CHT to the reader who e-mailed!
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin
Yay, liturgical dance!
😛
All kidding aside, that was pretty cool. I even cried a little at the end.
That was pretty OK.
I liked the lyrics, if I understood them correctly, How Could I be In Your Presence and Not be moved by you..? did I get it right?
Irreverence during mass was rushing through my mind as it played; chewing gum, laughing and joking during the consecration…etc.
I hope they were able to get their message to the young.
What was that? A Life Teen Mass?
I don’t think that was a catholic service. I think it was a Christian concert of some sort, but not specifically catholic.
Oy! What are they getting at with that bottle? *clutches beer more tightly to breast*
If you like this, you’ll love “Handmotions in Heaven”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfrqAqShfQ
“Hand Motions in Heaven” is da bomb!
Maybe this show Jimmy at square dance.
That ROCKED!
I kinda doubt that that was a Mass guys, but I bet a lot of folks walked outta there thinkin’ real seriously about their lives in relation to Our Lord.
I found myself praying
Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
May we all beg God to make us the faithful who love Our Lord and do battle with all His enemies.
We ARE the Church Militant!
*eyes boggle* Uh…. Actually, I think that is a Catholic thing, though not a service. That *looks* a lot like the last Catholic Youth Congress I went to, in Spokane. That would’ve been in 2000.
Not an actual video of that specific event– don’t think that song was written then, and cutting wasn’t as big of a deal yet– but that’s what it looks like.
The youth groups are asked to make little shows, if they can, to fill out the weekend between the official speakers and singers.
I always get choked up with this song. The first couple of months my guy was at sea and I wasn’t were hard, and I got a single line email from him telling me to get this CD and play track 13. Had to pull over and cry.
Might not be the one in Spokane– backdrop looks a bit too high rent. Probably the same idea, though.
C’mon guys, stop it. It’s not nice to make fun of retarded people.
Someone please reassure me these weren’t Catholics.
American Christianity is just so funny sometimes.
This video has good intentions, not my thing though… Way too cheesy, but hey if some people like it why not? I’m myself not impressed (though GodTube itself is cool).
Give me a break. I assume that this was non-Catholic in nature, but this is the wave of how many non-Catholic’s (and some Catholics) think evangelization should be done. Dazzle people with mood lighting, pop-Christian music (ugh!), and a little entertainment…and presto we have “worship.” These types of things make me appreciate the sublime gift and reverence of the Mass.
I liked it.
I don’t see why it couldn’t be Catholic?
And whats wrong with non-catholics anyway? Some of my finest and dearest friends were once NON-Catholics. Some of EWTNs best hosts were once non-Catholics.
Awesome video.
~M~
Honestly I can see good and bad in this. Its message was overall very moving and good. The bad part is it was cheesy as heck and when was a teenager, if I would have seen this I would have made fun of it and thought it was stupid. Most teens I know in Catholic high schools, at least mine would have too. It did remind me of the goofy liberals in the Catholic church and liturgical abuse. And It also reminded me of my evangelical baptist sorry I mean “Non-denominational” friends who do this kind o thing at their worship every Sunday. If it is a Catholic group I feel sorry for them. But as I said I can see merit from this also. IT was kind of moving and made you think and that was good and definatly could have had effect on a few people to examine their conscious and repent and get to confession. But I am looking at this now from the perspective of a 30 year old Married man and theology student and not a teen.
Oh, that’s classic. 😀
Did anyone see Doc Phill’s thing with Peacher (correction: motivational “Joel Olsteen” type.” J.D. Takes? More evangelization without the evangelization.
Mary Mi,
To clarify, nothing is “wrong” with non-Catholics on a personl level. I have several friends who are not Catholic. Most of those who I know believe in Christ and desire nothing more than to love and serve Him. However, on a theological and doctrinal level…now that is where there are issues. By the way, my wife is non-Catholic so trust me I have a great insight to how non-Catholics, evangelical in particular, view what counts as “worship.”
For those who are so critical of this, I can only assume you’ve never given baby Christian food to young teens. No, it’s not an end in itself, but I’ve seen this sort of thing get kids’ attention at youth retreats and bear much fruit. BTW, it was never intended to be “worship” as some have insinuated. It’s an attention getter for a challenging talk to follow.
As someone who just started working with youth again (former protestant youth pastor; now helping with CCD), this video really hit home. So many things pulling at us all the time – even more so for our youth. We need to pray them and reach them for Christ.
Maybe I missed something, but this video had me in tears. I thought it was an excellent portrayal of how God creates us, imbues us with life and love. How we then allow the temptations of the world to pull us away – the whole time Jesus is there – trying to get our attention – but never forcing Himself on us.
Then when we have reached the end of our ropes, as this girl did, literally looking down the barrel of a gun – she calls out in hope and tries to turn back to Christ.
The sins of the world wage against her – trying to keep her from Him, until finally she gives herself to Him and he came to her rescue – and take away those sins and once again hold her in his arms.
Bill,
True, it may not have been intended as “worship” but as I have witnessed first hand on several occaisions and in several locations there are “worship” services that integrate this type of approach regularly. I get at what they are trying to accomplish in the clip, but the whole “lights, camera, action” approach is in and of itself is another example of how the secular world has infiltrated Christianity. There are too many people that feel that unless we conform ourselves to the culture then we will never be able to survive and that presumption is naive and dangerous. As my priest and advisor once commented to me about the megachurch across the street from his parish regarding their approach similar to what I described above: “Well, they may be the hottest show in town…but we [the Catholic Church] are the longest running.” 🙂
Matthew, so are you opposed to the Vatican having a website?
I’m with Bill in Racine. Made me cry. I needed to hear this particular message at this particular time on this particular day. I’m having a very rough time of things right now.
Thanks, Jimmy
And boo on everyone who belittled the video. It moved at least one person today to think harder about God’s presense in her life.
Look, there’s nothing intrinsically evil about a “lights, camera, actions” approach in the proper setting like a youth retreat followed by a serious challenging talk as I’m sure was the case here. If this were in the setting of a Mass I’d most certainly have a problem with it, but to use this clip to say that the “secular world has infiltrated Christianity” is way over the top for me. My God is so big that he can use all sorts of ways to reach young people. Happily, in 23 years of teaching the Catholic faith, I’ve seen this sort of approach open many doors (sometimes even to the religious life).
I think this video is rather terrific. It is an instance of preaching, and the message it preaches is God’s love for us, His power over evil, our belonging to Him, our need to resist evil – all truths, and all preached at a basic and emotionally powerful level that anyone can understand.
What could be wrong with that?
In Medieval Europe many plays and productions were religious in nature – passion plays, lives of the saints would be acted out for all to see. Theatre has a way of hitting us right “where we live,” as we used to say. I think this video is super for young people who most likely receive a very different sort of message from most of the media they watch.
Bill,
First of all I never said anything to insinuate that this event was “intrinsically evil” (your words). I’m not sure how you extrapolated that. We are talking past each other here Bill. As I pointed out previously, I GET the point, and I understand the function of such an approach in the clip. However, if you read carefully in my earlier posts I am making the point that many non-Catholic’s have Sunday services that use the “lights, camera, action” approach for regularly for worship. Yes, I’m sure that skits such as the one in the video in the right context could be valuable in promoting the message of redemption and the love of our Lord. However, when this approach is passed off as the norm then yes, secular society has a foot in the door. This is not an either or issue, it is a context issue. Lastly, your question regarding whether the Vatican should have a website is a straw man argument and has nothing to do with what we are talking about my friend.
Light, Camera, Action: What’s next? Juggling Priests?
St. John Bosco Pray for us.
Matthew, you’re the one who made the jump from the posted video at a youth retreat to “Catholic’s have Sunday services that use the “lights, camera, action” approach for regularly for worship”. What on earth does the use of lights camera action at a youth retreat have to do with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or worship of any sort? I just assumed that the discussion was about the video Jimmy posted. Let me ask you directly. Do you have a problem with “lights, camera action” at a youth retreat in the context of a skit? Do you think it’s use in a skit at a youth retreat will somehow cause a domino effect whereby the Mass is next? I’m one of the most most traditional Catholics around, but for the life of me I can’t find a problem with “lights, camera action” as part of a skit at a youth retreat. Mass? No way! Mass needs no jazzing up. That’s my problem with Life Teen Masses.
-The video IS a Protestant concert skit. Done by a group called Lifehouse.
-9 out of 10 young adults and youth (I work in the largest campus ministry in the country) would rather watch a performance like this than EWTN.
-There is nothing wrong with an attempt to move us emotionally as long as we don’t stay there, but try to move others to a deeper, and more solid, place.
-We should be careful of shouting down things that don’t appeal to us as unappealing to others. “all things to all people” 1 cor 9:22
FYI – The Mass doesn’t have anything to do with the worthiness of using such skits or performances with youth or young adults. It is a distraction in the discussion.
Bill,
Once again, please re-read ALL my posts. I NEVER said that Catholic’s have Sunday services that use the “lights, camera, action” approach for worship. You are either trying to put words in my mouth or you are not actually reading my posts. Where are you getting this? I am baffled.
You ask:
“Do you have a problem with “lights, camera action” at a youth retreat in the context of a skit?”
I responded in my previous post: “…I GET the point, and I understand the function of such an approach in the clip. ”
AND
“Yes, I’m sure that skits such as the one in the video in the right context could be valuable in promoting the message of redemption and the love of our Lord. ”
So I think I have already answered your question sufficiently. Once again, my point is (copied from above): “I am making the point that many non-Catholic’s have Sunday services that use the “lights, camera, action” approach for regularly for worship.”
My interjection was an extrapolation of what was seen in the video and comparing it to what we see happening in evangelical churches. The lines are blurred. Simple as that.
Lighten up people.
I don’t see what the big deal is. There’s nothing wrong with that video (provided it’s not at mass which to me seems clearly not to be the case), different strokes for different folks you know? I personally don’t like that kind of cheese but I’m not gonna put down anybody if it had an effect on them or/and they like that kind of stuff.
“9 out of 10 young adults and youth (I work in the largest campus ministry in the country) would rather watch a performance like this than EWTN.”
9 out of 10?
Try 9999 out of 10,000.
I know lots of faithful, practicing (and often homeschooled) Catholic teens and young adults, and even among them, not one enjoys even a single show on EWTN, including Life on the Rock (which is flat out horrible now that Jeff Cavins is gone).
“not one enjoys even a single show on EWTN, including Life on the Rock (which is flat out horrible now that Jeff Cavins is gone” LOTR went downhill ever since they started using that stupid “friar cam”!
BTW – my comment was not to denigrate EWTN, which fulfills a certain mission to a certain group of Catholics. It is to point out that EWTN does not do an effective job on reaching all Catholics and I believe that to be impossible for any one network to do, considering the Catholic Church’s breadth and width.
I personally liked the video very, very much. It’s such a compact but powerful way the world slowly dances us away from Christ. And it shows Christs power to overcome our addictions.
Hmm, a priest said something interesting regarding, liturgical dancing. Not that he was excusing it, but regarding everyone getting so upset over it, he said, King David danced, in joy, front of the Ark.
I found the video cheesy and sentimental, but being a sentimental guy with a weakness for cheese I was somewhat moved by it. Like others, I think this type of thing has its place, even if it certainly isn’t Mass.
As far as what youth like I think it is dangerous to generalize. Kids/teens are not the same. No doubt some would find this type of production moving; others would find it lame (in the neighborhood I grew up in the use of a male dancer to signify God or His Church would be very hard to pull off). That said, nothing wrong with doing things that reach some kids even if they don’t reach them all.
Peter, did you actually think the video was liturgical dancing? It was not! I wish you people would take a careful look and you would realize it took place at a large youth retreat. No liturgy of any sort involved!! The liturgy patrol needs to back off this one.
Hey,
My 17 yr old loved it, and I saw her e-mail the link to a bunch of her high school friends…many of whom we’ve been praying for.
Teenagers love the dramatic, this is dramatic.
~M~
I agree with Bill. I think that the problem is that some liturgical abuses seem to have been inspired by this sort of thing. but it is important to agree that the problem isn’t with the nature or style of these productions; the problem is with their use — i.e., abuse — in liturgy. Many good things can be abused. We should not confuse the thing with the abuse.
Thanks for sharing this, Jimmy. It really did hit home and brought tears. If I found it cloying at first, perhaps that says more about me than the performance. Made me go back and reread “the Hound of Heaven”.
Marcel, don’t give up on EWTN. There is ‘meat’ there (esp. the live programming, Bible studies and topical shows such as “Faith and Culture” or “The Pure Life”). Though the programming doesn’t immediately attract a young audience, there is solid theology and good counsel. (I’ll hold on to my sqpn and Cardinal Arinze podcasts and Katie Rose CD, too, if that’s OK.) 🙂
We’re blessed with a variety of media, and one message to share: Jesus is Lord, and there’s fullness and joy of salvation to be found in His Catholic Church!
“Teenagers love the dramatic, this is dramatic.”
Often true. But my hunch is that teenage girls are disproportionately more receptive to this kind of drama than teenage boys. And please understand — this does not make it wrong. If it reaches a good number of teens, then we should encourage more of it!
I think alot of people are missing the point! I have to stand up for those people who disliked the video. I am now in my 30’s and a devout orthodox Catholic theology student. But even though the video has some good merit, My point was that when I was growing up and in high school(A Catholic high school) the majority of people I knew would have laughed and made fun of this stuff because it looks so cheesy.
Not that the message is bad. Its just that most of us, even many of my fiends who were in seminary high school were not interested by this stuff. We were interested in girls or boys, and beer, and quite honestly sex and having fun. We didn’t attend Mass weekly and this video would not have changed that. Later on we matured and changed our lifestyle.
I have talked to Catholic youth groups and alot of them see this stuff as pointless, cheesy bologna propaganda. Some of them may like it but not the majority of 8 graders I talked to on retreat. Alot of kids nowadays want orthodoxy and traditional worship and prayer and traditional Catholic retreat practices to get closer to God and mis gospel message and not protestant feely good liturgical dance.
Now I do know alot of protestant teens who love this stuff(I often felt their pastors brainwashed them into all the emotional stuff and that is why), but most of the Catholic teens I know from youth groups now and from when I was in school would have just made fun of it and had another beer.
I see the teens of our age responding much more to Adoration, Mass, the rosary, and solid talks by people like Scott Hahn then to feel good skits.
I can’t speak for the objective merits of this video either as entertainment, art or for evangelization, but my own personal observation is this:
Even as a teenager, I would have thought this video was STOOPID.
My own teenager and pre-teen– good, solid Catholic boys who have been brought up in the Faith and love learning and discussing it –are similarly repulsed by this type of approach. They find it condescending, contrived, and annoying. If they see something of this type even as Catholic as Radix, they make themselves scarce.
Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just by genes. But there you go.
I used to be a protestant teen (Assembly of God) and I can attest that emotion played a gigantic role in my faith life back then. All of my friends and I attended services twice a week to stay ‘high’ on the message and keep pumped. This video plays on that exact emotional cord in kids. Even though I am a 40 y.o. Catholic of 20 years, this video moved a part of me I had forgotten about. These days my emotional experiences in the spiritual realm are usually much deeper and more mature. As a staunch traditionalist, I now feed my spirit with the Mass and the Eucharist along with traditional devotions, prayers and adoration. This is maturity at work.
Having said all that, I believe that young Catholics who have known nothing but the Catholic Church would probably find this video curious but still moving and emotional. Their spirituality is not grounded in emotion as their protestant counterparts are. They simply are not used to ‘feeling’ their faith. Which makes me wonder…are Catholic young people more spiritually mature? I tend to think not. I think that emotion and devotion for a spiritually healthy Catholic is quite similar to a spiritually healthy protestant. They simply use different terms and forms of worship.
By the way, I cried like a little girl when I watched this video! But I, like the woman who dried Our Lord’s feet with her tears, love my Lord more because He has forgiven me more. The message in this video was wonderful, hokey or not.
Only thing they missed was that it isn’t just Jesus on the other side pulling for you. It is the entire Heavenly Host with the Father, Holy Spirit, Our Blessed Lady and all the Saints and angels! They all want us to return to the Body of Christ!
Hm. It seems a lot of people here liked the video, and believed young people would appreciate it, and a lot did not like it and believed most young people would scoff at it.
I’m wondering whether both “camps” are right – many teens would hate it, but many others would love it. I’m thinking maybe the “hate it”s would be found predominately among the teens who might be described as “fifteen going on thirty”: sophisticated, maybe a little cynical, and very emotionally independent and self-sufficient.
The “love its” might be found among teens who are more sensitive and more vulnerable, perhaps those who have struggled or are struggling with particularly difficult home lives – divorced, abusive parents, etc. or other serious problems at a very young age.
The latter group will have experienced life at its worst at a very young age, and appreciate what long-standing, profound pain and sorrow feels like. The former group has either not yet experienced such pain, is incapable of experiencing it, or has been so overwhelmed by it as to have become hardened.
As another commenter often says, “I could be wrong.”
Newman has a sermon called, “Excited Feelings” and in it he talks about how God can use our emotions to bring us closer to him. He warns that we shouldn’t stay at the emotional level, but that God surely uses our emotions. That’s exactly what I’ve seen this type of skit do with my own students over the years. Am I moved by it? Not really, but I wouldn’t knock it if God can use it.
Often true. But my hunch is that teenage girls are disproportionately more receptive to this kind of drama than teenage boys. And please understand — this does not make it wrong. If it reaches a good number of teens, then we should encourage more of it!
Keep in mind though that if a teenage girl is into something, the teenage boy may become involved in order to win said teenage girl’s heart. It’s the way things work with us humans, usually the girls have to do something first before us boys check it out. Apples comes to mind as the first example of this.
Having been a youth leader for an evangelical/charismatic protestant church for years, well before I became Catholic, I recognize the value of the video for youth. It speaks to them the way they are used to being spoken to, and I think that’s just fine.
HOWEVER, I seem to be the only person here who is bothered by the way Jesus is portrayed as powerless through most of the middle section of the video. He’s just standing off to the left waving, “Hey, over here!!!” And the girl is also shown as powerless as the (demonic?) influences of money, alcohol, suicide and fashion (hee!) attack her and, apparently, make her do things she doesn’t want do. Even when she has a gun to her head, the Lord’s just waving at her.
When she finally finds the strength to fight, Jesus is pulling for her, but still thwarted by the demonic forces. Huh? Last time I checked, He’s God. He’s not thwarted by anything, is He?
And then Jesus inexplicably becomes strong enough to hold back the bad influences and rescue the girl. Where was He before?
I have to tell you, I had kids suffering from depression, divorce, abandonment by people they trust in my group. They would have looked at this performance and said, “See? Jesus isn’t really God. Drugs, sex, money and everything else is more powerful than He is, and you really can’t count on me the one kid He’s going to rescue. So what difference does it make?” They’re the kids who are constantly asking, “Where is He?” and not seeing Him anywhere in their lives.
I think the plot could have been tightened up and Jesus could have been presented as powerful and ever-present but purposely rejected by the girl instead of her being a helpless pawn in the underworld’s twisted game of stealing souls away from the Lord.
“He’s not thwarted by anything, is He?” No, but at the same time He can’t violate her free will.
Sparki – Good point.
Mary – I haven’t given up on EWTN. Heck, I have been known to be on EWTN. My point is that it appeals more to my mother’s generation more than it does to the kids in campus ministry. Several reasons – the young adults can see better production from classmates. I know the EWTN is very limited in their budgeting, but they aren’t being creative enough in trying to reach out. The content is very solid, the delivery is what needs to be polished.
Before someone jumps on me for my criticism, I only hope that EWTN can start to think outside of the box. Young Adults and youth (esp. those who aren’t already converted to Christ) need more than talking head shows. While the talking heads may be good in presentation style and knowledge, and some may not, it matters how the content is delivered, esp. in a culture that starts and ends with entertainment.
I am sitting here with a couple of twenty-somethings in my office.
I quote, “some of the EWTN programming is boring, but some is interesting”. Also, “I believe in garbage in – garbage out, so EWTN is helpful in giving us good content. But, I don’t watch it for the production value.”
Sparki, my understanding of the video’s message is that Our Lord is very much present in the young woman’s life all along, as He is in all our lives, but she allowed herself to be distracted from Him by other elements that appeared appealing, but which turned out to be evil. Right from the beginning these other, seemingly appealing elements captured her attention, and because she made only half-hearted efforts to return to Our Lord, she fell increasingly under their spell. Half-hearted, as in, right from the beginning, the young woman needed to do a base-slide to the feet of Jesus, right past anyone or anything that got between her and Him. If we don’t do that, we grow further and further from Him, as well! Jesus, all-powerful though He is, respects her freedom and ours; He leaves this up to her, and up to us, as well. If we allow other things to come between us and Him, He permits that; He doesn’t force Himself on us.
He permits, and permits, and permits our distractions, and our sins, but there comes a point when at last the evil we have welcomed into our lives threatens to overwhelm us and take away our freedom – and this He will not permit.
The video is about Jesus respecting our freedom. He wants our free choice to love Him. If we freely choose to love evil, instead, this He permits as well.
The message is a true one, and well conveyed, I think.
Whoops. That was Marion (Mael Muire)
Marcel,
All you says is very true, though I wouldn’t generalize. There are a lot of young people that wouldn’t care for those high production “showbiz” programs that are produced here in America. AS a matter of fact most Catholics in the world find it extremely cheesy from what I can tell. They’re put off by it and find it way too commercial. What I’m trying to say is that you’re definitely right that there’s merit in those methods for the American youth, we just have to be careful when thinking that this is the case with the youth in the whole world. When I went to WYD a few years ago I saw a lot of very different modes of expressing one’s faith and there were shows going from good ol’ American production (with sentimentalism, light show etc…) to what you would find dry and boring. I think all methods of communication are useful and need to be used and none of them can be said to be IT.
Sky – I have been intentionally avoiding generalizing. Sorry, if it came across that way. Again, I said it earlier in regards to one network reaching every different kind of Catholic, “I believe that to be impossible for any one network to do, considering the Catholic Church’s breadth and width.”
“The latter group will have experienced life at its worst at a very young age, and appreciate what long-standing, profound pain and sorrow feels like. The former group has either not yet experienced such pain, is incapable of experiencing it, or has been so overwhelmed by it as to have become hardened.”
Or, you might add, it simply isn’t some young folks cup of tea.
I’m glad I hung past the first ten seconds of Jesus-in-satin-doing-mime. It was better than I thought. They didn’t hang back on the pushing and pulling, did they?
I’m glad I’m not a teenager any more, but I think I would have been affected by it when I was. Heck, I was affected in a good way by Godspell!
I thought that the presentation was powerful. And I was moved by it, while even not being a teenager.
It was a clear and simple message, that even those who aren’t of the intellectual elite can appreciate.
Thanks Jimmy for that!
I saw the beginning a while ago on God Tube and thought, great, another “new church” set up based oneverything but the Eucharist, so I skipped the video. But I am glad I watched it this time, it shows that no matter what art form or craft we partake in, whether drama or music alike, it can be focused on portraying an effective Christocentric message. In this case, the struggles that overwhelm us when evil tries its best to keep us from Christ, and how accepting Gods Grace can overcome anything. Awesome vid!
Peace and Blessings,
Danny Hidalgo
I can see why this doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I don’t see why it angers so many people. It’s not at Mass and as far as I know no one in it is claiming that a dance production is the only way to present Christianity. I don’t see anyone condemning podcasting because it’s inappropriate at mass, usually doesn’t give topics lengthy treatments, and fails to reach people who aren’t comfortable with modern technology. Skits, just like podcasts and all other media, have a place in spreading Christianity.
I’ll admit that in general this type of thing doesn’t appeal to me at all. When the video started I thought to myself – oh no, here we go again. But I’m very happy I watched kept watching. While the literal story of bulimia, cutting, and contemplating suicide may not hit home with a lot of people (myself included), the deeper story of how we allow the temptations of the world lure us away from Christ into spiritual death is something everyone can relate to.
I especially like how the girl didn’t just call out to Jesus and everything turned roses. She realized that he was her only hope. She fought, she failed and got back up. She was determined be reunited with him and not let anything stop her. How often do we pray and not really mean it? How often do we ask for God’s assistance when what we’re really asking is for God to do everything for us? But it doesn’t work that way. It’s when we truly give our entire life to Christ that he does for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
This video had me on my knees crying and begging for forgiveness. I’m glad my wife had already left for work when I played it. I have a new resolve to live every moment for Christ rather than follow my own desires which only leave me unfulfilled. I can see how every day really is a battle against temptation. I don’t know how long this will last, but I suppose that’s up to me.
While I can see how many people might be ambivalent about this video, I have to imagine that the ones who treat it with scorn never even tried uncover the deeper levels of truth in its message.
Brian Walden,
Although this video didn’t necessarily appeal to me in the same manner it appealed to you; regardless, those are some profound comments you have there and I’m glad you took the time to post them!
There are, in fact, things that can touch our hearts similarly and inspire us to the point of being on fire for the Lord, asking for His forgiveness, thinking that anything is possible when we become His; however, once that feeling is gone and the realities of life take over, sometimes it becomes difficult to remain focussed on our Lord and the burdens we face in life becomes all that is.