3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,
5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ...
You may have seen him wearing a crimson jersey on Saturday afternoons. Or perhaps watched his portrayal of a great Crimson Tide running back in a movie produced by the Erwin Brothers. He's the son of a highly regarded Alabama player who now serves as chaplain for the football team.
According to IMDB, he appeared in 64 episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles from 2020-2023. The program was cancelled last year after 14 seasons.
But, Caleb Castille's on-screen debut came in the 2015 movie, Woodlawn. I came across an article published on the Movieguide website, which said this:
“God brought him into our system in the most Supernatural way,” director Andy Erwin said. Erwin cast Castille as Tony Nathan in the Movieguide® Teddy Bear Award®-nominated movie WOODLAWN. “I’ll never forget driving you to set for the first day on WOODLAWN and you just being like squeaky clean, brand-new, just bright-eyed.”
Castille attended the Movieguide® Awards and said, “It was absolutely incredible. You can’t ask for a better situation as a young actor. I was only acting for about two years, and to step into something that I was halfway used to, but I have to give credit to these guys who have been doing this for way longer than I have, and just surrounding me, and we all had the same goal in mind: to create a great film, and bring his story to life. It’s been a treat.”
Embedded within the article was an edition of the podcast, The Storytellers, which featured a conversation between Andy and Caleb. Caleb talked about the importance of following God's direction:
“I kind of feel like we toil in that space a lot even in our spiritual lives. We’re just like, ‘Oh yeah, this is the path I’m on God and this is what I’m so committed to,'” Castille said. “Meanwhile He’s trying to just get us to look over here. Like I [God] know you want this right now, I know this is what you want but if you just turn your attention this way, give all of yourself to me and right now you’ll find that I have something way greater.”
The article notes: "Castille says that it’s his faith that’s allowed him to grow in Hollywood. The young actor, who is the son of Alabama football legend Jeremiah Castille, is also very open about his personal faith." It included a 2021 Instagram post, in which he wrote:
“When I think back over the past decade of my life Im humbled thinking about what Gods grace has allowed me to accomplish. But I wouldn’t have been able to do any of those things without my support group.❤️ The level of expectation I have for the next decade of my life can’t even be measured. If you’re reading this, try GOD and watch him flood your life with immeasurable JOY! 🙏🏾”
Caleb Castille is so obviously aware of God's hand in the trajectory of his life. So are Andy and Jon Erwin - their studio, Kingdom Story Company, has another release heading into theaters this weekend, a film version of the classic play, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
And, just a note, the spirit of the revival that occurred at Birmingham's Woodlawn High School lives on - one of the characters in the film is based on Andy and Jon's father, Hank Erwin, former radio host and state senator in Alabama, who has had a hand in organizing a prayer effort this coming Monday night called the Great American Prayer event, at 6:00 p.m. local time.
I think we all have to evaluate where God is leading us. When we look at what He's done, what He's gifted us to do, and how He has used us, we can walk in anticipation of what He will do next. As long as we're breathing, He has a plan. Our responsibility is to be obedient to Him.
Just a word here, too - there have been comments that I have seen about the potential for a spiritual revival in our nation. We are seeing pockets of that take place, especially among college students. There has also been concern expressed about the apathy of the Church in dealing with the issues that are threatening us as a nation. Not to say that the election of governmental leaders is a sole catalyst for a nationwide revival, but what if the Church were to rise up and elect authorities who, instead of trying to omit the influence of Christianity from American life, would welcome it? What kind of conditions could that create? We are a deeply troubled nation - we need the hand of Almighty God. While I do believe that the outcome of the election will accomplish His purposes, we can call upon Him on behalf of those who need to be saved and revived.
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