Going to the Movies
The two things that have been a constant comfort for me in life have been God and movies; God has been there for me throughout my life and has carried me through all the roughest times.
I’m in no way comparing God to movies but movies have been my escape ever since I can remember. I think one of the first movies I saw was “The Apple Dumpling Gang.”
I was about seven years old. I’m sure there were others before, but as I age, the memories fall by the wayside. More early movie memories include “Benji” – it was one of my favorites – “Star Wars” was a huge movie for me, loving all things sci-fi and horror. Even to this day those are my two favorite genres.
No matter what was going on in life, good or bad, movies were always there to transport me to other worlds. To this day, any time I hear a movie studio’s preamble before the movie starts, it gives me goosebumps and I know I am about to be transported somewhere away from my troubles – even if for a short period of time.
When I was a wee little whipper snapper, movies were just a magical journey to be enjoyed. Later as a teen, it was an escape from years of physical and mental abuse at home, and in my late teens early 20s, it was an escape from the elements when I was homeless.
It was also an escape from the reality of my hopeless life. Later, after cleaning up my life and finding marriage, it was something fun to share with my wife. We could escape together and share connections through the many adventures to the movies.
It’s not always good to escape our troubles but sometimes it is what is desperately needed, just a small reprieve from the madness that can be life or a couple hours of fun with no thinking.
I have always counted on God and the movies – it sounds odd writing it out – but it’s the truth. As I have grown older, I have matured in both my relationship with God and finding other ways to escape for small amounts of time to take pressure off the daily grind and as I matured, I found that God has become that main escape for me.
I learned to go to God with my problems, pray about them and then have the faith not to worry about them after praying, knowing God would take care of everything in my life. It may not always be on my timeline.
Matthew 7:7 says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
This is Will B saying, see ya at the movies and don’t forget the extra butter on the popcorn!