|PIC1|Last week I watched an episode of a TV programme series entitled 'Extreme Dreams' with Ben Fogle. Eight people were being pitted against each other in a competition that would see four successful applicants going on expeditions to remote and challenging areas, including climbing the Himalayas in Nepal and trekking through the jungle in Papua New Guinea.

It was fascinating to watch, with each candidate desperate to be chosen. For one young woman the memory of her husband, who was killed just five months previously, kept pushing her on to succeed. Another contestant was very unfit, yet wanted to become more healthy to change his life and enjoy family life for much longer.

The competition tested fears and phobias to the limit and it really got me thinking. How would I fare? Which trip would I love to go on and how would I do as part of a team?

Then I started thinking about the programme title, 'Extreme Dreams'.
I have always thought dreams were important. Not just those thoughts that come to us in the middle of the night but also our hopes and aspirations - a God given glimpse of tomorrow which takes us beyond the norm or the status quo and everyone else's expectations.

In my work with World Emergency Relief I am privileged to meet many people who on the surface might appear to have no hope. Young and old. People living in abject poverty, often surrounded by war or disaster. It would be easy to assume they have had their dreams battered out of them by the surrounding reality.

Yet a few moments talking with them, with a listening ear and an open spirit, and you're able to see that their dreams and aspirations are not lost.

I think of a young boy I met in Burundi, an orphan who had seen his family wiped out by genocide. He told me that he had dreams of becoming a great pianist. His friend wanted to be a great preacher.
My friend Alex Galvez from Guatemala also comes to mind. At the age of 16 he was caught in the crossfire of a gang gun fight and was paralysed from the waist down.

Years on, after being close to death on a number of occasions because of his injuries and poor treatment, he started a disability project, 'Transitions', with a friend. Over the past 10 years Transitions has transformed the lives of many disabled children in Guatemala.

Today the work that he started is struggling because of a lack of finance, but Alex still has his dream - his 'extreme dream' - and I am glad of that.

I suppose Jesus had and still has an 'extreme dream' for mankind and he has an extreme dream for you and me. This dream can become a reality if we take the effort to overcome our fears or phobias - if we become part of His team.

Do you still have a dream today? If so I hope that you do not settle for a dream that is less than extreme!




About Alex Haxton:

Alex has been Director of Operations at Christian humanitarian agency World Emergency Relief (WER) for the past seven years and before that worked as a consultant to the charity.

His business career was spent in the catering equipment industry for over 20 years before he moved on to Christian ministry which is how he first came to go to Africa.

A few months spent at Roffey Place Christian Centre brought a more radical change than anticipated, and it was there that Alex met a Pastor from Burundi who became a central influence on his life, even to this day.

He has since worked in Christian ministry, which he describes as "a call of God we must not ignore".

It was the work in Burundi and Rwanda, post genocide, which eventually brought Alex into contact with WER as he sought funding for relief and medical work in those countries. He remains heavily involved with humanitarian and development work worldwide through WER.

About World Emergency Relief:

World Emergency Relief is a non-denominational, global fellowship of Christians, working together, and with others, to help people in need. Underlying World Emergency Relief's efforts are God's love for this WORLD He created, the physical, emotional, spiritual, social and economic EMERGENCIES afflicting millions, and the RELIEF we can bring to hurting people, especially children, thanks to God's unending mercy coupled with the generosity of our donors.