This morning was one of those rare times in life where I got 5 hours of sleep and it seemed to be enough. Mixed with a mind that was racing at a million miles an hour, I decided to not fight it and just get up.

Due to my roommate's pretentiousness towards movies, my intake of movies has dropped significantly in the past year. Even Blockbuster tried to lure me back upon my last visit - since it had been so long - in hopes of bringing me back to our once happy and consistent relationship.

So with some extra hours on a lazy Saturday morning I popped in Seven Pounds thinking maybe I'd fall back asleep if it got boring. It turned out to be one of the deepest movies I have seen in a long time.

As I lay in my bedroom early this morning, amidst a sunrise I rarely get to be apart of, and a stillness I never experience in my home, I was brought to literal tears as I watched a man so deep stricken with a loss in his life attempt to make amends by lovingly sacrifice to those in need.

And while I guessed the ending from about 10 minutes into the movie, this did not detract in the least from its power.

I found myself gearing up for a powerful and emotional end, but it was the scene with a gift of new life for battered woman and her kids that best exemplifies the heart behind the grace and love in this movie. And as powerful as the final moments of this movie turned out to be, it was this scene that caught me off guard.



"All I ask is that you honor my wishes and of course live life abundantly."

Sound at all familiar?

Is that not the reason Jesus himself said he came to this earth?

Is that not the power of the gospel? That it not only has the profound ability to changes one's life, but that life that is changed yields one that isn't easy, or effortless, or without pain: but that is abundant and full.

I preached a mini-sermon series back in 2003 where I talked about the "Great Contradiction" between denying oneself and living life to the fullest.

Yet I wish I had this clip back then because I think it communicates not just the grace of God - which has become almost cliché in most sermons - but probably more importantly the heart behind the grace.

As Will Smith narrates, "...if you are wondering why you? Please stop." I find myself believing that it is that picture into the heart of God that best enables one to live an abundant life.