by Rob Caudillo
During our vacation, Chris, Adam and I went to see the movie that M. Night Shyamalan had created for his children. The story has it that once upon a time the people of the water and the people of the land related to one another. The people of the water provided wisdom and guidance for the people of the land. This relationship resulted in balance in the world. But as the land people moved further away from the water in search of new and more land, the relationship between the land people and water people was broken. The voice of wisdom was lost to the land people as they became more violent in their possession of land. Over time the land people stopped listening (or having a desire to listen) and the water people stopped speaking. That is until the water people decided to try one more time. The movie tells of this attempt of the water people to again speak and give needed wisdom to the land people and to re-establish balance in the world.
The wrong person is sometimes the right person for the job!
What struck me about this movie besides some great acting (especially by Paul Giamatti who played the apartment superintendent, Cleveland Heep) was the premise of the story. People who were in a relationship with others rejected their message of guidance, wisdom and wholeness. Isn't that what the world did - stopped desiring and listening to God and His message of truth and wisdom? But God decided to speak once more through his sent son, Jesus Christ. In Christ he speaks to all of us.
The other thing about this movie that caught my attention was a section where various people who lived in the apartment were needed to save the water nymph. Certain people were to act on behalf of this special messenger as guardians or healers. But the people who were thought to hold these special roles were not the correct ones. For example the true guardian and protector of the water nymph was Reggie, a 20 something single guy, who had over the years been developing the muscles on only one side of his body. Yeah, he had done this to his body on purpose.
As you can imagine it gave Reggie a unique appearance - a very muscular right side and an average looking left side. But when the creature who wanted to destroy the water nymph showed up, Reggie was discovered to be the one with the necessary physical abilities to defeat the creature. It made me think again. Isn't that part of the Christian story? We believe we know which folks have the needed gifts to provide for the church's benefit. But sometimes these folks are not the correct ones. And more importantly sometimes you and I overlook or dismiss ourselves as the servant with the necessary gifts that the Lord requires for His kingdom right now. Something to think about my friends.
Peace,
Pastor Rob
