Recently, I watched a newly-released-to-video movie called Stone. I want to first say, as I do in any movie review I do, if you do not want the details of the movie spoiled, if you plan to watch it, then do not read this until after you've watched the movie. Furthermore, I want to state that this movie is an adults-only movie. Not only is there a violent stabbing scene, numerous calling down of curses from God and many profane words, but there is sexual content and partial nudity that is better off not seen by anyone.
Wikipedia calls the movie a "box office bomb," stating that it brought in only a third of its production budget. I do feel that this is a disappointment, because it has a message that most in our nation really need to grasp. I have observed, though, that though I and a minute few others actually get something out of movies, most only seek to be entertained by the violence, sexual content, the looks of the actors and actresses themselves, etc. and do not really pay attention to the underlying MESSAGES that so many movies reveal.
The movie's four main characters are about-to-retire Jack Mabry, Jack's wife Madylyn, 20-or-30-something Gerald "Stone" Creeson, and his wife Lucetta. The movie starts out with a non-introduced young Jack and Madylyn Mabry and their young daughter. The woman carries her daughter to her bed upstairs and kisses her so that she can continue her nap. She sits on the bed for a minute staring at a fly buzzing around the screen of the open window. She then goes downstairs and tells her husband something to the effect of, "You're keeping my soul in a prison. I'm leaving," to which the non-introduced Jack responds by jumping out of his chair and storming upstairs.
Obviously worried, Jack's wife runs up the stairs after he's gone up, shouting after him. She finds him in their daughter's room, hanging his daughter out the window and threatening his wife that if she leaves him, he'll drop their daughter. She says she won't leave and pleads for him to bring their sleeping daughter back inside. After he lays the girl back on the bed, the wife hurries to the window and slams it shut on the fly, which kills the latter. I think the fly's death is something most won't even think much about, but I find it interesting that it was included. A creature with a nasty job, viewed as a nuisance was killed by the woman who saved her daughter from being killed. It was if it was a just substitute. The man had removed the screen, so the fly then had the opportunity it wanted to leave, but it must have swarmed around the room. Before it could finally be free, it was killed.
Then the movie moves to the present, showing scenes of an Episcopalian (Protestant Christian) Jack Mabry and his wife attending church services; scenes of Jack, a corrections officer, in his office talking to Gerald Creeson; scenes of Jack and Madylyn in their home, often with prayer and devotionals at meal times, it being clearly evident that Madylyn is serious about her faith, whereas Jack is not so much; scenes of Jack driving in his car, usually listening to radio with Christian broadcasting; scenes of Lucetta calling Jack or meeting Jack; and scenes of Lucetta visiting Gerald in prison.
Toward the beginning of the movie, Jack meets with Gerald in Jack's office. Gerald has served eight years of eleven sentenced for arson. He's available for possible parole, so Jack is reviewing his case. Gerald demands to be called "Stone," because that is what everyone who knows him calls him. He talks with an attitude, and his language is heavily laced with profanity. His hair is in rows of tight braids. He tells Jack that he's ready to get out, and Jack asks him whether it's because he's reformed, to which Gerald says that he's paid time, and he's ready to get out. He has not really gone through any change for the better, though he does say something interesting to Jack. He inquired why he had to be in the prison and why Jack could be free, and Jack said that he hadn't "broken the law." Stone (Gerald) basically said, "You mean to tell me you haven't done anything wrong in your life?"
Stone calls his wife from prison and urges her to talk to Jack and do anything she could to get Jack to give Gerald a good report so that he could be released. Lucetta more or less stalks Jack, calling him at home and stopping him outside his workplace. He finally agrees to meet privately with her. She plays the sweet and seductive role very well. Long story short, she persuades him to go to her house, and she gets him drunk and has sex with him.
Meanwhile, Stone is having a difficult time being in prison. He desperately wants out. He goes to the prison library and starts sorting through religious literature. Poor guy. There are so many things from which to pick, he's not sure where to start. He finally chooses a pamphlet on a religion Zangkugor or something. I can't remember the name of it, nor do I know whether it's a real religion or made for the movie. It teaches a doctrine of karma and reincarnation and that humming a certain way will help you get in a certain zone where then you can hear a natural sound, like a bee buzzing and find harmony or God in it.
It is not within the scope of this review to deeply discuss such religions as Zangkugor or whatever it was called, and the true God does not call everyone to understand truth during this phase of his seven-step plan of salvation for mankind. But, the main point is that Gerald did go through a spiritual change. He finally felt guilty for burning his grandparents' house down. He started asking questions like, "What is forever?" He cleaned up his speech tremendously. It was no longer filled with profanity, and he spoke more intelligently. He got his hair out of braids (certainly not to say that braids are sinful).
At the same time, Jack feels convicted of his adultery with another man's wife and clearly feels very uncomfortable around both his own wife and around Gerald. The tables have turned, and Jack is the one whose language is filled with profanity and yelling, where Gerald sits calmly and asks Jack questions out of concern, which only enrages Jack more. Jack is obviously a tormented soul, and Gerald is at peace. He said it didn't matter now whether he was in prison or out. Gerald's spirit was free within him, where Jack's spirit was in tormenting bondage to his sin, because he really did believe there was a God but wanted to deny it in order to justify his sin to himself and so to avoid confessing his sin and apologizing to those he wronged and repent--change, get on the right track.
Jack's wife is visibly hurt but also disgusted with Jack's behavior. She has her womanly instincts and wise discernment and asks Jack whether there is anything he needed to tell her. He's very short and profane with everyone with whom he has contact now.
Jack decides he wants to change the good report on Gerald, even though now it should be clear to a wisely discerning judge that Gerald has true grounds to be released. He's truly gone through a spiritual change, serving in liberty under some law in which he believed.
Madylyn leaves Jack, after burning their home down and getting away with it (the same crime Gerald had done for other reasons), and goes to their daughter's home. The daughter says to her mother that she is so surprised that she waited so long and didn't leave a long time ago. She said, "I tried once..." as she stares into another time, not answering her daughter's inquiry, "What happened?" We're left to wonder whether Madylyn tells her daughter the story about her father hanging her out the window.
It also appears that Gerald left his whorish wife Lucetta. I find it interesting that the name Lucetta was chosen for her character. Her name means "light," but she's very deceptive and seductive, only appearing as a person of light. In one scene she showed to be at work at a daycare or school, out on the playground with young children, and she was very patient and gentle-spoken. She was sugary sweet when seducing Jack. In truth, she was full of darkness. She verbally expressed to Jack, upon being asked, that she did not believe in God. She made her own good and bad, delighting in what she saw right in her own eyes.
Jack is driving down a street one night and happens to see Gerald walking. He stops, takes a gun from his car, gets out of the car, and chases Gerald down. He has him in a place of darkness and starts cursing him and pushes him up against the wall of a building. He presses the barrel of the gun to Gerald's forehead and falsely accuses Gerald of ruining his life. Gerald is calm throughout the whole scenario, which pisses off Jack even more. He threatens, "You don't think I'll kill you?!" Gerald calmly replies, "No, I don't." He's right, as Jack eventually takes the gun away and leaves. Jack (meaning "man") has an exceedingly sinful heart, but he does not want to break the PHYSICAL law of the land and so be imprisoned physically. Nevertheless, he's in SPIRITUAL bonds, spiritually imprisoned, in bondage to his sin.
A person can be free in God's eyes while in physical bondage (in prison), and a person who is physically free can be in spiritual bondage. There are many who care about what man thinks and so will put on outward show of being righteous, but they are not fooling God who judges the heart and mind. Many do not want to humble themselves and repent of their sins. They have hearts of stone. Gerald started out as "Stone," and he was indeed hardened. But, he underwent a spiritual transformation, and his heart softened. In the end, it was Jack who had the stony heart and chose to remain in tormenting spiritual bondage, rather than humbly confess his sins and repent. There are many who sit in buildings made by man, imprisoned who are spiritually free, and there are many, many more who, although physically free, are imprisoned by their sin and their refusal to free themselves by humbly repenting.
At the age of 18 I was charged with credit card fraud across interstate lines. When I was 20, I was served papers by the Secret Service and a U.S. marshal and summoned to court a U.S. district court to enter a plea. I entered a plea of guilty. I had shown a complete turnaround. In the end, I was not convicted of the crime, though I was guilty and had pled guilty. I received GRACE upon my repentance. Many looked down on me with great judgment for one of the lesser sins of the Ten Commandments, one of the only sins that did not require the physical death penalty if physically transgressed. Those same people were guilty of greater sins and great sins of the heart, sins of which they do not repent. But, those physical sins and those greater sins of the heart are not punished by the law in place by man of this land. Though those same people claim to be Christians, they care more about the law of man and what man thinks than what God thinks.
Which are YOU? Were you a Stone that is now changed, or are you a Jack who is physically free and looked upon through the eyes of man as "a good person" but are in spiritual bondage to your sin and "wicked" through the eyes of God?
Showing posts with label overcoming sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overcoming sin. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Some Miss the Rebellious Years in the Prison School System
Recently, I've been carefully meditating on the prison school system and the adolescent rebellion that is common in mainstream society, as well as the difference between those who are glad those years of sin and rebellion are behind them and those who miss them with a yearning to be able to go back.
These reflections are a result of a lot of comments over the years by various individuals about missing public school. Well, I am one who can't imagine what is wrong in the head of someone who would actually miss being locked away in an institution for eight plus hours a day, five days a week, where you are made to sit in desks and be force-fed information you may or may not care about or of which may or may not be true, where you are punished for talking or questioning and for needing to visit the toilet, where you are not allowed to keep water or chew gum or eat a snack or, or or...
I've noticed a common theme, though, among most people who miss those days. They miss things like the memories of cheating on school work, sneaking this or that, and getting away with numerous other things. In other words, they miss themselves and their fellow peers all acting in rebellion with each other and getting a kick out of it. Interesting, I thought. Then I thought of the many in prisons who actually enjoy being there, because they have criminal minds, and they enjoy fighting, stealing, doing drugs, engaging in fornication, etc. inside the prison walls. These are the same things that are increasing in public schools. Even when locked away, they get away with evil.
I chose to do a quick research on people who actually enjoy an adult prison, and a blog with an article on the child and adolescent prison school system caught my eye. I agree very much with his post.
I've for many years called the public school system a prison. There is no freedom and no joy in learning, and so the love of learning dies in most people by the time they finish their sentence. Thank God I survived. I always loved learning and exploring, and I feel as if I was VERY robbed of precious time during those years. I also was not spending my adult-training years learning beside my mother how to be an adult woman. Instead, I spent my time being force-fed repeated basics and then nonsense that I would never use in my life, and then getting in trouble with my peers, both in and out of school.
So then I was thrown into the world with a major handicap, plus I'd been morally defiled. By God's grace, I chose to live as a truth-seeker, ever-growing in knowledge, and I chose to keep my children at home where they can function normally, learning in a normal environment. They learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and they learn everything else by asking and exploring and reading. They learn to follow the law of God, and they go with me to places so that they can learn how to do things in the real world. When they enter their teen/adolescent years, they should be ready to start their adult training, beside the parent of the same sex.
My adolescent years, just like the adolescent years of most people in this nation, are stained terribly by SIN and REBELLION. I remember in my elementary school years, my best friend and I were called "Goody Two Shoes" and were often persecuted for being studious and well-behaved. As we entered our adolescent years, things became much more difficult. We were under tremendous pressure to "be cool," and to be cool among your peers, you had to be bad. Adolescents dishonor their parents, fight and say hateful things to others (some even kill others), abuse food and drugs, engage in sexually immoral behavior, steal, lie and cheat, and are never satisfied with what they already have.
Oh, I feel just AWFUL about my adolescent years. It's a time I want to ERASE from my memory. I sure do NOT want to return to those days of imprisonment and sin.
The public school system really is much like the prison system, even down to the poor quality food. Just as criminals in our society are looked upon as "cool" if they've done time in prison, and the more they've done, the "cooler" they are, adult sinners of my generation and the one that followed crave the time of crime once again. They look on those days as "the good ol' days," but most of us who have turned to God look back on those imprisoned and sinful years and loathe them. We remember our sins, and we remember being locked up, and we are glad to have been set free.
These reflections are a result of a lot of comments over the years by various individuals about missing public school. Well, I am one who can't imagine what is wrong in the head of someone who would actually miss being locked away in an institution for eight plus hours a day, five days a week, where you are made to sit in desks and be force-fed information you may or may not care about or of which may or may not be true, where you are punished for talking or questioning and for needing to visit the toilet, where you are not allowed to keep water or chew gum or eat a snack or, or or...
I've noticed a common theme, though, among most people who miss those days. They miss things like the memories of cheating on school work, sneaking this or that, and getting away with numerous other things. In other words, they miss themselves and their fellow peers all acting in rebellion with each other and getting a kick out of it. Interesting, I thought. Then I thought of the many in prisons who actually enjoy being there, because they have criminal minds, and they enjoy fighting, stealing, doing drugs, engaging in fornication, etc. inside the prison walls. These are the same things that are increasing in public schools. Even when locked away, they get away with evil.
I chose to do a quick research on people who actually enjoy an adult prison, and a blog with an article on the child and adolescent prison school system caught my eye. I agree very much with his post.
I've for many years called the public school system a prison. There is no freedom and no joy in learning, and so the love of learning dies in most people by the time they finish their sentence. Thank God I survived. I always loved learning and exploring, and I feel as if I was VERY robbed of precious time during those years. I also was not spending my adult-training years learning beside my mother how to be an adult woman. Instead, I spent my time being force-fed repeated basics and then nonsense that I would never use in my life, and then getting in trouble with my peers, both in and out of school.
So then I was thrown into the world with a major handicap, plus I'd been morally defiled. By God's grace, I chose to live as a truth-seeker, ever-growing in knowledge, and I chose to keep my children at home where they can function normally, learning in a normal environment. They learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and they learn everything else by asking and exploring and reading. They learn to follow the law of God, and they go with me to places so that they can learn how to do things in the real world. When they enter their teen/adolescent years, they should be ready to start their adult training, beside the parent of the same sex.
My adolescent years, just like the adolescent years of most people in this nation, are stained terribly by SIN and REBELLION. I remember in my elementary school years, my best friend and I were called "Goody Two Shoes" and were often persecuted for being studious and well-behaved. As we entered our adolescent years, things became much more difficult. We were under tremendous pressure to "be cool," and to be cool among your peers, you had to be bad. Adolescents dishonor their parents, fight and say hateful things to others (some even kill others), abuse food and drugs, engage in sexually immoral behavior, steal, lie and cheat, and are never satisfied with what they already have.
Oh, I feel just AWFUL about my adolescent years. It's a time I want to ERASE from my memory. I sure do NOT want to return to those days of imprisonment and sin.
The public school system really is much like the prison system, even down to the poor quality food. Just as criminals in our society are looked upon as "cool" if they've done time in prison, and the more they've done, the "cooler" they are, adult sinners of my generation and the one that followed crave the time of crime once again. They look on those days as "the good ol' days," but most of us who have turned to God look back on those imprisoned and sinful years and loathe them. We remember our sins, and we remember being locked up, and we are glad to have been set free.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Running Brave
I watched an awesome movie this week, Running Brave. Actually, I watched it twice. A close brother in Christ and co-worker, Keith, gave it to me as a gift and told me to teach my son the lessons I found therein. (Thank you again.) Following is a report on the movie (if you plan to see it, you might not want to read this until afterward, but if not, read on):
Billy Mills won the 10,000 meter Olympic track race in 1964 at Tokyo, taking home the gold medal for the United States, and is the only American who has won a gold medal in that race. But, what is greater than that is that Billy Mills is half Sioux Indian (Native American).
Billy grew up in poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. His mother (white) died when he was nine, and his dad died when Billy was twelve. When he had asked his dad whether he liked to fight (his dad boxed), he responded to Billy, "I like to win," and that a person needs to find something at which they can win, "You have to win at something."
Billy loved to run. He ran all the time and felt as if he was one with everything when he ran. He attended high school in Kansas in the 1950s and broke several track records. The track coach of Kansas University went to see him, but when he found out he was an Indian, he complained to the high school coach and said that Indian boys had a natural talent of running well but that they were quitters and drunks. He'd seen it all before. Billy walked up and defended himself, making it clear that he was no quitter and wanted to run for him at KU.
He ended up getting the scholarship to go to KU. He was only the second one from the reservation to ever get a scholarship to college, but the first guy quit after just three weeks. Billy was scared to go to the university, but at the same time he wanted to "prove I can make it in the white world." When he got to the university the coach emphasized to the guys from the very start that they were to do it his way and his way only. The coach pushed Billy, and Billy started out winning all the races. He also did the right thing by passing up offers of alcohol from his college pals. He probably realized that he had a predisposition to alcoholism, because he was Indian, and he didn't want to become a drunk. He met a girl, too--Pat--and started seeing her.
It wasn't all cherries and honeycomb, though. Billy constantly had people calling him "chief," "that Indian boy," and other racial slurs. He also was not allowed to become a member of a fraternity, because he was Indian. At one point he attacked a fellow teammate after a race, after the guy made a nasty remark. The coach pulled him back and sternly told him to ignore the comments and that he could run all over that guy. Billy would write letters to his sister, and they would start out sounding discouraging, because he everything was such a challenge. He had to study so hard and so late and he was the only Indian on campus, except for one girl, "but she's fat." He'd always say at the end of his letters, though, "Don't worry," because he was going to be okay and make everyone proud of him. He would list the problems, but each time he seemed intent on overcoming them.
During one race, Billy slowed down toward the end, even though he still won the race. There was another Indian on the other team. The coach confronted him later about it and rightly accused him of doing so as not to embarrass the other Indian so badly, who was next behind him. Paraphrasing, "You're never going to get to the Olympics, if you don't quit easing up at the end. Don't feel sorry for the other Indian. Next time, you don't see him as an Indian. You see him as another competitor." [Going to the Olympics was Billy's dream.]
His coach seemed to only want to rack up points, and he gave promises to people that he'd make it to the nationals. Billy had an enormous amount of pressure on him, and he felt as if the coach didn't seem to care about Billy but only about himself and his coaching career. He wrote to his sister that he'd lost his love for running and he felt like just a machine, but he said once again, "Don't worry," because he had support from his girlfriend and he was confident he'd "find that spirit again."
He was placed at number five in the NCAA, and a reporter asked him whether being number five had anything to do with being Indian (the gall). He cleverly answered, "I'm half-white, too. I'm not sure which half loses. Do you?"
His girlfriend Pat's parents were not happy when she told them that she was with Billy, because, as she put it, "Maybe they are a little bit prejudiced." He said, "What the hell do you know about prejudice?" So, she informed him that she (a middle class white girl) was what he wanted, so he had to deal with the problems that came with her, even prejudiced parents. So, he did. He wrote and told his sister that he and Pat were thinking of getting married and expressed disappointment that she was not going to be able to go visit him with his other family and friends, including Frank who'd gone to live with Billy and his dad after Frank's own parents had died, and who finished rearing Billy after his dad died; and Eddie his friend with a bad attitude. Billy was staying at Pat's house while her parents were gone, and when his visitors arrived, they were initially excited to see him, but things quickly turned around. Eddie acted very angry and made rude comments about the nice house and how he just wanted to go have some fun. He and the two women left after ten minutes and talked Frank into leaving, too. Billy tried talking Frank into staying, and he pushed Eddie and told him to leave. Frank stopped them from fighting, and Eddie said, "That's okay. It's not the first time I've been pushed around by a white man." Eddie and the two girls acted as if they didn't want Billy to improve his life, and they said they didn't belong there and left. Frank, too, finally said to Billy that they were probably right, that they didn't belong there. Following THIS is when Billy started messing up. He came in 3rd place in his next race and then went on to lose the following two races. His coach told him after the first race, "You quit." After one or two more, he said, "You're quitting. You already have." He told Pat that during the whole time he'd been at KU, that whenever bad things happened that made him question why he was there, he'd always been lifted up by knowing he was there because he "won races." He said, "But, now I'm not," so he wondered why he was there and started thinking about going back to the reservation. Then the guy with the insurance company that sponsored his scholarship got on to him and said that he'd better win the next race or he'd risk losing his scholarship.
He then asked Pat to run away with him, even if it meant they might live in a trailer park somewhere and scraping to get by. He was sick of being Billy the runner and Billy the Indian. He didn't really know who he was. He was looked down upon among the whites, because he was Indian, and he was rejected by his own family and friends for being like the whites. When Pat shook her head and told him she didn't understand, he drove off, and he ended up going back to the Indian reservation. He told the coach right before a track meet that he was doing what the coach had always said he'd do--quit. Coach Easton told Billy he'd never be a winner, and he knew it. He claimed that's why he always told him to stay running in front (Billy had liked "coming from behind"), because "only winners come from behind."
Back on the reservation some children recognized him as the famous Billy Mills. A little boy had his sports card with his picture. He asked Billy whether he was going to the Olympics and that, "You'd better." His friend Eddie acted glad to see him and welcomed him back home, now that he was away from white land. But, Eddie still had a bad attitude. He wasn't what I'd call the optimal friend. Frank was drunk when Billy saw him. Frank pretty much stayed drunk.
While the two were fishing, Frank told Billy that Frank's dad had always told Frank he'd never go anywhere. Frank had always wanted to go to Paris, because he was a really good artist, but he listened to the, "You'll never go anywhere or be anybody" talk, and he said it now was too late for him. He told Billy that it wasn't too late for him and that he needed to leave. I think being at the reservation again with drunk Frank and bad attitude Eddie got him to having second thoughts about his choice to go back there. Plus, he missed Pat. It did feel good, though, to be "home" and run again. He got his love of running back. His sister had saved back newspaper articles and other mementos in a scrapbook and showed Billy. She asked whether he was going to the Olympics and said that everyone on the reservation had always wanted someone to be something, to make something of him or herself. Following that he got a note and money from Pat telling him to come back. He then found Frank dead from a suicidal gunshot wound to the head, surrounded by demented drawings of a depressed soul on the walls.
So, Billy left the reservation again and went to the Marines. He already had his degree, and the Marines gave him a chance to focus on running so that he could go try out for the Olympics. He married Pat and then qualified in the Olympic trials. He and two other Americans were there to represent the US. He was not considered as a potential winner. One of the other Americans had a hurt foot or leg, and the American coach talked to that guy as if he was their chance to win and just told Billy to "hang in there." The commentators said also that Billy wasn't "seen as a threat" in the event. Ron Clarke from Australia was everyone's favorite. Clarke is noted for setting 17 world records (but never won an Olympic gold medal). He'd set records during the time Billy was in KU, and Coach Easton had posted a newspaper picture of Clarke and told the guys to aspire to Clarke's achievements. During the 10,000 meter race (over six miles), Billy kept near the front, along with Clarke and Mohammad Gammoudi of Tunisia. They all kept switching positions for first place. It was a very exciting race, since everyone was surprised that Billy was among the frontrunners. During the last lap:
"Mills and Clarke were running together with Gammoudi right behind as they entered the final lap. They were lapping other runners and, down the backstretch, Clarke was boxed in. He pushed Mills once, then again. Then Gammoudi pushed them both and surged into the lead as they rounded the final curve. Clarke recovered and began chasing Gammoudi while Mills appeared to be too far back to be in contention. Clarke failed to catch Gammoudi but Mills sprinted past them both. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50 seconds faster than he had ever run before and set a new Olympic record for the event. No American had ever won the 10,000 m before Billy Mills did it (Wikipedia, s.v. "Billy Mills").
Coach Easton had seen the news in the paper that Billy was going to the Olympics that year, and he went to Tokyo to see him. He walked up to Billy after the race to congratulate him, and he said, "That's the greatest race I ever saw a man run. I'm honored to have worked with you."
***************************************
Running Brave detailed a fine based-on-a-true-story example of a man who overcame his hardships and poor circumstances and became a winner. It also demonstrated that even after a person is "in the race," heading for his or her goals and doing a fine job of dealing with trials that could knock a person "out of the race," it can take just one event that deals a hard enough blow to cause a person to want to give up. Very often, it involves a person or persons very close to us--family and/or close friends. In Billy's case, he kept overcoming his trials--the racial slurs, the exclusion in clubs, his coach's selfishness--until his family and friends rejected him. Perhaps without realizing it, they were trying to bring him back down to their level.
A Christian Race
God's election race for his called and chosen ones is the same way. We can't let anything stop us. The Apostle Paul said:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (I Cor. 9:24-27).
Family and Friends
We must overcome whatever trials come our way and overcome the sins that we inherited from our families, tribes, and nations. We must run the race as if there's only one winner. If we fail, we will be a castaway. Some of us will sometimes take a really hard blow that will appear to keep us down for good, but if the goal is really that important to us, we will get back up and get back in the race. That is what Billy did. His family and friends made him feel bad. They were supposed to be those closest to him, and yet they were the ones responsible for discouraging him to the point where he nearly failed. He started to give up. He went back to his old life. BUT, the game wasn't over yet. He decided to get back up again and do what it took for him to reach his goal (going to the Olympics), and he didn't stop there. He won that 10000 meter race and won the Olympic gold medal for the US.
It's too often in the lives of those who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17) that family and friends are their biggest obstacle. It's what holds them back the most.
Jesus said, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple...whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26, 33).
Billy's coach told him that was the best race he'd ever seen a man run and that he was honored to work with him. How would each of us like to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matt. 25:23)?"
Gentile vs. White
Being a Gentile among Israelites is also an obstacle for many people. Billy Mills was half Gentile living in a "white [Israelite] world." He overcame many of the gentile ways to better himself. We just had a half gentile, half white man elected to be the next president of the US. The majority of blacks and other minority gentile races in our nation do not really want to overcome their gentile ways. They expect to be treated equally without conforming to our ways. God's law records over and over that within an Israelite nation that claims to be under God, that there is ONE LAW for both Israelite and Gentile--the same law applies to both. He also said:
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to Jehovah, to serve him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord Jehovah which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him (Isaiah 56:6-8).
ALL people, whether Israelite or Gentile are offered salvation, and MANY Gentiles have been called in this lifetime to see the truth since Christ's death, whereas before his death few Gentiles took hold upon God's covenant. We live in a time where the Gentile minorities basically think the white people owe them something, all the while they as a whole are still living in their vile ways. It has become so bad that more whites are acting more like gentiles than whites. Our president-elect is another example of a gentile (half) conforming to the white's ways so that he could become something and live decently (howbeit not God's way, but the majority of the white population isn't living that way, either). The small percentage of people in minorities, such as Billy Mills and president-elect Barack Obama have had to fight a tough battle, because they are still looked down upon by whites (shame on those whites who do this), but their own peoples hate them for acting white. There are those who will even KILL a "rebel," because they aspire to live to white standards.
Those like Billy Mills, because what his father taught him, realize WHY the whites are so blessed, and he decided to overcome that. Then there are those like his friend Eddie who want to just talk badly about white people while continuing to make the wrong choices. Likewise, there are blacks (President-elect Obama is half black) who spew hatred toward white middle class America, expecting equality while they deal drugs, don't attempt to talk properly, spew forth profanity, walk like they broke one of their legs, rape women, rap immoral trash, and shoot people. They just don't seem to get it! But, in nearly every family, tribe, and nation, there are the FEW who do recognize the problems in their families, and they strive to overcome. And good for them!
On the other side of the coin, you have some whites who live more like gentiles, and so that's how they act and decide to live. Some people have no drive, no desire to do the best they can in their circumstances. God wants ALL people to be free and equal, but only if they live according to His way. (The Western World's high standard of living, or at least what we did once have--hygiene, generosity, good agriculture, good health, family values, etc.--is based on the laws in the bible, whether anyone realizes it or not. We are failing, though, as this once-Godly nation is falling away and doing away with his laws more and more every day.)
I give a two thumbs up for Billy Mills and also for the makers of Running Brave.
***********************************************
Billy Mills' given Lakota (Sioux) name is Makata Taka Hela which means "love your country" or more traditionally translated, "respects the earth" (RunningPast.com). I definitely think Billy Mills has lived up to his name. Do you?
Quote from Billy:
"My life is a gift to me from my Creator.
What I do with my life is my gift back to the Creator."
And so it is for all of us.
Billy is now a public speaker, and he also is the spokesman for the nonprofit Running Strong for American Indian Youth. The website is here: http://www.indianyouth.org/
Billy Mills won the 10,000 meter Olympic track race in 1964 at Tokyo, taking home the gold medal for the United States, and is the only American who has won a gold medal in that race. But, what is greater than that is that Billy Mills is half Sioux Indian (Native American).
Billy grew up in poverty on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. His mother (white) died when he was nine, and his dad died when Billy was twelve. When he had asked his dad whether he liked to fight (his dad boxed), he responded to Billy, "I like to win," and that a person needs to find something at which they can win, "You have to win at something."
Billy loved to run. He ran all the time and felt as if he was one with everything when he ran. He attended high school in Kansas in the 1950s and broke several track records. The track coach of Kansas University went to see him, but when he found out he was an Indian, he complained to the high school coach and said that Indian boys had a natural talent of running well but that they were quitters and drunks. He'd seen it all before. Billy walked up and defended himself, making it clear that he was no quitter and wanted to run for him at KU.
He ended up getting the scholarship to go to KU. He was only the second one from the reservation to ever get a scholarship to college, but the first guy quit after just three weeks. Billy was scared to go to the university, but at the same time he wanted to "prove I can make it in the white world." When he got to the university the coach emphasized to the guys from the very start that they were to do it his way and his way only. The coach pushed Billy, and Billy started out winning all the races. He also did the right thing by passing up offers of alcohol from his college pals. He probably realized that he had a predisposition to alcoholism, because he was Indian, and he didn't want to become a drunk. He met a girl, too--Pat--and started seeing her.
It wasn't all cherries and honeycomb, though. Billy constantly had people calling him "chief," "that Indian boy," and other racial slurs. He also was not allowed to become a member of a fraternity, because he was Indian. At one point he attacked a fellow teammate after a race, after the guy made a nasty remark. The coach pulled him back and sternly told him to ignore the comments and that he could run all over that guy. Billy would write letters to his sister, and they would start out sounding discouraging, because he everything was such a challenge. He had to study so hard and so late and he was the only Indian on campus, except for one girl, "but she's fat." He'd always say at the end of his letters, though, "Don't worry," because he was going to be okay and make everyone proud of him. He would list the problems, but each time he seemed intent on overcoming them.
During one race, Billy slowed down toward the end, even though he still won the race. There was another Indian on the other team. The coach confronted him later about it and rightly accused him of doing so as not to embarrass the other Indian so badly, who was next behind him. Paraphrasing, "You're never going to get to the Olympics, if you don't quit easing up at the end. Don't feel sorry for the other Indian. Next time, you don't see him as an Indian. You see him as another competitor." [Going to the Olympics was Billy's dream.]
His coach seemed to only want to rack up points, and he gave promises to people that he'd make it to the nationals. Billy had an enormous amount of pressure on him, and he felt as if the coach didn't seem to care about Billy but only about himself and his coaching career. He wrote to his sister that he'd lost his love for running and he felt like just a machine, but he said once again, "Don't worry," because he had support from his girlfriend and he was confident he'd "find that spirit again."
He was placed at number five in the NCAA, and a reporter asked him whether being number five had anything to do with being Indian (the gall). He cleverly answered, "I'm half-white, too. I'm not sure which half loses. Do you?"
His girlfriend Pat's parents were not happy when she told them that she was with Billy, because, as she put it, "Maybe they are a little bit prejudiced." He said, "What the hell do you know about prejudice?" So, she informed him that she (a middle class white girl) was what he wanted, so he had to deal with the problems that came with her, even prejudiced parents. So, he did. He wrote and told his sister that he and Pat were thinking of getting married and expressed disappointment that she was not going to be able to go visit him with his other family and friends, including Frank who'd gone to live with Billy and his dad after Frank's own parents had died, and who finished rearing Billy after his dad died; and Eddie his friend with a bad attitude. Billy was staying at Pat's house while her parents were gone, and when his visitors arrived, they were initially excited to see him, but things quickly turned around. Eddie acted very angry and made rude comments about the nice house and how he just wanted to go have some fun. He and the two women left after ten minutes and talked Frank into leaving, too. Billy tried talking Frank into staying, and he pushed Eddie and told him to leave. Frank stopped them from fighting, and Eddie said, "That's okay. It's not the first time I've been pushed around by a white man." Eddie and the two girls acted as if they didn't want Billy to improve his life, and they said they didn't belong there and left. Frank, too, finally said to Billy that they were probably right, that they didn't belong there. Following THIS is when Billy started messing up. He came in 3rd place in his next race and then went on to lose the following two races. His coach told him after the first race, "You quit." After one or two more, he said, "You're quitting. You already have." He told Pat that during the whole time he'd been at KU, that whenever bad things happened that made him question why he was there, he'd always been lifted up by knowing he was there because he "won races." He said, "But, now I'm not," so he wondered why he was there and started thinking about going back to the reservation. Then the guy with the insurance company that sponsored his scholarship got on to him and said that he'd better win the next race or he'd risk losing his scholarship.
He then asked Pat to run away with him, even if it meant they might live in a trailer park somewhere and scraping to get by. He was sick of being Billy the runner and Billy the Indian. He didn't really know who he was. He was looked down upon among the whites, because he was Indian, and he was rejected by his own family and friends for being like the whites. When Pat shook her head and told him she didn't understand, he drove off, and he ended up going back to the Indian reservation. He told the coach right before a track meet that he was doing what the coach had always said he'd do--quit. Coach Easton told Billy he'd never be a winner, and he knew it. He claimed that's why he always told him to stay running in front (Billy had liked "coming from behind"), because "only winners come from behind."
Back on the reservation some children recognized him as the famous Billy Mills. A little boy had his sports card with his picture. He asked Billy whether he was going to the Olympics and that, "You'd better." His friend Eddie acted glad to see him and welcomed him back home, now that he was away from white land. But, Eddie still had a bad attitude. He wasn't what I'd call the optimal friend. Frank was drunk when Billy saw him. Frank pretty much stayed drunk.
While the two were fishing, Frank told Billy that Frank's dad had always told Frank he'd never go anywhere. Frank had always wanted to go to Paris, because he was a really good artist, but he listened to the, "You'll never go anywhere or be anybody" talk, and he said it now was too late for him. He told Billy that it wasn't too late for him and that he needed to leave. I think being at the reservation again with drunk Frank and bad attitude Eddie got him to having second thoughts about his choice to go back there. Plus, he missed Pat. It did feel good, though, to be "home" and run again. He got his love of running back. His sister had saved back newspaper articles and other mementos in a scrapbook and showed Billy. She asked whether he was going to the Olympics and said that everyone on the reservation had always wanted someone to be something, to make something of him or herself. Following that he got a note and money from Pat telling him to come back. He then found Frank dead from a suicidal gunshot wound to the head, surrounded by demented drawings of a depressed soul on the walls.
So, Billy left the reservation again and went to the Marines. He already had his degree, and the Marines gave him a chance to focus on running so that he could go try out for the Olympics. He married Pat and then qualified in the Olympic trials. He and two other Americans were there to represent the US. He was not considered as a potential winner. One of the other Americans had a hurt foot or leg, and the American coach talked to that guy as if he was their chance to win and just told Billy to "hang in there." The commentators said also that Billy wasn't "seen as a threat" in the event. Ron Clarke from Australia was everyone's favorite. Clarke is noted for setting 17 world records (but never won an Olympic gold medal). He'd set records during the time Billy was in KU, and Coach Easton had posted a newspaper picture of Clarke and told the guys to aspire to Clarke's achievements. During the 10,000 meter race (over six miles), Billy kept near the front, along with Clarke and Mohammad Gammoudi of Tunisia. They all kept switching positions for first place. It was a very exciting race, since everyone was surprised that Billy was among the frontrunners. During the last lap:
"Mills and Clarke were running together with Gammoudi right behind as they entered the final lap. They were lapping other runners and, down the backstretch, Clarke was boxed in. He pushed Mills once, then again. Then Gammoudi pushed them both and surged into the lead as they rounded the final curve. Clarke recovered and began chasing Gammoudi while Mills appeared to be too far back to be in contention. Clarke failed to catch Gammoudi but Mills sprinted past them both. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50 seconds faster than he had ever run before and set a new Olympic record for the event. No American had ever won the 10,000 m before Billy Mills did it (Wikipedia, s.v. "Billy Mills").
Coach Easton had seen the news in the paper that Billy was going to the Olympics that year, and he went to Tokyo to see him. He walked up to Billy after the race to congratulate him, and he said, "That's the greatest race I ever saw a man run. I'm honored to have worked with you."
***************************************
Running Brave detailed a fine based-on-a-true-story example of a man who overcame his hardships and poor circumstances and became a winner. It also demonstrated that even after a person is "in the race," heading for his or her goals and doing a fine job of dealing with trials that could knock a person "out of the race," it can take just one event that deals a hard enough blow to cause a person to want to give up. Very often, it involves a person or persons very close to us--family and/or close friends. In Billy's case, he kept overcoming his trials--the racial slurs, the exclusion in clubs, his coach's selfishness--until his family and friends rejected him. Perhaps without realizing it, they were trying to bring him back down to their level.
A Christian Race
God's election race for his called and chosen ones is the same way. We can't let anything stop us. The Apostle Paul said:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (I Cor. 9:24-27).
Family and Friends
We must overcome whatever trials come our way and overcome the sins that we inherited from our families, tribes, and nations. We must run the race as if there's only one winner. If we fail, we will be a castaway. Some of us will sometimes take a really hard blow that will appear to keep us down for good, but if the goal is really that important to us, we will get back up and get back in the race. That is what Billy did. His family and friends made him feel bad. They were supposed to be those closest to him, and yet they were the ones responsible for discouraging him to the point where he nearly failed. He started to give up. He went back to his old life. BUT, the game wasn't over yet. He decided to get back up again and do what it took for him to reach his goal (going to the Olympics), and he didn't stop there. He won that 10000 meter race and won the Olympic gold medal for the US.
It's too often in the lives of those who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17) that family and friends are their biggest obstacle. It's what holds them back the most.
Jesus said, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple...whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26, 33).
Billy's coach told him that was the best race he'd ever seen a man run and that he was honored to work with him. How would each of us like to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matt. 25:23)?"
Gentile vs. White
Being a Gentile among Israelites is also an obstacle for many people. Billy Mills was half Gentile living in a "white [Israelite] world." He overcame many of the gentile ways to better himself. We just had a half gentile, half white man elected to be the next president of the US. The majority of blacks and other minority gentile races in our nation do not really want to overcome their gentile ways. They expect to be treated equally without conforming to our ways. God's law records over and over that within an Israelite nation that claims to be under God, that there is ONE LAW for both Israelite and Gentile--the same law applies to both. He also said:
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to Jehovah, to serve him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord Jehovah which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him (Isaiah 56:6-8).
ALL people, whether Israelite or Gentile are offered salvation, and MANY Gentiles have been called in this lifetime to see the truth since Christ's death, whereas before his death few Gentiles took hold upon God's covenant. We live in a time where the Gentile minorities basically think the white people owe them something, all the while they as a whole are still living in their vile ways. It has become so bad that more whites are acting more like gentiles than whites. Our president-elect is another example of a gentile (half) conforming to the white's ways so that he could become something and live decently (howbeit not God's way, but the majority of the white population isn't living that way, either). The small percentage of people in minorities, such as Billy Mills and president-elect Barack Obama have had to fight a tough battle, because they are still looked down upon by whites (shame on those whites who do this), but their own peoples hate them for acting white. There are those who will even KILL a "rebel," because they aspire to live to white standards.
Those like Billy Mills, because what his father taught him, realize WHY the whites are so blessed, and he decided to overcome that. Then there are those like his friend Eddie who want to just talk badly about white people while continuing to make the wrong choices. Likewise, there are blacks (President-elect Obama is half black) who spew hatred toward white middle class America, expecting equality while they deal drugs, don't attempt to talk properly, spew forth profanity, walk like they broke one of their legs, rape women, rap immoral trash, and shoot people. They just don't seem to get it! But, in nearly every family, tribe, and nation, there are the FEW who do recognize the problems in their families, and they strive to overcome. And good for them!
On the other side of the coin, you have some whites who live more like gentiles, and so that's how they act and decide to live. Some people have no drive, no desire to do the best they can in their circumstances. God wants ALL people to be free and equal, but only if they live according to His way. (The Western World's high standard of living, or at least what we did once have--hygiene, generosity, good agriculture, good health, family values, etc.--is based on the laws in the bible, whether anyone realizes it or not. We are failing, though, as this once-Godly nation is falling away and doing away with his laws more and more every day.)
I give a two thumbs up for Billy Mills and also for the makers of Running Brave.
***********************************************
Billy Mills' given Lakota (Sioux) name is Makata Taka Hela which means "love your country" or more traditionally translated, "respects the earth" (RunningPast.com). I definitely think Billy Mills has lived up to his name. Do you?
Quote from Billy:
"My life is a gift to me from my Creator.
What I do with my life is my gift back to the Creator."
And so it is for all of us.
Billy is now a public speaker, and he also is the spokesman for the nonprofit Running Strong for American Indian Youth. The website is here: http://www.indianyouth.org/
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Who Am I?
I think to really know oneself, one must know from whence he or she came. Each person is a unique individual, but we all inherit both spiritual and physical traits from our parents, and they inherited their traits from their parents, and so on.
I've been studying my families. In particular, I've been evaluating myself and recognizing the good traits I was given by each of my parents and the bad ones. My goal from here on out is to maximize the utilization of the good traits to the betterment of myself and others and to overcome the bad traits, to break the curses of my families.
I published a book in January this year (2008) called Genetic Heavy Metal Toxicity, on which I spent over 2.5 years researching and writing. Though it focused mainly on the health damage heavy metals have caused and the genetic link, it also discussed the damage other things have caused to people. It was during the two years of researching and writing that book that I started better understanding the problems in my families, as well as those problems in my husband's families. I briefly mentioned a spiritual aspect and mentioned that physical damage can lead to spiritual damage in my book, but since it's been published, I have come to realize even more concerning the spiritual aspects of our genetics.
At the same time I started realizing this more, a sister in Christ and one of my best friends talked about how she read a book that discussed the spiritual roots of sin. This, in part, caused me to meditate on this even more deeply. My eyes have been opened to things in God's Word that I didn't see fully before concerning the sinful nature that "runs in a family," especially in the books of Kings.
I realize now that my work on genetics is not done. And my work on overcoming the sins that run in my family is not done, either. God be with me as I grow in grace and knowledge.
I've been studying my families. In particular, I've been evaluating myself and recognizing the good traits I was given by each of my parents and the bad ones. My goal from here on out is to maximize the utilization of the good traits to the betterment of myself and others and to overcome the bad traits, to break the curses of my families.
I published a book in January this year (2008) called Genetic Heavy Metal Toxicity, on which I spent over 2.5 years researching and writing. Though it focused mainly on the health damage heavy metals have caused and the genetic link, it also discussed the damage other things have caused to people. It was during the two years of researching and writing that book that I started better understanding the problems in my families, as well as those problems in my husband's families. I briefly mentioned a spiritual aspect and mentioned that physical damage can lead to spiritual damage in my book, but since it's been published, I have come to realize even more concerning the spiritual aspects of our genetics.
At the same time I started realizing this more, a sister in Christ and one of my best friends talked about how she read a book that discussed the spiritual roots of sin. This, in part, caused me to meditate on this even more deeply. My eyes have been opened to things in God's Word that I didn't see fully before concerning the sinful nature that "runs in a family," especially in the books of Kings.
I realize now that my work on genetics is not done. And my work on overcoming the sins that run in my family is not done, either. God be with me as I grow in grace and knowledge.
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