New Quote For Me To Run Into the Ground

This summer, I have been able to keep up with my movie watching pretty well.  To date, I have only missed one movie that I wanted to see.  It just came out, though, so I'm still okay.  I also did miss the last half of Kung Fu Panda - or as they say "the important half."  Gabe got freaked out and wouldn't calm down.  So I went out and walked him around the mall.  I don't get it.  He was fine in WALL-E.  Slept through most of Get Smart.  Got scared with animated animals.  

Well, while we were sitting there waiting for WALL-E to start, they were running the kids' version of The Twenty - advertising new shows and such.  One they were highlighting is The Tale of Despereaux.  It is a new movie coming out based on the Newberry Award winning book.  It looked interesting.  But what got me was at the end of the interview when the author said, "Those who dare to do the impossible get the impossible done."  I had never heard of the book, but we went and got it after the movie.  I'm finishing it right now.  It is one of the darker and more depressing "kids' books" I have read - at least to this point.  It is good, just not something I want my kids hearing right now.  But I had gotten it strictly because of that line.

I don't know about you, but for me, I need things to hold on to.  Most of the time I feel so out of control of my life - wondering when things will change.  It isn't because I am lazy and sitting around hoping for God to drop a big bucket of goodness in my lap.  I am active and working and searching - looking for job, looking for funding, looking for bookings.  But things just don't seem to be going anywhere.  Even when we get some hope, it seems like it dries up quicker than rain in Las Vegas.  That line really resonated with me because it often feels like I live in the Land of the Impossible.  It's a strange land.  Sometimes others who don't live there mistake it for the StupidLand or PollyanaTown or The Nation of Fantasy.  I just know that most of the things that have happened in my life have directed me here.

• I am daring to do the impossible with my career.  I am trying to convince churches that they need to discuss issues they don't want to discuss.  I am trying to help people break free from a prison they don't want to leave.  I am trying to raise funds and get bookings during a downturned economy.  I am trying to fight an industry that is so rich and powerful and government protected that they could crush me without a thought.  All of those things are impossible.  I'm fighting against statistics, hormones, big money, and pride/ego.  Quite frankly, my job is impossible.
• Heather is daring to do the impossible with her career.  She knows that God built her to be a doctor.  Everything in her life has directed her to that point.  She has gotten better in school and in tests SINCE she had kids.  But, she faces women who think she has no business being in a job at all.  She faces old school doctors who don't want people concerned with family.  She faces long long hours, hard classes, the very real possibility of lots of debt, the chance we have to move, and time away from her family.  The other option is to hope that she is one of the forty people UCF picks out of thousands of applicants for their first class - then it would be free and here.  Quite frankly, her calling is impossible.
• As parents, we are daring to do the impossible with our kids.  We are trying to teach them to love God, love others, respect their elders and authorities, do well in school.  We are trying to help them become positive influences.  We are trying to protect them from the dangers out there on the Internet, movies, and television - or at friends' houses.  We are trying to teach them about God, when the world thinks He's a joke.  Quite frankly, that kind of parenting is impossible.
• Our church is daring to do the impossible.  We are trying to grow a church the right way.  We are trying to love each other and support each other.  We are trying to do things different - not just following the formulas laid out by the big guys.  We are trying to minister in an area saturated with churches, but not necessarily with places to grow.  We are ministering to the people who get encouraged to leave other churches.  And we hope that church grows, is able to survive financially, and can change its world.  Quite frankly, that kind of church is impossible.

I guess is why that line meant so much.  We all have this drive to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  We want to be involved in something great and huge and powerful.  We want to be there and see the impossible happen.  We want to be there - so we can talk about the amazing things we saw and were a part of.  But, like in the powerful speeches in Henry V and Braveheart, not everyone is willing to do what it takes to BE a part of those things.  Not everyone is willing to try to do the impossible.  We all want to be able to tell the tales after, but we don't all want to be the ones fighting and warring.  We don't want to get beat down 364 days in a row just so we can be there the one day when we finally break through and win.  But if no one is willing to do the impossible, then it never will get done, right?  If parents aren't willing to fight for their kids, if churches aren't willing to fight for the world, if those who are called aren't willing to answer - what hope is there? 

The Tale of Despereaux talks about how Hope and Love are very similar.  They are both very silly and blind and stupid at times.  (I would add Faith to that, as well.)  They make you believe in things that make no sense.  They make you act like a fool.  But if you have Faith, Hope, and Love, you have to do those things - just because you have Faith, Hope, and Love.  As 1 Corinthians 13:13, Colossians 1:5, and 1 Thessalonians 5:8 all show, those three things will remain - and they are all you need.  That's true with us - it seems like that is all we have left!  We have Faith that God will deliver like we know He can and has promised.  We have Hope that even the overwhelming odds can be overcome when the time is right.  We have Love for those people whose lives are being destroyed and wounded and cast aside.  So we HAVE to dare to do the impossible.  It may be silly and blind and stupid.  But it is what we have to do.  Otherwise, we didn't really have Faith or Hope or Love after all.