The Source of Life

Some movies are truer than we think.

Do you remember the part in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when the bad guy drinks from what he thinks is the Holy Grail? Donovan hired the beautiful archeologist to help him find the Grail, thinking that it would give eternal life to anyone who drank from it.

Do you remember what happened next?

Yeah, it doesn't end well for the guy.

It seems if one chooses "poorly," it drains your life instead of restoring it. Donovan goes from Nazi tool to dust in the wind rather quickly.

Now Indiana Jones is faced with a choice, as his father is outside dying from a gunshot wound, and his only hope is the True Grail. Indy looks around at the plethora of gilded grails trying to choose. He settles on a very non-descript chalice, likely to be missed among all the glitter and glamour of the other cups. The only way to know if he got it right is to drink from it himself. It takes faith to believe in his choice, but he acts on it. And he is rewarded (though he is strangely aging in The Crystal Skull movie from a few years ago, suggesting to me that that movie shouldn't have been made, but I digress...)

I was reminded of this movie today as I was praying. I realized I feel somewhat like the dusty bad guy. I've been walking in my own strength for a while now. Nothing dramatic, but I just haven't been fully abiding in the Lord and His presence lately. I haven't been praying for a quality amount of time. I haven't been pursuing reading the Bible as much as I need. Consequently worship was becoming more rote.

As a result my life was becoming dry. I haven't been in rebellion, but I wasn't plugged into the Source. I wasn't drinking in Living Water, but subsiding on the little bits I'd glean from my day-to-day plodding. Life is full of distractions. As I work in front of a computer, there is a whole world out there that can take me away from what I truly need in life. Of course, it doesn't do so without my permission...

When I walk in a relationship with Jesus, then my life is transformed. I am no longer faint, weak in my bones, crumbling as I stumble along alone. I am renewed. My eyes have life in them. I see clearer, I love better, and I laugh longer. Jesus wasn't kidding when He said He was "living water". It is not by my own effort, but by faith in Jesus and letting His life flow into and through me that this happens. Just as Indy had to drink to test the Grail, we have to let Jesus in to have the healing and transformation He offers.

I'm tired of dining on dust. The world is passing away. Entropy is the law of thermodynamics that says everything proceeds from a highly-organized state to a less-organized state. Translation: everything decays. Donovan just had an accelerated taste of it, due to his own pride and misplaced faith. The world and all it offers cannot quench our thirst or give us life (no matter how much we call it "mother" Earth).

Don't make the mistake I've been making lately. If life seems like dust in the wind, there is a Source of Life that can restore you. I've experienced it. I'd be happy to point the way, if you have questions.

Movies can be prophetic. As the Guardian of the Grail says, "Choose wisely."
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