Last weekend my family and I, along with some friends went and saw "Soul Surfer". I'll admit that I never once considered watching the movie until a friend said his daughter wanted to see it and so why don't we all go with our families. No, the men did not conspire to watch it because Carrie Underwood was in the film!
I knew of the story of Bethany Hamilton. She was a young girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing back in 2003. I also knew that she had defied the odds and gotten back into the water and achieved greatness in the sport of surfing. What I didn't know was why the movie was called "SOUL Surfer". Maybe I am a bit slow on the learning curve but I did not think for a second that faith was going to be part of this movie.
In a fashion very untypical of "Hollywood" the faith of this young lady was played out before our eyes. She is a dynamic Christian girl whose faith in the Lord was the overriding factor that got her through this ordeal and spurred her back into the water. She has used the incident, her recovery, and her success (currently the #20 ranked woman's surfer in the world) to share Jesus with the world.
The movie was such a pleasant surprise. The faith in God of Bethany and her family is outwardly celebrated in this film. There is Bible reading, Christian songs, and quoting of scriptures. There appears to be no real attempt at a cover-up by Hollywood--Impressive!
There are lessons of perseverance, faith, family, and the importance of perspective. Bethany, at one point, begins to feel sorry for herself. She takes a mission trip to Thailand to minister to Tsunami survivors. There she sees devastation and meets a young child who lost family to the Tsunami. All of the sudden the loss of her arm paled in comparison.
I work with students everyday who are in serious need of perspective. This movie was so inspiring and instructional. You really must see it.
The negative: You may never get in the ocean again, REALLY!
No comments:
Post a Comment