My Prayer for Lil Wayne

Last night I had the most vivid dream about rapper Lil Wayne.

Don’t worry… I’m not gonna get weird on you, but for some reason I had a dream that I met Lil Wayne and we engaged in an intriguing conversation.

I don’t know what triggered it. Maybe it was because yesterday on the plane all day I was writing the shooting script for a new YS/Zondervan curriculum based on my book on evangelism, Do They Run When They See You Coming? My theme of that whole curriculum is, “An authentic faith opens the door to authentic conversations.”

In my dream I saw the famous rapper Wayne in some sort of office building passing in the hallway. He didn’t have any bodyguards- just him. We got into an elevator together and I leaned over and told him, “You’re very talented. You have the ears of this young generation.”

He politely said, “Thank you.”

I paused and said, “You know… you have an awesome responsibility.”

He didn’t say anything; he just looked at me. In my dream I debated whether to keep going. I didn’t know if I was pushing too far for a first conversation, but then I figured, this is going to be my ONLY conversation with him! It’s not like he’s gonna wanna come over and hang out with me. That would be the ideal way to have a conversation- one that flows naturally out of a friendship. Nothing forced.

But in stranger-on-a-train fashion, I went ahead and spoke the truth. I said, “Like it or not, you’re a role model for young kids. They love your music. They listen to what you are saying. They imitate you. They look up to you.”

I don’t know how true this dream was to real life, but in my dream he just stood listening.

I finally asked him, “What would you like them to glean from you when they watch you and listen to you day in and day out? You have the power to make an impact in their lives. It’s your choice what that impact will be.”

The dream got weird and next thing I knew Lil Wayne and I were at my cousin’s ranch trying to walk through some mud. It was hard to step through, but we worked together to get through it. We eventually got through it and he smiled at me.

That’s all I remember.

I woke up and couldn’t get that dream out of my head. I’m no Joseph, so I probably won’t offer any good interpretation to this dream, but I found it interesting that my initial “one-sided” conversation with him didn’t yeild a response from him. But once we went through the muck together, something happened. Possibly because that’s how it often works in real life.

I pray that Wayne would move next door to someone with an authentic faith, someone that will invite him over for BBQ and become friends with him. Someone that will be there to help him carry that heavy hide-a-bed from the living room to the den, and maybe even share a cold drink with him after helping him plant a tree in his backyard. Someone who will live such an authentic life that Wayne can’t help but eventually just ask him, “What is it about you?”

And this person will be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope that’s within (I Peter 3:15-18). An authentic life will have opened the door to an authentic conversation.

That is my prayer this morning—my prayer for Lil Wayne.