Nim's Island

Today, I had the blessing of hanging out with a sweet friend. We went to see the movie, "Nim's Island". I really had no idea what it was about, but after I saw it, I thoroughly enjoyed the film! Now, as you know, this blog is not for movie reviews (btw- it's a good one)...but, I'd like to share some of the spiritual lessons I learned from it (even if that wasn't the director's intentions). Here let me explain:

To give you some background... Jack Russo (a marine biologist and scientific researcher) and his 11 year old daughter, Nim, live alone on an island far out in the ocean. Obviously, as they are the only people living on this island, their lives are vastly different than majority of others in the 21st century. Jack and Nim love the different adventures they encounter everyday. On the other side of the world, in San Francisco, lives Alexandra Rover, a successful author who writes adventure novels. The irony of the situation is that Miss Rover's real life is anything but adventurous. Because of her agoraphobia, she never goes outside of her apartment...the front door is an enemy. After a turn of events, however, Alexandra finds herself stepping (more like jumping) WAY out of her comfort zone. Although painful at times, she eventually realizes that there is so much more to life...so much adventure and excitement within her grasp. She just has to reach out and grab it. No longer are adventures just made-up stories in novels, she can truly live them.

As I watched this movie, I thought of how this is similar to the Christian life. Many times we read about incredible adventures that are in the Bible- the courage of Esther, the boldness of Paul, the leadership of Josiah, the perseverance of Moses, the faith of Noah, and many more. Yet, we often view these Biblical people as merely characters in an adventure novel. But, they were people just like us- with real feelings and real fears...but they had real adventures. How? They didn't let the spirit of fear stop them from pursuing what God had called them to do. We serve the same big God...why don't we step out of our comfort zones, reach for the door He has left unlocked, and passionately live the adventure of a lifetime! All for His glory!

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7)