(There are BIG spoilers in this post about "Castaway". Read at your own risk.)

I was watching the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks, ya know, the one with him on the island. If you did not see it, don't worry, just imagine a movie about a guy on an island. I mean, how different is one of those types of movies from another?

Anyway, Tom Hanks comes back to life after 4 1/2 years on this island. Turns out that his true love has married another...are you starting to see a similarity here? Anyway, he asked her why didn't she wait for him and she said that she thought he was dead.

So I'm sitting there and I wanted to scream:

"Hey lady! First, you should have waited 5 years like Princess Buttercup, then you wouldn't have this problem and second, don't you know that �death cannot stop true love, it can only delay it for a little while�?"!!!

Seesh!

So, in the end, the guy loses his girl. But the best part about the movie was the end. (BTW, she didn't leave her husband for Tom Hanks, so let's all applaud a little morality in Hollywood.)

First, Tom Hanks was talking about how he was on the island for 4 1/2 years and everyday he wondered how was he ever going to get off it, but he realized that he just kept breathing, day in, day out. Now, he lost the love of his life, but he still just had to do the same thing; keep breathing.

That touched me. Some times I think we obsess and worry, but God says "Don't worry; Be still and know that I am God. I made the heavens and the earth and I know the hairs of your head and all your problems and you are worth much more to me than sparrows, so sit down and calm down. Breathe. Keep breathing. That's all I want you to do. I am the Alpha and the Omega; I know the beginning from the end and you are in good hands with Me."

Second, in the end, Tom Hanks is driving to find the home of this package he had with him on the island. He was really inspired by this logo on the box so he wanted to meet the person who's box it was. Well, they weren't home, so he left the house and was standing by his car at this crossroads, obviously figuring out which way to go now that he was free. This (pretty ) lady drove up and offered him some directions because she thought he was lost. Well, when she drove off, you saw that she had a bumper sticker on her truck with the logo on it. So the last scene shows Tom Hanks looking down one road after another until he turns around to watch the lady driving down the road. The movie ends, but you are left with the impression that he hopped back in his car, followed her home and they lived happily ever after.

Now, this also affected me, because just a few scenes before, you would have thought that this character's life was over. But it wasn't. God has His script in His hand and I think a lot of times while we sit in despair, He's leaning over us, whispering "just wait for what happens on the next page". That can fill us with hope. Just cause we can�t see a happy ending doesn�t mean that there isn�t one. There probably is one, just around the bend. He�s a good God, ya know.

We don't know the end of the story of our lives. We hardly understand even the story. Tom Hanks thought that he was going to marry this girl, then his plane crashes and he ends up on a desert island with some Fed Ex packages, one of which inspires him, so when he comes back, he meets this other woman...God works like that...don't you just love it? I think He just wants to display His glory in this way, so that we can see that it was none other than the hand of God that brought certain things to be. His plans are better and His ways are higher...sigh...

Don�t you love when even the most common things inspire you?

:md