A blog worthy beginning to out trip.

From recent blog posts you probably sense that this transition in our life has caused us to do a lot of reflecting, a lot of soul searching, and even some dreaming about the future.

As a child  in the mid-1970’s there were 3 movies that really stuck in my head. 1st was Star Wars, Jaws, and Rocky! They sit as indelible ink impressions in my mind.

This morning as we woke up in North Carolina we popped in the new Rocky Balboa. Seemingly un-acclaimed in the theatres and I was actually shocked how quickly it was on DVD. Maybe it was a bit of nostalgia, but, what a inspiring movie it was. I was incredibly moved by it and Mary Jo actually cried 4 times.

Just as we went to south Florida a week or so and walked through a journey of our past and our roots, Rocky did the same in the movie going back to the places in Philly where it all began for him. In watching the deleted scenes Sylvester Stallone was truly reminiscing as well as he knew it would be his last go round as well.

There was one particularly moving scene where Rocky is speaking to his son who was obviously disenchanted with his life and his relationship with his father and Rocky responded with..

The world aint all sunshine and rainbows. It will try to beat you down permanently.. It’s not how hard you get hit. It’s how you take the hits. How you can take it and keep working forward, but you have to be willing to take the hits and you can’t blame others. That’s what cowards do and you aint a coward.

How true is that. The world/the devil wants to bring us down, knock us out and unfortunately he is successful way too many times. The bible tells us in James that in this world we will have trouble.

But how inspiring. How do we react to those difficulties, those punches to the gut, those right crosses that sometimes hurt? Do they knock us out, or do they make us stronger?

The bible says that in Christ all things are possible to him who believes. Christ is our hope. Christ is our Joy, Christ is the one who gives us strength to soar on wings like eagles. I say never give up, never lose up, press on, take your licks, get your black eyes and run your race knowing that Christ has got your back, knowing that there is a great cloud of witnesses cheering you on.

And knowing that age doesn’t matter, your past doesn’t matter. Today matters, what we do with the time we have left matters. Living our life to make a difference in the lives of others matters.

As I wrap it up, I obviously encourage everyone to watch the movie. But I was also moved by one other theme. Rocky obviously was past his prime in terms of fighting, but He was still young at heart. A line from the movie said, “The heart is the last thing to get old.” Man is that important in life and ministry. Never discarding those with more grey hair, never looking at someone as past their prime. Especially in Christ. Think of the wisdom, the knowledge, the heart that can be transferred to the next generation.

A good set of friends, Diane and Harry Brutt once shared that they had heard that it wasn’t the job of one generation to necessarily pass the torch to the next generation, rather it was to keep the torch lit. To inspire, to encourage, to fire up, to challenge, to share. To hang in there and be a part of ….

Aw heck, I am on a roll. I think of my Great Grandma Lila, I was 15 she was probably 85. We missed the bus that was to get us home. She walked with me probably 3 miles to the house stopping only at burger king to get a drink. How I miss those days with her. But how awesome it was to hang around her as a little kid. Every Saturday she took care of me, taught me about hard work, taught me to enjoy being out in the garden. Taught me to cherish people no matter the age.

Lord thank you for moments of reflection mixed with joy, pain, uppercuts, even the occasional choke hold. But how fun is it when we get through those challenges and grow from them. Lord prepare me for the next legs of the journey!

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