An expert in the field of tortured looks...

So, maybe a little over a month ago I watched a movie called "Elizabethtown"... Because I can't quite read all the kanji on the back of DVD cases yet, renting movies is sometimes an interesting venture...whereas I expected this one to be simply light and fun, it was actually a movie that brought up tough stuff like death and suicide and family relations...however, even if it wasn't what was expected, I really liked it.

Orlando Bloom, the main male actor in the movie, plays the part of a business man who makes and sells shoes. He is kind of new in the business, and his first big product is a huge failure, costing his company more money than...is allowed, definitely. Anyway, struck by this resounding failure, Orlando (I forgot the character's name!) decides to commit suicide, and is just about ready to follow through on his decision when his cell phone rings...his sister, calling to tell him that his dad has just died, and asking him to go pick up his dad's body from where it was and bring it back to their place for burial. Orlando goes to fulfill his duty to his family, but has every intention of following through on his suicide plan when he finishes his responsibilities. The movie basically picks up there and goes through his process of meeting his dad's side of the family and another girl who listens and helps him heal...all the way through the story, Orlando's character goes through collecting "last looks," thinking that, because of his suicide plan, this will be the last time he meets such and such and so and so.

I've been thinking especially of Orlando's character being "an expert in the field of last looks" the last few days working here...but for us here, it's not necessarily last looks, but tortured looks that we see. I know that I've mentioned it before, but this week was just another reminder; when people start thinking new thoughts, and when the Holy Spirit starts tugging on someone's heart, they really do start looking tortured.

One of my students this last week had a new "tortured" face. We've been playing a lot of worship music together, and the student has always seemed just normally happy and in good spirits...this last week was a little different though...seemed to be fighting back tears in our evening worship time...

A part of me wishes dearly that it wouldn't be so difficult, or such a wrestling thing...but I know, in my heart, that the tortured look is actually a reason for celebration and joy. For the person with the tortured look, it is a time for crossing the line, an embracing of new ideas, a call to trust in a loving Father...and for us, it is so much a call for prayer!!

Praise God for His Holy Spirit working in hearts and minds...and I pray that the tortured look would be changed to one of trust, peace, and joy as our loving Savior is revealed more and more...