy, to feel excited about life, to wake up every morning full of energy to tackle the adventure and seize the opportunity that lies before us, and ultimately, to encounter Gods palpable presence in every dark night.