Thorny Cars

My sons were watching the movie Cars today.  I lay down on the couch for a few minutes and watched with them for a bit.  I saw the part where McQueen is fixing the road and Chick Hicks is being interviewed for the race in California, where he is practicing and ‘schmoozing Dinaco’.  Hicks was in the very place McQueen had intended to be.  The thought popped into my head – if he hadn’t been in such a hurry, Mac wouldn’t have fallen asleep, and McQueen wouldn’t have gotten lost, and he would have had his wish.  That thought was immediately followed with – if he hadn’t gotten lost, he wouldn’t have become a better ‘person’…  This thought was then followed with this bible verse:

Romans 5:3-5  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

This children’s movie is a perfect illustration of these verses!  McQueen’s own lack of judgment brought him to the most miserable place of his life.  He was down, he was lost, his enemies were getting the better of him, he was stranded and stuck and didn’t think things could ever be worse.  But BECAUSE of that mistake he made, because of his own character flaws – his life was changed.  He became a deeper, more caring, kinder, stronger, and more trustworthy character.  He ‘developed endurance, strength of character, and confident hope for his’ future.  Because of these changes he did not win the race at the end of the movie, but sacrificed his dream to help someone who was in need! 

This is a kid’s movie, a product of Hollywood.  But I could not think of a better illustration of how God uses the bad things in our lives, our own bad choices, bad events, or our own negative flaws, to change us, to make us better, to make us more like him!  In the movie there is no God and the talking car does not hope for salvation, but the point, the method, is there.  We mess up, we are low and in a terrible awful place, and God uses that awful place to shape us and mold us and prepare us.  He prepares us for our futures and for salvation! 

I am sure you have read this poem / prayer, but it bears repeating:

"My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."

Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns.

Author: Unknown

1 Thessalonians 5:16  Always be joyful.

1 Thessalonians 5:17  Never stop praying.

1Thessalonians 5:18  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.