Steve Jobs and the flying helmet, and why we don’t pray

I had the strangest dream this morning. I was walking down a wide stone sidewalk (about 20 feet wide), like that in a park, lined with trees, that led up to a large building.  When the wind blew, I rode it up into the air, as high as 20 feet, and for distances of up to about 40 feet.  I’d put out my arms and turn, almost like a dancer, enjoying the lift, and landing at the same gentle pace that I took off at. A woman behind me marveled, and I told her it was easy, she just had to relax and spread her arms out.

I arrived at the base of the building, and started to climb it.  The side I was climbing was slanted like the side of a pyramid, so it was not hard to climb.  Near the top, a horizontal air vent about 4 feet across and 6 inches high looked like a way to get in, but I could not fit. 

Suddenly, my brother was there with me, and we sat down to look across the park from our high vantage point on top of the building.  We sat down in what felt like a large child’s car seat for two, kind of a cross between those little child’s buckets and a double-wide stroller seat.  We realized that it was made for one person, and we each had one safety strap. 

As we were talking, suddenly the whole seat lurched backwards and started down a set of rails into the building.  It was a roller-coaster seat!  We were both thrilled, but held onto our one, unsecured strap as the seat went through loops and turns.  I remember realizing that we had found the secret way into the building.

I also knew, somehow, that it was a building owned by Steve Jobs.  In fact, the roller coaster seat deposited us in his office, and there he was.  He asked us how we got in, and I told him about flying, and about sitting in the seat, not realizing it was an ingress.

When i mentioned flying, his annoyance turned to interest, and he pulled out a large helmet, sort of like a policeman’s motorcycle helmet, with a visor.  however, it was all dark silver, with a separate elliptical disk about 5 inches across that you attached to your butt like a seat.  In the center of the seat was a 2 inch silver core, flush with the rest of the seat.

The office was on the ground floor, and Steve encouraged me to go outside and try it.  I put it on, and stepped outside.  When I thought about flying, I flew up over the trees, up 30 feet!  I was no longer dependent on the wind to fly.  It was cool, but I came down to fast and scraped the seat on the ground, which he noticed when I returned it to him.

I asked him why such a great thing was not in production, and he seemed to indicate that safety and litigation factors kept it from being a product at this time.

I shared with Steve that I was not too sure about what I wanted to do next, and that I was not too happy doing what I was doing.  He said something to the effect that I needed to ‘access my own genius,’ i.e. the things that I am most excited about, inspired by, and love.  I.e. I needed to live from the heart, and that would make me successful. 

He mentioned nothing about giving me money, which I thought he might do, but seemed content that his advice was the best he could do for me. 

Somewhere along the way, I had lost my shoes, and he pulled out a cheap pair of blue running shoes, which were very comfortable, and just my size.  I gratefully put them on, and left his office.  Then I awoke.

INTERPRETATION

In my dreams, and perhaps in general, flying is a picture of emotional freedom, of living from the heart.  In all of my dreams where I fly, the way I make it happen is through opening my heart and letting it soar – sounds corny, but that’s the best I can describe it.  If I am afraid or angry, I can’t fly.

Also, I think Steve’s advice is the real point of the entire dream – in order for me to be happier and on a track of success that I enjoy, I need to spend time with my own heart, letting it speak to me, or as Palmer Parker might say "letting my life speak."

Interestingly, as I have been praying this past month, I keep hearing God speak the same thing to me – ‘ask for whatever you desire.’  I know the scriptures that speak such, like

Mark 11:23 (thank you Kenneth Hagin)
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

John 15:7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

It’s not that God will give me everything I ask for, but rather, God wants us to live from the heart, and when we are not, he wants to get the spirit and soul flowing again by asking us to just talk about it. 

Adrian Rogers, one of my favorite (and now passed) preachers, said in one of his sermons that the single most unused power in the world is the power of prayer, and I agree.  Why don’t we pray for the things we need, want, desire, and lust for?

1. We don’t believe that prayer does anything – most people, esp. unbelievers, of course, don’t pray because deep down, they don’t believe that God answers prayer, and that all supposed answers to prayer are just coincidences, or selective memory – that is, we ignore the data when prayer is not answered, and remember it when it is.  Recent studies question whether prayer does anything, though results are inconclusive.
2. We believe we have to be good enough to get answers - often, we think that God will only answer the prayers of the Mother Theresa’s of the world, but not us.  However, this flies in the face of scripture, esp. those like:

   James 1:5-7
   If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord

   While there are some qualifications on which prayers God answers – like he refuses to hear us if we have known, un-confessed sin in our lives, or if husbands are not loving their wives – He does not hold out some holiness requirement in order to provide answers

3. We think God is utilitarian about prayer – that is, we think that God only answers prayers that have to do with ‘God’s work’, or preaching or evangelism.  But God likes to answer prayers for things that make us happy, not just work-related stuff.  I think that this is part of the John 15 passage above – if we have him first in our lives (as much as is possible at our current maturity level), we can ask whatever we DESIRE.  That is an important point to consider.
4. We think we know what God does and does not want to give us – as prideful as that sounds, it’s often true that we assume that God doesn’t want to give us certain things because they might be too luxurious, or unrelated to evangelism, or we think he MUST want to give us that large ministry because He wants to reach the world.  The truth is, we should pray for all that’s in our heart, and see what happens.  We will often be surprised at the good things God gives us, as well as the things that are withheld.

Again, for me, I think this dream really is my own soul’s way of communicating that I need to spend time allowing my own heart to surface, to access my own giftedness, and the joy and winsomeness that come when we live this way.  Also, I need to feel free to ask God for whatever I want, and allow that process to change me, to get my heart and mind flowing towards God again, and to see what changes that brings about in my external world as well.