Tags
Academy Awards, Celebration, Encouragement, Endurance, Experience, Faith, Into the Woods, Jesus, Maleficent, Perseverence, The Lego Movie, Unbroken, Whiplash, Wild
2014 was a great year for film. Whether we were exploring the magical forest of Into the Woods, entering the gates of King Stefan’s castle in Maleficent, or dancing through the streets of the Lego city in The Lego Movie, we were introduced to new and reimagined worlds that sent our imaginations soaring. After all, half the fun of a film is allowing your imagination to play with the moving image. But toward the end, amidst the award-season buzz, there were three films that stood out more than usual to tell the tale of man overcoming. The three films, two non-fiction, are brilliant, compelling, and challenging. The three films are Whiplash, Wild, and Unbroken. Allow me to give a quick breakdown of these films and their plots (from the IMDb):
- Whiplash – A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.
- Wild – A chronicle of one woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe.
- Unbroken – After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he’s caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
In each of these films, more than other conflicts, the overarching conflict was Man vs. Himself. Instead of allowing herself to be a victim of society forever, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon), picks herself up (and her heavy hiking gear) and leaves for an 1,100 mile trip that she could have quit at any moment. A man along the way asks “Do you ever think about quitting?” “Only once every two minutes or so,” she replied. In today’s society, popular topics of conversation is bullying and how to stop it, though it is rarely discussed how to stand up to one. We can all be victims of our circumstances or victims of society, if we choose. Or we can choose to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep moving down the road. We can choose to listen to the dissenters or keep running past them.
Andrew could have quit. He could have thrown in the towel on drumming after he was trashed by his professor. He could have said “I’m comfortable where I am. I’m happy with mediocrity.” But he chose instead to drive himself to a tone of obsession that would see him through to his goal. No one and nothing would stand in his way.
Louis Zamperini could have given up. He could have said it wasn’t worth it and dropped the heavy beam. Death would have seemed better than his current state of misery. He could have stepped back, dropped his moral and patriotic morays and taken the easy road out. He was offered a path paved with ease. He could have chosen to be a victim of society and circumstances. Instead he picked himself up and kept pressing onward. And after the war, instead of revenge, he gave his life to God and chose forgiveness. He made his way back to Japan to meet his captors, saw their faces, and he forgave them.
In life you can be a victim or a victor. You cannot be both. 2014 was a great year for film, but it was a particularly rough year for me. The hardest year of my life so far. I knew this journey of faith was going to be hard. But I had no idea it would be this hard. In fact, before seeing the inspiring movies above, I had already planned this blog, but it’s initial two-part title was “Hell: Part I” and “Hell: Part II.” Sir Winston Churchill said “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” My goal for this blog is to be transparent. I want someone at no matter what stage in their life to be able to read this blog and be inspired to keep going. I want this to be a diary for future readers who see my success at that point and think, “it must have been easy,” to see that it wasn’t. It was awful. It was hard. It was hell. But it was glorious because I saw the glory of God in it every minute. And it was the most amazing ride ever. God chose the car. God chose the path. I just hopped in and said “How do I get there?”
One major hope that I have for my success is that when I get there, carnal people glorify God for what they see Him do through me. This has been a lesson for me: You cannot expect carnal minded people to understand a spiritually driven desire. It’s not always clear why certain people choose a carnal path over a spiritual adventure, but it has always happened and will continue to happen.
As I was reviewing this post, several weeks after initially writing it, God reminded me that while He chose the vehicle, I chose the color. “What is the color?,” I asked. “How you choose to portray yourself along the journey.” He’s right, of course. Not that you should ever doubt God. In my life, my parents would have not only have picked a different path entirely, the color of my car would have been different. And this difference has made all the difference.
I have been very mute on this blog about my relationship with my parents out of respect for them, and even in this short retelling, I will still be respectful, out of love. My parents have the upmost love for me, but we have a difference in belief. As I eased into my formative years, I began to seek God more earnestly. And as I did so, I developed my faith. As we walked along, I would learn more of Him and His ways. And that was how I came to take the path of faith that I have chosen. I have detailed in this blog the risks that I have taken, but I assure you they have been worth it all. Just like Cheryl Strayed, I could quit any time. I could lower the tremendously heavy beam like Louis Zamperini could have at any time. I could give up on my dreams at any time just like Andrew. But instead, I’m walking onward, with God guiding my path. And good things will come in due time. Sweet Dreams.