Dreams in the desert

Just outside of Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. in the Sonora Desert, the “star” of countless cowboy movies, there is a graveyard. This is not a people graveyard; rather it’s a graveyard of dreams, and in the words of one visitor, “It's kind of like an elephant graveyard, mysterious, exciting, a place where all kids dreams go, it shows the incredible creativity as well as the incredible destruction man is capable of."

This graveyard is the famed Airplane Graveyard-Bone Yard at Davis Monthan Airforce Base. The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center is where the U.S. Air Force mothballs planes until they either need them again or it's time to salvage them for parts.  

There are more than 4,000 mostly Vietnam War era, fighters and transport aircraft quietly awaiting their fate in the blistering desert heat. This is the place that every pilot longs to visit, but few seldom make it. One fighter pilot summed it by saying, “The airplane graveyard is just so eerie, and you almost can't help but feel sadness to such powerful machines be stripped of their beauty and usefulness"

This is the final resting place of the creative genius of countless designers, engineers and specialists from many disciplines, and it’s the repository of billions of tax dollars and government money. It’s a monument to the darker side of man.

In the same desert, about nine miles south of Tucson, there is another monument to dreams. This is an altogether kinder and more humanitarian monument. It’s the unique Mission San Xavier del Bac, a Catholic church founded by a Jesuit priest, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, a European spreading the

Mission San Xavier del Bac

word of God in a new land in 1692. It stands as a beautiful testimony in an otherwise arid and isolated part of the desert; the Mission is also known as the “White Dove of the Desert.”

There is no record of the architect, builders or artists responsible for creating it. It has been determined that no less than three artists painted the artwork inside the church. Almost every available space inside has a painting or sculpture. The paintings have the look of folk and baroque art of religious figures. The colors, though faded are still brilliant and quite striking. The amount of artwork on the walls and ceiling is overwhelming, but breathtaking. All of that grandeur and its author is unknown!   

In terms of geographical distance, these two monuments are just a “stone’s throw” away from each other, but in philosophy they are far apart as east is from west. Neither of these places could exist without designers, and skillful builders, yet most of us will never know who built what. Many people live their lives like that... we can all see the results, but there is no evident design or purpose, and certainly any dreams seem to have been lost long ago.

It's a paradox, but in a way it's at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're busy pouring all we've got into what we think will give us love and meaning and the fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our dreams let us down; leaving us “running on empty” Its at this time we might finally be ready to consider what God knows will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made each of us, He's the One who knows why we are here. It was the dream He dreamed for you and I even before we existed! It's the destiny that we were made for, a destiny to be lived out one meaningful day at a time.

God talks about His plans for you and I in Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams - a lot of which are now just dreams in the desert. But now may be the time when we finally embrace what we were made for and living for the will and purpose of the one who made us. - the One of whom the Bible says, All things were created by Him and for Him. Colossians 1:16