"The Second Chance" for us all

Upon reading many reviews and finally seeing the movie with my friend Vicki, I have a few words of my own to say. Another friend of mine, Janine, went to a Jubillee conference in Pittsburgh this past weekend. She said that there was a viewing of the movie, then Steve Taylor(director) and Jeff Carr(Jake) were there for a question and answer session. I was a bit jealous of this, but if Smitty was there whoa I would be supremely jealous. Anyway, there is alot to take away from this movie. Not just the idea that money should not be depended on to take care of the troubles that we face. However, it is a message for all of us. In the words from the title of John Ortberg book, "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat." Stepping out of our comfort zone is a huge concept for the Christian to grasp. Today, at least I do not see many churches going out beyond their own doors into communities to reach people for Christ. Jake's character is someone who is very in tune with his "hood"; its like he owns it. He knows alot of the people around there, goes out to help those who need it, and interacts with kids in gangs who really need Jesus. That was an awesome perspective to see in this film. I am not saying that we should all go to the ghetto and reach out to those people we see on the street. I am saying that talking to complete strangers and sharing the gospel with them is something we are called to do. And you do not have to go to other countries on missions trips to do this; while I am not discounting this either. Crossing racial and economic barriers to reach the lost. Let me ask you, do your neighbors know that you are a Christian? Get out of that comfort zone you are so attached to and go "walk on the water" with Jesus, He will never leave you side. This reminds me of Moses being called by God to deliver the people out of Egypt. In Exodus 3, Moses comes into contact with a burning bush that does not burn up. Eventually into the conversation he is having with God Moses objects 5 times to God's calling. Moses says: "Who Am I? (vs. 11), "Who are you?" (vs. 13), "What if they don't believe me?" (4:1-9), "I can't speak well" (4:10-12), "Please send someone else." (4:13-17). We all tend ot do this; I know i am very guilty of it. Even in the movie, Ethan did not want to go work with Jake. He even talk Jeremiah, he father, to send a sunday school teacher instead of him. Pure Moses in the flesh. Setting aside the message Steve Taylor was trying to drive across to his audience, the movie as a whole was great. It was a nice break from alot of the not so good movies that have been in theaters of late. Though in this movie we see depictions of drug exchanges, some language, and other implications, I do believe that Steve Taylor had to do this in order for the movie to get somewhere. This could be a good or a bad thing. Regardless, having these charactertistics in the movie would show reality from a different view point. And this is reality people! Though it would have been nice if the movie had received a better response from the viewing public. This past weekend the movie dropped 3 theaters bring the total to being in 84 theaters now. Grossing $250,000ish during opening weekend, bringing the grand total now to be $377,168. Now that this means anything, just giving some factoids. Speaking of factoids, here is one, Steve Taylor mortgaged his house to do this movie... whoa! Now at first, I was a little disappointed with the ending. However, as I have had some time to reflect on the ending and the general movie itself (and finding out somethings from Janine about Steve's perspective), I do indeed appreciate the way it was ended. Originally there was three endings they were working with. One was, they were going to have the church knocked down. Another was going to have the mayor come on the roof and he was going to express himself by saying he was wrong about the whole thing. The last was the one they ended with. Everything made sense leading to the ending. Ethan said he and his soon to be wife were going to stay in the "hood" with Jake and his family to minister. Jeremiah expressed how wrong he has been and things are now put in a different perspective. And the church was not torn down. Okay, and that is it. It makes sense. This film does not need an elaborate ending, because the story itself and the rest of the film did the job of that. So I rest my case for the film. It was a great movie to see. I enjoyed seeing Donnie McClurkin in the movie. Oh yeah and umm, you all really need to buy the soundtrack, tis very super!
ESKIMO PEE!!!!