THE BUCKET LIST

I was not prepared for what a touching movie this would be. I don't know why..I knew the subject matter. Two men meet in a hospital room, with terminal diagnoses. So they compile a list of things they want to do before they "kick the bucket". Their "bucket list".

Morgan Freeman plays Carter, and Jack Nicholson plays Edward. Carter is a family man. His kids are grown, but he's always been there for them - a loyal husband and father. He's worked 45 years as a mechanic to provide for his family. Edward, is a corporate billionare. He's been married four times, and he owns the hospital in which he is now a patient. His trusty assistant Thomas, is played by Sean Hayes. These two men are different as night and day, but they find themselves at the same place in their lives - in a hospital bed, facing death. After a few days as roommates, Edward finds Carter's bucket list in the trash, and begins to add to it. He offers Carter the opportunity to accomplish the things on his list. At first, Carter is hesitant, but Edward tells him that he's "got nothing but money" and wants to do this while they still feel good enough to do it. Much to the frustration of his wife, Carter accepts the offer. So they go off, around the world, slowly but surely crossing things off the list. (Thomas comes along with them to handle the details) But the fun comes to an end when Carter adds a particular item to the list - for Edward to reconcile with his estranged daughter before he dies. Edward throws a tantrum and leaves Thomas and Carter standing on the street as he drives away, furious.
They go back to their lives, but as we know their time is limited, the story takes the turn that we have been expecting all along. The death, the funeral - it was very heart wrenching, but it was the last scene that got me. Have your Kleenex ready.

As I mentioned, I didn't think this was gonna be as good of a movie as it was. I figured I'd enjoy it - after all, how can you go wrong with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? But wow, it was a really really great movie. (note: there is bad language - especially from Edward) There was a lot of contemplating life and death. Carter was a man of faith and Edward just...was. But as their friendship grew and death lurked around the corner, Edward hoped he was wrong.

One of the lines in the movie is: You measure yourself by the people that measure themselves by you. So consider this: who aspires to live life the way you do? As a Christian, this is a very important question. We live in the land of the Christian Lifestyle - but is it enough to be happy and live a clean life? Paul said, Imitate me as I imitate Him (Jesus). A study of Paul and Jesus will tell us that there was more to their lives than just random acts of kindness. Both gave their lives to make sure that we were assured of what awaits us after this life is through. So do we imitate Paul as he imitated Jesus? Do we risk all to make sure that others know the way to be saved? Or do we live a good life and hope that someday, someone will ask us what it is that makes us happy? That doesn't seem to be the way Paul lived, or the way Jesus lived. They laid it out on the table in truth and love. I gotta tell you - I am not doing that. I'm failing miserably in that area. I am afraid, of what? I don't really know. The prayer of the believers in the Book of Acts was for boldness. They got persecuted, and instead of asking for safety, they asked for boldness. Ouch. Lord, give your children boldness to speak Your Word to those who are perishing in this world.

Whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
James 4:14

ENCOUNTERS OF THE HEART: THERE'S MORE TO THE STORY THAN MEETS THE EYE, By Cathy Heiliger

This book takes a few stories from the Gospels and gives a more intimate account of some people who had encounters with Jesus. The stories include:

• The woman with an issue of blood who touched the hem of Jesus' garment
• Jairus, who's daughter died and was healed by Jesus
• Mary, Martha and Lazarus
  
• Mary anointing Jesus' feet with oil.
• The leper who Jesus healed
  

The stories are told in first person, with the person telling their own story about their encounter with Jesus. I've enjoyed Christian fiction about biblical stories before, and in the Introduction, the author addresses the fact that she is very careful to not add to the scriptures, but simply "colorizes" the scriptural accounts. There were things about the book I loved, and also things I didn't love. If you can hang in there with me through the negative, I'll quickly get to the parts I loved, because I felt that those parts made the book worth reading. So here goes...

The first story was the woman with the issue of blood. This was my least favorite - one of the reasons being that it made me a little nervous to read "quotes" by Jesus that were not in the bible. The woman tells her story about suffering for many years. Then, she touches Jesus' hem and gets healed. When He asks who touched Him, she falls before Him, and begins to confess everything in her life, which included shameful things that were done to her in her past. It was interesting to consider that this woman could have had many more things that she suffered - it brought her story more to life. What I didn't like were things we were to imagine Jesus saying. He told her to go in peace. But then, he tells her, "Stop beating yourself up! Be made whole from the suffering plague of self hatred and shame for whatever you have done that has contributed to your condition." I'll just be up front and tell you that I don't think the current trend of feeling good about ourselves is what we should be focusing on as believers. The truth is, we are not good. I think a lack of self esteem is the least of our problems. So I guess I couldn't appreciate the "stop beating yourself up" line. However, I acknowledge that there are people who have been through abuse of many kinds that do need to be pulled out of that pit of despair, and they could benefit from this story.

Now, with that said, let me tell you about the good parts...

First, I loved how she tied the stories together. As I said, the woman with the issue of blood tells her story, and when she tells of seeing Jesus, she mentions that she saw Jairus with Jesus, and it was odd that he looked like he had just gotten out of bed! Then, in the following chapter, when Jairus is telling his story, he tells us that when he is leading Jesus to his daughter, Jesus all of sudden stops and wants to know who touched him! That was beautifully done - I loved it!

But the stories I loved most, were those about Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. First we hear from Martha's point of view when Mary sat at Jesus' feet while Martha did all the work. Then we hear about how Lazarus fell ill and died. We hear about how they were desperate for Jesus to come and heal him, but Jesus delayed His coming! They felt so confused and abandoned! It was a beautiful, moving story that gave me chills and choked me up a bit. They wondered how He could leave them alone when they needed Him the most. Also woven into their story, was the story of Simon, the leper who Jesus healed (the 1 of 10 who returned to thank Him!). I was really able to imagine the scene as it may have been!

The book is short - 111 pages. It's sort of a "workbook" since every chapter has a "Reflections" section at the end, with questions to ponder. (I didn't linger over the questions very long, as I was anxious to keep reading) Encounters of the Heart was good food for thought, and drove me to my bible to double check the actual stories! I enjoyed it!