Yesterday, BBC News Magazine ran an article about a nine-year-old boy who wrote in to a BBC children's program 35 years ago, telling them that he had a "strange" belief that he would someday know how to save people's lives. This boy did, indeed, go on to become a doctor whose groundbreaking research has saved lives. (Read the full article here...)

This article got me thinking about my own childhood dreams, and I wondered - how many of you knew at the age of nine what you wanted to be? And how many of you have become that?

I started playing piano at a very young age (see picture). My parents swear that when I was less than a year old, I could plunk out a recognizable melody of  "The First Noel"by ear (my dad used to sing it every time we drove past the post office at the corner of Fisher Ct. and Main St. in Clawson, MI, where I lived for the first seven years of my life, at Christmastime. There was a big "NOEL" sign hanging in front.) By the time I was twelve, I was writing a lot of songs and already performing a lot.Today, playing piano and singing is a huge part of my life as a worship leader and performing artist (see other picture).

When I was nine, I wanted to be a lot of things: professional roller skater, teacher, scientist, newspaper reporter, and newspaper publisher, among other things.

But by the time I was 12, I had narrowed it down a bit: I wanted to be a star of stage and screen. At 12, I began my acting career in a community theatre production, and that same year I recorded a demo tape of three songs I wrote. By the time I was 13, I had already learned some hard lessons about the entertainment industry, but I took it all in stride (some tears notwithstanding) and by 16, I was acting, singing and dancing in professional theatres, shopping malls (think "Tiffany"), coffee shops and churches.

When I stopped pursuing my "stage and screen" career seven years ago, I had loads of regional theatre, New York theatre, television (bit parts), film (even bittier parts) and industrial film (big parts) credits (if you're curious, you can see my resume here). I still love to perform, but my focus has changed, and now I focus more on writing, culturemaking (through my work with International Arts Movement) and ministry, but all of my years in entertainment are still very much a part of what I do today.

All of this is to say, how about you? What did you want to be when you were a child? Did you become that?