Facing the Giants

November 12, 2006
Yesterday, Sheli and I drove to Salem to catch an afternoon mantinee of Facing the Giants. It's a movie made and produced by a bunch of Christians, so it was full of scripture and God working in people's lives. What I really appreciated in the movie was how honest it was about how life can hurt, but nothing is impossible with God.

The movie is a story of a high school football coach who trying to lead an apathetic and struggling football team. Because he doesn't have a winning record, a group of dads is working to get him fired. On top of all this, he and his wife are struggling with infertility. The guy is just broken and feels like a loser at life until he surrenders it all to Jesus and tells God he will still love Him and glorify Him if they have children or not. He then applies this faith to his football team, and sees God not only dramatically change his life, but the life of each one of the guys on his team.
This movie is incredibly moving. While it's full of hope and happy endings, it's also full of pain and the nitty-gritty "gotta-keep-moving-even-when-it-hurts" type of emotion. I was in tears through most of the movie. There's awesome passion not only in the coach's wrestle with God, but in how the team learns to glorify God on the field as well.

The movie was definitely used by our Father to tell us, "Keep on!" The song played during the closing credits was Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns. This is the song God used to persuade me to get out of the boat and trust Him in deciding to adopt. The message that kept hitting me was to give my best and trust God to do the impossible; to prepare my fields for the miracle of rain after a drought. Sheli saw how God has been the coach to her, telling her that He needs her to keep going, to not give up. We both identified with the quote that "I never know I could miss so much someone I've never met," as we cling to the faith of waiting for this real little person that God has for us.

Whoever suggests that the process of adoption is easy during the "waiting time" doesn't know which side of his bread is buttered. In other words, he doesn't have a clue. Sheli and I are going through intense, spiritual hand-to-hand combat as Satan seeks to discourage, disillusion, and distract. Pray! So much more is at stake than simply us being a happy family. We have come to believe that the enemy hates a new image of God being in a family that will glorify Jesus. I also think Satan hates it when Christians will step out in faith, because that brings us so much closer to God.

By the way, I don't want to be anywhere else than right here in life.