a night at the movies...

August 28, 2002

i watched the movie "signs" starring mel gibson this evening. it was an interesting movie, one that you can really reflect about on its meaning. perhaps its just pure entertainment for some, but ever since i read "the reflective life" (by ken gire), i've been more attentive to things when watching movies. trying to see what the director is trying to portray in each scene, but most of all, what is the intention behind it - what does he want us to take away from the movie - that kind of thing.

there were a lot of things i picked up from this movie this evening. one of them was just how awesome being a kid really is. man. :) i keep talking about it because i have a soft spot for children :) they're just so amazing. and even though the kids in the movie were acting, they really weren't. because children are like that. one of the children, named bo (such a cutie - her real name is abigal) always spoke her mind - all the time. even during spots where it was 'strange' - but kids are like that. they don't care - they're free from obligations and they just speak what's on their hearts. and while sometimes that's bad, i think a lot of us 'beat around the bush' too much and not say what we're really feeling.

one of the scenes that i particularly remember was after the first attack by one of the family's dogs. bo was sitting on one of those children playground sets because she was scared and what have you. mel gibson, known as graham in the movie came and just picked her up and held her in his arms. what a beautiful picture. bo let him pick her right up off the playground and into his embrace. and maybe, just maybe sometimes we're not willing to let God 'pick us up' so to speak. we're carrying so much on our own shoulders that we can't seem to let them go and let Him carry us. but that's what we're supposed to do! "cast all your cares and anxieties on Him, because He cares for you" (1 peter 5:7 [NIV]) - He's our Father, and that's what He wants us to do - to go to Him in ALL things, for EVERYthing. He wants to take our burdens and just carry us. i think that's one of my greatest problems, trying to take everything on my own - and i always wound up getting fed up or frustrated with myself or confused or burnt out because all these things weigh me down. i need to travel light.

some other interesting tidbits from the movie: mel gibson's character, graham was a priest - but he left the church after his wife died in a horrible accident. and so throughout the movie, we see his character struggle with his own faith. at one point, he has a conversation with his brother, trying to comfort him about the aliens. and he says something like this: that there are basically two categories of people: 1) those who believe in being lucky - that everything is a sign, a miracle - that things don't just happen by chance, that there's someone out there, someone bigger than them and that gives people hope. 2) and those who believe in pure luck - that circumstances can either end up "good" or "bad" - it's a 50/50 toss up. but the one underlying factor, is that they are all alone. and that gives people fear. so we need to figure out what kind of people we are. and his last sentence for that speech was this: "is it possible that there are no coincidences?"

i believe there are no coincidences. i believe that God ordaines and orchestrates everything for His purposes and His ultimate plan! the movie was really clever, i thought. i loved how they put it together. there were all these little "signs" in the movie that eventually led up to the ending, where everything tied together. so unless you were paying close attention, you may have missed some of them. but they sorta 'recapped' everything at the end. it was pretty awesome stuff :) i love it, because it applies so much to our faith. i think God puts all these little 'signs' in our lives, to show us what ways to go, what paths to travel down. and we need to be make sure we're looking, and aware of what signs He shows us. maybe it'll be somewhere down the pathway before we realize that God had led us there through this sign or that. but one thing's for sure, we need to SLOW down and look :) SELAH!

so yeah, if you can't tell, i really enjoyed the movie :)

aside from the movies, sufficiency is in like 3 days. oh my goodness. can you believe it? i'm so nervous about it. there's all these loose ends that need to be tied up SOON. i mean, first of all, musically, how are we going to sound like. how are the responses going to be like? how many people are going to show up? what kind of people are going to show up? how's the phos hiliaron going to proceed? how's the intro going to proceed? i don't know. i honestly don't. i'm getting more worried because i'm the co-ordinator and i don't know what i'm doing. i don't even have a church for practice tomorrow. i need to pray more about this night. more and more. cuz i can't do it. God can. but i can't. so i need God to use me for His purposes and His glory.

that's about it for now! g'nite :)

Posted by Leo Chan at August 28, 2002 2:08 AM