I made a trip to Texas this weekend to escape routine. On Christmas day I visited a local movie theater to watch Ben Stiller’s version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which is a film all about stepping out of your comfort zone and embracing challenge and adventure. As the credits rolled and the crowd filed out of the theater I knew I needed to go jump off a mountain or something soon. I don’t live near any tall mountains though, so I settled on a brief road trip featuring spectacular sunsets and quality time with new and old friends.
Oklahoma (I-35 South)
Before coming home, my road trip buddy wanted to check out a service at the LifeChurch campus in Ft. Worth. He attends one of the campuses in OKC, and figured this would be a good opportunity to see how LC operates in another state, since we were in the area. I no longer attend LifeChurch, but I’m still friends with a lot of attendees and still a big fan of their mission to create fully devoted followers of Christ, so I was excited to stop in as well.
During the worship set the praise band played a song I’d never heard before (above – by a different group). It’s a beautiful song highlighting the Lord’s Prayer and I really got lost in it. At one point the lyric “Let heaven come” is repeated over and over. This is an idea that has repeatedly come to my attention recently, and my eyes got a little misty as I thought about God’s goodness and His willingness to share some of heaven with us while we’re captive on Earth, awaiting heaven’s final and complete arrival for those who follow Jesus.
Later that evening on the drive back to OKC I had a short conversation about a recent documentary I watched called “Blackfish”, which details much of the alleged mistreatment of Killer Whales in captivity. It’s a fascinating film, but much of that discussion is for a different conversation. I started to think again about humanity’s captivity, and all the ups and downs experienced in a person’s life. And then I remembered one of my favorite scenes from The Shawshank Redemption–the rooftop scene.
I love it when Morgan Freeman’s character, ‘Red’, begins to narrate toward the end of the clip.
“We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men…we were the lords of all creation”.
Red then speculates why Tim Robbins’ character, Andy Dufresne, went to the lengths he did. Why did he speak up? Why did he potentially risk his life?
Red runs through a number of scenarios in reference to Andy’s actions, but in the end he decides, “I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while”.
Whether Andy knew what he was doing or not, he created a small piece of paradise. Heaven came down. If only for a short while.
So here’s to inviting heaven to come here on Earth, and embracing it’s full taste when we are privileged enough to experience it.
Cheers.
Experience the Dilemma 