There's a Stirring

25 years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas, Susan and I sat in a movie theater to watch a new film that swept my soul away. For then quarter of a century I’ve seen many, many other films. But for me nothing tops the list like the 1981 Academy Award winner, “Chariots of Fire.” That film came to mind during one Sunday worship as I began to think through a class I was scheduled to teach. I'm co-teaching our men’s class and we're working through the excellent book, Waking the Dead by John Eldredge.

Eldredge uses a lot of film references to bring his points home. When I read his chapter about how our hearts become fully alive in Christ, the person who immediately came to mind was Eric Liddle. He was a young Christian missionary from Scotland who happened to be a very fast runner – and competed in the 1924 Olympic games.

And as I watched the telling of Liddle's story, and that of his competitor, the Jewish runner named Harold Abrahams, my heart was deeply moved. I wanted to have the passion for Christ that burned in the soul of Eric Liddle.

After showing an excerpt from this film in yesterday’s class, I asked the men this question:

Can you think of a moment in your life when your heart was touched by some experience or music or a book or a film that seemed to call you to go deeper with God?

I loved to hear their answers. One mentioned a song in the superb musical, "Les Miserables" – a story of forgiveness and redemption. Another told of a song he heard called, “When God Ran” – telling of the Father’s love for us as illustrated in the Prodigal son story. One man described how Mel Gibson’s “Passion of Christ” gripped his soul and caused him to want to serve Christ more out of love for what He did for us on the cross.

How about you? What book or movie has stirred in you a desire to go deeper with Christ?

Jim