May 19, 2020 – Click here to listen
I am bored beyond the pale and decided to watch a movie the other day. All the titles seemed violent, debased, and just dark. I wanted to see a movie that was more upbeat, and I decided upon Groundhog Day. The movie reminded me of enduring this stupid lockdown – every day is the same. Bill Murray, the actor who played the mean and arrogant weatherman, woke up one day and discovered he had to relive Groundhog Day – over and again – day after day – week after week – month after month. Though the movie didn’t overtly say it, I assumed God was determined for him to get Groundhog Day right before allowing him to move on to the next day. He hated the small town he was trapped in and it was driving him crazy – He tried all kinds of things to break the monotony, beginning with the worst things – trying to seduce local women, robbing an armored car, refusing to help an old homeless man, and so on.
Eventually he was going so batty he just wanted to end it all and he tried suicide, but he couldn’t die. The next morning he would wake up at exactly the same time and relive Groundhog day. It wasn’t until he turned his attention to being kind, compassionate, and helping others instead of self-serving that he finally achieved success and was allowed to move on to the next day.
It was a funny and entertaining movie but had a good underlying message. I was talking with one of my good friends, Murf the Surf, the other day who has ten years on me but is still tirelessly and actively helping people all over his community and the United States for that matter. I admire him greatly for all that he does for the Lord and we discussed at length how he remains so active, even though he is now in his early 80’s.
He was in prison for 21 years and when he became a follower of Jesus he got involved in many programs within the prison. He has a very high IQ and is talented, articulate, and charismatic. So he began to teach in various programs including teaching others to read and write and get their GEDs and became so successful that he eventually was allowed a staff of nearly a dozen inmates.
I was telling him I recently had been in a funk and finally got motivated not to rest on my laurels and to get back out there and accomplish something significant for the Lord, but I didn’t know exactly what I should do. He related to me that he would encourage his staff not to just sit around when they got to the classroom, but to find something to do. They even made a sign that said in bold letters, DO SOMETHING! He said he didn’t care if they emptied a wastebasket or filed papers, graded tests, or straightened chairs in preparation of the class or what, but to just do something.
As I thought about this today, I remembered that in the movie it wasn’t an earth-shattering stunning world changing project that Bill Murray accomplished, but rather a combination of small acts of kindness and things he did for various people in the community. I realize it is just a fictional movie but having read the Bible for the past 40 years, especially the words written in red, I think God wants us to DO SOMETHING and to get started right away. It doesn’t have to be a major project. Start small if you prefer. Do it out of love for God and your neighbor . . . maybe God will release us from Groundhog Day if enough of us just DO SOMETHING
Romans 13:8:
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”