The Pursuit of Happyness

Last night Katie and I went to go see the new Will Smith (and Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" and it was absolutely unbelievable! It has definitely made my list of top 5 movies of the year! It is an impossibly inspiring story of a dad (Will Smith) who goes to unbelievably great lengths to make a life for his son. Jaden (who's character, in real life and the movie of being Will's son added depth and obvious believability to the role) is the encapsulation of "happyness." This movie moved me so deeply that I was in tears at the end. While parts were somewhat predictable, it grabbed a hold of my gut and wouldn't let go. It gave me such a strong sense of perspective of how blessed I am, not only with my beautiful loving wife, and my family, but even the material possessions that I take for granted. This movie made me rethink my priorities.

I think that this movie paints the best picture of the false promises of the world, "Get rich quick" schemes and the ideal that having it all will make you happy, and that there are times when "happyness" must be gained through the struggle and the toil it takes to make something out of whatever situation it is that you find yourself in. In our youth minsitry we are taking a break for the holidays, as Katie and I go back to our families in California (we are so stoked!) but after we get back we are jumping into a new series called "Baggage Check." The main thrust in this series is that we all have junk in our lives and we need to be honest about it with each other so that God can heal us. But an equally important idea that I hope will be communicated in that series will be that sometimes we want the reward without the work, and yet the scriptures are clear that God uses the diffucult times in our lives to make us stronger. As Christians, many of us, myself included sometimes, want to grow, but dont want to go throught the painful circumstances that we know are required for us to do so. This is the premise of this film. This idea is what makes it so extraordinary. The story of overcoming all obsticles in the pursuit of what will make us all most happy: not money, position or power, that not really what will satisfy. In "The Pursuit of Happyness" what satisfies, what is worth struggling and work and sacrificing for are the ingredients of true "Happyness":
Love... Hope... Purpose... Dreams...