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Waiting with hope is very difficult,
but true patience is expressed
when we must even wait for hope.
I will have reached the point of greatest strength
once I have learned to wait for hope.
George Matheson
Many of you know I have the ever so tiniest obsession with a certain creature from the sea. If you are new to me and have not followed me long I will fill you in, friends. I am slightly shark obsessed. I have never outgrown my grade school inspired fascination with these creatures as well as most of the amazing and mysterious ocean. It inspires within me wonder, fear and awe. Amazement. Of course, knowing the One who created it is also both relief and more awesome, still. But I want to share with you some of my pondering today about faith, hope and the deep blue sea. Maybe there is some encouragement to be found in open water and even bad movies.
Since I am a shark fan (Of course I watch Shark Week!) and the classic movie Jaws, you can imagine that if a movie is released that is about sharks I have to see it! I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau after all and in my imagination I have swam with him on many adventures since early childhood. Sometimes television can be good, I suppose.
Shortly after I got married, a movie had been released called Open Water. Although my hubby and I did not go to the movie theater to see it (thankfully), I talked him into watching it with me one night. He does not share my shark enthusiasm but he graciously agreed.
To say that this movie upset me would be a monumental understatement. The movie infuriated me and at the end of it I stormed out of the living room (my poor hubs had suffered through the whole thing with me) and went into quite a rant about the ending of it. Let me give you some background (or click the link for more details as I don’t recommend seeing the movie, at least until you hear me out-and yes I am giving spoilers, so if you don’t want to know do not read on). The movie is about a couple who goes off on a scuba diving excursion among 18 others. It is a low budget film and feels very real and surreal at the same time. I want to say that what bothered me about this movie is not the filming, or the footage because that was frighteningly real and disturbing on it’s own. It is my understanding that the shark footage was authentic. No mechanical mayhem, as in Jaws. So on that note horribly accurate shark behavior and reality. (OK, that is actually disturbing as well) The story is the thing for me, so let’s get to it. We journey with the couple as they swim off from the others who have signed on for the trip to explore the deep blue sea. The mix ups that occur on the boat during the couple’s absence is filmed and we see that the tally of who is aboard the boat for the agreed upon departing time is inaccurate. The small boat leaves the couple out in open water and returns to port. When the couple finally surface from the deep, they see the boat off in the distance. They assume it will return and the next hours are spent waiting. Add nausea here. We spend the night with them as they are stung by jelly fish, nibbled on by sharks, surrounded by darkness and consumed by fear. They try to keep one another’s hopes up but in the end…this is the clincher. In the end, both are consumed by sharks in a feeding frenzy that starts with the man and ends when (enter rant here) the woman seeing all hope gone removes her gear and sinks into the sea of sharks.
Enter hopelessness. I have never been more upset with a movie. It angered me because of the utter hopelessness it portrayed. The absence of God. The darkness and void of a seemingly meaninglessness existence and situation. The too late response of the crew recognizing those left behind. The earnest search in morning light. Hopelessness.
The final scene only fueled my anger more:
“After Susan slips below the water’s surface, the film scene flashes elsewhere, revealing a fishing crew cutting open a newly-caught shark’s abdomen and stomach, and finding a waterproof diving camera, ostensibly that of Daniel and Susan. One of the fishermen asks off-handedly to another, “Wonder if it works?” (Source: Wikpedia)
See it bothered me because I know that even if…
He is God.
He is good.
He exists.
He is not void.
We are not without hope.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 35, 38
My paraphrase:
No bad movie, or frenzied,
flesh consuming shark
can consume my soul.
Christ owns me.
I am in the palm of His hand
wherever I am.
Like Jonah in the Whale’s belly or
Job surrounded by foolish friends.
His love never lets me go.
His love will never let you go.
Always hope.
In Him.
One more thing: Beware of Bad movies.
But, even a bad movie can be a reminder of God’s goodness!
God is Sovereign.
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 139:8-10
I have included the official movie trailer clip
and have to confess I still feel sick when I watch EVEN this much.
So use discretion if you watch.
Not for the fainthearted.
and have to confess I still feel sick when I watch EVEN this much.
So use discretion if you watch.
Not for the fainthearted.
Enthusiastically, Dawn 