Evan Almighty

God is indeed sovereign and knows when we need reminding.

Tonight Kevin, Joshua and I went to see Evan Almighty at Springfield. I love that movie theatre and Joshua can't stand it. It holds great memories for me as the place I went as a child to see movies. We didn't go see a movie every month like we do now. It was a BIG deal to go to the movies to see a movie. I remember seeing my favorite movie - GREASE -- there. I remember when the balcony was open. Recently, the "girls" went to see WILD HOGS (funny!) there. But, I think the place has always been just a huge nasty place. That's its charm, though. Well, that and the fact that we can all see a movie, get cokes and popcorn for under $20.

Anyway, I digress.

We went to see Evan Almighty -- the premise being Evan is a modern day Noah that God visits and tells to build an ark. If you were able to view this movie without being overly analytical and be open to a message from God, it was there. If you let yourself get too overly analytical about "Would God do this or is this man living a righteous life ?"-- blah, blah -- you would get lost in that and probably not walk away with anything.

I was the former. I took this movie as light entertainment and was SO pleased when God was able to use it to remind me of some timeless truths -- some principles to apply to my life.

1. God knows what is going to happen before we do. He is already there and knows how to best handle our lives. His timing is not ours.
2. Fighting against God all the way is truly our human spirit. While it may seem that way, we are not the only ones with a "fight you all the way" attitude toward God. People around us are struggling with that same problem.
3. God only does things to make our lives better. We might not understand at the time what is happening or why, but He does things because He loves us so much and wants our lives to be better.
4. Noah must have had an AWESOME experience looking up to see all the animals that God brought to him to be on the Ark. I can't tell you how moved I was to see all those animals standing there (in the movie) and then walking onto the Ark. ONLY GOD could have accomplished this feat!
5. If we want to change the world, we can start with "one act of random kindness". This was shown in the movie by something as simple as giving water to a thirsty animal.
6. Following God sometimes means we are going to be ridiculed for our beliefs, but God is always faithful to see us through.
7. God doesn't answer our prayers by going "poof" and we get what we want. We have to go through the experience to get the results. The example in the movie has "God" telling Evan's wife that if you pray for patience, God is going to give you the opportunities to develop patience.
8. Family, and time with them, is one of the most important gift God gives us in life -- other than the gift of His Son, of course.

All that from one movie -- and one that the critics weren't too fond of.