Yesterday I finished with my series on Genesis and now I’m getting ready to preach on the parables of Jesus this fall. I still haven’t decided which parables I’ll be talking about in the series.

Last Sunday night, Heather and I saw “Seabiscuit.” I had read the book earlier this summer and was really looking forward to the movie. I wasn’t disappointed. Seabiscuit was a down and out horse who brought together a broken-hearted millionaire, a displaced horseman, and a vagabond jockey into a family of sorts. Desperate people caught up in the Great Depression found hope in the exploits of this little horse. Usually Hollywood has to severely alter a true story in order to make it more “dramatic.” This one didn’t need much alteration.

Minus Reaction to Gibson’s Jesus Movie Expected

By Grant Swank

When approaching the Holy Scriptures, I was introduced to demythologizing. That was the clever technique spun particularly in European theological backrooms and transported to the Western Sphere of how one can read a biblical passage and then scissor out the whatevers. Whatever was too outlandish could see the scissors. Whatever was not scientifically posh likewise. Whatever would not be regarded as historically feasible to a second grader would be shown to the door. And so on and so on.

What is currently happening via debate regarding Mel Gibsons move-to-be is old stuff. The back-n-forth has been around a long time, but mostly in seminary classrooms and lunchrooms. Its one big secret kept intact by the theologically liberal. If the truth got out to all the pews, the churches would find another purpose for being like day care centers and the clergy would turn their salary checks into chads.

In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge continues to build on the ideas hes introduced in his previous books. In this one, Eldredge hammers the concept of living with our hearts fully alive to God. His basic premise:
1. Our hearts are good (because of the what Christ has done in the New Covenant)
2. Our hearts matter to God.
3. Our hearts are constantly under assault from the evil one.
4. We must guard and fight for our hearts.

Eldredges strategy for (re)awakening our hearts to the glory for which they have been created and redeemed is through the four-fold path of: discipleship (walking with God), intimate counsel from God (listening for the voice of God), restoration (allowing God to heal our broken hearts), and spiritual warfare (fighting for our hearts as well as the hearts of those we love).

While I dont buy the way Eldredge uses every passage of scripture he cites, (I dont always buy the way I use scripture either.) his overall message has the ring of truth to it.

As usual, Eldredge does a masterful job of using quotes and clips from films and great works of literature to illustrate his points. He relies heavily on The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The best part of the book to me was his discussion about mythic reality on pages 24-34. By mythic, he does not mean fiction, but deep truth. According to Eldredge, all the great stories, or myths, reveal 3 truths that speak to our hearts in an irresistible way:
1. Things are not what they seem. There is more going on here than meets the eye.
2. This world is at war. We live in a far more dramatic, far more dangerous story than we ever imagined.
3. We have a crucial role to play in the outcome of the story.

If youve found yourself inspired by Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, or The Matrix, these three truths might explain why. The great myths are communicating, in their own way, the truth of the Biblical story.

I was mowing the lawn this morning and I looked up and saw my two boys watching me through the window. They were slapping the glass with their little hands and laughing it up. They were entralled with every turn I made, every blade of grass I shortened. As I looked at those two little faces pressed up against the window, my heart was warmed by a singular thought:

Someday you two will be doing this instead of me!