I recently got a glimpse of God in another unusual, unexpected place.
In a little Disney movie named after the title character - a small Polynesian Island girl named Moana.
I call it a little movie because it is dwarfed in scope and popularity by a film like Frozen.
The story of the movie IS based on the cultural legends and stories of the Polynesian people . . . gods, demi-gods, magic, and mysticism. It has always been my belief that Christians need not fear a glimpse into the beliefs or lore of others.
I argued openly many years ago in one of my seminary classes with one of my favorite professors: Dr. Reginald Barnard. He was a brilliant man who for some strange reason always chose to stand before his students and read from our textbook!
I know that he did this intentionally . . . and we figured out what he wanted us to do. He wanted us to interrupt him with a question or challenge him in a point of meaning or interpretation. If we didn't jump in and derail him . . . he would drone on . . . reading material that we had already read in preparation for the class.
Don't get me wrong . . . HE was the author of our textbook . . . and its teachings were profound. (On the first day of the course, he told us that he had asked his son to read it and give an opinion. "Excellent work! Rather dry . . . isn't it?"
But when Dr. Barnard went off script and spoke extemporaneously in response to our questions he took us on an intellectual journey!
It was my turn to sidetrack him on a particular day. (Does all of this seem disrespectful or manipulative? Believe me . . . he was a co-conspirator!) He read from the text, "Truth is not the truth wherever you find it."
"Doc, do you mean that if something is true . . . and the Mormons believe it . . . that it is not Truth?"
"Precisely. Truth is not the truth wherever you find it."
It seemed to me that if some statement or element of thought or expression was genuinely true . . . it didn't matter what kind of philosophy, doctrine, or belief system you dropped it into . . . it would carry the quality of truth along with it.
He disagreed eloquently . . . and we talked for fifteen or twenty minutes. I'm certain that Dr. Barnard substantiated his case and proved his point . . . but he didn't change my mind.
The Truth that I found in Moana was - Know Who You ARE!
Know yourself, accept yourself . . . but strive to be a better, bigger, wiser version of yourself without changing who you are. You ARE whom God has created you to be, but He always wants us to become MORE than we were when we started out.
In Philippians 1:6 (in the Bible), the Apostle Paul declares, "I know that HE . . . Who began a good work in you . . . is going to continue to work . . . ."
We are ALL a work in progress.
I like this placard:
You CAN be Batman, or Superman, or Spiderman, or Wonder Woman! Never settle for being just how you are right NOW.
Grow. Expand. Experience. Learn. Go. Love. Launch. Fall down and get up. Run, jump, climb, fly.
But none of that is ever possible at all . . . until you come to an understanding of Who You Are at the beginning of the journey.
Then you must learn who you are becoming at each step of the journey. Stay in touch with your Creator, trace His map and feel the currents with your fingertips, and stay in touch with what He is recreating as you make yourself sail beyond the reef (a reference you can only understand if you have watched the movie).
I believe that this is True . . . even though you might just find it in a children's film!
