LOST IN FICTION:

A few years back I took my family to Home Depot to buy some materials for a side project we were doing for the house.  I remember clearly, that it was a typical hot and Austin day.  As a matter of fact it was too hot to take the kids outside to play, so we had a lazy day watching movies.  We actually let our 2 and 4-year old kiddos watch the Chronicles of Narnia.  We had seen it before, but our boys had not.  They were use to shows like Veggie Tales, Handy Manny, & 300 (just kidding).   So to let them sit down and watch Narnia was a big deal.  They could not take their eyes off the Tele (as they say it across the pond).  To watch Peter, Lucy, Edmund and Susan enter this whole new world through a dresser was outrageous to them.  To see their little expressions during the movie was equally as entertaining to their mother and I.  They laughed as the beavers (or badgers) started to talk, and joked about Bath Day (worse day of the year).  They were fearful as the wolves attacked Tomas.  They felt betrayed, as Edmund became a traitor.  They became sad when the Witch killed Aslan.  Yet they became brave when Aslan arose and swallowed up the enemy.  It is interested thinking back… as they were watching this story unfold they, in a sense, became the characters portrayed on the film.  Of course they had nothing to with cowardice, but they had everything to do with the brave Peter, Lucy etc…

Back to my Home Depot story…  So we were in the commode aisle, I forget why.  When all of a sudden my 4-year old son picked up a plunger held it high above his head as if it were a sword and without fear ran down the main Home Depot Aisle as fast as he could yelling “FOR NARNIA AND FOR ASLAN”.  Looking back at this now it is quite beautiful, but at the moment it was both funny and embarrassing.  I mean people are watching our little guy, becoming lost in fiction. At the time I was prepared to blame this act of embarrassment on his mother, but looking back I think I will claim responsibilityJ.  It truly was a beautiful moment.  Our 4-year old son did not care what anyone else thought at that moment in time.  He was holding, pursuing and proclaiming truth.  There was no fear… only bravery.  In this movie he saw truth, righteousness, GOD, and it became his identity.  It was so ingrained into his DNA at that moment, that he had to act.  He instinctively grabbed the plunger with the sole purpose of defeating the enemy and winning the battle for the Narnians… for God. 

How beautiful would it be if we, as Christians, could follow in the example of this 4-year old boy?  Of course it might be a little worrisome if a 30 something year old man (I am speaking of myself), grabbed a plunger and ran up and down the home depot aisle yelling “FOR NARNIA AND FOR ASLAN”.  I am pretty sure my wife would have quickly left Home Deport without me, and would probably not have claimed me had security brought me to her.  “No I am sorry sir, I have no idea who that man is.”  Sorry, back to my point.  Truly how beautiful would it be if we could put ourselves in that same position?  You know the beautiful narrative laid out in the Gospel is true, correct?  Judas betrayed, The Israelites turned their back on God, we forget our identity, yet God continues to pursue us… the enemy has been swallowed up.  God has not, nor will He ever give up on us…  Revelation 3:20, says it all….  “Here am I, I stand at the door and knock, those who hear my voice and answer the door will come in and dine with me and I with them.”  Let us, as a generation, forget ourselves (as the world claims us to be), and may we lay hold to truth.  Let us grab our plungers, may we let go of fear, and let’s pursue courage & purpose.  Let’s get lost in fiction.

Godly pursuit fuels passion, which fuels missions.

I am a father of two sons (5 & 3). One of their favorite movies is “Finding Nemo”. During a window of about 3 months we watched the movie 84 times. To be honest with you, I began to loathe the movie.  That was until I watched it for the 85th time. During that 85th watching, I saw something in that movie that transformed my relationship with God.

What is courage?  How do we define courage today?  While thinking and praying about this topic I seriously considered putting a picture of John Wayne opposed to writing.  I mean what else needs to be said.  I could place a picture of John Wayne and simply say Amen.  There would be no need to read; you would know what I was trying to say.

But in all honesty, what is courage?  We hear it all the time in scripture.  We see it everyday in the movies.  The men and women serving in the armed forces face it in battle.  I spent the past few years at Gordon Conwell in their Ethics department studying the four cardinal virtues.  The four virtues are Prudence, Justice, Courage, and Temperance.  These four virtues are interconnected; we cannot fully mature in one of the virtues without maturing in the others.

A friend of mine, Abby Pound, has recently started to paint.  The pictures she paints are simple yet powerful.  I bought a simple painting from her that had three words on it, “Go Be Love”.  I look at these words and I could easily glance over them.  But if we take a deeper look, we will find a beautiful challenge.

LOVE:First what does love mean?  Is it the absence of fear?  Is it the absence of hate?  Many times in scripture Jesus challenges us to love.  But why should we “Go Be Love”?  Before I discuss what it means to be love, lets talk about the source of love.  Where does love come from?  It comes from God the creator.  I certainly understand that many scholars do not believe in God and thus challenge this notion, but this is not the argument I want to fight today.

 I believe with all my heart that God is love, thus He is the creator of love.  There is a scholar I follow named Stephen Mott who beautifully describes the relationship between God and love. He states: “Both grace and love are expressed in action that go far beyond the call of duty, but love ties the lover to the beloved with a greater bond of affection.” “God does not exist to make love real, but love is real because God exists. God can come to us as love only because He comes to us as God…”