Monday, June 09, 2008

Nemo Bonus Lesson: Choose Freedom or Safety - It's Hard to Have Both!

Finally, I stuck with the movie till the end, and I'm glad I did. I got one final illustration worth noting. The other fish in the aquarium finally escape into the harbor which is across the street from the dentist office.

Their escape occurred when they had been put in plastic bags while the tank was being cleaned. The ironic and funny thing was that when they finally rolled into the water, they were still in their bags, floating on the surface. They were free from their tank, but they were not yet free to swim! One of them summed it up saying, “Now what?”

(Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYhgZSj7wpI
to view this part of the movie. It's right at the beginning of the clip!)



We can only hope that some how they escaped their bags to truly be free. That reminded me of how we can be so close to freedom in Christ, but we don’t go all the way. We want our little private bag of safety and security. We want to go to heaven, but we’re secretly afraid of what God might want to do with us between now and then. We don’t venture out of our comfort zones, thinking we’re safe (We’re really not ultimately), but we give up true freedom, true adventure and true purpose. Christ comes to get us out of our safety bags to explore WITH HIM the vast expanse of possibilities in the ocean called life.

Summary: To sum it all up, FINDING NEMO reminded me

  • to tell a worthwhile story
  • to be careful about using the word (or attitude) “MINE,” and
  • to trust Christ completely, right now, even when it means letting go of our perceived safety and comfort!

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