Imagine

God calls us to proclaim His truth in the words we speak and in the way we live our lives.  We can
also come before the Lord in worship and declare what He has done. Psalm 89 states:
(1) I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens."

The words of our mouth reflect not only what is in our heart, as Jesus said, but can express the greatness of God in our lives - by redeeming us, He has done an incredible, humanly impossible work: to move us from darkness into light, delivering us from sin's power.  That in and of itself is praiseworthy.  But, by virtue of our acceptance into the Kingdom of God, He works through our lives, bringing honor to His name and giving us a testimony of His faithfulness.

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Jesus had a very unique way of driving home spiritual truth - He used parables, stories, to illustrate
His principles. Matthew 13 says:
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'

On Friday's edition of the program, I spotlighted one of the teams in the NCAA tournament and the coaching philosophy of its head coach.  Little did I know or could have projected that within a matter of hours, that team, the Virginia Cavaliers, coached by Tony Bennett, would go down to defeat, making history in a dubious way - the first #1 seed to be defeated by the #16 seed.

Maybe, you too had to look up what UMBC stood for.  And are there any other teams named the Retrievers?  Or the Ramblers?  As I recall, the Rambler used to be a car in the 60's, but these Ramblers, of Loyola-Chicago have traveled into sweet territory, defeating Miami and Tennessee on last-second shots.  And, maybe you now know of one Sister Jean, a 98-year-old nun who serves as the chaplain of the team?

Coach Porter Moser stated, according to CBSSports.com: "Sister Jean is our team chaplain, she's our team comfort blanket, she's our team scout. She's just a blessing," adding, "The way she prays for us, the way she smiles. When you walk in a room and you see Sister there, you just feel good."

You'll see another double-digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen in addition to #11 Loyola.  There's Syracuse out of the ACC, a conference from Virginia and North Carolina did not advance past the second round, but there are 3 other teams: Duke, Clemson, and Florida State, which became the second team to take down a top seed by defeating Xavier last night.

March Madness is about incredible competition, the hope of a team that shouldn't win actually accomplishing victory, and heartwarming storylines.

And, speaking of great stories, how about the "upset" at the movie box office this weekend?  

No surprise at the top, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

In a surprise upset, the faith-based 'I Can Only Imagine' — about the best-selling Christian song of all time — beats 'A Wrinkle in Time' and 'Love, Simon.'

Black Panther remained atop the box office, with Tomb Raider at #2.  But, coming in third, was I Can Only Imagine, which, according to estimates on the site, debuted to $17.1 million from 1,628 cinemas to defeat A Wrinkle in Time and Love, Simon — the first film from a major Hollywood studio featuring a gay teen protagonist — in a surprise upset.

Roadside Attractions marketed the film. Co-president Howard Cohen stated, "It definitely shows that if you build a good movie, this audience will come out," adding, "This is a branded property, and Dennis Quaid did a ton of publicity."

Box Office Mojo reported initially that the film had an impressive "$10,476 per theater average. This is the seventh largest opening for a faith-based feature of all-time (fourth if you don't count the Narnia films) and the best opening since 2014's Heaven is for Real, which opened with $22.4 million while playing in nearly 800 more theaters. The film received an 'A+' CinemaScore from opening day audience, of which 67% were female and 80% were over the age of 35."

Meanwhile, A Wrinkle in Time, the adaptation of the children's book by Madeleine L’Engle, according to ChristianHeadlines.com, has not received a very favorable rating from critics or audiences, which could have resulted from a decision by the filmmaker.  The story states, "The book contains many Christian themes and also includes several Bible verses and references to Jesus, but the film’s screenwriter decided to leave all of that out."  The article says:

According to The Christian Post, Jennifer Lee (who was also the screenwriter for Frozen) said she left out Christian themes because she wanted the film to be more “inclusive.”

"What I looked at, one of the reasons Madeleine L'Engle's [book] ... had that strong Christian element to it wasn't just because she was Christian, but because she was frustrated with things that needed to be said to her in the world and she wasn't finding a way to say it and she wanted to stay true to her faith," Lee explained.

And I respect that and I understand those feelings of things you want to say in the world that need to be said that are out there. In a good way, I think there are a lot of elements of what she wrote that we have progressed as a society and we can move onto the other elements,” she continued.

 Keep your eyes on this director. Newsweek reports that:

Jennifer Lee, the director of Disney's Frozen, said there were "tons of conversations" about a lesbian story arc for Queen Elsa in the film's upcoming sequel, Frozen 2.

The director, according to the website, said she "wouldn't be opposed" to see the queen in a lesbian relationship in the sequel.

Talk about tone deaf.  This is the director who extracted Christian themes from her latest movie.  And, another movie released this weekend features a teenage gay relationship.

We are influenced by stories - and the stories that are portrayed in the theatre can inspire and reinforce our values or they can present a corrupting influence.  I am thankful that an excellent, real-life, and God-inspired story has presented a strong contrast to what passes for entertainment fare in the local cineplex.  The power of story is also something that makes March Madness so compelling.

Kudos to Jon and Andy Erwin and the I Can Only Imagine team for presenting an engaging and redemptive story, not covering up or watering down the faith elements, but allowing the story of Bart Millard and his father to breathe and to touch the heart.

As I have highlighted on my radio show, Jesus demonstrated an incredible use of story.  The parables that He shared contained a profound ability to illustrate spiritual truth. And, His story - of God sending His only son to redeem fallen humanity by giving of His life out of His great love - has brought hope for the world and healing for hearts and lives.

We can also be inspired to tell our stories:  what has God done for you?  If you are a Christian, He has certainly saved you, and that is a wonderful story in and of itself.  Where have you seen the Lord work in your life?  How has He shown up?  Our willingness to tell and to illustrate what He has done can connect with the people with whom you are called to interact.  Don't water it down, don't try to make it "culturally relevant" or "politically correct" - you can give Him the glory and see how He will use that testimony.