The 1920 Olympic sprinter, Charles Paddock, was speaking at a school one day and said to the students, “Right in this school we may have a future Olympic champ.” Afterwards, a skinny little boy came up to him and said, “I want to be a champion runner some day.” Paddock replied, “You can if you’ll make it your dream and give it your all.”

A few years later that little boy, Jesse Owens, carried his dream to the 1936 Berlin Olympics and won four gold medals. He came home to a ticker-tape parade. As Owens rode along in an open car, a little boy ran up to him and said, “I want to be a runner and go to the Olympics some day.” Remembering the words of Charles Paddock, Jesse grabbed the boy’s hand and shouted to him, “You can do it. Dream big and give it all you’ve got.” And that little boy, Harrison Dillard, carried his dream to the 1948 London Olympics and won the gold.

Just like these athletes who had a dream and someone to encourage them to make that dream come true, when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He gives us dreams. And then He gives us the courage and inner power to make our dreams reality.