Late Thursday night thousands upon thousands if fans queued up to be the first people to see the final movie in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two.
As of 2011, the Harry Potter film franchise is the highest grossing film franchise of all time, with the seven films released grossing $6.3 billion worldwide. The new film, being the last and probably the best one (I don't know for sure as I am not seeing it until Tuesday but it is the best book in my opinion) will be expected to add significantly to that figure.
I just wanted to write about a possible reason why so many (including me!) have fallen in love with the Harry Potter series. I'll just come out with it...Harry Potter is special and we all want to be like him. Harry was the one who stopped Voldemort as a baby. He is the 'chosen one', the only one to finish him off for good. This is who he is throughout the entire set of books.
The whole human race wants to be special, we all want to be held above others and revered for great accomplishments. Some achieve these aims through their chosen fields...Andres Iniesta will always be remembered in Spain for scoring the goal that won them their first World Cup. Martin Luther King will always be remembered for his outstanding civil rights work. Einstein will be remembered for his genius. Whoever finds the cure for AID's will sure to be remembered forever.
Those who never achieve such heights begin to think that they were never meant to be special, that they are nothing that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."
But really, we're special already. Why? Because we are special the One who created life, who created everything, who our lives are about knowing LOVES us and MADE us exactly who we are. We are so special to God that He was prepared to die a agonising, lonely & excruciating death that we could join Him in Heaven FOREVER.
Those who achieve great things often feel empty at the end of it. Now that they achieved their goal there is nothing else left in their lives. They weren't special for long, time moves on and newspapers find new headlines and people find new heroes.
We will always be special to God, He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and we can have a special relationship with Him forever :-) Just ask Him and He will give freely to all who ask....
Showing posts with label How do I become a Christian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How do I become a Christian. Show all posts
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
It's just a bit of hard work...or is it?
Today was one of those extra hard working days. I try and work hard normally but today I had to give that little bit more to get things done. Added onto a very busy schedule and I am pretty pooped tonight.
In life we are, quite rightly, told that success is usually the result of hard work. People such as Sir Alan Sugar have worked extremely long hours to get where they are today.
The greatest gift ever in my opinion is the gift of forgiveness, relationship & eternal life from God. Some people wrongly assume that we have to earn this gift through doing good things or great things.
I was reading Romans 3 this morning and it was great to be reminded that Jesus has already done all the work, and these great gifts are given to us freely by trusting in Him!
Romans 3:21-26
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-10
In life we are, quite rightly, told that success is usually the result of hard work. People such as Sir Alan Sugar have worked extremely long hours to get where they are today.
I was reading Romans 3 this morning and it was great to be reminded that Jesus has already done all the work, and these great gifts are given to us freely by trusting in Him!
Romans 3:21-26
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
A Special Time
This week is a special time in my life. On Sunday I took some of the young people to a marvellous event called Ignite. It's in Cardiff every so often and about 500 young Christians meet and worship together and hear a message.
On 5 February five years ago I committed my life to Christ at a Ignite event. It was really special to be there on sunday night and remember the amazing things God has done for me since I made that brave decision. It was also incredible to see two of the guys we brought go up and make commitments at the end and I treasure all of these things in my heart.
It is very brave to stand up and walk to the front in front of five hundred contemporaries to make such a big commitment. It's even harder to then live out this decision in front of your friends & family.
If this is something you struggle with then do something about it, don't just lull around because you will never make a decision either way. I think there are people reading this that want to make the same choice I did but feel restricted by what people might think or by the size of the decision it is. Please speak to me and please pray to God who can do so much more than what we ask for. He is always there for us and is always a great help.
Also, He knows our hearts already!
Psalm 139:1-4 (read the whole Psalm this morning, love it so much!)
You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely
If it's any help, it is the greatest decision I ever made (my story is here) and the moment I achieved the real goal in a human being's life. To meet their maker.
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
I am on facebook (Michael Woodington), Twitter (mjw6150) or formspring (www.formspring.me/mjw6150) if you want to speak to me, formspring is anonymous as well ;)
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