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Did you ever have a dream? I'm not talking about a dream you have when you sleep. I'm talking about a conscious dream where you would like to see a new future, a different choice of employment, and a business of you own. How many times have you wished that you could be living a different existence than the one you are currently experiencing?

Dreams. No doubt we've all had them from time to time in our lives. Did you fulfill your dream? If not, why not? Did you start on your way to fulfilling a dream only to be derailed by letting other life's events get in the way? Did you make some initial first steps only to find roadblocks in your way that convinced you to give up? Or, if you fulfilled some aspects of your dream, did you find that you had limited success, and, therefore gave in to a negative view that you weren't meant to succeed?

Several years ago, I had a dream about inventing a board game that would change my life's fortunes. Along with a partner, who also had a similar dream, those dreams were turned into goals that were translated to action steps. After many long hours and many revisions, a board game was developed. Then came issues of financing. Not to be defeated by this obstacle, a plan was developed and carried out that saw shares being offered, all sold to a group of supporters, and a real live company created. Then, came marketing strategies, T.V. appearances, newspaper articles, trade show attendance, weekend promotional appearances, magazine advertising, and spot radio commercials.

It was an exciting time. The one time dream seemed to take off with sales starting to accumulate, a potential sale to a large and established game board company, and inroads to large chain stores. Then, it happened. Introduced to the board game market came one of the biggest hits never seen before. In short, their sales blew us out of the water, our distributor failed to pay us, and the business, once dreamed of, came to a screeching halt.

To make a long story short, the company was dissolved having dashed our dreams, and those of our shareholders. How devastating after all the hours of work, the hours of marketing, promotion, not to mention the loss of our own financial investment. It wasn't meant to be. The same old job, the same old daily grind loomed larger than ever.

Is that the end of the story? Well, it was for one of the game developers; the negative emotions, "it never was meant to be" thoughts dominated any future dreams of a different life. This person returned to the daily grind of a nine to five job always cynical, always jealous of those who had succeeded.

But, did it mean being unsuccessful to me? I didn't succeed to the level I wanted or desired, but, to me, at the very least I lived my dream by turning it into a reality. If I had never turned my dream into goals and then to action, I would have always wondered - what if. Was it then a failure? No, it wasn't. Was it the flaming success I'd hoped for - no. But, there were valuable lessons to be learned. After all, how many successful business people, inventors, authors, artists, etc. had immediate success in their first attempt? Probably none. Failure is our greatest teacher as long as the experience is viewed as lessons, and those lessons are internalized to provide fruits for greater achievements later.


It may take a few more attempts, or many attempts but success is only achieved once dreams are put into action, where failure becomes the launching pad for smarter choices, or better action plans in future endeavors. Will success come on the next adventure, or the next one after that, or will it take many more? Who is to say? The important point here is that success only comes by turning dreams into reality and realizing that obstacles are only stepping-stones to final success.

For those who are wondering about my own eventual success, I'll tell you this.

After many attempts, many failures, many lessons, and many false starts, success arrived but only through believing in what I've said earlier. Learn valuable lessons from failure; turn dreams into action plans, and don't let a dream only be that - a dream!

By Byron Pulsifer

In the mid 1970's, Ed Roberts created the world's first commercially
successful personal computer (PC). He hired a 19 year old named Bill
Gates to write software for him.

Roberts sold his computer business in 1977 and bought a farm. Seven
years later, at age 41, he entered medical school. Today Bill gates is
the head of the largest computer software company in the world. Ed
Roberts is a physician in a small Georgia town.

Roberts says, "The implication is that the PC is the most important
thing I've ever done, and I don't think that's true. Every day I deal
with things that are equally if not more important here with my
patients."

How can we evaluate the significance of our lives? Something deep
inside tells us such a thing cannot be measured by wealth and fame.

As we look at the apostle Paul's turbulent life, it seems noteworthy
that he approached the end with a peaceful sense of successful
completion. He wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith." (2 timothy 4:7) Paul looked
confidently not to the world but to "the Lord, the righteous Judge"
for approval and reward (vs 8).

Since sooner than later we'll face our creator,
Whose gaze pierces through to the heart,
Let's make sure our dreams, our goals and grand schemes
Have Christ in our plans from the start.

The measure of a life is determined by the Ruler of the Universe.

Sex is taken very casually these days. It looks like nobody wants to follow the morals of life and society. Lots of us don’t believe in saving sex for marriage. They think it doesn’t matter to have sex before marriage its not a big deal or there’s no harm in having sex if you love somebody, or if we are engaged and will be getting married soon and so on. The truth is because of this casualty and negligence in sex before marriage there are so many physical risks involved. So many diseases most of which has no treatments, like AIDS, affect many people.

It also leads to emotional and relational damage by giving one’s self to more than one person. The fact is if you cannot control yourself before marriage…how can you be sure and how can you expect your mate will be solely yours after marriage. So, basically both partners cannot trust each other.

Such casualty and ignorance affect not only yourself physically and emotionally but also affects your partner and the lives of your loved ones. The other thing is if you have sex before marriage, you will never know whether the relationship is based on a true "kinship" with that person or just sex.

Most of you will say if you love somebody, then there is no harm in having sex. But today’s modern society has somewhat forgotten what is real love. Some consider sex, as an important part of love and that it is natural. Yes, it is an important part of your love but love and sex does not mean the same thing. The love, which includes feelings and care about your partner, and the love, which includes physical attraction and sex is. True Love waits. Your relationship should be able to grow and thrive without sex. True love also sometimes means denying oneself for a higher standard.

The fact is sex before marriage, whether you are engaged or dating or love somebody, is considered to be a sin. Marriage allows love to be expressed on our most intimate level with no mental, emotional or physical ties or obligations to another. Is considered to be a precious gift from God to be presented to that somebody special with whom we are going to spend our life. God created sex and there is some good reason behind it. One reason is obvious and clear from the Bible, that God created Sex for procreation. When God told Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28), they probably figured out that He wanted them to have sex. But God also wanted them to develop intimacy with one another, and He knew that sex would help them do that that nothing else could. God also knew that because sex is so powerful in creating intimacy that there must be some constraints on how it was to be used, so He specifically relegated sex to the arena of marriage. The kind of intimacy that God desires between married couples cannot occur between one person and several others but only be experienced between one man and one woman. Hence God has specifically said, "Do not commit adultery"

Sex is such a beautiful and precious gift that it could only be given away for the first time and only once. Wouldn’t this be a great gift for that one person who will be with you for the rest of your life? Yes, it definitely will be. It is meant only for marriage and it is for husband and wife only to enjoy it together and not to pass around to anyone.

It should be considered as a sacred gift for your partner on your wedding night as you would like to give her/him the best part of your life. Saving it for your marriage/wedding will make you feel good and special and you will notice there is some special kind of love, care and respect in that matrimony. Enjoying it at the right time brings satisfaction and happiness to the couple.Even the scientific studies indicate that relationships that involve pre-marital sex fail. A relationship that starts with sex usually last only 2-3 years. A marriage usually runs into trouble in 3-5 years. If a couple has sex prior to marriage, it may start to fade just when the marriage troubles start, the strong sexual attraction may not be there when the couple needs it most.

Sex is a good thing. It must be, if God created it! The only way to keep it a "good thing" is to follow God’s guidelines. God will reward you if you choose to honor Him, and save sex for its proper time and place - your marriage.