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In the early part of this century, Henry Ford and his brother-in-law Howell Graves visited Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They announced to a nation that Muscle Shoals was to become the "Detroit of the South." Henry Ford was going to build automobile making facilities in Muscle Shoals to rival those of the North. The city would become, in one word, "prosperous." Henry Ford laid out an entire city complete with sub-divisions. He paved roads, put down sidewalks, laid sewer lines, and curbed and guttered an entire section of the city which once had been corn and cotton fields. To attract young workers, he built the Howell Graves Grammar School.

The city prepared for the explosion of prosperity. The people came. The land investors bought every parcel of land they could find, some no more than 25 feet wide. The publicists poured in and produced promotional films that declared the dawning of a new age. The politicians passed a law that gave Henry Ford control of the dam and the mighty Tennessee River. Control of the waterway was the vital and last piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Everything was set. The dream was in the making. The vision was forecast until President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the bill. With one swipe of the pen, the dream was gone! The vision was trashed.

Speculators mourned over once high priced and now worthless property. One can visit Muscle Shoals today and find some of the most beautiful corn and cotton fields sidewalked, guttered, and curbed as silent symbols of a dream that is no more. The Howell Graves Grammar School houses the Muscle Shoals Board of Education.

The dream of the monarchy seemed to be gone. Samuel mourned over Saul, the king whom God had rejected. Samuel mourned for Israel. Samuel didn't want a king. God didn't want Israel to have a king; but Israel wanted a king. So God relented to their wishes and gave to them a king. But their choice could not have been a worse one. Oh, Saul was a fine-looking young man. He stood a head taller than the rest of his countrymen, a beautiful physical specimen, a natural born leader. He was the obvious choice to be the king over Israel except for one fatal flaw. It was not enough that God made him king, he wanted to hear the people say that he was king. He was insecure. When crucial decisions were made, Saul compromised the commands of God to win the applause and approval of the people. As a result God gave up on Saul and turned his back upon him as the ruler of his people.

Seemingly the vision was gone. The dream had vanished. As Samuel was mourning over Saul, God came to Samuel and said, "Get up! Grab your horn. We are going to Jesse's house. I have chosen one of Jesse's sons to be the new king of Israel." Samuel said, "But Saul is still on the throne. There is no vacancy! If Saul hears about this he will kill me." God said, "Take a heifer with you as a sacrifice. You must go to prepare the next king of Israel." What a striking scene it must have been as a tired and worn-out old prophet of God and a young teenaged boy met in the living room of Jesse's house and revitalized and rekindled the fire of the dreams of Israel. How did they do it? How did they resurrect those dreams and ambitions?

First, Samuel was able to enter into the very heart and mind of God and see the situation as God saw it. Israel had made mistakes. They had chosen the wrong person. Plans were made that failed. But God does not look upon any situation or upon any person as hopeless. The dreams, goals, and ambitions of your life, though seemingly crushed, are never seen as hopeless by God. God was able to see the situation as hopeful. Samuel, a tired old man of God, went to Jesse's house with hope. God was able to help Samuel see the situation and others as God saw them.

When they paraded the first son, Eliab, in front of Samuel, he thought to himself, "Surely this is the one." But God said, "No, Samuel, do not make the same mistake again. Don't make a judgment based upon the outward appearance. I look upon the heart. The next king of Israel will not be chosen because of what he looks like on the outside; he will be chosen because of who he is on the inside."

How easy it is to make a judgment based on one's outward appearance. We get caught up in the "beauty cult." Think about it: we tell our children the story of the Ugly Duckling. Being ugly the duckling was jeered at by its peers. Then the duckling grew into a beautiful swan and was accepted. Would Prince Charming have kissed Sleeping Beauty if she had been Sleeping Ugly? What about Rudolph? He had such an obnoxious nose that everyone made fun of him. Then he performed the magnificent feat of guiding Santa's sleigh when no one else could. Because of this miraculous feat he was held in high esteem. They made fun of Dumbo and his big ears until he learned to fly. Then he became the hero of the party.

What about those who do not grow up to be beautiful swans? What about those who do not work miracles? What about those who do not grow up to look like a Walt Disney cartoon character? It is easy for us to make judgment on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. God sees people as persons. The word "person" is from two Latin words, per sonare. Per sonare in Latin means to "hear through." To see people as persons means to search through the outward facade and to see an individual for what he or she is on the inside. God saw through the outward appearance of a tired, old man to use Samuel, the prophet of God, to revitalize the hopes and dreams of Israel. Now God was about to teach Samuel the same lesson.

After the others had paraded by, Samuel asked Jesse if he had other sons. He said, "Well, I have that boy." (In the Hebrew the word "boy" has a negative connotation.) He was on the backside of the Judean hills tending the sheep. Samuel wanted to see the shepherd boy. They brought in David. He was "ruddy" with a fine appearance and handsome features. But David had been overlooked. "The boy" was the only son of Jesse's second wife, Nabash. Unfavored and unblessed, he was stuck on the back hillside to tend the sheep while the others sat around in the den looking good. When they brought in David, the divine twitch occurred in Samuel's heart and he knew that this was the one. The oil of God's anointed was poured upon his head and "the boy" later became the great king. It was this boy who became the poet, the musician, the athlete, the scholar, the warrior, and the man who was called a man after God's own heart.

How was David able to be and accomplish all that? How can we revitalize our own dreams and ambitions? First of all, David was able to see himself as God saw him. David never let the opinion of others or outside circumstances affect the way he felt about himself. He always saw himself as loved of God. He knew God loved him and had a purpose and a plan for his life.

In our most demanding role as parent, we ask ourselves: what is the best thing we can do for our children? In his book Hide and Seek, James Dobson states that one of the best things a parent can do for a child is to give him a sense of self-worth. We must remind children of how loved and wanted they are. I remember years ago one of our twin sons asking, "We were a mistake, weren't we?" "What?" He said, "You know, twins eighteen months after the first child. We were a mistake, weren't we?" I said, "Whoa! Wait a minute! No, you were not a mistake. You were planned. We wanted you and your older brother to be born eighteen months apart. It was eighteen months and one day. That's pretty good planning!"

Dobson goes on to say that one of the ways we can help children develop a sense of self-worth is to help them find an area in their lives in which they feel competent. We can help them discover and develop a gift or talent. We can help them find something they can do and do well.

Charles Campbell of the Penal Institute in Fort Worth says that most of the people who are in prison are not bad people -- they are just inept. Growing up they were never able to find a gift or talent, develop it, and feel competent in using it to make a contribution to society. Because of the frustration of their ineptness they turned to things that were considered by our society unacceptable.

Huey Lewis, of the musical group Huey Lewis and the News, said, "Once I took a trip across Europe alone and with no money. All I had in my pocket was my harmonica. I knew that wherever I went, I could earn a living playing my harmonica." A harmonica? George Benson in the song "On Broadway" said, "He was discouraged when he got to Broadway." He was told, "You'll never make it. You will never be a star," and then the lines goes, "I know they are wrong, I know they are because I can play this here guitar." Play a guitar? Help them to find something they can do and they can do well. Whether it is playing a guitar or a harmonica or fixing a transmission or repairing a computer or making a good salad dressing; help them to find some gift or talent in which they can take pride. Then assist them to discipline themselves in developing that gift or talent to use for the betterment of humankind. In that way we can help our children find self-worth.

Her name was Tilda Kemplin. She was an East Tennessee girl. She went eight years to school in a one-room schoolhouse. There was no high school to which she could go, so she repeated the eighth grade again. At 32 she decided she wanted to complete her education, so she enrolled in a high school. She had three children, a husband, a job as a cook, and a household to keep. Five years later she graduated! Later she went to college and received a degree. Then she began to work so that what had happened to her early in life would not happen to other children. She began to lead classes for the young women and children where she lived, sometimes in the fields as they worked in a county that chronically had 26 percent unemployment. Recently in Washington, D. C., she received the Jefferson Award for outstanding public service. In her response she said, "It is simple. Everyone has a gift. If I can do it, anyone can."1

David was able to stay focused on God and the gifts that God had given to him, no matter what the outside circumstances and the opinions of others were. He knew he was loved and that God had something for him to do. Thus, David was able to keep the dream alive. No doubt, he nourished that dream during the silence and solitude of a Judean night. He disciplined himself in faithfulness in small and seemingly uneventful tasks. Within himself he kept the dream alive. He would be the king of Israel! Was he a king? Well! Not really! He was just a teenaged boy. He had no kingdom, no army, no throne, nothing! Besides Israel already had a king and his name was Saul. David was no king! But he was a king because God said he was a king! God said he was loved and God had something for him to do. It's the same with you. God loves you with an infinite love. God has gifted you and given you abilities far beyond your imagination. He now waits to work with you in developing those gifts. God wants you to use your gifts and talents for him and for the benefit of others, if only you will follow. David always followed the one who had called him and gifted him, with one tragic exception, but that is another story.

It is a true story. A young lady filled out her college application. She was asked the question, "Are you a leader?" She honestly looked at herself and said, "No, I am not a leader. I am a follower. I don't feel comfortable leading." She marked "no," and dejectedly returned the application to the college. Several weeks later she was surprised when she received a letter of acceptance from the school. The comment by the registrar was this: "We have received 1,452 applicants for our school who said they are leaders. We thought that with that many leaders we ought to have at least one follower. Welcome to our college."2

Steve Tondera is a layman who was elected President of the Alabama Baptist Convention. Once in route to chair an important meeting in Montgomery, he noticed a hitchhiker on the side of the road. Although he seldom did so, he stopped and gave the man a ride. The hitchhiker was dirty, unshaven, and added a certain "air" to the interior of the automobile.

"My name is Steve. What's yours?" "My name is Buster!" And with that Buster began to unfold his story. He had traveled to Detroit with grand dreams for his life there. For a while things went well. Then the bottom fell out. The dream vanished. The loss of his job, the loss of a relationship, unpaid bills and now he was returning home defeated and with only the dirty clothes on his back.

"I haven't had breakfast. Care to join me?" Steve asked. "I could eat," replied Buster. And could he! Like he had not eaten in days!

Resuming their journey, Steve felt an inner twitch to talk about his faith. Buster listened intently. Again the twitch moved Steve to say, "Why don't we pull over to the side of the road and pray?" "I can't pray," replied Buster. Steve said, "If God will listen to me, he will listen to you." With that, they stopped under an overpass and knelt down beside the car. Buster asked Jesus to come into his life.

They then continued their journey. As they arrived at his destination, Buster got out of the car, and Steve gave to him his business card and a twenty dollar bill. About three or four weeks later, Steve received a letter. It was from Buster's mother. She thanked him again and again for leading Buster to Christ.

The following Sunday Buster had made a public profession of faith and was baptized in the small church his mother attended. It was an answer to her many years of prayer. "He had never been happier," she said. "This past Tuesday, of all things, Buster was backing the pick-up out of the driveway when he was struck by an automobile. Buster was killed."

With God it is never too late to redream the dream, or....

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1. Zig Ziglar, Steps to the Top (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company, 1985), p. 19.

2. Ziglar, op. cit., p. 21.