Joseph had high expectations!

Genesis 37.19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other.

I’ve always loved that old 1959 ‘Musical’ number – “High Hopes.”

“But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes

He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes…”

High expectations and pragmatic considerations…how does one embrace one without neglecting the other? There must be a “Plan C.”

We hear folks saying, “But if that doesn’t work out do you have a Plan B?” Of course one should have a Plan B…but it is also imperative that along with Plan A one has an attendant Plan C!

Plan C answers the question, “If a dog is chasing a car and catches it, what does he do then?”

Most dreamers never have a Plan C. Take, for instance, Don Quixote – the stereotypical idealist/romanticist/dreamer.

The difference in Don Quixote’s outcome and Joseph’s outcome is Joseph’s 13 years in prison that allowed the development of Plan C.

Plan C – the pragmatic…what you do if you are chasing a car and catch it; what you do when they DO call you up out of prison and you find yourself standing before Pharaoh!

It’s one thing to always have the perfect answer for a perfect world; it’s another thing to responsibly make the world work.

God HAS used dreamers – but only after they have had their idealism tempered by humanity. God has also used pessimists (Elijah) and rebels (Samson) and cynics (Jonah).

It seems, from looking at the length of time in development, that it takes longer to get to Plan C for a dreamer than it does for pessimists and rebels and cynics. In each case it is only when Plan C is implemented that the work of God is revealed.

It’s fine to dream big dreams. It’s also okay to be pessimistic or a bit rebellious or cynical. It’s NOT okay to joust at windmills or feel victimized or grouse and complain.

If you don’t get to Plan C it won’t make any difference how far you chased the car or how loudly you barked. You can turn back to your admiring audience wagging your tail and stepping high, you have ‘shown them!’ But in reality the car has gone on down the road without ever having been fazed by your existence.

So how does one develop a Plan C?

I only find one real strategy from Jesus and that’s called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). If you can develop your strategy from there, you will know what to do when you catch the car.

If you develop it from the Old Testament, or even from the Apostle Paul, you will continue jousting at windmills and barking at cars. It is Jesus Who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith.