Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

          This movie was so much fun!  Zac Efron stars as the voice of Ted, a young resident of the tree-free, industrialized city of Thneedville where they buy bottled air.  Ted wants to impress his friend Audrey (Taylor Swift) and for that he'll need to find a tree.  So Ted goes to the Once-ler (who sports the dramatic and entertaining voice of Ed Helms). 

          The Once-ler regails Ted with the story of his wonderful invention, the thneed.  The thneed was an all-purpose piece of clothing made from trees and was once the must-have fashion item.          
        The Lorax who speaks for the trees (Danny Devito) is a cute and fuzzy little creature with a mustache and an attitude. He warns the Once-ler not to harm the trees or something bad will happen.  But when the Once-ler foolishly decides to chop down trees instead of harvesting only the part he needs, he uses every tree in the forest and is left with nothing. 

    After all the trees are gone, the Lorax sends the animals away and leaves the Once-ler alone in the gray, barren forest with only the tree stumps and a special stone.  The stone has a word carved on it: Unless. 

          When the Once-ler finishes his story, he gives Ted the last seed.  He tells Ted to plant it where everyone in Thneedville can see so that they will know the importance of trees and free air.
               

        We may not have thneeds, bottled air or the Lorax but our world is a lot like Ted's.  Like the forest that was once beautiful, our world was once very good:

"Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!"

 Genesis 1:31 NLT



          Like the Once-ler, we got a warning:

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.' " Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV

 

          We didn't obey and something bad happened:

"For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23a NKJV

 

          And we have an Unless:

"...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23b NKJV



                  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 NKJV 

 

Christ lived the perfect life we never could and died in our place, as our substitute, taking the punishment from God that we all deserve for the wrong we do.  Now we can be forgiven and go to Heaven someday if we accept this gift.

 

And we have a seed to plant by telling everyone we can so that everyone can see the importance of Jesus and free eternal life!





WALL-E: For The Love

WALL-E.  One of the most charming animated characters ever.  A cute little robot in the not-so-distant future.  Earth has piled up with garbage and all the humans have evacuated to live aboard enormous cruise ship like spacecraft.  WALL-E was left on Earth with a directive: clean up trash.  He's the only working robot left on Earth and his only company is a cockroach who likes twinkies.

 

Until WALL-E meets EVE.

EVE is an advanced probe sent from one of the spaceships to search Earth for signs of life.  WALL-E falls in love.

When WALL-E shows EVE a plant he found while cleaning up trash, EVE takes it back to the spaceship and WALL-E decides he has to follow.  Aboard the ship, WALL-E is friendly to everyone.  He helps EVE and together they cause a chain reaction that brings the humans back home to Earth.

It might sound crazy but, in a way, I want to be like WALL-E.  His love for EVE made him throw away his old directive and chase after her no matter what the cost.  I want to be that in love with Jesus Christ.  So in love that everything else in my life is affected by Him.  I want Jesus to be my directive.  I want my love for Him to make me be friendly to everyone, showing and sharing His love wherever I go.  I want to help Him as He causes a chain reaction that brings people into a saving relationship with the Savior of the world.

"This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners."  Colossians 1:6 (NLT)

"So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God."  1 Peter 4:1-2 (NLT)

" But may all who search for You be filled with joy and gladness in You. May those who love Your salvation repeatedly shout, 'The Lord is great!' " Psalm 40:16 (NLT)

 It is a tall order to put Jesus before yourself but I could never be good on my own anyway. God is the one who gives Christians the ability to please Him, we just have to let Him do it.  

      

        "So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better." Colossians 1:9-10 (NLT)

Song Recommendations: Motion of Mercy by Francesca Battistelli  

Finding Nemo: Just Keep Swimming

        I love the movie Finding Nemo.   It's a fun, engaging story full of endearing characters and it's computer animation makes it beautiful to look at.       
        Marlin (who is actually a clown fish) is a very protective father but his son Nemo craves adventure.  When Nemo takes a silly, disobedient risk, he gets lost and ends up in an aquarium.  So, naturally, Marlin sets off on a long and involved journey to find his son.
             Along the way, Marlin meets many of the sea's colorful characters, including a very helpful, very forgetful and very blue fish named Dory.  From the first second she hears that Marlin's son, Nemo, is missing, Dory is determined to help.

            Dory has a problem with her short term memory.  She forgets things almost instantly but she keeps moving forward on their mission to find Nemo.  Every time Marlin and Dory face a setback on their trip, Dory stays upbeat.  She forgets what just happened and keeps going.  She tells Marlin, "You know what you gotta' do when life gets you down?  Just keep swimming." 

     The Bible tells us that we Christians need to be a lot like Dory! 

     God used a man named Paul to write the letter to the Philippians.  First Paul reminds them- and us- that we can't be friends with God and get to Heaven someday by being good. We can't accomplish enough things, or be nice enough, charitable enough or good-looking enough to get to Heaven. Only faith in Jesus and the fact that He died to take our punishment for sin and rose from the dead to prove His power, can save us from Hell and give us Heaven.  But it is our job after we have become friends with God through Jesus, to try to be like Him. Not because being good enough could get us to Heaven- we could never be good enough for that- but because knowing Jesus and living the way He wants us to is amazing!
     Philippians 3:13-14 says "No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven." 
     In other words: Just Keep Swimming!  When you accept Jesus as your Savior, you admit that you are not good enough and God washes all of your guilt away.  He chooses to forget it and so can you.  Now, you need to focus on just being like Him, telling others about Him and just all around enjoying the new life He's given you.  You need to be excited about someday joining Him in Heaven where you will finally be perfect.
     God wants us to let go of shame and pride.  We Christians often get bogged down by focusing on these things.  If you dwell on all the good things you do and how "awesome" you are, cut it out!  Jesus already took care of being truly awesome and you could not ever possibly compare to Him.  And if you dwell on your mistakes and how "terrible" you are, knock it off!  Jesus already took care of forgiving all of your sins and He's makes up for the new ones every day.  We need to "forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead"- Jesus!  We should just enjoy being with Him and look forward to living with Him in Heaven someday.
     We need to be like Dory the forgetful fish and JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!