Some people wonder why I use movie references in some of my posts. Some may even find it irreverent. I just know that in my relationship with God, I seek Him wherever I may be. If I am outside, I see Him in the majesty of the mountain peaks. I see Him in the ever changing sky. I see Him in the other-worldly orchestrated ballet of trees in the forest swaying together in the breeze. I hear Him in the crash of the waves and the sound of thunder rolling in a summer storm. Romans 1:20 says, "For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks)." And Psalms 19:1-2, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork. Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge."
The glory of God is all around us if we take time to look for it. As I said before, I see Him every day all around me, but I also see sign posts that point to Him in more obscure places, like music and movies.
The first time I vividly remember experiencing a revelation of God and His power in a movie was while watching the movie 'Contact' with Jodie Foster. The movie is about an astonomer who is seeking for signs of intelligent life in outer space. She hears sounds that she believes is a message from another planet and gets backing to build a machine to take her into space to explore this. There is a scene where she is all alone on a beach, somewhere out there, and she sees a figure that she believes is her father, who died when she was a child.
I was watching the movie late, probably 2 in the morning. I remember so clearly after the movie was over going into the bathroom, trying to be quiet because the rest of the family was asleep and just weeping for the longest time. That deep from the gut kind of sobbing that takes everything out of you. Thinking of that scene on the beach and realizing that I had a Father, who no matter how large the universe was, no matter how many billions people there were, loved me to such a depth that what I was feeling was but a drop in the ocean of His love for me. That like all of those grains of sand on the beach, I was but one of them, but I was special and unique to Him.
I felt such joy and such peace and reassurance of His love for me. It was an almost physical feeling of being loved and protected, cherished. I woke up that next morning still feeling that embrace of His love and wanted to share it with those who were in church that morning. I could barely speak, trying to get the words out, of the unending infinite love the Father has for us. It went over like a lead balloon. I remember clearly some saying, you can't hear from God in a movie. Like the God of the universe cannot choose to speak in any way He sees fit.
That was a huge lesson for me. A lesson to trust my relationship with Him. To trust that as I seek Him daily He will be found. That as I listen for Him, He will be heard. And that He can be found in the most unexpected of places. He is a God who delights to meet with His children and speak to them. He met with Adam and Eve in the garden. He spoke to Elijah in the sound of a gentle blowing. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush.
God is a creative God and will use creative means to get our attention, maybe even in a movie about contact with something out of this world!
Lord, I'm listening...
The glory of God is all around us if we take time to look for it. As I said before, I see Him every day all around me, but I also see sign posts that point to Him in more obscure places, like music and movies.
The first time I vividly remember experiencing a revelation of God and His power in a movie was while watching the movie 'Contact' with Jodie Foster. The movie is about an astonomer who is seeking for signs of intelligent life in outer space. She hears sounds that she believes is a message from another planet and gets backing to build a machine to take her into space to explore this. There is a scene where she is all alone on a beach, somewhere out there, and she sees a figure that she believes is her father, who died when she was a child.
I was watching the movie late, probably 2 in the morning. I remember so clearly after the movie was over going into the bathroom, trying to be quiet because the rest of the family was asleep and just weeping for the longest time. That deep from the gut kind of sobbing that takes everything out of you. Thinking of that scene on the beach and realizing that I had a Father, who no matter how large the universe was, no matter how many billions people there were, loved me to such a depth that what I was feeling was but a drop in the ocean of His love for me. That like all of those grains of sand on the beach, I was but one of them, but I was special and unique to Him.
I felt such joy and such peace and reassurance of His love for me. It was an almost physical feeling of being loved and protected, cherished. I woke up that next morning still feeling that embrace of His love and wanted to share it with those who were in church that morning. I could barely speak, trying to get the words out, of the unending infinite love the Father has for us. It went over like a lead balloon. I remember clearly some saying, you can't hear from God in a movie. Like the God of the universe cannot choose to speak in any way He sees fit.
That was a huge lesson for me. A lesson to trust my relationship with Him. To trust that as I seek Him daily He will be found. That as I listen for Him, He will be heard. And that He can be found in the most unexpected of places. He is a God who delights to meet with His children and speak to them. He met with Adam and Eve in the garden. He spoke to Elijah in the sound of a gentle blowing. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush.
God is a creative God and will use creative means to get our attention, maybe even in a movie about contact with something out of this world!
Lord, I'm listening...