I just gone done watching Forrest Gump after a long day of sitting around. It came on channel 50, right after a riveting Modern Marvels episode on farm equipment. Forrest Gump is like the unsung hero of movies to me. I always forget about it, but then afterwards I'm always left thinking, "Whoa! That was the sweetest movie ever!"
So without further adeu...
Whoa! That was the sweetest movie ever!
I can't help but sit here, tired but not able to sleep, thinking about my adventure. How does mine go? Who are the lovable cast of characters that I'll get to meet and go through life with? What are the crazy adventures I'll get to embark on? Where will I learn crazy new lessons or engage in epic conversations, or experience phenomenal moments?
And immediately after that train of thought, another more awesome one comes chugging along - my story's already begun. I've already gone through the beginning of my movie - the part that sets the scene and the fundamentals of the film. I've already met characters and experienced tragedy and triumph.
But then continuing in that direction, I start wondering how life would be if it were really just a film all about me...
...
...
...
Yeah, let's not go there. That'd pretty much be the biggest waste of breath ever.
So I guess I'm not trying to say that life is a movie about me, me, and me (written and directed by me, endorsed by me.) But rather insinuating that my life is just another part of the story, and wondering what my side looks like. In fact, even more interesting are the possibilities of my interactions in other peoples' side of the story. How do I alter their episodes? Am I the role model? The geek? The antagonist? The optimist? The regret?
The end of Forrest Gump is amazing, too. It always makes me feel so... insignificant. I sit there, watching Forrest and his son perched on the same stump that Forrest sat on with his mom on his first day of school. And as the camera pans out over Greensboro Alabama, the whole story has an air of repetition. How does Forrest Jr.'s life play out? Who does he fall in love with?. Watching from the couch, underneath three cats and a load of laundry, I can't help but think about how pointless a lot of things really are.
Irritation with my brother, the copious amounts of leftovers in the fridge, my shiny motorcycle, the money I'm saving for the holidays. It all seems so worthless, doesn't it? One time when I was a freshman, I made a critical decision to bring my Gameboy on the band bus on our way down to Las Vegas for the state basketball finals. Picture this - there I was, on a bus full of band kids,* huddled under my blanket,** playing Pokemon.
Here was my (uncharacteristic) genius method of thought: In three years, no one is going to remember this. Heck, probably even by next year, no one's going to be running around saying, "Ew, there's Daniel.... did you hear he battled Charizard all the way to Vegas one time?" On a larger scale, there's this poster in Mrs. Dickerson's room that says something like "In five years, it's not going to matter what clothes you wore, how your hair looked, or what car you drove. What will matter is what you learned and how you use it."
But in 90 years, what will even that matter? What will your yearly salary, or your best family vacation, or your house, or your friends matter in 90 years? Wow. If it weren't for God, this would be an extremely depressing blog.
So where does that leave me? I love what Jeremy Malekos said one time: "My kids always know the answer is either going to be no, yes, or Jesus." Following that (awesome) train of thought and referring to the beginning of this paragraph... Jesus.
What does Jesus want from my life? How does Jesus want to write my side of the story? Because I've got a feeling He's a lot better writer than I am. Isn't it sweet how we're reminded how awesome God is through... Forrest Gump?
"When you think about it, there's so much holding you back. And yet there's nothing at all holding you back."
Or as Relient K put it, "This it how I choose to live. As if I'm jumping off a cliff. Knowing that You'll save me."
-Daniel
*Now I'm not saying anything bad about band kids. As I'm sure everyone already knows, band kids are the best group of kids known to man... and the second best know to felines.
**Yeah turns out I brought my blanket, too. I'm pretty cool.
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