First Hand Faith 1

( For the next couple of days, I will be sharing with you excerpts from my series Leaving a Legacy of Love")

Has anyone ever seen the movie “Click” with Adam Sandler? For those of you who have never seen it, Sandler plays a father with a beautiful wife, 2 beautiful children, a gorgeous home and a good paying job. But, instead of focusing on the right things, he allows himself to allow work to get in the way if his priorities. In fact, the first scenes show him working late at night , missing camping trips, etc. all so he can get ahead at work.  Then, one day the remote control starts working on the tv. So, he goes to Bed, Bath and Beyond and meets a sales clerk who takes him into the back room and presents him with a “ universal remote.” Only this one doesn’t work on just the tv. It works in his life. He takes it home and quickly realizes he can fast forward through fights with his wife, and slow down things he wants to savor. It is all going fine until he tries to use it to fast forward and it accidentally fast forwards through one year of his life.  Because of his workaholic nature, his wife leaves him and remarries, his kids barely know him, and he is mean to his father. Soon after, he fast forwards through five years, and then ten years, and his kids are grown up and his daughter is getting married. She wants the step dad to dance with her at the wedding, because he was more a father to her than her own father. He gets to the end of his life and realizes the most important things in life he already had. It is a compelling story, with an even more urgent message.

What I love about the movie is it shows the main character that the best things in life are already right in front of him.  Every family memory, event, fight and rough spot is what is making his life meaningful. The best thing in his life he already has, and it is not found in more money or the prestige of a fancy job. 

It is the same in the Christian life. Every rough patch, trial and tribulation with Christ as the center is better than not having him at all. As much as trials are hard to go through at the time, they are also what have made me who I am today. I wouldn’t trade them. I’m sure you would say the same. Because if you look at them closely, you see that God was changing your character through them. 
In my next post, I'll show you in Philippians what Paul has to say about living a first hand faith.