The MARINE and Pursuit of Happyness--Two Movies

I have watched two movies today, which is something I don't often do.

THE MARINE, though violent (of the Terminator style, etc) is the story of a married couple who are suddenly thrust into a life and death situation. While it is outrageous in most of the scenarios, and John Cena as John Triton has nearly as many lives as a cat, it is also perhaps a 'teaching tool'.

The movie synopsis describes the person of John Triton as a tough Marine who does what he needs to in order to complete his mission in this way-- "with everything on the line...will stop at nothing to carry out his toughest and most important mission".

As I was watching this movie, there were two parts of Scripture that kept running through my mind. While those who wrote and made this film may have been thinking of Marine training, Marine toughness, Marine readiness... "Once a Marine, Always a Marine.... Semper Fi"... "Always Faithful". "Oorah!"

I saw an added theme. Many wives are elbowed in churches world wide when Ephesians 5 is read, and some find themselves resenting it. But the aspect of that famous section that gets the LEAST amount of attention, but is the HARDEST to live up to is the last part, and I have often suspected that the REASON that wives get 'the elbow' is to take their minds OFF of the next words coming up!

Ephesians 5
25: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26: that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27: that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28: Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29: For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,
30: because we are members of his body.
31: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32: This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church;
33: however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Husbands... love your wives...how much? "...as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"... and just how much IS THAT? (smile) I think you know what is coming, don't you?

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17: For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus loves His Church, His Bride so much that He gave His life for Her, so she could live!

Those are the two verses that ran through my mind the entire time I watched "The MARINE"...

SEMPER FI! OORAH!


And then there was the second one....a much more quiet pace, but JUST as intense in many ways. It is based on the true story of Chris Gardner, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, starring Will Smith with his son, Jaden.

Though this movie reminded me in many ways of my own struggle to raise my three children alone, (including three separate times when I could NOT work due to medical reasons, etc for three to four months at a time, with no income other than child support coming in...)work full time, return to school full time WHILE working full time and raising three... whew!...

The movie is based on a true story of one man's struggles and success, but it goes deeper than that.

It shows the NEED a child has for a real DAD, who cares enough to fight for him, to better himself for him, and to hold them together no matter what!

That is something usuall forgotten , even ridiculed today. "Who needs a Man?" is often the theme of films, 'women's activists', and the society in general. It is evident in sitcoms and childrens' shows where the man of the house is depicted as a weak buffoon, where not only the 'wife' is smarter, but often, the CHILDREN know best. It is closer to the Truth than most of the ... dare I say... 'garbage' that is spoon fed to us today??

One of the most poignant spots is when the child reaches up to touch his Dad's face and says..."You're a Good Papa!" (or words to that effect).

Having watched so many men walk away or shoved away from their children in my lifetime, this movie (and probably the book it is based on) is one that REALLY speaks to what a Dad's (not just a 'father') role NEEDS to be. "Any man can be a father... it takes a REAL MAN to be a DAD"... a lesson that I tried to teach my own son as he grew up, including by encouraging him to reach out to his father for major decisions/male input even when he did not want to (who is the "HE"? ..... smile.....sometimes my son... sometimes his father...it was a two way street, as I ALSO 'encouraged his Dad to take some ... fatherly responsibility, ie... Dad, can I get my ear pierced?... WHAT??? )

**note... he did NOT get it pierced until he HAD gotten permission from his father, and his father came to the door and gave that permission to me to allow him to do so... "ONE EAR, ONE TIME only, his left**... alas, that changed when the kid turned 18... LOL)

But the song at the end... oh, the song at the end... that song says it so very, very well...

A Father's Way

A Father’s Way (Acapella Intro)

Lyrics taken the best I could from Movie and listening to above...
A Father's Way
I build a fence around you in a father's way
I try to feel what it is you're going through
Cuz I've played it many ways.

When you Grow
How much will it take to slow you down
Half the way?

Do my best to please you
And I do what's right.
I try to find each word that I'll say to you when you come home tonight
And if so
How hard will we cry before our sun
Fades away?

And one day when the fence is not so high...
The road you took..

And how far will you go?
And how high will you climb?
And when all in life's unfair
Are you strong enough to find Another Way?
Another Way?

A Father's Way?
Baba ba da ba
Hey
Hey

I build a fence around you in a father's way
Just like the one who used to preach to me,
Now I've become that way...

But you know..

How soft lay the hand that used to strike to the heart
I want you to know
The road you took...

And how far will you go..
And how high will you climb?
And when all in life's unfair,
Are you strong enough to find another Way..
Another Way?
A Father's Way?

I know
Ooh ooh ooh
There's no way that you're gonna stay.
There's no way.

I build a fence around you in a Father's Way

Luke 15:11-32 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Lost Son

24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again;
he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

Hosea 2:
6: Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns;
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7: She shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them;
and she shall seek them, but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, `I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.'