Road Trip

As is the custom at our house, last week we watched a movie together. This week the movie was Elizabethtown. We liked it, but it’s kind of dark for the first 20 minutes or so. The main character of the movie, Drew Baylor played by Orlando Bloom is preparing to commit suicide because his career has taken an incredible, unredeemable dive. It’s at this very moment that his sister calls to tell him that his father has died while on a trip to visit family in Kentucky.

Drew had always planned to take a Road Trip with his dad, but life got busy and he never did. On the flight to Kentucky to handle the arrangements of his father’s death, he met a flight attendant named Claire played by Kirsten Dunst. He was the only passenger on the flight and so there was a good deal of conversation. She drew a map with directions for him to find Elizabethtown and included her phone number on the paper with the map.

Drew finally finds Elizabethtown, and one night during his stay, desperate for a person to talk to, he called Claire. They talked all night. They agreed to meet and watch the sunrise. A friendship evolved and then a relationship. In the course of talking Drew promised that he would take at least some of the trip back to Oregon as a Road Trip. When it was time to leave Claire gave him a large scrap book with a detailed Road Trip with pictures, narrative and even music.

The Road Trip was for him an experience of closure, healing, joy and self discovery. On the sign for Elizabethtown, there is a phrase that appears underneath the name. It says,

“A Heck of a Place to Find Yourself.”

I like the play on words, but even more, I like that people find themselves. Usually in the last place they look. You see, there comes a time when we all need a Road Trip. A time alone in the car, with your music, your volume, your path, your bathroom breaks, your food, your laughter, your singing, your dancing, your prayers, your schedule, your self.

It’s really easy to lose your identity as a person while pursuing a life. We can forget who we are, what our purpose is, who the really important people are and why life matters. Jesus said, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:25) Perhaps Jesus wasn’t talking about taking a Road Trip. But I recall a passage in Matthew that talks about the “…narrow road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

It’s time for a Road Trip.

Michael Taylor

Evidence of the Boydom

This morning I got up like most days and got ready for work. I went into the kitchen to get my cereal bar. It was setting on the breakfast table. Just a couple of days ago a full scale battle involving two armies and a police force took place on this very table. I don’t really know what the battle was about, how the battle ended or who won…

Our boy is named Caleb. He is 10 years old. I call him “The Boy” or sometimes just "Boy". He’s the only one we have so it works out fine. Abraham said, “I and the boy will go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Gen. 22:5) And Tarzan called his boy, "Boy". Caleb is the kind of boy everyone would like to have. He’s kind and courteous, smart and articulate. He reads more than most adults. He loves sports. He is fiercely competitive. (Gets that from his mom.)

Right now he is in crises mode. He is primarily a football fan and specifically a Dallas Cowboy fan. Yesterday they released his favorite player Keyshawn Johnson. The rumor on the street is that Dallas will sign T.O. Caleb sees this as possibly good for Dallas if Owens can get his life together. He told me the other night, “I prayed for T.O. last night; that he would get his life together.” This is his heart.

…back to the battle of the breakfast table. The green army was fighting the brown army but I don’t know who the good guys were. And I’m not sure whose side the police force was on. This morning, they were all gone. The battlefield was clear. No bodies, no debris. Then I saw it. In the string that lifts the mini-blinds on the window next to the battlefield, a single brown soldier hangs as the only reminder of the epic battle that took place here. This toy soldier doesn’t tell us who won the battle. But it does tell us one thing… this is the kingdom of a boy – a “Boydom”.

For all who live in a Boydom you know it’s a great thing. These little pieces of evidence, like hanging soldiers in blind chords, remind us of the greatness that lives in the heart of a boy. I’m grateful for having been a boy at one time myself. But more than that, I’m thankful for the boy that rules of our Boydom. He will be a strong man of God someday I’m sure… but for now… He is “The Boy” and I love him.

Michael Taylor

Special thanks to "The Hope". She took the pic and sent it to me at work.

And the Oscar Goes To...

Last Sunday night our family watched some of the Oscars. We noted that the dresses were decidedly less “hoochie” than in years past. We were hoping that “bm” would be shut out and it almost was. We were able to cheer for Narnia and Kong in the technical awards and for Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (greatness).

I didn’t like the little speech by George Clooney who said, “I'm proud to be part of this academy, proud to be part of this community, proud to be out of touch.” It reminds me of the verse that says, "…many live as enemies of the cross of Christ… and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." (Philippians 3:18-19) There is no doubt that sometimes Christians have been their own worst enemy in regard to what some so called leaders have said. We haven’t always handled well, delicate issues like AIDS. What I’m wanting to say here is that there is a need for godly wisdom as it relates to being out of touch on both sides of morality. And Christians are the only ones who have access to that kind of wisdom.

We live in a time when “stars” think they are the end all of humanity. They express moral judgment on the entire world based on their brand of politics or their "enlightened" amoral existence in the “out of touch” reality that is Hollywood. Even Jon Stewart took advantage of the Oscars to "poke fun” at Hollywood by saying, “A lot of people say that this town is too liberal, out of touch with mainstream America, an atheistic pleasure dome, a modern-day, beachfront Sodom and Gomorrah, a moral black hole where innocence is obliterated in an endless orgy of sexual gratification and greed. I don't really have a joke here. I just thought you should know a lot of people are saying that."

Well he wasn’t nominated this year, but I’d give another Oscar to Sir Anthony Hopkins simply for what he said recently in a London magazine. Of his new movie, The Worlds Fastest Indian, Hopkins said, “No sex or violence, and that's refreshing.” Speaking of the attitudes that some of his colleagues display he commented, “I can't get caught up in the self-importance. People bow to your every wish and you forget where you come from and what you're doing. - It's a job, like any other, so don't make a big deal. Be polite, treat the crew with respect and don't think you're different.”

Sounds like the “Best Actor” I’ve heard in a while. As you know, I love movies. They are (or can be) the parables of our day. Go read Jim McGuiggans piece on Shrek and Jesus. http://www.jimmcguiggan.com) You’ll see what I mean. I really like it when one of the Hollywood crowd just gets real and speaks what is right and true. And it’s a bonus when the one who says it is a Knight.

Michael Taylor