Eric Liddell....as portrayed by Ian Charleson in the 1982 movie Chariots Of Fire....took the pulpit in a church in France just before the 1924 Olympic games were to start. He read from Isaiah 40....verses chosen for the script....
"Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket; And are counted as the small dust of the balance...." Verse 15
"All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing....and vanity." Verse 17
"(He) bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as a vanity." Verse 23
"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? Verse 28
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Verse 29
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Verse 31
On March 5th of 1982 I had logged in my Jim Fixx runner's log....."Saw Chariots Of Fire Tonight." The Academy Award winner for Best Picture is my favorite film. I'm guessing that I've watched it twenty times at least....the latest being tonight. I was not 'saved' when my wife and I chose that night to go to the movies and see Chariots Of Fire....but as I commented to her during the film tonight....on that blessed evening in 1982...."my life would never be the same....for the seriousness that Eric Liddell had for his God....had that much of an effect on me."
I put the television on again at 11:00 to watch the news....and as I clicked the 'on' button on the remote....there in front of me....was the golden calf scene from the 1956 Charlton Heston film....The Ten Commandments. I had posted very recently of that bronze bull on Wall Street being our golden calf today. A little research showed that ABC was running the movie tonight as a special telecast. Here mainstream media television....in even as flawed a Hollywood film as that might be....was doing what our pulpits.....the majority of them.....will not do tomorrow....that is.....presenting to us God as one who judges as well as loves. My prayer right now.....as I type.....still thinking of this....is that He might move on the hearts of many through this medium....just as He had with me 38 years ago in that movie theater.....watching the story of Eric Liddell.
"Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket; And are counted as the small dust of the balance...." Verse 15
"All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing....and vanity." Verse 17
"(He) bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as a vanity." Verse 23
"Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? Verse 28
"He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Verse 29
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Verse 31
On March 5th of 1982 I had logged in my Jim Fixx runner's log....."Saw Chariots Of Fire Tonight." The Academy Award winner for Best Picture is my favorite film. I'm guessing that I've watched it twenty times at least....the latest being tonight. I was not 'saved' when my wife and I chose that night to go to the movies and see Chariots Of Fire....but as I commented to her during the film tonight....on that blessed evening in 1982...."my life would never be the same....for the seriousness that Eric Liddell had for his God....had that much of an effect on me."
I put the television on again at 11:00 to watch the news....and as I clicked the 'on' button on the remote....there in front of me....was the golden calf scene from the 1956 Charlton Heston film....The Ten Commandments. I had posted very recently of that bronze bull on Wall Street being our golden calf today. A little research showed that ABC was running the movie tonight as a special telecast. Here mainstream media television....in even as flawed a Hollywood film as that might be....was doing what our pulpits.....the majority of them.....will not do tomorrow....that is.....presenting to us God as one who judges as well as loves. My prayer right now.....as I type.....still thinking of this....is that He might move on the hearts of many through this medium....just as He had with me 38 years ago in that movie theater.....watching the story of Eric Liddell.
