Have you ever wanted to do something... different. Something that most people would think you're crazy for doing? I just read an article about suicides in Bridgend in Wales. Suddenly I find myself thinking about how I could possibly get over there by tomorrow morning and start praying over the whole area. There is something inside me that just screams about injustice that people between the ages of 15 and 23 over there are committing suicide because of a twisted sense of reality that it's cool to do it. They don't remember that they'll be dead before they can enjoy their fame and ultra cool new status. That is a warped reality, and unacceptable and everything in my right now just wants to go and fight for them, whatever the cost may be. Unfortunately that kind of trip costs a lot more than I can afford, and it's not at all a rational thing to do. So instead I pull up Google Earth and pray over the map, but I do wish I could be there with the people, on the land, touching the buildings and smelling the air, feeling everything around me. Fighting, be a warrior, just as I was made to be.
The truth is I am doing something different, and even I think I'm a tad off my rocker for doing it. I'm going to Serbia for a year! I get to live in Novi Sad in the middle of nation that is desperate for the Love of Christ, and for which Christ is desperate to Love. It makes my heart smile just to think about the next year of my life, far from home and everything that I know and love, just to be a part of everything my Lord knows and loves. It's very different.
Then I'll come back and attempt by the strength of Christ to get back into school and transfer everything I've learned over that year into a campus that needs that message just a much. OR perhaps I'll stay in my beautiful Novi Sad for another year, again different and veritably insane. Or Stint in another country... like England/Wales, Bosnia, South East Asia, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Thailand, Spain, or some other place I haven't been yet, which is a lot of places. Campus Crusade is set up in 190 countries doing missionary work on some level, that's 98% of the world... so maybe I'll go somewhere that's in that 2%, the unknown territory.
Have you ever wanted to fight for something that's bigger than you? Have you ever wanted to fight for people to know the Love of their God, whether they choose to acknowledge there is a God who can Love or not? Have you ever thought about leaving the country on a whim for the sole purpose of praying for as long as it takes to see a break through happen in a place? Or even just leave your own home? Your city, or your state? There is so much work to be done, and so little time. Especially for young people who don't realize that they are more precious living than dead. We have so very little and precious time. The psalmists often described us as flowers or grass or dust on the wind or whatever have you. They are so right. Our time short, but we live like we have all the time in the world. The problem is that there are plenty of people who are dieing out there, and they don't have time.
What have you wanted to do? What has stopped you? Why did you let it? What do you want to do now? Has the Lord enabled you to do it? Then why not start?
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Something Profound from a Movie?
The Rainmaker:
Starbuck: "I hope your dreams come true. I hope they do."
Lizzie: "They won't. They never will."
Starbuck: "Believe in yourself and they will."
Lizzie:"I got nothing to believe in"
Starbuck: "You're a woman believe in that."
Lizzie:"How can i when nobody else will?"
Starbuck: "You've got to believe it first. Lizzie let me ask you, are you pretty?"
Lizzie:"No! I'm plain!"
Starbuck: "There's no such thing as a plain woman. Every real woman is pretty. They're all pretty in a different way, but they're all pretty."
Lizzie:"Not me. When i look in my looking glass..."
Starbuck: "Don't let Noah be your looking glass."
Lizzie:"He's not. My looking glass is right on the wall."
Starbuck: "It's in the wrong place. It's got to be inside you."
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Don't be afraid. Look. Then one day, the looking glass will be the man who loves you. It'll be his eyes, maybe. And you'll look in that mirror, and you'll be more than pretty. You'll be beautiful."
Lizzie:"It'll never happen. It'll never be."
Starbuck: "Make it happen. Lizzie, why don't you think pretty? And take down your hair."
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Please." (he starts taking her hair down)
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Nobody sees you. Nobody but me, Lizzie." (takes her hair down and smooths it away from her face). "Now close your eyes. Close them. Now say: 'I'm pretty.'"
Lizzie:"I can't!"
Starbuck: "Say it, Lizzie. Say it!"
Lizzie:"I'm pretty."
Starbuck: "Say it again."
Lizzie:"Pretty."
Starbuck: "Say it, mean it!"
Lizzie:"I'm pretty... I'm pretty... I'm pretty!"
So every once in a while I'll see a movie that really strikes me, like for once Hollywood actually got something right. This was one of those movies. It was made in... I think 1956. I'm a big classic film fan, and there are a lot I haven't seen and so I just watched this one for the first time. Burt Lancaster is Starbuck, a con man, and Katheryn Hepburn is a "plain" country girl named Lizzie living in a house full of men who are trying desperately to get her married off (her Dad and two brothers). One of the brothers, Noah, is particularly harsh and judgemental, not that he's trying to be. He's trying to be loving, but failing at it rather, and tells her that she's plain and she's going to be an old maid. That's when Lizzie runs and finds Starbuck. She tells him about her dreams to have a husband and children, which to Starbuck's standard's a rather small dreams. And that is when this scene takes place.
This is a great scene! I love it! I relate to it on some level. I may not feel as plain as Lizzie does, but I can be honest in saying that for the most part I don't think I'm particularly pretty or feel that I am. Sure I have my days when I get done up and think to myself, "Dang girl, you lookin' good!" But on the average day of the week when I'm in my jeans and sweater, with my hair pulled back in a pony tail, I don't feel all that stunning. And admittedly, it is hard to admit to being pretty at all, even when I do feel that way. I think this is true for most women, granted that is a large generality, but most women at one time or another, (as some women have gotten past this point and see their beauty as clearly as it is), have felt this way. Men don't understand this very well. I don't blame them for not fully getting it, even I think it's down right silly not to be able to see my own beauty! None the less, there it is, generally invisible to me.
Now I've been told I'm pretty, but knowing it is something entirely different. I like that Starbuck tells her that her mirror is in the wrong place. He's absolutely right! It does have to be inside you, but probably not the way he means it. I take that more as it being Christ inside me, in my life. He's the one I have to look at to be able to see my own beauty, or general value at all. But it is scary to look there. Oh, goodness, to be confronted with the beauty of Christ and then realize that that beauty is my own! That's a wonderful thing, and yet somehow a terrifying thing too. You're so used to believing the bad stuff that when you see the good it's a touch frightening. Not like a horror film frightening, rather more like a "what if this is too good to be true? what if it's lie and when I wake up tomorrow morning I'm still 'ugly' old me? can I really trust this?" kind of frightening. Women have spoken and heard so many words that assault our beauty and concept of our own beauty that believing something good about it is really difficult.
But this is the other thing I like, which I think the Lord sort of does with us too. Starbuck confronts her fears, he takes her by the hand and leads her out of them. He pounds it into her head that she's beautiful and her life isn't over, and no matter what anyone says she is beautiful. He's gentle with her, but firm and resolved that she should not leave him until she knows what he knows about her. And by the time she leaves, she does. Isn't that what God does? Maybe not in so obvious a way, but isn't every sunset, or sunrise, every shooting star, towering mountain, blooming flower, every smiling child, every freckle on your face, every shade of color in your hair a testament to your beauty and value? As though with everything you see He whispers in your ear, if you listen very closely "You are lovely. You are my creation, and I love you." And when you can't see it He takes down everything in your life (like Starbuck took down Lizzie's hair I swept away from her face) until you can see yourself, in all your captivating beauty, and tells to you admit it. That no one is watching or listening, but Him. That it's safe to face the beauty you have, that it is real, it is true, you can trust it, because that beauty was made by Him, for His glory, to give life to the world. *sigh* Wow, that's romance. lol
I think that's rather profound, don't you? And to think that Hollywood actually understood for a moment the condition of a woman's heart and the sort of care it needs! Well that was 50 years ago... although I think Pretty Woman generally got it right too, and maybe a couple others. So, I really liked this movie. I think just about every person should see this scene. Sure it's a little cheesy, Burt Lancaster is quite an animated character, but what it's saying is real. I think it's awesome that God does that in our lives. I think it's wonderful that it's something that only He can reveal to us. I find the more I grow in my faith the more comfortable I am with my beauty, and the more I believe in it. God is so AWESOME! Goodness, I just can't help but say it! =) He pretty much makes me happy, what can I say?
I remember once in high school. It was my senior year and I was working for a photographer, Piare Mohan. He had gotten a bunch of fire and ice roses to give to customers when they came in, (He was a bit of a romantic as well and he wanted women to feel pretty). At the end of the day when I went home he told me to choose a rose to take with me. So I picked one out. They were all brilliantly beautiful, gorgeous blooms that were open big and wide, but this one was truly stunning. I've never seen a more beautiful flower, it was flawless. As I walked out to my car I was admiring it's beauty and the way it smelled, and all of a sudden out of no where the Lord just popped right into my head (as He often does) and told me that I was even more beautiful than the rose I was holding... That's got to be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard in my entire life, I'm sure I blushed. He still does that from time to time. It's a big deal to hear something like that from your creator, and it's not something you're likely to forget. But, it's something He's saying all the time, we just don't take the time to listen.
So, men and women alike, I challenge you to pay attention to what the Lord is telling you everyday about how important you are to Him, how much He loves you, how priceless you are to Him, and how lovely you really are (or handsome ;)). Take hint from Starbuck and Lizzie and put the mirror where it should be, look at it, and believe it, trust it. Because every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord and that is one!
Starbuck: "I hope your dreams come true. I hope they do."
Lizzie: "They won't. They never will."
Starbuck: "Believe in yourself and they will."
Lizzie:"I got nothing to believe in"
Starbuck: "You're a woman believe in that."
Lizzie:"How can i when nobody else will?"
Starbuck: "You've got to believe it first. Lizzie let me ask you, are you pretty?"
Lizzie:"No! I'm plain!"
Starbuck: "There's no such thing as a plain woman. Every real woman is pretty. They're all pretty in a different way, but they're all pretty."
Lizzie:"Not me. When i look in my looking glass..."
Starbuck: "Don't let Noah be your looking glass."
Lizzie:"He's not. My looking glass is right on the wall."
Starbuck: "It's in the wrong place. It's got to be inside you."
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Don't be afraid. Look. Then one day, the looking glass will be the man who loves you. It'll be his eyes, maybe. And you'll look in that mirror, and you'll be more than pretty. You'll be beautiful."
Lizzie:"It'll never happen. It'll never be."
Starbuck: "Make it happen. Lizzie, why don't you think pretty? And take down your hair."
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Please." (he starts taking her hair down)
Lizzie:"No."
Starbuck: "Nobody sees you. Nobody but me, Lizzie." (takes her hair down and smooths it away from her face). "Now close your eyes. Close them. Now say: 'I'm pretty.'"
Lizzie:"I can't!"
Starbuck: "Say it, Lizzie. Say it!"
Lizzie:"I'm pretty."
Starbuck: "Say it again."
Lizzie:"Pretty."
Starbuck: "Say it, mean it!"
Lizzie:"I'm pretty... I'm pretty... I'm pretty!"
So every once in a while I'll see a movie that really strikes me, like for once Hollywood actually got something right. This was one of those movies. It was made in... I think 1956. I'm a big classic film fan, and there are a lot I haven't seen and so I just watched this one for the first time. Burt Lancaster is Starbuck, a con man, and Katheryn Hepburn is a "plain" country girl named Lizzie living in a house full of men who are trying desperately to get her married off (her Dad and two brothers). One of the brothers, Noah, is particularly harsh and judgemental, not that he's trying to be. He's trying to be loving, but failing at it rather, and tells her that she's plain and she's going to be an old maid. That's when Lizzie runs and finds Starbuck. She tells him about her dreams to have a husband and children, which to Starbuck's standard's a rather small dreams. And that is when this scene takes place.
This is a great scene! I love it! I relate to it on some level. I may not feel as plain as Lizzie does, but I can be honest in saying that for the most part I don't think I'm particularly pretty or feel that I am. Sure I have my days when I get done up and think to myself, "Dang girl, you lookin' good!" But on the average day of the week when I'm in my jeans and sweater, with my hair pulled back in a pony tail, I don't feel all that stunning. And admittedly, it is hard to admit to being pretty at all, even when I do feel that way. I think this is true for most women, granted that is a large generality, but most women at one time or another, (as some women have gotten past this point and see their beauty as clearly as it is), have felt this way. Men don't understand this very well. I don't blame them for not fully getting it, even I think it's down right silly not to be able to see my own beauty! None the less, there it is, generally invisible to me.
Now I've been told I'm pretty, but knowing it is something entirely different. I like that Starbuck tells her that her mirror is in the wrong place. He's absolutely right! It does have to be inside you, but probably not the way he means it. I take that more as it being Christ inside me, in my life. He's the one I have to look at to be able to see my own beauty, or general value at all. But it is scary to look there. Oh, goodness, to be confronted with the beauty of Christ and then realize that that beauty is my own! That's a wonderful thing, and yet somehow a terrifying thing too. You're so used to believing the bad stuff that when you see the good it's a touch frightening. Not like a horror film frightening, rather more like a "what if this is too good to be true? what if it's lie and when I wake up tomorrow morning I'm still 'ugly' old me? can I really trust this?" kind of frightening. Women have spoken and heard so many words that assault our beauty and concept of our own beauty that believing something good about it is really difficult.
But this is the other thing I like, which I think the Lord sort of does with us too. Starbuck confronts her fears, he takes her by the hand and leads her out of them. He pounds it into her head that she's beautiful and her life isn't over, and no matter what anyone says she is beautiful. He's gentle with her, but firm and resolved that she should not leave him until she knows what he knows about her. And by the time she leaves, she does. Isn't that what God does? Maybe not in so obvious a way, but isn't every sunset, or sunrise, every shooting star, towering mountain, blooming flower, every smiling child, every freckle on your face, every shade of color in your hair a testament to your beauty and value? As though with everything you see He whispers in your ear, if you listen very closely "You are lovely. You are my creation, and I love you." And when you can't see it He takes down everything in your life (like Starbuck took down Lizzie's hair I swept away from her face) until you can see yourself, in all your captivating beauty, and tells to you admit it. That no one is watching or listening, but Him. That it's safe to face the beauty you have, that it is real, it is true, you can trust it, because that beauty was made by Him, for His glory, to give life to the world. *sigh* Wow, that's romance. lol
I think that's rather profound, don't you? And to think that Hollywood actually understood for a moment the condition of a woman's heart and the sort of care it needs! Well that was 50 years ago... although I think Pretty Woman generally got it right too, and maybe a couple others. So, I really liked this movie. I think just about every person should see this scene. Sure it's a little cheesy, Burt Lancaster is quite an animated character, but what it's saying is real. I think it's awesome that God does that in our lives. I think it's wonderful that it's something that only He can reveal to us. I find the more I grow in my faith the more comfortable I am with my beauty, and the more I believe in it. God is so AWESOME! Goodness, I just can't help but say it! =) He pretty much makes me happy, what can I say?
I remember once in high school. It was my senior year and I was working for a photographer, Piare Mohan. He had gotten a bunch of fire and ice roses to give to customers when they came in, (He was a bit of a romantic as well and he wanted women to feel pretty). At the end of the day when I went home he told me to choose a rose to take with me. So I picked one out. They were all brilliantly beautiful, gorgeous blooms that were open big and wide, but this one was truly stunning. I've never seen a more beautiful flower, it was flawless. As I walked out to my car I was admiring it's beauty and the way it smelled, and all of a sudden out of no where the Lord just popped right into my head (as He often does) and told me that I was even more beautiful than the rose I was holding... That's got to be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard in my entire life, I'm sure I blushed. He still does that from time to time. It's a big deal to hear something like that from your creator, and it's not something you're likely to forget. But, it's something He's saying all the time, we just don't take the time to listen.
So, men and women alike, I challenge you to pay attention to what the Lord is telling you everyday about how important you are to Him, how much He loves you, how priceless you are to Him, and how lovely you really are (or handsome ;)). Take hint from Starbuck and Lizzie and put the mirror where it should be, look at it, and believe it, trust it. Because every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord and that is one!
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