Monday, September 28, 2009

The Blue Butterfly

"The Blue Butterfly" is probably one of those movies that when you see the title you keep on scrolling down the menu. It's not a real exciting movie. There are few action scenes and basically no violence.

But it is a love story. It's the story of a mother who wants her 10 year old terminally ill son to be able to travel to the rain forest to capture a rare blue butterfly. He has heard an entomologist say how that when you hold the blue butterfly it unravels the mysteries of the universe.

The young man is determined to capture the butterfly before he dies from a brain tumor. He actually is obsessed with obtaining this one certain butterfly. Along the way he meets a young girl who questions why he wants to find this butterfly so badly. After his explanation she tells him "the blue butterfly" is really everything. The idea is to look around and see all the things he is missing by being so focused on one single insect. He is in the middle of one of the most beautiful places on the earth where life and color abound, but passes it all by with little interest.

Then one day he opens his eyes and notices a scarab. He realizes that there are things in this world more important than the elusive blue butterfly. There are people who care. There are unnoticed mysteries that come to life. He realizes he is trapped in a world of which he wants to be freed.

When he finally obtains the blue butterfly he sits outside on a bench, opens the cage, removes the butterfly and sets him free. He tells the butterfly instead of being trapped it will live.

Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of us are today. We are trapped in worlds headed in the wrong direction. We may be obsessed with making money, climbing the corporate ladder or some personal goal. We become so entangled in our obsession that we fail to see the world around us. We let life go by in a desire to reach a goal that in the end gives little satisfaction. Once we realize where we're headed and the emptiness it holds we long to be free.

Jesus had the answer when he said "Seek first the kingdom of God and then all these things will be given to you." Very simply to be free we must be obsessed with seeking God.

By the way the movie is based on a true story. When the young boy returned home his tumor was gone. He was set free from his illness to live a long life.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Yale vs Harvard


It was in the early 1920s and Yale was preparing for it's big game against rival Harvard. These schools along with Princeton were the powerhouses of the early years of football, dominating the game until 1919, and this was always a big game. The quarterback and one of the captains was Charles Buell. Charles along with teammates George Owen and Charles Hubbard had been selected to the consensus All-American team in 1922.

In 1921 Charles along with Owen were named team captains. On the night of one particular game between Yale and Harvard Charles Buell was injured. He had injured his shoulder in a previous game but was going to play in this particular game anyway because it was so big.

The sentiment going around the Yale team was that a few good hits on Buell's shoulder and they could knock him out of the game giving Yale a decided edge. Coach T.A.D. "Tad" Jones then spoke to his players. Earlier in 1916 when he coached Yale before going off to WWI before a game with Harvard he challenged his players, "Gentlemen, you are now going to play football against Harvard. Never again in your whole life will you do anything so important."

But this was 1922. Coach Jones stood before his team and told them he was aware of the injury to Charles Buell. He then admonished his team telling them that any member of the team who deliberately hit Buell on his injured shoulder would be pulled from the game. If they were to win it would not be by taking advantage of injured players with cheap shots.

Late in the fourth quarter the score was tied 3-3. Charles Buell then took the ball and made the winning touchdown for Harvard with the game ending, Harvard 10, Yale 3.

However, while the winner on the field may have been Harvard the true winner was the man in the Yale locker room before the game. T.A.D. "Tad" Jones had shown his players that there is much more to football than winning the game on the scoreboard. True athletes know the value of sportsmanship. When you loose that you lose the game no matter what the score.

Sportswriter Grantland Rice is credited with coining the phrase "It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game." At the time he was referring to a golf match and the gentleman atmosphere. However, it does hold true in all parts of life, although there are those who disagree with the phrase. It does tell us that in life there are more important things that always being first.

"For to me to live is Christ." Philippians 1:21

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Clean Dirt


I was traveling down one of the commercial streets here in Abilene one day and saw the sign, "Clean Dirt". That struck me odd since I was always told that dirt was "dirty". I was told to wash the dirt off my hands before I ate. I washed the dirt out of my hair and my mom cleaned my "dirty" clothes.

There was a time that I had my "dirty" mouth cleaned out with Lifebuoy soap. I listened to guys tell "dirty" jokes and even saw them pass around "dirty" books. I had to take off my "dirty" shoes before coming into the house and couldn't sit on the couch until I had taken a bath to clean my "dirty" body.

But one thing I never did was try to clean dirt. When we try to clean it it just becomes mud and then when it's dry it is harder than it was before. After it's hardened it's even more difficult to get rid of. In reality it's impossible to "clean dirt". Dirt is always dirty no matter how much you wash it.

That's the way it is with sin in our lives. If we allow our lives to be mired in sin it will keep us from being clean. As long as we live in sin we're going to be dirty. We can hide it from everyone else, but it's still there. We can disguise it, but it's still there. We can ignore it, but it's still there. The more we hide it or the more we disguise it or the more we ignore it trying to make it look okay the harder it becomes and more difficult to remove.

The only way to get rid of the dirt is to wash it away completely, for in reality there is no such thing as clean dirt just as there is no such thing as good sin. They are both an oxymoron.

The Word as recorded in Isaiah "Wash and make yourself clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sin are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'" Isaiah 1:16-18.

"Clean Dirt" simply means no trash or impurities. So it should be with our lives.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Devil in the White City


The 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition World's Fair was to be one of the greatest events of the 19th Century. The previous fair in Paris highlighted by the Eiffel Tower was to be nothing compared to what Chicago had to offer.

There would be grand buildings all whitewashed that gave a gleaming portrait when the lights were turned on at nig
ht. It was labeled the "White City". The fair would introduce a host of new products. The first dishwasher would be displayed. Cracker Jacks, Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum, Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup, Cream of Wheat and picture postcards would all be introduced to the public. In all there would be more than 65,000 exhibits.

The biggest attraction meant to "Out Eiffel, Eiffel" would also make it's debut. It was a gigantic wheel support by two steel towers. Around the wheel were 36 wooden cradles each with a capacity of 60 people. For 50 cents a person, one could take two complete revolutions on the 26 story high contraption built by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the Ferris Wheel.

However, in the midst of the excitement only a few blocks away from the "White City" stood "the Castle" as people called it. It was a ominous looking building des
igned and constructed by a man named Herman Webster Mudgett aka. Henry Howard (H.H.) Holmes. In a world of wonder and amazement where people were laughing and enjoying the sights and sound of the world's greatest fair the first know American serial killer took the lives of 27 by his confession, but the number is said to have exceeded over 200.

Erik Larson details the story of both in his book The Devil in the White City. Holmes is quoted as saying of himself, "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing -- I was born with the "Evil One" standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since."

In a way this is exactly how Satan works in today's world. His ways are subtle and hidden and often go unnoticed by the world until it is too late. When things are going well , life seems smooth we become complacent with what is happening around us he reaches out and drags us down with his sly, evil ways. It can happen when we least expect it.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians "the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one." 2 Thessalonians 3:3. As we live our lives we must learn to be careful of becoming complacent in life and to always be aware that there is one who is always watching over us to protect us from the one who is working against us.