You Don't Have To Yell

It seems like whenever people get to talking about politics, they become more heated than they normally do about other things. Many Christians get more excited about these things than they do about talking about and living like Jesus. In a time of recycled and heartless music, there are few artists that portray the heart of a poet and of a servant. Chris Rice is one of these few. I thought I would share these lyrics with everyone, and when you start thinking about politics and opinions, remember who you serve.

You Don't Have To Yell
by Chris Rice

So-called reality
Right there on my TV
If that's how life's supposed to be, well
Somebody's lyin'
The camera's on and we can tell
To keep your fame you have to yell
'Cause tensions build, and products sell, and
We're all buyin'
I hope we're smarter than this

Everybody take a breath
Why are all your faces red
We're missin' all the words you said
You don't have to yell
Draw your lines and choose your side
‘Cause many things are worth the fight
But louder doesn't make you right
You don't have to yell, oh
You don't have to yell

I tuned in to hear the news
I don't want your point of view
If that's the best that you can do, then
Something's missin'
And experts on whatever side
You plug your ears, you scream your lines
You claim to have an open mind, but
Nobody's listenin'
Don't you think we're smarter than this?

Everybody take a breath
Why are all your faces red
We're missin' all the words you said
You don't have to yell
Draw your lines and choose your side
Many things are worth the fight
But louder doesn't make you right
You don't have to yell
You don't have to yell

Everybody take a breath
Why are all your faces red
We're missin' all the words you said
You don't have to yell
(If everyone will take the step
Back away and count to ten
Clear your mind and start again
We won’t have to yell)
Draw your lines and choose your side
Many things are worth the fight
But louder doesn't make you right
You don't have to yell
You don't have to yell

Copyright 2006 Clumsy Fly Music (ASCAP) (adm. By Word Music, LLC)

Wild But Alone

In this movie and book based on a true story, Chris McCandless is a recent college graduate who seeks truth and freedom by traveling and hitchhiking his way to Alaska. He donates his $24,000 savings to charity and heads out before anyone in his family knows what he has done. He gives up his earthly possessions in order to find peace, something he believes his parents lack because of their focus on money and exterior things. What sorts of things do you hold important? Does our culture encourage the attaining of possessions and appearances? Jesus tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil, and tells us about money demanding our worship above God. Read Matthew 6 to hear what Jesus says about how we treat our possessions.

Along the way Chris meets many people, holds many jobs, and lives in many different places. At first he drives his old beat-up car until it sustains damage beyond repair. After this, Chris walks and hitchhikes his way across the country. He stays with a hippy couple for a while, then moves on to a farm, lives on his own, and even meets up with an elderly man with completely different beliefs and lifestyle. The man, Ron, is brought out of his life of loneliness by Chris challenging him to try new things and live a little less safe than he is used to. Ron grows to care for Chris and asks if he can adopt him as a grandson. Do you have anyone in your life who gets you to try new things or meet new people? Are those things dangerous, or are they just out of your comfort zone that they seem strange? God calls us to live new lives, different from what the world tells us to live. He says we will even be persecuted for those things.

Chris tells Ron that he will see him when he gets back from Alaska, and with that Ron begrudgingly says goodbye to him. Chris makes his way to a remote place in Alaska with meager supplies and traverses a river to an abandoned bus transformed into a dwelling, where Chris decides to live until spring. He rations the small amount of food he has, hunts and scavenges for food and lasts for quite a long time, until spring when he discovers the river is much larger than when he crossed it in winter, when it was frozen over. Chris eventually starves to death, but in his journal he has kept track of the things he has done and learned along the way. In his last days he discovers that life and adventure are pointless unless they are shared with others. Do you live your life apart from other people? God calls us into communion and community with himself and with others. Read Hebrews 10, especially verses 24-25, where we are called to live and encourage each other to live this new life set apart from the world. This is where the Truth is that Chris was so desperately seeking.

Seeking the Bride

This classic fairy tale comes with many ingredients of a great story. It is filled with sword fighting, giants, romance, Rodents of Unusual Size, betrayal, revenge, and the passion true love. The story begins with a young farmhand Westley and his true love Buttercup. Westley goes off to find a way to support his love, but word comes back to Buttercup that he is dead by the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts. Buttercup goes into depression and then is betrothed to a prince, set now to become the queen.

On the eve of their wedding, the princess is captured by bandits, but the group of bandits are followed by a masked man. The man in black first fights with one of the bandits known for his skill in sword fighting and bests the swordsman through skill. Then the man in black must fight a giant in a battle of strength, ultimately wearing him down and defeating him. Finally, he must face the last bandit in a battle of wits, easily beating him by forcing him to choose the goblet with poisonous iocane powder. Upon discovering that the man in black is in fact the Dread Pirate Roberts, the man who killed her Westley, she becomes angry, but soon finds out that it is in fact her beloved Westley after all, who was not killed by the pirate but mentored by him. He has come back to rescue her and reclaim her love. Have you ever been loved by someone so much that they were willing to sail across oceans, engage in battle, fight giants, and put themselves to the test in order to be with you? Consider Jesus Christ, who was willing to put himself into a lowly place, face tests and temptations, and come face to face with death itself in order to be with his bride (the church).

We find out that it is the prince himself who has ordered the kidnapping of the princess in order to start a war with his neighbors. Westley and Buttercup are captured, and they willingly go as long as the prince agrees to let Westley go, which he doesn't. He is sent to be tortured and killed. Having been fully tortured and taken for dead, the sword fighter and giant come to find him dead, though he is resurrected and comes again to stop the wedding between Buttercup and the prince and to save her life as well, for the prince plans on killing her that evening. Westley saves Buttercup, marries her, and the rest of them live happier ever after. In our culture we don't have many situations that call us to go to our death for the sake of other people, but Jesus Christ endured the worst of tortures willingly for his bride, went into the "Pit of Despair", and overcoming death he fought his way back through all enemies to the heart of his bride to be with her.

Read Ephesians 3:14-21 to hear of the love of God through the Christ Jesus!

A Fortunate Accident

In most classic love stories the idea of fate taking its course to bring two people together is an aspect of the story which is in the background. In Serendipity, it is the obvious spoken theme, with each character giving their views on fate and signs on how they make decisions. John and Sara meet one Christmas Eve in New York while purchasing a gift for their significant other. The circumstances lead them to an enjoyable evening, where they eventually part, leaving each other desiring to meet again but leaving it in fate's hands to bring them back together. They go through a length of time where they both search for the clues they had put into place, but are unsuccessful in finding each other. Both of them end up staying in the relationships they are in and both end up on the path to getting married.

One day, while preparing for his wedding and packing for the honeymoon, he comes across one of the gloves he and Sara purchased together that memorable evening years ago. In the glove he finds the receipt and goes on one last search to find the woman he met once, but immediately felt attraction for. During this time Sara decides she wants to go with her friend back to New York before she gets married. John follows clues which lead him to more clues to find where Sara may have lived while she was there years ago, leading him back to the coffee shop they met that first evening. Only this time, the shop next to it is a bridal shop, which he sees as a sign that he is supposed to marry the woman he is with currently. Are there times when we believe in fate or signs to lead we to make decisions? Consider when those decisions come from simple circumstances that we interpret as a sign. Is there such a thing as fate?

At John's wedding rehearsal, he is resigned to never find Sara, but as a wedding gift his fiance gives him a book. It just happens to be the book that Sara wrote her phone number in years ago as a clue to lead John back to her. He breaks off the wedding in the hopes that he will now find her. Sara, on the other hand, is on the airplane preparing to take off for home, when she finds the five dollar bill with Johnathan's phone number, causing her to race off to the wedding to stop it. When she arrives, it has already been called off. They both end up in the same place where they left off years ago and live happily ever after. Are there times when we think we are reading signs, or do we go out of our way to misread or misinterpret what we see as a sign or even create those circumstances intentionally in order to make our decision more justified as if it were meant to be. Do our actions follow what we see as fate, or do we make choices which lead us to believe fate is working for us? How much of our own fate do we control?

The Words in the Water

A River Runs Through It is a beautiful story, not about fly-fishing, but of family and acceptance. Norman and Paul Maclean are the two sons of a Presbyterian minister in rural Montana. One son (Norman) is reserved and educated. The other (Paul) is rebellious, and though all he ever wants to do is fish, the boys and their father have this one thing that keeps them together. Reverend Maclean has taught the boys to fly-fish very well, but soon finds out that Paul is rebellious when he notices him straying from his father's form of fishing. Paul invents his own style, and this is reflected in the way he lives his life, as well. Are there times in your life that you have seen yourself in either of the two boys, both following what you have been taught or going against it? Have you found yourself rebelling against your parents, the rules or laws of society, or even the morals and lifestyle you know to be right? Are those morals there because you have been taught them or because they are under the rocks in the water, that they run through everything you know to be true? Consider that they might be set out by God by the Word (the Bible).

Norman follows his father's insruction, from his schoolwork, to the obeying of rules. He ends up going to a prestigious university and offered a teaching job. Paul, on the other hand, is not as scholarly, goes to a local community college and ends up working at a newspaper in the city, with a lifestyle of gambling, drinking (during the prohibition), and women. The one thing he holds on to is his love of fishing. After coming home from university, Norman finds out that Paul hardly ever visits anymore, and goes to the city to see him and to bring him home. Think about how the choices we make effect certain aspects of our life and our future. Can you look back on choices you have made that if you made different ones how it would have impacted your life.

Paul comes home with Norman to find that he is still welcomed by his parents, who know about his lifestyle and accept him anyway, never condoning his lifestyle, but showing him the love of Christ in spite of his mistakes. Even as they grew up, Norman was willing to sometimes go against what he knew to be wrong in order to back up and support his brother when all their other friends show their lack of loyalty. They end up getting in trouble when they steal a neighbor's boat and wreck it in order to fulfill a dare. This loyalty to his brother does have its limits, and ultimately Norman chooses to do what he feels is right, even when it means leaving his brother to his gambling and drinking. It ultimately drives Paul to his death, but reminds Norman the rest of his life of love, loyalty, family, and acceptance. God loves us even in our rebellion, always accepting us for who we are. Remember this whenever you make mistakes, and read this very similar story as it is laid out in the Word. Luke 15:11-32

Who Is Faithful 100%?

This classic Dr. Seuss story has been brought to the screen in animated form. Though it is a story for children, the implications of it apply to all ages. When Horton hears a passing voice seeming to come from something as small as a speck of dust, he sets out on a quest to save what he believes to be an entire community living on that speck. Of course, to everyone else he looks like a fool, since no one else can hear them. The community of Whos also look at their bumbling mayor as a fool who tells them about the giant elephant carrying their village on the end of a flower. When it comes down to it, this is a story of faith and mission.

When Horton hears the Who voice, he holds on to his belief they exist regardless of what everyone else thinks of him, and eventually, facing outright persecution, he holds on to his belief and stands up to those around him telling him to reject the silly notion. The mayor of Whoville, on the other hand, faces a similar situation, but with the town finally joining in his belief to come together in order to save their community. They are both faced with faith during persecution and eventually, because of their faith, they experience faith as a community with those who persecuted them. Have you ever been persecuted for something you believe in, either physically, mentally, or emotionally? What was your response?

Horton makes it his mission to take this tiny community to safety, facing obstacles and the persecution of others. Even his best friend tells him to keep his faith to himself, but Horton's faith leads him on a mission to save the small community regardless of these things. Has your faith led you on a mission that causes conflicts with others? Have others been positively affected even when others persecute you?

When you are faced with sharing your faith and your mission, consider Horton and the story of a simple elephant, who was true to his faith and his mission and in the end was vindicated and faithful 100%.

Small Packages: Unlikely Heroes

Many times it seems that good things come from the least expected places. It may be because good things become even greater when we are not looking for them. Or perhaps it is when we are not focused on ourselves when those good things become obvious. The phrase "good things come in small packages" is pretty well known. Well, this seems to be the theme of Simon Birch. Simon Birch is a physically underdeveloped boy who is a reliable friend who endures ridicule from others and shame from his parents, and also must deal with the death of his best friend's mother, who is like a mother to him. Throughout this story Simon wrestles with his faith openly and causes others to do the same.

In a freak accident, Simon's best friend Joe's mother is killed. While Simon blames himself for the death, Joe struggles with who he is and finding out who his father is. Through the circumstances of his life of physical differences and his coping with Joe's mother's death, he searches for his purpose in life, and comes to several conclusions throughout the movie. He finds God's purpose for his being small, the purpose of his friend's death, and even the purpose of his challenging of authority. Because of Simon, however, everyone around him also find their purpose as well. Have you encountered struggles, life circumstances, or challenges that have made you question your purpose in life? Do you know someone who encourages you to think about these things and their part in the greater aspect of yours and other people's lives?

Simon is born prematurely and is physically much smaller than the other kids his age. Eventually Simon comes to a conclusion that he is small for a reason that will show itself in time, and it eventually does with Simon being a great life-saving hero. He also finds a purpose in the death of Joe's mother, which reveals itself in Joe discovering who his father is. Take a look at the challenges you have faced in your life so far. Consider how you react to those things affects others and the circumstances you are in.

Simon challenges the local minister, asking him difficult questions, but also accepting his lot in life and its greater purpose. During church he speaks our and poses questions to the preacher during his sermon. He is berated by the Sunday school teacher for asking hard questions. He is called into the minister's office to talk about these questions about God. Through all these things it causes people to think more deeply about their faith and to be more genuine with how they approach it. Eventually the person that is shunned by everyone is revealed to be the hero. Do you know someone who challenges you to be more open with your faith, not only in church but with all aspects of your life? If you're not religious, do you know someone who is who challenges you to think about spiritual things in a genuine way?

Read Phillipians 4:8