War of the Worlds

Sometimes I wonder how many hours of my life I've spent watching television. I used to watch television a lot ... when I was young, after I got married, when my kids were still at home. I'm not sure why my TV watching has changed so drastically over the last couple of years, but I don't watch much television any more. Take today, for example ... I didn't turn the TV on all day until I sat down to eat dinner this evening and I thought I'd catch the news. And now here I am three hours later because when I was channel surfing looking for news, I came upon the movie War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise. Forget that I've seen the movie a dozen times, I got caught up in it and watched the entire film ... again.

My filmmaker son Bradley would tell you that my taste in movies, in his creative opinion, leaves much to be desired and yes, I'm quite sure I will have scary dreams about aliens tonight (because every time I watch War of the Worlds, I have bad dreams ... you'd think I would change the channel, huh?). And if we have thunderstorms with lightning on Monday as the weather guys are predicting, I'll be watching carefully to make sure that people-zapping tripod machines don't come up out of the ground and start frying folks. While Brad's take on my choice of films may be legitimate at times, I realized as I watched the movie this evening that God can use any medium He desires to speak to me ... all He asks of me is that I pay attention and listen.

Yes, the movie is about an alien invasion ... a war between two worlds. It is also, however, about an absent father who learns what it really means to love and protect his children, about fighting for survival, about never giving up. And tonight as the movie played out on television, I couldn't help but think about the wars that so often rage within me ... about the thoughts that invade my mind, about the sin that fights to control me, about the despair that plagues my soul. I find it more than interesting that the closing comments in the movie reference God and His creation ... the smallest bacteria He placed upon the earth became the undoing of the monster alien machines by causing their protective shields to fail, thus allowing the weapons of man to destroy them.

God really is in every detail ... every moment ... every word ... if I choose to look for Him and listen for His voice. The last line in the movie tonight? "Neither do men live or die in vain." Yep, I'm beyond certain that God has a message for me in that statement ... beyond certain. I'm going to close this post with a verse that I've quoted before ... a verse that bears repeating again and again and again, as does all of God's Word, until it is seared in my heart and mind.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12