August Rush - Hope for Advent

Oh - my - goodness.

"Bella" was a great movie with beautiful footage, but it had a bit of a non-sequitur ending... "August Rush" inadvertently accomplishes nearly the same goal with cataclysmic effect.

I won't even try to explain it, but the film is beautiful on the eyes, has FABULOUS music ALL the way through, thanks to "Five for Fighting" singer John Ondrasik ("100 Years" and "Superman" are his biggest hits), and it has *just* the right amount of pathos to thrill savvy GenXers who think the Shrek movies are insultingly juvenile and stupid, written by out-of-touch therapists. Here and there this film had a sly stretch requiring brief suspension of belief, but it was no big deal. Mostly I just wished it was a real story.

Basically the movie would have had me bawling if it had been true, or even if I'd been left alone to muse over it in peace. But my friend (who shall remain nameless, she gets the credit for finding this film and taking me to see it) kept saying to me, "Oh no! He's going to the wrong city!" and, "Can you believe that?!" and, "oh my gosh that's so SWEET!" I finally had to (with a loving sense of humoUr) beg her to shut up and let me watch the film. So by that point, bawling was pretty much circumvented.

It's a fairy tale, it's about overcoming, it's a story of the value of human life, the unspeakable bond of parenthood and true love, it's hope personified, and there isn't a hiccup or an overdone moment anywhere.

It hits me that hope is a perfect theme for this season of Advent, which begins on Sunday December 2nd. We hope when we know we have need for something to change, something to heal, something to win, something to complete.

I drove home enjoying a similarly epic-sounding song, "It Might be Hope", on Sara Groves' new album (Tell Me What You Know)...I bet if Ondrasik had known about it, he would have included it on the soundtrack...

You do your work the best that you can
you put one foot in front of the other
life comes in waves and makes its demands
you hold on as well as you're able

You've been here for a long, long time

But hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room, or
you look out a window
and something there leaves you breathless
you say to yourself
it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope

It's hard to recall what blew out the flame
it's been dark here since you can remember
you talk it all through to find it a name
as days go on by without number

You've been here for a long, long time

Hope has a way of turning its face to you
just when you least expect it
you walk in a room
you look out a window
and something there - something's there
you say to yourself
it's been a while since I felt this
but it feels like it might be hope...

...God, who gives life to the dead, and calls into being that which does not exist. ~Rom. 4:17

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. ~ Micah 7:7

Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. ~ Zechariah 9:12

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit
as you trust in Him.
~ Romans 15:13