Growing up in the 80’s in a small town in North Carolina the options of entertainment were limited. I spent countless hours and many days riding my yellow Huffy bicycle up and down the streets of that small town with my friends. I must have put hundreds of miles on that bike. One of the main attractions in our town was a movie theater. Every once in a while my parents would give me some extra money to go and entertain myself. It was off to the theater I would go with my friends, to the matinee showing because it was cheaper.
The movies were my outlet to an entirely different world. As I drank my overpriced coke and ate my overpriced popcorn, the movies ran with my imagination. Movies like Star Wars, ET, Top Gun, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Karate Kid and The Goonies, to name a few, transported me to a different time and place. It was truly magical. Maybe it’s true what Nicole Kidman says in her AMC advertisement about the movies, “and the stories feel perfect and powerful because here; they are.”
I don’t get to go as often as I like, but I still enjoy a good movie. And yes, I still buy the overpriced coke and popcorn. Recently I watched the movie, The Boys in the Boat. I will not spoil it for those who have not seen it. The movie is based on a true story about the rowing team from Washington University and their quest to make the Olympics. These nine working-class boys from the American West survive the Great Depression to show the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin the meaning of true grit. The movie follows the character development of one of the boys in the boat named, Joe Rantz. Joe is full of self-doubt and insecurity from his past experiences with those close to him who have let him down. While Joe’s self-doubt and insecurities are crippling and hindering him from trusting others, he meets an older man name George Pocock who oversees making the boats for the row team. For you movie lovers out there, George Pocock is like the Yoda in Star Wars or Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid. The mic drops when he shares a word. Listen to these words George Pocock shares to a struggling Joe Rantz. I don’t think he is only talking about rowing a boat.
“Joe, there are times when you seemed to think you are the only fellow in the boat, as if it were up to you to row the boat across the finish line all by yourself. When a man rows like that, he is bound to attack the water rather than work with it, and worse, he is bound not to let his crew help him row. If you don’t like some fellow in the boat, Joe, you have to learn to like them. It has to matter to you whether he wins the race, not just whether you do. Joe, when you really trusting those other boys, you will feel a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. Sometimes, you will feel as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars.”
This sparked my imagination about the possibilities of living a life in community and the vital element trusting one another plays. The boat represents the community we find ourselves a part of as in the church family here at Fellowship. However, to experience a community built on trust, I must come to terms with the obstacles, with my own desire to want to be in control or to manage or govern the affairs of my day in a manner that makes them as predictable as possible. Next, my own self-reliance tells me I have everything within myself therefore, I really don’t need anyone else help. There lies the danger! Because you and I would agree this is not the way we were created to live but it is often how we live.
So instead of “attacking the water on our own,” let us learn to “work with the water” and better yet, the ones God has placed in your lives/boats. Grab a coke and some popcorn and let the Scripture take you on a magical adventure of possibilities of a life lived together.
- Romans 12:10a: “Love one another with brotherly affection.”
- Romans 12:10b: “Outdo one another in showing honor.”
- Romans 12:16: “Live in harmony with one another… never be wise in your own sight.”
- Romans 15:7: “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.”
- Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens in so fulfill the law of Christ.”
- Ephesians 4:25: “Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members of one another.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:13: “Be at peace among one another.”
- Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.”
- James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.”
- I Peter 4:10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.”
I am not sure where you are currently in the river of life, and I am not sure how you would say your rowing is going. The Scripture reminds us repeatedly of this principle, “we can do more together than we ever dreamed of by ourselves.” My prayer for our church family is yes, that we would learn more knowledge about our Bible, but also, we would experience the Holy Spirit’s power at work in us to live out the one another’s in Scripture with each other.