In the movie, Field of Dreams, a young Iowa farmer named Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) walked through a cornfield and heard voices saying, “If you build it, he will come.” Then, he had a vision of a baseball diamond.
Ray quickly told his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan), about his experience and that he wanted to plow up part of the cornfield and build a baseball diamond. She, of course, was skeptical, but agreed to his off-the-wall dream.
As Ray progressed with his expensive dream, he faced financial ruin. He and Annie talked about replanting the cornfield and giving up on the dream, but his daughter then saw a baseball player on the diamond. It turned out to be Shoeless Joe Jackson, a dead baseball player idolized by Ray’s father.
From that point on, his wife and daughter were believers in his dream.
Because of hearing other messages from the voices, Ray traveled to Boston and Minnesota to invite two men to be a part of the baseball games. Both ended up coming to the baseball diamond.
Eventually, enough old time ball players, like Shoeless Joe Jackson, showed up at the diamond to play a game. When the game broke up, the players left the diamond and retreated into the cornfield.
Before leaving the ball field, Shoeless Joe Jackson invited the man Ray brought from Boston to go along with him. He accepted the invitation, but Ray also wanted to go. Shoeless Joe, restated the words, “If you build it, he will come.” Then, he pointed toward the catcher, still standing at home plate. It was Ray’s dad.
Ray then played catch with his dad on the diamond, something he had never done when he was a youngster and something he regretted not ever doing. In the background, headlights from thousands of cars could be seen heading toward the ball diamond.
Ray’s faith was vindicated.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)
Field of Dreams is not necessarily a Christian movie nor do we ever know where the voices are coming from. Yet, the movie perfectly demonstrates how a believer should walk by faith and not by sight.
Ray Kinsella heard the voices, saw the vision, and believed in them. He did not know who the “he” was or how he could possibly afford to carry out the dream, but like a little child, he trusted and acted in the wisdom of the voices.
For me, as a new Christian, almost twenty-six years ago, I believed that the Lord told me I would own a publishing company and would be an author. At the time, I was the president of a small farm publishing company in Iowa.
Now, twenty-six years may sound like a long time until you realize it took eighteen years just to erase all of my marketing ideas, all of my writing ideas, and all of my publishing ideas. These skills took a long while for the Lord to crush and beat to death with my many failures and mistakes.
You see, He has a special plan, one which He reveals just a little bit at a time. Does His plan make sense to me? No, not at all. Yet, I have learned He is the Boss and can be trusted.
A recent conversation with my wife reveals how much I have changed over the years.
“How are your three books selling?” asked my wife.
“Sales are slow,” I said.
“Well, what’s your marketing plan?” she said.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I haven’t got a marketing plan.”
“Don’t you think you should come up with one?”
“I’m not the Boss,” I replied. “So far, the Lord has told me to write and I’m going to continue doing that. If He wants me to do some marketing, He’ll let me know.”
“You know, you sure are a funny guy,” she said.
“Maybe,” I replied, “but I’ve a learned an important lesson over the years and that’s to wait on Him.”
I guess I’m a lot like Ray Kinsella because I believe that if I write, He will come.
Larry Who 