The Magic Movie Moment

Come with me, if you will, to the movies.  You sit in a darkened theater with friends, family, and a crowd you'll likely never see again.  United by the movie on the screen, everyone in the movie house shares the common mission of finding out how the story before you will end.  You sit in the blackness of the theater and watch the main character as he or she struggles with the conflict at hand.  Faced with difficulties on every side, he or she is desperate for help.  You don't dare eat your popcorn or drink your soda, because you might miss it, the moment, that magical movie moment when the character you're following realizes that help is available.  You hold your breath, anxiously waiting. 

In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin have this experience.   I held my breath as I watched this motley band of companions as they arrived at the Inn of the Prancing Pony where they are unknowingly being pursued by the Nazgul.  Naive in their assumed safety, Merry and Pippin tell stories and entertain the crowd.  Sam sits while Frodo is nagged by the uneasy and persistent feeling that something is not right.  As the scene continues, the jocularity of two innocent hobbits grows as does the gnawing fear inside of Frodo.  The Nazgul approach as the air chills and the night seems to grow impossibly dark. 

Suddenly the ominous stranger sitting in the corner throws back his over sized hood and reprimands the hobbits for their careless behavior as he whisks them off with a swiftly immediate safety. 

The movie moment has come.  You can relax and let your breath out.  The hero has revealed himself and you know that your protagonists are safe, at least for the moment.  

The funny thing is that as a Christian I sometimes find myself waiting for the magic movie moment in my life.  I am looking for the One who will save me from everything, even myself.  

Shame on me.  

My hero was no brooding stranger in a hood.  My hero was hung on a cross for all the world to see as He took the penalty for my sins into His body.  My Hero traversed hell so I don't have to.  

Look no further today; the magic moment in your life came the day that you met Jesus.  Don't forget - let Him be the One in every moment of every day.