Last April my family and I boarded a plane back from Nigeria. As we got settled for the eight-hour flight, my little brother and I scanned the list of available in-flight movies. There were little icons next to each movie to show why it might not be appropriate for children. Rather than scanning the movies by their titles, I scanned through the list by counting those icons. It went something like this: "violence, mature themes, language; violence, language; language, mature themes; violence; language; excessive violence; excessive language; nothing; violence." Wait, what was that? A nothing! My heart soared. There was one movie on this flight that was appropriate for all audiences! I investigated further and found this one and only innocent movie to be the TinkerBell movie. I will admit to you, dear readers, that I was a bit skeptical about this. A straight-to-DVD movie made for kids, starring that fairy who was always so incredibly rude to Wendy in Peter Pan? How good could it possibly be?
I will further admit to you, my friends, that this straight-to-DVD movie, made for kids, turned out to be one of my very favorite movies of all time. It was wonderful, it was fun, it was innocent. I fell in love. Back at home, I watched it again with a friend of mine, and we laughed and sighed and marveled at the beauty of it. Oh TinkerBell, how you have enriched my life.
Naturally, coming to college, I could not hide this great love for TinkerBell and her straight-to-DVD greatness for long, especially with a sequel coming out in the near future. Many of my conversations went something like this:
Friend: Did you see Zombieland?
Me: No, thank you.
Friend: It was like the best movie ever! So funny!
Me: Not like TinkerBell, though. That's the best movie ever.
Friend: Haha, good one.
.... (silence)....
Friend: Oh, you're serious.
Me: The sequel comes out October 27th.
Friend: Yeah...
After many similar interactions, one brave friend of mine decided that he needed to see this movie that had apparently so greatly impacted my life. I went home for a weekend and assured him that I would retrieve the movie and soon he would share in the greatness that comes from knowing this lovely and innocent TinkerBell.
When finally time and homework allowed us to watch it, I must confess I was terribly nervous. What if he hated it? What if everyone mocked my flitterific fairy friends forever? It was a risk I would have to take. They had to know the joys of TinkerBell. So we recruited a few more people and began the movie, and some of my dreams were realized as everyone laughed, sighed, and marveled at the beauty of it along with me. My friend Gavin even began planning to compose a Broadway musical version of the movie.
Pondering all this, I am drawn to the conclusion that I have some wonderful friends. I was first amazed by their willingness to watch my movies which to anyone would sound like a painful way to spend an hour, and then ecstatic as they accepted and enjoyed it. And I am drawn back to the passage in Romans 15:5-7 where Paul writes, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." I am attracted by the idea of unity in Christ, an innate acceptance of each other, something that ought to come naturally to us because we have the greatest things in common. And I am compelled again by the idea that even as we try to live out this life of accepting each other in love, Christ has already given us the perfect example, and already allowed us to be truly accepted, and loved. It's just magical.
Truly His,
Caroline
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Arm in Arm
Disneyland again. I am truly sorry if you tire of hearing about Disneyland, but it seems to be where all the interesting events in my life find their meaning. This last weekend was Parents & Family weekend here at Biola, also known as one of the best weekends of my college career. My parents and my little brother (and by little I mean age, not stature; he's almost a foot taller than me) flew out to hang out with me, catch up on life, and explore my world. Sunday afternoon I spent a lovely time with my family in Disneyland, wandering back and forth between the two parks, eating ice cream, riding rides, sighing when rides were down for maintenance, and just generally enjoying being with my family.
At 7:20 that evening we had made plans to meet a group of my friends from Biola for dinner. This turned out to be a very interesting event to plan, because we could not figure out how many people were coming. In the span of two days the total went from 3 to 6 to 8 to 10 to 14 to finally 13. This all worked out great, the Disney people were more than gracious about accommodating us. After dinner my parents and I said our good-byes and we headed off in separate directions. After many of my friends went in turns assuring me that I have the best parents ever (they were right, by the way), we all headed off toward a ride called California Screamin'. On the way, someone decided it would be a good idea to link arms, so many of us formed a long chain as we frolicked toward the ride. This turned out to be an exceptionally dangerous endeavor. We nearly ran someone into every lamppost we saw, and we had to break our chain several times for many a terrified family.
Thinking on this little walk we took, I cannot help but marvel at how distinctly dangerous it is to walk with people, to trust them. In the case of our journey towards California Screamin', it was particularly dangerous to trust everyone else to lead us, or pull us along, without harm. So many times I almost ran into posts, and so many more times I nearly fell on my face. But that's the thing: scary as it was to almost do those things, I never actually ran into anything or fell over. When faced with the fear of running into something, I still had power to steer the group away from it, or to let go momentarily. And every time I lost my balance, I found that those people who were holding on to me inadvertently held me up. In Romans 15:7 Paul writes, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." As dangerous as it may sometimes be to accept and to trust others, it is so worth it, because it brings praise to God. I encourage you to face the danger and accept each other.
Truly His,
Caroline
At 7:20 that evening we had made plans to meet a group of my friends from Biola for dinner. This turned out to be a very interesting event to plan, because we could not figure out how many people were coming. In the span of two days the total went from 3 to 6 to 8 to 10 to 14 to finally 13. This all worked out great, the Disney people were more than gracious about accommodating us. After dinner my parents and I said our good-byes and we headed off in separate directions. After many of my friends went in turns assuring me that I have the best parents ever (they were right, by the way), we all headed off toward a ride called California Screamin'. On the way, someone decided it would be a good idea to link arms, so many of us formed a long chain as we frolicked toward the ride. This turned out to be an exceptionally dangerous endeavor. We nearly ran someone into every lamppost we saw, and we had to break our chain several times for many a terrified family.
Thinking on this little walk we took, I cannot help but marvel at how distinctly dangerous it is to walk with people, to trust them. In the case of our journey towards California Screamin', it was particularly dangerous to trust everyone else to lead us, or pull us along, without harm. So many times I almost ran into posts, and so many more times I nearly fell on my face. But that's the thing: scary as it was to almost do those things, I never actually ran into anything or fell over. When faced with the fear of running into something, I still had power to steer the group away from it, or to let go momentarily. And every time I lost my balance, I found that those people who were holding on to me inadvertently held me up. In Romans 15:7 Paul writes, "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." As dangerous as it may sometimes be to accept and to trust others, it is so worth it, because it brings praise to God. I encourage you to face the danger and accept each other.
Truly His,
Caroline
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