Movie Review: "I Can Only Imagine"

"I Can Only Imagine" is the movie based on the very popular song of the same title. And it follows the life of the lead singer of the band Mercy Me, Bart Millard. The movie basically covers the time from his childhood, through his early band days, to the point of him writing "I Can Only Imagine", one of the most popular Christian songs ever written.

The lead character, Bart Millard, is played by J. Michael Finley, a broadway actor making his film debut in this movie. And he does a great job! The movie also stars Dennis Quaid who does a superb job playing Bart's dad. Dennis Quaid is fantastic in this movie and is very convincing as the controlling and sometimes abusive father. 

Through the movie, Bart struggles with his family life, his goals and desires, and finally ends up doing what he loves, singing. Although his father disapproves, he begins a musical journey and joins a struggling band. They call themselves MercyMe, taken from a saying by Bart's grandmother. Their old tour bus takes them from town to town until they meet up with a manager well played by Trace Adkins. Throughout the movie, Bart struggles with relationships, with his father and his girlfriend, and the haunting memories of his childhood. 

As a musician myself, I thought the movie felt authentic and the story line was captivating, and flowed well. The music and singing is top-notch.  Although the film is full of unfulfilled dreams, broken relationships and heartaches, it has a great ending  - one of reconciliation and redemption. For me, the very last scene was perfect - wow! So bring your tissues, and definitely go see this one! It's a must see, especially if you are a fan of the title song. 

My rating:  9   (out of 10) 

A World Gone Berserk

It seems like the world has gone berserk! Murders, shootings, terrorist attacks, war, hate, violence, wickedness, and just plain evil. Is there some kind of virus going around that causes insanity? Whatever the cause, things don't appear to be getting much better.  

Now some may say that the world has always been this bad, and it only seems to be worse because we have such real-time access to global news through modern technology. When evil or violence occurs, we hear about it, and even see it, almost immediately. But I wonder. Do societies and cultures gradually become more immoral and evil over time? You know what? It sure seems that way. For example, compare our country's morality to what it was 50 years ago and there's only one conclusion you can make as far as the direction we are headed. 

I wonder what God thinks when He sees the condition of this world? After all, it started out pure, but then degraded into corruption. Do you think He will ever get to the point where He is sorry that He even created humans?  Well...as a matter of fact, He once did! There was a time, long ago, when that's exactly what happened. Mankind had became more and more wicked. And God noticed. 

"The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. (Genesis 6:5) 

Do you know what God felt about that? It broke His heart! "So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart." (Genesis 6:6)

But God didn't just sit back and do nothing. On the contrary, He felt there was only one thing that He could do. Wipe out every living thing!  What?!   

And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”  (Genesis 6:7)

That would have been the end of the human race if it wasn't for one man whose name was Noah. "But Noah found favor with the Lord" (Genesis 6:8)  The rest is history. Mankind got a second chance. The human race started anew, but because of Satan's influence, evil starting creeping in again. I wonder, are we again getting to the point of God's disgust with the human race? Will God again decide to destroy His creation? I think He would have done exactly that by now except for one major difference between Noah's world and our's ....JESUS!

Instead of destroying the human race, God decided to save it - by sending a Savior. Without Jesus, the world would be doomed. We would be without hope. Jesus is the only hope for the human race. He has overcome the world. If we are in Christ, believing in Him and following Him, then we overcome the world as well, forgiven and saved by grace.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  (Ephesians 6:12)

There's a spiritual battle going on. However, we can resist and overcome. 

 "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."  (2 Peter 1:3-4)