gospel of One

I don’t usually go to movies, in fact, I rarely watch them at all.  I like movies, I just usually don’t take the time to watch one, save for 10+ hour flights that happen a couple of times a year.

I had just gotten home to make dinner, which included cooking vegetable lentil soup from a can with some rosemary basil crackers on the side.  It was 6:45p.  My roommate asked if I’d like to go to the Regal Cinema Theater in Tigard for a movie.  I said, “What time?”  “7:10,” he responded.  And in the unlikeliest of twists, I said, “Sure, what the heck, let’s go.”

As we watched King Arthur, it came to a scene where hundreds of children were held captive to be sold as slaves.  While the enemies chase King Arthur and his friends, they (Arthur & Friends) come upon the children locked up behind the gates.  They quickly break through the gates to set the children free.  In a funny moment, the kids come out from behind the gates and they all just stand there, not having any clue what to do next.  Arthur and his friends play “boogeyman” to scare the kids and get them to run away.  Soon enough, they start screaming and run to ‘freedom.’

This took me to my own memory of another scene with many children.  I was traveling through Zimbabwe with my friend Garikai and a couple of others.  We were visiting Feeding Projects along the way with a non-profit (hohafrica.com).  We came upon a village deep in the bush where a white man had not visited in 10 years.  As I stepped out of the jeep, dozens of kids stood at a distance and froze.  They stared at me intently.  I smiled back.  After what seemed like several minutes, one of them stepped forward, walked up to me, and touched me.  And then another did as well.  And then another.  And pretty soon, we were all running around speaking the same language.  The language of sport, of course. 

It only took one.

In one scene, a child finally screams and takes off running and all of the other children fall in running behind.

In another scene, one child steps forward courageously and in doing so gives freedom for all other children to follow in behind.

The power of one is powerful indeed.

No matter what your age, most of us are looking for someone to follow.

You may choose fear or you may choose courage, regardless of your choice, people are following in behind you.