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Living Your Dreams
By Owen Hurter from Spread The Fire Magazine, Issue 4, 2002
I was totally “psyched” when I was asked to write an article for Spread the Fire. I wondered, “What baton would I
pass on to the coming generation?” I knew immediately what I would write about. My greatest passion in life is to
see people live their dreams, to be and to do the impossible. It has become one of my greatest obsessions.
The Courage To Live Fully
Not too long ago I saw a movie, “The Princess Diaries,” about a shy 16-year-old girl who finds out that she is a
princess by birth. Throughout the movie, she struggles with answering the big questions: “Can I really be a
princess? Can I run a country? Do I have what it takes to fulfill my destiny?” Just before she is about to run away
because of the pressure, she finds a letter from her deceased father. In the letter her father says that it is a
custom in his family to pass on a bit of wisdom to their children on their 16th birthday. This is what he wrote to
her, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather that something else is more important than
fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on you will travel the road of
who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.”
A friend of mine recently said, “Dissatisfied people do not turn heads.” Think about that one for awhile. If we in
the body of Christ live boring and unsatisfied lives, what kind of testimony is that? I love asking people, “What
are your dreams and hopes for the future?” It might seem like a silly question, but I think it is one of utmost
importance and one that God is starting to ask the Church more and more. God wants the Church to live life to
its fullest. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:
10) The word “abundantly” actually means “life in superabundance, in excess, overflowing, over and above, more
than enough, extraordinary and more than sufficient. “This scripture is not just talking about our heavenly lives but
about quality of life here on earth. How are we going to impact the world? I believe it’s by being passionate
about God, about life and about what we do.
The other day I looked up the word “boring” in the dictionary. I had a good laugh while I was reading it. This was
what I read: “dreary, dry, flat, monotonous, mundane, repetitive, tedious, tiresome, unexciting, uninspiring,
uninteresting and wearisome.” Now compare that with the word “passion” which means “object arousing great
enthusiasm, craze, fad, mania, obsession, eagerness, enthusiasm, fascination and keenness.”
The soul that is inflamed by desire and passion is not boring.
Finding Your Destiny
There are 3 life questions that we all ask at one time or another: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I
supposed to do with my life? I am going to ask you a question, but before I do I want you to think like a child for a
little while. Don’t say to yourself, “Yeah, but let’s face reality,” or perhaps “That won’t pay the bills,” or “What are
the chances of that happening?” Be a child and dream for a little while. Okay, are you ready? The question is
this: “If there is anything in life you would like to be or anything you would like to do, what would it be?”
Carmen sings a song that goes like this: “Your desire is a confirmation [that] the destination is there.” In other
words, our desires are usually the key to what we are called to do. As earthly fathers we would only want the best
for our children, right? Now our heavenly Daddy is just like that, but even more so. The Bible says that He gives
good gifts to His children, that He will give us the desires of our hearts and that it is His good pleasure to give us
the kingdom.
So where do you think those desires inside you came from? They did not come from the enemy! God is our
maker, our creator. Inventors design a product for a special purpose. A blender is made to blend ingredients, a
knife to cut things; a car is made to get us from point A to point B. In the same way, you were made for a
purpose. “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) What are your gifts and talents, the things you are
really good at? Are you a good writer or an excellent cook? Are you really great with numbers or even a skilled
organizer? All the gifts He gave us when we were born have their use in His purpose for us.
I heard Dr. Miles Munroe describe a vision where God took him for a walk through a graveyard. He was reading
the writings on the tombstones when God spoke to him and said, “This is the richest place on earth.”Somewhat
confused Dr. Munroe asked God why. God said, “Because here lie books that were never written, songs that
were never composed, inventions that were never created.” Those people died without having accomplished the
works that were set out beforehand for them to walk in. How tragic. A few years ago I heard a song by the
Christian band, “4Him.” The chorus had these lyrics: “I want to be a man that you can write about 10,000 years
from now...” Wow! Just like King David, or the apostles, or Mary Magdalene.
Accepting Your Destiny
If you know who you are and what you were created for, you will be a very dangerous person to the forces of
darkness. But then if you don’t know who you are or what you were created for, you pose no threat to them at all. I
believe that the greatest anointing we will ever walk in comes when we are okay with being ourselves, not some
Hollywood star or supermodel, but who Jesus made us to be. Why would you want to be someone else? He has
made you uniquely different. There is something inside you that no one else on the planet has. Now in the same
way, when we walk in the calling and destiny He planned for us, we will step into a realm of the anointing that we’
ve never dreamt was possible. The extent to which you are confident in your calling and in what God has called
you to will be the extent to which you can take back what has been stolen from you. Just think of what you are
capable of doing and achieving. He created you with all those dreams and desires for a purpose and the best
news of all is that Jesus will be with you every step of the way saying, “Go for it. I believe in you. I know you can
do it.” He will be your greatest cheerleader and encourager.
Living Your Destiny
I have lived my life for the last twelve years daring to believe God wants me to succeed in EVERYTHING. As a
little boy I was told that I didn’t have a musical bone in my body and that as an adult I would never make a living
from music, so I had better have something secure to fall back on. But, the Lord’s calling to music has proven to
be true for me. For seven years I had a band, and I saw thousands of young people run to the altar for salvation
calls during rock concerts. I recorded my first CD in one of the top studios in the world. I have been given three
amazing and expensive guitars.
My biggest dream was to live in North America and marry a Southern, blue-eyed girl. Now I live in Toronto, and I
am married to the most beautiful, born in Southern Florida blue-eyed girl, and we now have a baby on the way.
These are only a few thingsmy great God has done for me. Although it has been an amazing journey of faith and
destiny, I have so many more dreams that the Lord and I are still talking about. I’m learning that “faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Living your dreams often
requires risk. When you are daring to go for “gold,” it is because He has put a dream inside you. All great
accomplishments, inventions and creations started with someone who dared to step over the edge of what was
once thought to be humanly impossible. So “take a leap and jump!”
By Owen Hurter from Spread The Fire Magazine, Issue 4, 2002
I was totally “psyched” when I was asked to write an article for Spread the Fire. I wondered, “What baton would I
pass on to the coming generation?” I knew immediately what I would write about. My greatest passion in life is to
see people live their dreams, to be and to do the impossible. It has become one of my greatest obsessions.
The Courage To Live Fully
Not too long ago I saw a movie, “The Princess Diaries,” about a shy 16-year-old girl who finds out that she is a
princess by birth. Throughout the movie, she struggles with answering the big questions: “Can I really be a
princess? Can I run a country? Do I have what it takes to fulfill my destiny?” Just before she is about to run away
because of the pressure, she finds a letter from her deceased father. In the letter her father says that it is a
custom in his family to pass on a bit of wisdom to their children on their 16th birthday. This is what he wrote to
her, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather that something else is more important than
fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on you will travel the road of
who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.”
A friend of mine recently said, “Dissatisfied people do not turn heads.” Think about that one for awhile. If we in
the body of Christ live boring and unsatisfied lives, what kind of testimony is that? I love asking people, “What
are your dreams and hopes for the future?” It might seem like a silly question, but I think it is one of utmost
importance and one that God is starting to ask the Church more and more. God wants the Church to live life to
its fullest. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:
10) The word “abundantly” actually means “life in superabundance, in excess, overflowing, over and above, more
than enough, extraordinary and more than sufficient. “This scripture is not just talking about our heavenly lives but
about quality of life here on earth. How are we going to impact the world? I believe it’s by being passionate
about God, about life and about what we do.
The other day I looked up the word “boring” in the dictionary. I had a good laugh while I was reading it. This was
what I read: “dreary, dry, flat, monotonous, mundane, repetitive, tedious, tiresome, unexciting, uninspiring,
uninteresting and wearisome.” Now compare that with the word “passion” which means “object arousing great
enthusiasm, craze, fad, mania, obsession, eagerness, enthusiasm, fascination and keenness.”
The soul that is inflamed by desire and passion is not boring.
Finding Your Destiny
There are 3 life questions that we all ask at one time or another: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I
supposed to do with my life? I am going to ask you a question, but before I do I want you to think like a child for a
little while. Don’t say to yourself, “Yeah, but let’s face reality,” or perhaps “That won’t pay the bills,” or “What are
the chances of that happening?” Be a child and dream for a little while. Okay, are you ready? The question is
this: “If there is anything in life you would like to be or anything you would like to do, what would it be?”
Carmen sings a song that goes like this: “Your desire is a confirmation [that] the destination is there.” In other
words, our desires are usually the key to what we are called to do. As earthly fathers we would only want the best
for our children, right? Now our heavenly Daddy is just like that, but even more so. The Bible says that He gives
good gifts to His children, that He will give us the desires of our hearts and that it is His good pleasure to give us
the kingdom.
So where do you think those desires inside you came from? They did not come from the enemy! God is our
maker, our creator. Inventors design a product for a special purpose. A blender is made to blend ingredients, a
knife to cut things; a car is made to get us from point A to point B. In the same way, you were made for a
purpose. “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) What are your gifts and talents, the things you are
really good at? Are you a good writer or an excellent cook? Are you really great with numbers or even a skilled
organizer? All the gifts He gave us when we were born have their use in His purpose for us.
I heard Dr. Miles Munroe describe a vision where God took him for a walk through a graveyard. He was reading
the writings on the tombstones when God spoke to him and said, “This is the richest place on earth.”Somewhat
confused Dr. Munroe asked God why. God said, “Because here lie books that were never written, songs that
were never composed, inventions that were never created.” Those people died without having accomplished the
works that were set out beforehand for them to walk in. How tragic. A few years ago I heard a song by the
Christian band, “4Him.” The chorus had these lyrics: “I want to be a man that you can write about 10,000 years
from now...” Wow! Just like King David, or the apostles, or Mary Magdalene.
Accepting Your Destiny
If you know who you are and what you were created for, you will be a very dangerous person to the forces of
darkness. But then if you don’t know who you are or what you were created for, you pose no threat to them at all. I
believe that the greatest anointing we will ever walk in comes when we are okay with being ourselves, not some
Hollywood star or supermodel, but who Jesus made us to be. Why would you want to be someone else? He has
made you uniquely different. There is something inside you that no one else on the planet has. Now in the same
way, when we walk in the calling and destiny He planned for us, we will step into a realm of the anointing that we’
ve never dreamt was possible. The extent to which you are confident in your calling and in what God has called
you to will be the extent to which you can take back what has been stolen from you. Just think of what you are
capable of doing and achieving. He created you with all those dreams and desires for a purpose and the best
news of all is that Jesus will be with you every step of the way saying, “Go for it. I believe in you. I know you can
do it.” He will be your greatest cheerleader and encourager.
Living Your Destiny
I have lived my life for the last twelve years daring to believe God wants me to succeed in EVERYTHING. As a
little boy I was told that I didn’t have a musical bone in my body and that as an adult I would never make a living
from music, so I had better have something secure to fall back on. But, the Lord’s calling to music has proven to
be true for me. For seven years I had a band, and I saw thousands of young people run to the altar for salvation
calls during rock concerts. I recorded my first CD in one of the top studios in the world. I have been given three
amazing and expensive guitars.
My biggest dream was to live in North America and marry a Southern, blue-eyed girl. Now I live in Toronto, and I
am married to the most beautiful, born in Southern Florida blue-eyed girl, and we now have a baby on the way.
These are only a few thingsmy great God has done for me. Although it has been an amazing journey of faith and
destiny, I have so many more dreams that the Lord and I are still talking about. I’m learning that “faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Living your dreams often
requires risk. When you are daring to go for “gold,” it is because He has put a dream inside you. All great
accomplishments, inventions and creations started with someone who dared to step over the edge of what was
once thought to be humanly impossible. So “take a leap and jump!”