Good Friday morning! Gasp...the monster approaches with hideous growls and teeth grinding; the helpless victim trembles and shrieks! What comes next, oh mercy, it's too much to look at! A commercial break... and the mood is almost ruined. Almost because the sound of teeth grinding is still present with me in my very house! I look down at the cat sitting right in front of me grinding his teeth; something I have never heard him do before this moment. What are you doing, cat? He looks back at me as though grinding his teeth at that moment during a monster movie is the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes between the natural world (or unnatural kitty sounds) and the electronic systems of modern life, we get taken for a ride. Our senses are fooled by a conjunction of sights and sounds that our brains cannot quite catch up with. Our first instinct might be to flee the immediate environment for one that is quieter and more peaceful. When that means fleeing from our own house, we might get more than a little confused.
Of course some of the most popular hairy-scary movies involve strange and frightening happenings in the home. You can match up the scripts to many a movie with a few suggestions: a couple moves into a new house, or an old house. After a brief spell of seeming bliss, odd things start to happen to their child or the wife at home alone. Others don't see the same things, but suddenly the neighbor speaks of something the real estate agent must have forgotten to mention such as the family that disappeared one night, or the murder that happened there back in the day, or the bodies buried.... and on it goes. With just that you have probably thought of at least a dozen somewhat interchangeable plots for movies that you have seen over the years. We like to think of our houses and homes as a safe place against the world. So naturally the movie writers and directors like to invade the home with their scary movies. And it works too!
Just thinking about trying to fight something that you cannot touch, see, or hear can bring up the goosebumps. A recent movie shows the helpless victims being drug away by an invisible force, aaaieee! What a thing to think about on a bright Friday morning! Of course, even the most frightening movie comes to an end and the people file out of the theater or turn off the television. We leave the fictional story behind and go home to stay up all night with a light on. A falsehood, whether as a fictional story or as a lie, can stick to us for a while. The body still jumps at commonplace sounds even though the mind tries to tell it that it was just a movie or story in a book. The trouble comes when we take the lie that is ghosts, goblins, and other scary beasts and drag them into the real world.
Jesus had to comfort the disciples when they thought he was a ghost coming across the waves toward them. We watch a scary movie and then seek comfort in our own minds, and come up short as our minds come up with all sorts of things to be afraid of. Our best comfort is found in Christ, even after watching that movie we probably should have left alone. I'll admit to being a hairy-scary movie fan. The only problem is that I have taken to criticizing the characters while the movie is playing. "You might try praying to Him instead of taking His name in vain!" is one of my favorite suggestions to give during a movie. Of course the characters don't listen, but I can't seem to stop making the suggestion. It would seem that something has changed in me from back in the days when I would simply follow the movie plot blindly.
I hope you are listening to MyBridge this morning. They visited with Danny Woodhead just after the news every half hour or so. A good time for the football fans and it's always good to learn about the faith of a young man in the NFL. Many of us can look back to our mid-twenties and wonder at our own lack of faith or outright unbelief in Christ during those years. Praise God for giving us the chance to come to believe in Him and to grow mature in our faith with the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Bucky
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