Joseph Castleberry - Your Deepest Dream: Discovering Gods True Vision for Your Life

This is not a book; it is a timeless masterpiece to be savored for generations. If you want to truly find the missing deep dream of your life, this practical piece of literary work will help you discover it. From inspirational advice to life stories that will hold your interest for hours, Dr. Castleberry makes you want to get up off the couch and become the next deep-dream success story.

DAVID BRODY, chief political correspondent,
Christian Broadcasting Network

Dr. Castleberry has written a book of remarkable clarity and insight. He shows us that discovering ones deep dream is the key that unlocks our true potential and enables us to achieve the deep sense of fulfillment God intends for each and every one of us.

ROB MCKENNA, attorney general, Washington

Dr. Joseph Castleberry has written a book that gives readers a powerful alternative to the white-picket-fence future that compels so many Americans. The books lively narrative style frames its insightful message: There is a clear plan for your life; dont miss it. Buy copies for every dream seeker you know.

CARLOS CAMPO, PhD, president, Regent University

This book offers a solid guide to true fulfillment through a combination of inspiring stories, biblical principles, and fresh insights, all presented in simple but sparkling language that is a delight to the reader.

GEORGE WOOD, general superintendent, Assemblies of God

Living with a sense of mission and purpose is the key to seeing dreams become realities. In Your Deepest Dream , Joseph Castleberry explores what it takes to realize the fullest expression of your God-given potential. Daydream no longer an exciting journey awaits you!

JOHN LINDELL, lead pastor, James River Assembly, Ozark, Missouri

Being driven is only half of the solution to success. Joe Castleberry masterfully presents the other half: being guided by your deepest dream. This book helped me to adjust my compass heading so that I was on the correct course to true success.

COURT DURKALSKI, CEO/servant, Truline Industries, Inc.;
author of Winning at Work

Dr. Joe Castleberry has hit a grand slam with Your Deepest Dream . Of the seven billion people on the planet, most havent yet experienced the meaning and purpose for their lives theyre simply existing. This book not only challenges us to identify the deep dream in our lives but also shows us how to live it through right thinking, inspirational stories, and solid biblical principles. Discover your deep dream and make it reality!

SCOTT MCCHRYSTAL, U.S. Army, retired;
former chaplain of the United States Military Academy, West Point

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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2012 by Joseph Castleberry

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ISBN-13: 978-1-61521-826-4

Cover design by Arvid Wallen

Cover image by Shutterstock

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ( ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The other version used is the Holy Bible, New International Version ( NIV ), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, used by permission of Zondervan, all rights reserved.

Castleberry, Joseph Lee.

Your deepest dream : discovering Gods true vision for your life /

Joseph L. Castleberry.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-61521-826-4

1. Dreams--Religious aspects--Christianity. 2. Christian life. 3.

Vocation--Christianity. I. Title.

BR115.D74C37 2012

248.29--dc23

2011030985

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 / 16 15 14 13 12

To the late James Jackson Castleberry,

my irreplaceable dream dad.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

DEEP DREAMS

I t is the birthright of college students to complain about cafeteria food. But Randy Borman, a student at Michigan State University, was eating from a board plan that would make any red-blooded American complain. Supporting himself on the fruits of a meager income from factory work and occasional urban hunting trips (hunting rabbits and pigeons with a pellet gun and seeking fresh roadkill), he became fed up with his life as an underfed college student. Although he was blessed with a brilliant intellect and deeply appreciated the insights and strengths of Western culture, he knew the American Dream was not his dream. So he dropped out of school and moved to Ecuador to join a Stone Age Amazonian Indian tribe.

Randy was going home. Born in 1955 to missionary parents in Ecuador, he had grown up in the jungle. His family lived with the Cofan, learning their language and customs in order to translate the Bible into the Cofan language. They not only introduced the people to the gospel, but they also cared about the Cofans physical needs. Randy grew up learning the ways of the jungle, hunting with a blowgun, wearing tribal clothing, living off the land.

What he found when he returned to the Cofan in 1974 was an endangered people group. Everyone has heard of endangered animal species. But most people are unaware that human diversity is highly endangered all over the world because of the march of globalization and urbanization. Between 50 and 90 percent of the six thousand languages spoken in the world today may pass into extinction by the end of this century. The people groups who once spoke them will have blended into the national cultures around them. Their ways of understanding the world, their cultures, their wisdom will all go away with them. The Cofan tribe, reduced to just a few hundred members, was well on its way to extinction.

The main reason for the looming extinction of the Cofan, Randy discovered, was the increasing destruction of their tribal lands in the jungle. First a U.S.-based oil company and later the nationalized Ecuadorian oil company had discovered oil, built roads into the jungle, and begun to extract it. As they worked, they were destroying the rain forest.

The Cofan were forced to leave their oil-fouled homes, and as they left the jungle, they were being reduced to poverty and forced to look for Western-style employment. A beautiful people and a beautiful way of life were being lost. It does not take a lot of sense to realize that is a bad thing. But for Randy it was personal. His home was being destroyed, along with the people and culture he loved.