Monday, March 4, 2013

Making It Real

When a book is adapted to a movie or television show you never really know how closely it will align to the book.  I have friends who like to read the book first and then watch the movie.  Then they will go on and on about how bad the movie was compared to the book.  One of the only books I have ever read before the movie was 'The Help.'  I remember reading the book and thinking, how in the world are they going to make a movie that really follows this book?  I was kind of apprehensive about seeing the movie because I didn't want it to leave out any key points or change any of the vital points.  I had created the story in my mind, created how I thought the characters looked, and acted.  I had brought the book to life in my imagination.  I wanted the movie to make the book real to me.

Last night we watched The Bible series on the History channel.  It's full of stories from a book that I have read, studied, and learned about my entire life.  Stories that have I have built my beliefs and faith on.  Stories that are the very thread of my personal relationship with God.  While I was a little hesitant to let our boys watch it until we had the opportunity to watch it first, something happened that I didn't expect.  They began to look up the stories in the Bible with my husband during the commercial breaks.  They were more interested in reading the stories to see how accurate the show was than really watching it.  The Bible is the truth and they wanted to be sure the truth was being presented. Today after school, one of them asked, is the Bible on tv tonight, mom?  His brother piped up that he too was anxious to watch more of it.  As a mother, it is an awesome feeling to hear your children eager to learn more about a book they have been reading and learning about their whole lives, and to see them building their own relationship with God.  A personal relationship.....not a relationship we, their parents, have "forced" on them, or that they have blindly followed....but a relationship that they are chosing to build on their own. 

Proverbs 22:6 says,"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."  I may not know what the future holds for my children, and their believes, and faith, but I do know that it is my responsibility to train them and teach them the way they should go.  I don't want them to just blindly follow and believe because they have been told to.   I want them to have a real faith, I want God to be as real them them as He is to me.  I believe that seeing the Bible series is making the books of the Bible....it's making God.... real to them.  It is bringing the stories to life for them.

Just another reminder how this life is about so much more than me....it's about making God real for generations to come.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Luke 1:50
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.