March 9, 2008

I saw two movies this week. One exhilarated me and the other sobered me deeply. The first was U2 3D, a live concert shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina by arguably the best rock band ever. I'll admit to being a long time U2 fan and I've seen a lot of their concert videos but this one was different in many ways. The 3D experience puts the viewer right in the middle of the energy of a show like that but the more overwhelming thing for me was the complete focus of the band and the things they were trying to communicate. It's a fairly impressive thing when you can fill a soccer stadium full of people from all walks of life and encourage them to coexist. It's another thing altogether when you can tell them to coexist and lead them in worship with a song like Yahweh. It once again re-affirmed my belief that God is much more vast than I can imagine. He encompasses cultures and relates how He chooses and just when we think we have a corner on Him and how He operates He blows it away as only God can.

The other film was Into The Wild. When this movie released a few months ago there was some discussion about it on the forums but I hadn't seen it until late last night. I watched it alone deep into the night being further and further pulled into the story and agreeing with so many of the ideals. In the end Christopher McCandless was faced with the ultimate challenge in the wilds of Alaska. This spoke to me on many levels. First I see that as we go into the unknown and blaze new trails and conquer our own personal promised lands it doesn''t come without risk and sacrifice. The children of Israel did not waltz into the promised land. It came at a price and it is the same with us. The second and more sobering fact of this movie is that this is not a game. We have a true mortal enemy who would like us to die. An enemy whose life work is to destroy the glory of God residing in us. We must be vigilant and cunning as we walk this wild path that is the life of faith.

Onward Comrades,

Brian