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Faith

Snarky Faith for Crazy Times

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snarky faith on your sunday drive

How can Christians “keep it real” and avoid the “Christian crazy?”

In this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast, we try to discover what it means to have an authentic faith in these times, welcoming our second-ever guest, Stuart Delony, host of the Snarky Faith radio show and podcast.

Stuart tells us about his faith journey, we discuss some of the unfortunate ways Christians are currently seen in our culture and how we might temper that, as well as “Snarky faith” and why it’s important to have.

Come along for Your Sunday Drive – quick conversation about current events, politics, pop culture and more, from the perspective of a couple of guys trying to follow Jesus.

Hosts: Matt Hill and Nate Polzin. Presented by the Church in Drive of Saginaw, MI, as often as possible. Please visit churchindrive.com and facebook.com/thechurchindrive

Outrage Culture & Identity Politics, Black Mirror, Game of Thrones Finale

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Your Sunday Drive Podcast

TRIGGER WARNING: You might need a safe space for this episode of the Your Sunday Drive podcast.

What’s it about? Outrage or call-out culture. Identity politics. Our seemingly too-easily-offended age and how Christians might navigate it with some wisdom.

Other related topics come into it as well: Privilege, the influence of the internet and social media, etc.

We also do a quick plug for new Black Mirror and go in-depth on the Game of Thrones finale. What were the spiritual takeaways? Find out!

Mary Magdalene: Empowering the Powerless

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““If there’s a demon in me, it’s always been there. I wish there was a demon…” – Rooney Mara, Mary Magdalene

In the first century, free-spirited Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara) flees the marriage her family has arranged for her, finding refuge and a sense of purpose in a radical new movement led by the charismatic, rabble-rousing preacher named Jesus (Joaquin Phoenix). The sole woman among his band of disciples, Mary defies the prejudices of a patriarchal society as she undergoes a profound spiritual awakening and finds herself at the center of an Earth-shaking historical moment.

While there have been many retellings of the Crucifixion of Christ over the decades, this film sets itself apart due to the perspective from which the story is being told. Directed by Oscar-nominated director Garth Davis (Lion) and written by Helen Edmondson and Philippa Goslet, Mary Magdalenetells the story of the Jesus Christ through the eyes of one of the more famous women in his life. Mary Magdalene, who receives her ‘last name’ due to the Magdala region in which she lives, is known as one of the central figures in the life of Christ due to her commitment to him throughout his darkest hour. Often a side character in other Christ narratives, she is front and centre in this version as a woman of courage and mercy in the midst of oppression.

Having been taught her entire life that she is secondary to her husband and unfit for her own active faith, Mary feels trapped by a culture that doesn’t value her as a person. “I’m not as I’m supposed to be,” she aches, searching for hope. However, through her relationship with Jesus, she begins to experience what it means to be empowered with equality and grace, despite how others choose to view her. Bringing an inner strength to her character, Mara gives reverence to the film and anchors it emotionally.

While people have suggested for centuries that some form of romantic relationship may have occurred between Mary and Jesus, Mary Magdalenereveals the nature of that love to be one rooted in mutual respect and admiration. Though some depictions of Jesus have emphasized his kindness or rebellious teaching, Mary Magdaleneportrays him as one who seeks to empower those who lack hope, especially women. There is an equality inherent to his character in this film that challenges social and political boundaries in a masculine-dominated culture (even amidst his own disciples). He teaches a Kingdom that isn’t built upon power and control but redemption and forgiveness. (“The Kingdom is not something we can see with our eyes… It is within us…,” Mary beams.)

However, as the title suggests, the real focus of this film is Mary herself. As one of the disciples, she also becomes one who best exemplifies the teachings of Christ to the others (Peter, in particular). In the end, although Jesus is the light of the story, Mary is the one who reflects that light onto others.

Mary Magdalene tells her side of the story in theatres on Friday, April 12th.   

Creating Purple Places: 1on1 with Aaron Wolf (RESTORING TOMORROW)

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Directed by Aaron Wolf, Restoring Tomorrow tells a universal story of hope as a beloved local temple in decay is revitalized through a community’s commitment to recover their history. Wolf follows the journey of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a Los Angeles treasure built by the original Hollywood moguls, that needs to raise millions in order to restore its beauty. However, Wolf also recognizes that, in doing so, the renewed temple on Wilshire could also restore the future of the Jewish community, and the greater Los Angeles community itself.

Interestingly, as the film begins its expansion into theaters, Wolf says that the response has been so overwhelmingly positive that it is beginning a movement focused on reclaiming places that matter.

“To me, the most important thing about this is [that] it has started–and is continuing to grow–a movement,” Wolf believes. “This idea that anyone can restore their tomorrow and go back to their place that matters. They can go back to their church, their temple, their cultural center, their YMCA, whatever it might be connect to it, and then go out and make a difference. These places, if we restore them, we’re not just restoring them for the past, we’re restoring them for the future. By doing that, we’re also providing for the future, rising above all the politics and all that hate and all the blabber you see on TV and getting down to the soul of humanity, which is doing good for community, doing good for one another, doing good for yourself. That’s restoring tomorrow That’s what this has become, which has really a gift and I am very grateful for it.”

After his experience developing the film, it has become clear to Wolf that spaces such as Wilshire Boulevard Temple provide an opportunity for all of us to feel as though we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.

“When you’re alone, you’re a part of something that’s just you,” he explains. “But when you’re in a building that you have a commonality with other people… I’m not talking about a political commonality. I’m not talking about a sports team. I’m talking about a life of values and commonality. It’s bigger. There’s a bigger thing. Then when you look up and around and you see there’s a special aura around it. In our temple, there’s this dome. It’s blue, it glistens and it’s unique. Seeing that, you feel something bigger and I don’t want to pretend to know what God is. Everyone has their own faith and I think that’s beautiful. What I do know is that, in building like this, you feel the sense of something bigger and a connection to others, too.”

Similarly, Restoring Tomorrow speaks of the importance of owning the traditions of the past. According to Wolf, this sort of reclaiming history allows us to reconnect those that have come before with the world today.

“Well, this idea of being an ancestor was very interesting in this process…,” he says. “The idea that we’re restoring these places that have been around one hundred, two hundred years, whatever it might be, we are a part of something bigger because we are carrying on the tradition of past people who had been in this same exact place, doing the same thing for 100 years. As long as we keep it going, that will continue well past when we’re gone. It makes you feel connected. There’s a bigger feeling of lineage, of cultural significance.”

Nevertheless, in light of the value of reconnecting with our history of faith, statistics continue to reveal that millennials seem to be walking away from their faith in record numbers. With this in mind, Wolf believes that this primarily stems from their perception that religious belief remains trapped in the past and unable to progress into the future.

“The idea of reconnecting [to our traditions] and the idea of younger people like myself disconnecting, which I did, is very normal right now,” he argues. “I think a big reason is that a lot of people, a lot of leaders in these communities, some are older and they’re hanging onto the past. They want to do what the past did. I’m not a pastor. I’m not a rabbi, so this is just one person’s opinion who went through a journey. I think that it’s important to honor the past and to do it due diligence while also creating new for the future. So, with temple life, for example, that means opening the doors to other religions, to other people, and that means having a social services center. That means having events that aren’t services but are concerts or dances or movie nights or mixers. The place keeps becoming more and more of a hub of good. The more we look at them as a hub of good, the better… Does the world look the same as it did in 1950? No. So we want to adjust and we want to adapt. I think the more we do that, the more successful religious institutions will be and the more they will connect to future generations.”

Within the film, Wolf emphasizes the importance of these sacred spaces becoming places that engage the community around them. In doing so, he also believes that these also become spots of diversity that can both encourage spiritual exploration and create safe conversation that draws people together.

“The community at large is really a deeper topic than you would think, in my opinion,” he states. “Los Angeles, which is the primary place [for this film], is a giant city. So, the community at large seems huge and the area that has thousands and thousands and thousands of people of all different ethnicities. I believe there are [about] sixty different cultures represented in that one area. It’s obviously incredibly important, I think, to reach out to your neighbors and have your neighbors be included in what you’re doing because Wilshire Boulevard Temple is a giant beautiful palace. We want our neighbors to come in and experience whatever it might be—faith, something bigger, good values, the human spirit. We want that and I think that’s very important. I also think that in smaller communities, it makes no difference. What better place to learn and interact with people and to learn how to communicate that a place that has faith and values connected to it, like the temple, a church or community centre.”

“I guess it’s more prevalent in the United States, but it’s all red states and blue states. You’re Republican or you’re Democrat. Well, I think that cultural centers, religious centers, when done right, can become purple places that combines the red and the blue. Let’s make things more purple because, the more that they’re purple, the more everyone is co-existing and getting along. People might disagree and we’ll disagree. No two people are alike, but you can have common values, common ideas and come together for a common purpose.”

In the end, Wolf’s hope for the film is that it moves people to make changes both in their own lives and the world around them.

“I hope people come in to see a movie and they leave ready to make a difference. The movie to me is the start, not the finish. When the movie ends, I think you see something interesting–and hopefully poignant–and then you’re ready to go make a difference. I’ve seen that all around. Every time I’ve shown this film in all different festivals and private screenings and stuff, [people] come up to me and say, ‘Oh my gosh. I’m going to go back to my cultural center. I’m going to go back to my church. I’m going to go back to my YMCA immediately. I cannot believe I’ve left it. I want to go back and do something good. ‘.. To me that what this is. It’s about restoring your tomorrow. It’s about restoring everyone’s tomorrow so they could go out and make a difference. When people go see [this movie], it’s all about them.”

“The movie is out of my hands. The moment it starts, it’s in the audience’s hands.”

For full audio of our conversation with Aaron, click here.

 Restoring Tomorrow is currently playing in Toronto and expands into New York on October 19th, 2018

 

dOctober18: Restoring Tomorrow

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Directed by Aaron Wolf, Restoring Tomorrowtells a universal story of hope as a beloved local temple in decay is revitalized through a community’s commitment to recover their history. Wolf follows the journey of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a Los Angeles treasure built by the original Hollywood moguls, that needs to raise millions in order to restore its beauty. However, Wolf also recognizes that, in doing so, the renewed temple on Wilshire could also restore the future of the Jewish community, and the greater Los Angeles community itself.

Despite the film’s central structure around the rebuilding of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Restoring Tomorrow, Wolf has much larger questions in mind. Instead, he begins to ask why so many young people have walked away from faith systems in droves over the last decade, including himself. Is it simply that we have lost the value of our histories and traditions? Are the beliefs associated with the synagogue irrelevant in today’s culture? What does it mean to have inter-faith dialogue and how might it be expressed in the meaningful context of community? In Wolf’s mind, all of these issues have contributed to the slow decay of the church at large by revealing the disconnect that has developed between culture and faith.

Make no mistake, however, Wolf also makes it clear that this issue is not only restricted to Wilshire by showing multiple places of faith around the world that need restoration as well. Although much of the value of faith has been lost within our Western culture of achievement and… well… building structures, Tomorrow asks the viewer to slow down and experience the spiritual heart behind rituals and community. Time and again, the film records people who recognize that they are a part of something ‘greater than themselves’ simply by sitting within the synagogue itself.

In many ways, Tomorrow’s greatest asset is its personal nature. Choosing to tell his own story as a young man who had lost touch with his own faith and traditions, Wolf moves the film from merely objective to somewhat intimate. By showing clips of himself interviewing his guests (as opposed to the usual ‘talking heads’ seen in documentaries), Wolf reveals that the questions he’s asking aren’t merely for general information. They are for his own interest as well. As such,Tomorrow becomes much more than a report about the restoration of a building. It’s about reclaiming one’s own spiritual history. Through Wolf’s journey, we recognize the value in opening up ourselves to see meaning in what once was meaningful.

In essence, although Restoring Tomorrow may begin with the restoration of a synagogue, Wolf allows himself to ask questions that are far greater than he have originally anticipated. In doing so, the film offers a poignant and personal look at the damage we’ve cause by our loss of traditions and the value that stems from their reclamation.

For audio of our interview with director Aaron Wolf, click here.

Restoring Tomorrow opens in Toronto, NY and LA on Friday, October 12th, 2018 and expands throughout November.

The Holy Fool of ABC’s The Middle (or: What Would Sue Heck Do?)

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not sure if you watch
ABC’s The Middle;
if not, you might consider it

it’s just a family sitcom,
but a pretty good one,
especially if you
watch with your kids,
which is how we do it
and how it’s intended, i’d say

it’s in its 9th (and final) season,
so i’ve been thinking
a bit about it,
especially about how
there’s something
particularly significant
about the character of
Sue Heck

over the years,
Sue became my
hands-down fave on the show;
compared to the
frazzled downtroddenness
of Frankie,
or the
practical indifference
of Mike,
or the
charmed nonchalance
of Axl,
or the
odd aloofness
of Brick,
there’s something
unique/
special/
different
about Sue

she’s…
romantic;
quixotic;
a true believer
when it comes to life

where others frown,
she smiles;
where they dismay,
she hopes;
where they doubt,
she trusts;
where they lay fallen,
she gets back up

i mean, seriously:

of course,
this type of
(supposedly)
overnaive/
overgullible/
overhopeful/
overidealistic/
character is oft made
the butt of the joke
by other characters,
and this holds
true for Sue, too

“that Sue,”
we laugh with them,
“always failing,
but never giving up –
she’ll just never get it!

what a fool!”

but that’s just it:
she’s not a fool;
she’s so much not a fool
that, truly understood,
the other characters –
characters not like her,
people not like her –
perhaps need to
consider for themselves
where that moniker might
truly fit best

Sue Heck is,
actually, truly, what’s called
a holy fool:
in the words of a
Russian hymn,
someone whose
“imaginary insanity
[reveals] the insanity of the world”

( i want to say so much more
about holy fools rn –
about Jesus Christ himself,
about Paul (who called himself
“a fool for Christ”),
about the Hebrew prophets,
about the myriad incarnations
of holy fools in art
(Don Quixote, Prince Myshkin,
Solaire of Astora from Dark Souls) –
but time is short;
if you’re interested, Google a bit;
also, check out this great piece:
“The Holy Fool” by theburkean )

in other words,
though her
perpetual smile
seems foolish,
it really only
shows us to be foolish
for smiling less

though her
unstoppable optimism
seems foolish,
it actually shines light
on our too-easy
doubting and despairing

though we want to say
“just stay down,
just give up,”
the fact that
Sue doesn’t
only makes us the fools
for saying so
in the first place

in biblical language,
we might say
Sue’s foolishness
exemplifies love,
for surely she
“bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things;”
and, surely,
living like this can seem
pretty silly,
pretty out of place –
pretty foolish –
in the warp and woof
of the day to day
of this world

but, we’re saying:
that doesn’t mean
that it actually is 

in fact,
we’re saying:
it may be
actually the opposite

and,
indeed,
doesn’t this all
seem to fall
pretty well in line
with the God who
goes down a “failure,”
the God who dies “like a fool,”
scoffers and mockers afoot,
but then gets back up
and comes back to life –
because of love –
despite the “insanity,”
despite the ridiculousness,
despite the foolishness 
of the story?

🙂

 

The Long Road Home: Lessons Learned

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(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

When we last left the eighteen trapped soldiers in The Long Road Home (National Geographic), they were surrounded on all sides by enemy insurgents carrying human shields.  Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla) gave the command to open fire while the screen went to black.  It was an effective way to end an episode, that’s for sure.

The final three episodes chronicled the continued search and rescue of not only Aguero’s team, but a second platoon led by Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger (Jeremy Sisto) who had a broken down vehicle, limited protection, no method of communication, and a bunch of soldiers who had never fired a gun in combat before.  Sadly, the result was exactly what you might expect.  Insurgents saw the weakness and attacked it mercilessly, leading to a number of significant injuries and deaths.

Aguero’s team was also in significant danger after the shots rang out in Episode 5.  They still had a house of refuge, but insurgents were still swarming.  The main problem was a lack of ammunition, dwindling by the second. Their interpreter  Jassim al-Lani (Darius Homayoun) was still around, but even he was in trouble if the ammo ran out.

As you might expect, there was some good news. A tank finally found them, but only after Aguero put himself in the crosshairs of death for the third time, chasing the tank down with a flashlight. Miltenberger makes a dash to keep an insurgent from bringing friends, but finds himself looking down the barrel of a gun—just as he predicted.  Thankfully, the person wanted to help him.  In the end, the soldiers in both platoons were rescued and taken to the base, where their injuries were treated.

But not everyone was able to successfully recover.  Pfc. Tomas Young (Noel Fisher) was left paralyzed thanks to a bullet that hit him before he ever fired a shot.  Specialist Israel Garza (Jorge Diaz), always the jokester, didn’t survive his wounds.  The scene where members of the Army inform his unprepared wife Lupita (Karina Ortiz) was difficult to watch.

I thought the ending was well done as Lt. Col. Volesky (Michael Kelly), in a gathering of the soldiers, called out the names of the eight soldiers who died, giving them the honor they deserved.  The role of the surviving soldiers was reinforced when they had a meeting the next day and told about their upcoming mission.  It wasn’t a ‘one battle and you get to go home’ deployment; it was ‘stay until the mission is complete, then go home.’ In the end, the ambush cost eight lives, injured over 60, and left soldiers with physical, emotional, and spiritual scars.  War isn’t fun; that’s for sure.

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

So what can we learn from all of this?

* As just noted, life doesn’t stop just because an attack occurs. We sometimes have days when it seems everything goes wrong.  We’d like to crawl into the bed and hide until the sun shines again.  But that’s not the way life works.  Instead, we have to draw on our reserves of courage and determination (or just ask God for some wisdom – see James 1:5) and go out again into the world.

* Sometimes bad things happen, as with Pfc. Young. We have to choose how to handle the adversity—can it be used for good in some way, shape, or form? If so, we can make a positive difference in the lives of those we come into contact with (see Romans 8:28).  Or we can choose to wallow in negativity, passing that on to people who don’t deserve it.

* I was struck by the role hope played in The Long Road Home. It would’ve been extremely easy for Aguero to give up as the odds were definitely against his squadron. But deep inside, he continued to hold out hope of being rescued even when the world around him was burning. That didn’t mean he was able to sit idly by; he had to lead his troops, play the role of counselor, and go after the tank after it drove by them numerous times.  Hebrews mentions faith “is the confidence that what we hope will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (11:1 NLT).  That hope turned into faith, which eventually saw his troops rescued with only Chen dying.

The Long Road Home brought the realities of the Iraq War into homes across the country. It wasn’t easy to watch at times, but was a necessary reminder of the sacrifice and bravery our soldiers make on a daily basis. Thank you, men and women of the Armed Forces, for all you do!

The Long Road Home Ep. 4 – Faith in Uncertainty

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(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

The situation in Sadr City wasn’t getting any better for the soldiers depicted in National Geographic’s The Long Road Home (Tuesdays 10 PM/9 PM CT and on demand).  In fact, it was getting significantly worse. All three platoons had come under heavy fire and numerous men have been injured or killed.  What do you do when the threat of death is pervasive in the air?

The fourth episode focused on Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger (Jeremy Sisto), who was called back to duty beyond his contract date (known as stop-lossing). He was portrayed in the earlier programs as a calm veteran who seems to have a laissez-faire attitude about the whole concept of war. In fact, that was far from the truth.  Miltenberger was on duty in Kosovo during an earlier tour of duty and watched helplessly as a woman carrying her dead baby walked directly towards him, then headed into a live minefield.  As a result, he had numerous dreams about the lady and developed a fatalistic outlook on the whole mission, even going so far as to write a letter his wife was supposed to find after he died in battle.

Miltenberger’s brigade in Iraq was dealing with numerous issues—notably driving into the middle of a city under attack with an unarmored vehicle and no radio communication (big no-nos). He sensed an ambush and got the squadron out of certain death, only to have the truck’s radiator crack a short while later.  While attempting a patch, he saw a group of unarmed residents—one who looked eerily like the lady he saw in Kosovo.  Was this a premonition of something?

As for the original platoon, led by Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla), they were still hunkered down, but the militia against them was slowly closing in.  The soldiers were running out of ammunition and had no night vision gear as the sun slowly set.  You could sense fear in theiir eyes.  The head od the forces, Lt. Col. Volesky (Michael Kelly), had his life flash before his eyes after being trapped by insurgents, only to be spared at the last minute.  Some of the wounded, thankfully, were evacuated to base camp to receive treatment for their injuries.

(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

Back in the US, the news outlets reported fighting in Sadr City, understandably causing the soldiers’ wives to panic. Gina Denomy (Kate Bosworth) and LeAnn Volesky (Sarah Wayne Callies) were the point people but were limited as to what could be shared due to Army regulations, infuriating some of the wives.  Lt. Aguero’s wife later learned of the attack, causing her son Elijah to run to his room and cry, “Dad’s going to die and it’s all my fault.”  It’s heartbreaking, considering his reaction to the deployment in the first episode. Uncertainty hangs in the air, with lots of men still in harm’s way and darkness closing in . . .

Though they’ve played a small role in the program, the army wives have fascinated me. They had unknown fears going into the deployment.  Some were new mothers while some were expecting a child in a matter of months.  All were trying to keep life as normal as possible–not only for their children, but for themselves.  When the news began reporting on the situation in Iraq, it understandably caused the wives to worry: Were there casualties?  If so, was my husband one of them?  If so, how am I going to live life without them by my side? If they’re hurt, can I deal with taking care of them, no matter what the injury (physical or mental)?   The hardest thing in those moments is faith–faith in God, faith in the commanders, faith that all will be okay. The Bible says faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NASB).   That’s incredibly difficult for most of us in ordinary life, much less people in the military.  However, without faith in something to stand on, we just exist.  In the case of the military wives, faith is all they had to hold on to even with the swirling winds of conflicting news reports all about them.

Tomorrow evening’s episode will look at the situation in Sadr City from the eyes of an unlikely person—the interpreter.  It should be quite interesting.

The Long Road Home Ep. 1&2: Come Together

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(Photo: National Geographic/Van Redin)

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
–The Apostle Paul

Peacekeeping was the goal for the members of the First Calvary Division when they headed to Sadr City, Iraq in 2004.  It was a quiet area with one incident in the previous calendar year.

Two weeks later, that peace turned into war and a desperate fight for survival.

The first two episodes of National Geographic’s new series The Long Road Home (tonight, 9 PM/8 CT) chronicles the events of Black Sunday and paints a multifaceted picture of war and its effects on not only the soldiers but their families seven thousand miles away.  Based on the New York Times bestseller of the same name by ABC Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, it’s intense, violent, and sad—sometimes all at once.  It’s definitely must-see-TV (or at least must-DVR).

Each episode focuses, to some extent, on one of the main players in the Black Sunday attack on April 4, 2004.  1st Lt. Shane Aguero (EJ Bonilla) is the focal point of episode one as the leader of the group initially attacked.  The viewer sees him at the outset playing with his two kids, each of whom are taking his deployment hard.  His daughter is clinging to his side while his son wants absolutely nothing to do with him.  His wife Amber (Kate Paxton) is left to deal with things until he returns, but she has a group of wives on base who have banded together to provide support until the boys come back (if they do).

Life at Camp War Eagle seems quite boring, but who really wants action when it could mean dying in the process? When Aguero’s battalion is ambushed, it’s the first time many of the troops have ever experienced live fire of that nature.  It’s easy to tell the soldiers are a band of brothers, and when one of their own gets hit, it’s a race against time to keep him alive.

Courtesy National Geographic

The second episode looks at the situation through the eyes of Lt. Col. Gary Volesky (Michael Kelly, seen above), a calm, mild-mannered man who lives a life of faith back home.  There are flashbacks to his family praying before dinner and a few situations where he is asking God for faith in what would become two days of nightmares.  One of the most heartbreaking parts of the episode is when a soldier introduces his mom to Volesky, who promptly demands reasons as to why her son is being forced to deploy.  After calming her, he promises that everyone on the journey will return home alive. You can see his resolve shaken when he later learns one under his charge was killed.  Aguero’s team calls for reinforcements, and when they head out (inadequately protected, BTW), Volesky stands beside the chaplain as he prays a long prayer for them.  It’s easy to tell that the situation is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

I was immediately struck by how galvanized the troops were to each other.  Sure, they got on each other’s nerves and struggled with making the right decisions at times, but in the end, they all came together and took care of each together.  This was in direct contrast to the interpreter they had on board (Jassim al-Lani, played by Darius Homayoun), who seemed to be dispensable—especially to Sgt Eric Bourquin (Jon Beavers).  The writer of Ecclesiastes notes that “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up” (Eccl 4:9-10 NASB).  It works in friendship, it works in marriage, and it works in life-and-death situations. That writer was pretty wise!  We were not made to life live alone, and the first two episodes of The Long Road Home are testimony that is the case.

The Impossible: Interview with Joyce Smith

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Photo credit: Lori Straine via Hatchette Press

Skiing, sledding, snowball fights, mugs of hot cocoa—winter means different things to people.  In the case of Joyce Smith, it means something more.

Life.

In her book The Impossible (releases today via Hatchette Press), she tells the story of her son John, a child she adopted from Guatemala.  When he was 14 years old, an event occurred that is nothing short of miraculous.  I recently had the opportunity to talk with her about John and why he is receiving such large amounts of attention—all from a local news story.

Smith’s life wasn’t a perfect one.  As she put it, she had her own “littered trail of disasters.” Her first child was given up for adoption and she nearly committed suicide at one point.  But she adopted John from Guatemala and watched him grow up into a typical teenager who was pretty good at basketball. After one game in January 2015 where he scored the winning basket, he was asked by a friend to spend the night.  It just so happened that a cold spell caused the local lake to freeze over, so after throwing rocks to test the ice, they walked around on it.  The next day, they tried it again—but the ice gave way and both fell into the 40 degree water.  Nineteen minutes later, John was pulled from the lake completely lifeless (his friend made it out okay). Smith remembers telling God in a loud, demanding conversation, “You can’t take my son from me. We asked for him seventeen years ago.”

John was rushed to the hospital as doctors tried to revive him and increase his 88 degree body temperature.  Nothing was working.  He was, by all accounts, dead.  The doctors wanted to let Smith see John before they called the time of death, so she entered the room and continued praying. An hour later, one of the nurses picked up a faint pulse.  This was amazing in its own right, but there were many issues John was dealing with (multiple organ failure, no brain function).  Smith made it clear to the multitude of doctors and nurses that there would be no negative talk around him—even though he wasn’t expected to live through the evening.  “Life and death is in the tongue,” she told me.

Nineteen days later, John walked out of the hospital on his own as if nothing ever happened.  Three weeks after that (40 days in total), he was released from all of his doctors and given a completely clean bill of health.

At its essence, The Impossible is a story of miracles.  It is also a story of hope, prayer, and how a community rallied around one of their own.  A local news reporter covered the story, and it went viral quickly.  The whole series of events has been likened by Smith as a “tapestry of miracles,” from the specific doctors helping John to the local firefighters testing out cold weather retrieval gear four days before the accident in the exact same location John fell through the ice.

Of course, not every occurrence of drowning ends in a miraculous story like John’s. Smith said that God answers our prayers, but not always how we want.  In this case, he wanted to let people know that he has the final word in all situations.  It requires trust and faith akin to Abraham, who did whatever God asked without question—even to the point of nearly sacrificing Isaac (see Genesis 22:1-19).  He wasn’t perfect, but God called him a friend.

The Impossible comes out in book form today, but Smith mentioned having a conversation with a gentleman for 45 minutes while waiting to be interviewed on television. The gentleman turned out to be Devon Franklin, who is about to begin filming the movie version of the book through 20th Century Fox.  I’m sure we’ll take a look at that once we get closer to the film’s release date.

(Thanks to Roya Eftekari from Rogers & Cowan for setting up the interview)