What would happen if all of us discovered our God-given dreams?
What would it look like if we lived our lives in such a way that everything we did - every choice, every act - was used to fulfill those dreams?
If all of us began to live wide awake, the world would never be the same.” – Erwin McManus
Wide Awake: The Future Is Waiting Within You by Erwin Raphael McManus addresses this topic.
Creative minds and visionaries are challenged by this book and its theme which encourages people to bring the broken things of the world to the cutting room floor and explore what remains: the raw, often-hidden beauty of the human story.
“The future is not waiting for us. It is waiting within us! Maybe you have been asleep. You have unfulfilled dreams and longings. If you’re dead, let Jesus raise you up to new life. If you’ve been sleepwalking, it’s time to wake up and start dreaming wide awake.” --Erwin Raphael McManus
“Wide Awake is about discovering the dream that fits your life and making that dream your life.” --Erwin Raphael McManus
Awaken The Hero:
There’s nothing like feeling fully alive and dreaming wide awake. People are the most underused and undervalued resource on the planet. The world needs you to find the hero within you. We can’t afford for you to sleep through your dreams. There is a hero within you waiting to be awakened!
Think carefully and answer the questions below:
1. Many of us struggle to find a dream that doesn’t turn out to be a nightmare. Or we find ourselves shipwrecked when our dreams come true, but they were nothing like what we thought. Have you ever experienced the nightmare or the shipwreck?
2. There are too many amazing people with unfilled lives and unfulfilled dreams . . . I may not know you personally, but this I know about you without question—there is a hero within you waiting to be awakened. What does and challenge awaken in you?
3. People are the most underused and undervalued resource on the planet. What do you think about this assertion? What convinces you of that?
4.If you live a diminished life, it’s not only you who loses, but the world loses, and humanity loses. What responsibility does this perspective shift onto your journey and purpose?
5. The difference between fame (actions done for self) and greatness (actions done for others). Very few are meant for a life of notoriety, yet all of us are meant for a life of significance. What is a significant life to you? Is that a worthwhile goal to live for?
6.There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for you and me to wake up and get out of bed. Is your soul searching for its hero? What will you do this week to live wide awake?
I haven't read the book, but I have personally been told many good things about it. Some churches have even created discussion groups to study and discuss the book as a series. However, since I haven't read the book myself, I have to rely on other people's reviews which I got from Amazon.com. The reviews are below. Please remember that different people like different books, so don't be persuaded not to read the book because of some of the negative statements made in reviews.
Review 1 - This book is for the depressed
This book is for the depressed. This book is for those who feel they are trapped in the mundane. This book is for those who feel they are just slogging through life, not really experiencing, not really living. McManus inspires, pushes, compels, and challenges you to dream, explore, create, adapt, and live your life.
In Wide Awake, McManus connects living life to the fullest to the teachings of Christ. So often we think that our Christian lives should muted, reverent, holy, and that we should just step back and let God control our lives. McManus reminds us that Christ came to bring life, and life more abundant, and that we could be living our life to the fullest.
The author does challenge some commonly held ideas in mainstream Christianity. Even if you don't agree with everything McManus says, Wide Awake will challenge you to rethink your philosophy of life and your purpose for living. A must-read for every Christian!
Review 2 - Motivational Talks with Little Biblical Teaching
I am probably one of the few young, evangelical ministers in the United States to have never read a book by Erwin McManus. Having heard good things about McManus from a wide spectrum of people, I happily agreed to read the advanced preview copy of his forthcoming book, Wide Awake: The Future is Waiting Within You. On the back cover of the preview copy, McManus is described as a "husband, father, writer, futurist, activist, artist, and spiritual and cultural leader." After reading such a flattering litany of titles, I dove into the content of his new book with high hopes. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed.
If you could sum up Wide Awake in two words, it would be something like this: "Wake up!" People are going through life with unfulfilled dreams, experiencing a "little bit of sadness" every morning (xii). McManus wants to "awaken humanity." He believes that in every person there is a hero "waiting to be awakened." He looks at every human as "pre-great" (xiii). The little bit of sadness we face in the morning is our "soul searching for its hero (xv)."
Review 3 - Christianity Reframed - Mediocrity Challenge!
How can people be awakened? McManus turns to eight essential attributes that characterize people who live their dreams (Dream, Discover, Adapt, Expect, Focus, Create, Enjoy, Invest) and every one of the attributes is something that people must discover from within. Each chapter unpacks one of the eight attributes, usually with illustrations that help readers picture the kind of life that McManus is describing.
Wide Awake contains some helpful advice. McManus doesn't sacrifice character in order to emphasize the principle of adaptability. He emphasizes the importance of integrity and the necessity of living according to firm principles. Occasionally, he offers good insight into certain stories from Scripture. For example, in the story of Peter walking on water, McManus points out the fact that Peter was distracted by something he couldn't see (the wind) instead of firm in his belief in Someone he could see (Jesus) (128). Preachers will benefit from some of his memorable illustrations, like this one that compares coconuts and peaches:
"Some of us are more like coconuts - hard on the outside and hollow on the center. But we need to be more like peaches - soft and fuzzy on the outside but solid as a rock in the middle." (77)
But even McManus' good insights are often mixed with theological affirmations that leave the reader perplexed. In the space of just two paragraphs, McManus can say something terrific (like "The way God changes your life is by changing you") and then something out in left field ("The only future you will give yourself to is the one you believe can happen") (95).
The main problem with Wide Awake is that it bounces back and forth between pastoral counseling and motivational lingo that borders on Gnosticism (your power is within, etc.). The problem McManus' readers are dealing with is not sin and depravity. In fact, McManus thinks the church talks too much about sin and guilt (143). The main problem is unfulfillment and sadness (22, 28). Salvation and satisfaction are found in your living out your story (160).
McManus' writes much about the importance of dreams, but he leaves them undefined. Wide Awake needs more eschatology. The "dreams" that McManus wants to awaken within us are not grounded in anything other than our own minds. The dreams we have are of "a life, a world, a future so beautiful that it takes your breath away" (116). Yes. Our vision of the coming Kingdom should inform our dreams for today, but McManus never links our dreams to the Kingdom of God. Readers will pour whatever meaning they want into his vague category of "dreams" and "a beautiful future."
My advice to pastors and church leaders? Skip Wide Awake. If you're looking for motivational thoughts to push you ahead in the direction you already want to go, then Wide Awake will do the trick. If you're looking for challenging biblical teaching that will ground your dreams in Kingdom reality, you'll have to look elsewhere
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