The Martian

I've always loved space travel. Not that I've actually done it, of course. But it has always fascinated me, and as a kid I dreamed that I would go one day. As a 10-year-old, I followed closely as NASA fought to get Apollo 13 home. And I thought sure I would be the first man on Mars. So that's why I was so excited to see The Martian.  

It was a fantastic movie, living up to the book by Andy Weir. There were so many things I loved about it. But I think there were three reasons that it resonated so deeply.

1. It was based on science that seemed to be actually achievable in our lifetime, rather than being fantasy space movies like Star Wars and Star Trek (which I also love). If NASA were to get the funding to send someone to Mars, this is about how they would do it. So it reminded me of how I loved space travel as a child.
2. It involved going to Mars, which, as I said, was a childhood dream.
3. It was built around a rescue mission, with similarities to the real-life drama of Apollo 13. 

For those of you who don't know the premise, here's a trailer:

There were two strong themes that ran through the movie. First, there was the human spirit shown by astronaut Mark Watley (Matt Damon), who was trapped alone on Mars with no apparent prospect of escape. He proclaimed with determination, "I'm not going to die her." Then, there was the incredible teamwork back on earth (including multiple countries) and from the crew of his ship. So many people working overtime, racking their brains, investing unbelievably expensive resources, with the goal of saving one life.

Those two themes seem, at first glance, to conflict. A movie about individual determination, but also about working together and realizing you can't make it on your own. And yes, both are true.

This is the same apparent - but not actual - paradox we see in the 6th chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians. In verse 2, he writes, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." And then, just two sentences later (verse 5), he says, "For each one will have to bear his own burden."

Huh?

Yep, it's true. In the movie, Watley had to take responsibility for his own survival. He had to grow food, chemically manufacture water, and use every resource available. But none of that would have meant anything if there weren't others taking responsibility for his rescue. Similarly, as I follow Jesus I have to take responsibility for my growth. I need to pray, study the Bible, and apply its principles to my daily live. But God didn't just called individuals; he has always been calling a people to be his. I can't do it on my own. I need brothers and sisters walking beside me, praying for me, holding me accountable, and enjoying God's creation with me.

So yes, both are true.

I'm glad God loves me personally, individually. And I'm glad he has called a people to be his and by having faith in Jesus I can be part of it. I pray that I will carry my burden in a way that glorifies him. And I pray that I will help my brothers and sisters bear theirs.

Will you join me?

The Walking Dead: We Ain't Ashes

One of the great things about a continuing tale like the popular TV show The Walking Dead is how characters are developed. You see a person coping with something as overwhelming and unlikely as the zombie apocalypse, and you wonder how they got to be who they are. And then there's an episode like Consumed (aired November 16, 2014), where through flashbacks and dialogue, you get to see inside their soul a little. Such was the case with Carol.

(Note: For the Dead fans, yes, I know a midseason finale loaded with meaning aired last night, and it screams to be written about. But this post has been on my mind for about two weeks, so here we go.)

For the uninitiated, Carol is a woman who has been through an abusive relationship that affected both her and her daughter. Then early in the apocalypse, her daughter was lost and subsequently turned out to be dead. As the group sought shelter in a (nearly) abandoned prison, she tried to reinvent herself into one who would cope with the new world, teaching the children how to protect themselves. But alas, even that fell apart.

And so we see her and Daryl, whom she has just been reunited with, discussing who they are and how they got there:



Everything is magnified in the apocalypse, but I believe it's an amplification of the struggles we deal with every day in this broken world. As you look back on your life, can you identify with Carol at all? She speaks of the time with her husband as another Carol that got burned away. Then she thought she had found refuge and a purpose in the prison...nope. Now, she is in despair. Is there any hope? What happens when everything you had trusted in is burned away...consumed?

Her world is bleak. It doesn't seem like it even matters who she is anymore. But her friend Daryl reminds her, that whatever has been burned up, it's not her. What really makes Carol, Carol is still there. Through all the hardship and the feeling of being consumed, they're still there. As Daryl says, "We ain't ashes." We've survived.
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This reminds me of something the apostle Paul wrote to the first century church at Corinth. He points out that life is exactly like that. Trials are a fire, meant to refine us and burn away what's worthless, leaving the best - glorious creation that God intended us to be. Here's what he said:

For no one can lay any foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. (1 Corinthians 3:11-14, ESV)

 Wood, hay, straw - they all will burn up. What won't be consumed is gold, silver and the like. So the question for me is, what will I lay on the top of the foundation which is King Jesus?

Love? Peace? Patience? Forgiveness? Caring for the poor and oppressed? Considering others better than myself?

Or....

Bitterness? Hatred? Selfishness? Lust? Greed? Rage?

The trials will flame up and burn what is flammable. The latter things will go up in a blaze of glory. But the former, the character that God would have me build, it'll last.

In this fallen world, I pray that God would help me develop character so that I will not be consumed. I don't want to leave a pile of ashes. Do you?

Lucy: A story about limits

The serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God." 

- Genesis 3:4-5a (NASB) 

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

Last weekend I went to see the movie Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. The trailers had intrigued me for several months, and so I was really looking forward to it.

Let's just say, it was weird. The plot involved a young woman (Lucy) who was subjected to a powerful hormone drug in massive quantities, with the result that her brain chemistry was radically changed. Whereas the normal human being only uses about 10% of our brain capacity, her usage began to increase exponentially. She became more powerful, began controlling the environment around her, was able to learn Chinese in about an hour, and began to spiral out of control.

Parallel to Lucy's story, we see Professor Norman (Freeman's character) delivering a lecture about the brain's power. When asked what would happen if a person reached 100%, he replied, "I have no idea."

Of course, that's where Lucy was heading, and she was going to be get there in less than 24 hours. So she found Norman and got his help to upload her brain's knowledge to some monstrous supercomputer. When her brain hit 100% capacity, three things happened: 1) She disappeared. 2) The data from her brain was contained in a large flash drive [yeah...I know], and 3) a cell phone received a text message from her saying, "I am everywhere."

I'm not positive, but I believe that the implication was that she had essentially become the equivalent of God.
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So we come back to the Scripture quote at the top of this page. The movie was clearly trying to draw a line of history starting with the dawn of man (a primate that evolutionary scientists have nicknamed "Lucy") and ending with exponential growth that finally brought man to the level of God. In other words, the very thing with which the serpent tempted the first man and woman.

According to the Genesis account and the rest of the Bible, the very essence of sin is the desire to be our own god. We don't want anyone, including our Creator, running our lives. And so the temptation of the fruit was, You will be like God. It has been the aspiration of humans from the beginning. And this movie painted a (weird) picture expressing the concept that if we ever could reach our full potential....bang! There it is. We're God.

People were created in God's image, but not to raise ourselves up to claim his throne. We were created to reflect his image on the earth and send praise back up to him as a part of his creation. When we decide to try to be more than that, we go down the same dangerous path as Lucy. Thanks be to God for the gift of his Son, and the grace that he brought to us through his death and resurrection. In him, we can be restored to our original purpose, reflecting his glory instead of our own.

Forever. And that's a lot better than uploading myself to a computer.

Coming soon: Man of Steel

This is shaping up to be an amazing summer for movies. And while Star Trek Into Darkness will be hard to top, Man of Steel is poised to give it a run. Check the latest exhilarating trailer:



"Every person can be a force for good...free to forge his own destiny."

What a quote. What a springboard for a story about good, evil, and one extraordinary person's journey to find his place in the story.

I. cannot. wait.

Late to the party

As I sit down to write this post, I have to wonder: how did I miss it?

I am a huge fan of musical theatre - it's my favorite thing about New York and even London. (Although right now the Olympics are a pretty cool London thing.) And I've loved Elton John's music since middle school. So how did I go until last night without seeing Aida, or even knowing much about it?

For those as clueless as I was, Aida is a musical with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice. It's a story of love and war, fate and choices, life and death, set in ancient Egypt. The short synopsis from broadwaymusicalhome.com goes like this:

Egypt has enslaved Nubia and the great power's prince, Radames, is engaged to the fashionable Amneris. However, when Aida, the princess of Nubia, comes to the palace as a slave, love turns everything upside down and leads everyone down paths they never could have imagined.

A complete synopsis can be found here.

So last night, I went to see a local production at Tallahassee Little Theatre. It was extremely well done with some talented actors and singers, and I was spellbound. In fact, I've been humming the tunes from it all day long. But it was not just fun - it was a compelling story in so many ways. I want to briefly write about just one. To set it up, watch this video of the one song from the show that made it into popular music:



This song takes place as the Egyptian prince Radames and the slave (and Nubian princess) Aida realize that their love is doomed by the hatred and war between their two nations. It is born of frustration, and causes them to wonder about whether they had any choice at all, or was their love some cruel twist of fate.

We all wonder things like this sometimes, don't we? Things go wrong, tragedy strikes us, or even we have a bad day, and we think, "why me?" Is it, as the play asks, just some god's experiment in which we have no say? Is this stretch of mortal time all that we are good for? Or is there something more?

These are excellent questions! I love when culture asks all the right questions. and this is a question for which the gospel has an answer. There is a greater purpose. When we go through suffering, it is just the birth pangs for something much greater, the coming of God's Kingdom. Yes, for each of us some day. but even more important, for the world. The Scriptures make clear that we are to welcome the chance to be like him in suffering, because it gives us the chance to effect change in the world.

Aida portrays a model of that. Because although the lovers are doomed to die for their treason (come on - you didn't see that coming?), their deaths inspire Princess Amneris (Radames' fiancé) to bring about peace between their two kingdoms, and so they didn't die in vain. Yet another redemption story that provides a reflection (albeit dim) of the redemption that Jesus' death brings to us.

Another great story, giving a glimpse of the Great Story. I'm glad I saw it. Even if I was about twelve years late to the party.