Okay, so I watched the movie, “Life of Pi” last night. When I watched the previews on the commercials before it came out it intrigued me a little, but wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not. At the recommendation of a friend I decided to go ahead and watch it. To my surprise it was actually really good. It’s one off those movies that totally makes you go in to deep thought. So, if you’d like to watch the movie without being spoiled as to what it’s all about, it is best you stop reading now, go watch it, and then finish this later. … but, if you don’t mind being spoiled or you’ve already seen it, read on…
In the movie the main character, Pi, was a sixteen year old boy that lived at a zoo with his family in India. Hard times came about and his father had to move the whole family and the animals to Canada where he intended to settle down and sell the animals. All the zoo animals and the family hopped on a Japanese freighter to travel to their new home. One night Pi was awaken by a storm and went up on deck to check it out. While on deck something happened and the ship began to sink. He tried to get back to his family to save them, but it was already under water below deck. Crew members threw him in a life boat and as they were about to get in themselves a loose zebra fell in the boat plummeting it into the ocean away from the ship. He drifted off to sea watching the freighter sink killing everyone on board including his entire family.
Here Pi is lost out to sea in a little bitty life boat in the middle of nowhere with a zebra, an orangutan, and a spotted hyena. The hyena keeps attacking him so he’s forced to hang on to the oar of the boat hanging on for dear life. The hyena ends up killing the zebra and the orangutan and then all of sudden a Bengal tiger leaps out from under a tarp killing the hyena. Great, as if a hyena wasn’t bad enough now he’s trapped out here with a tiger, named Richard Parker. Pi continued dangling from the oar to keep away from the tiger and eventually takes water rations, and a hand axe and builds a small raft to stay at a safe distance from him.
Now that you’ve got the basic impact of the severity of the situation stop and take a minute to think about how you would handle that. He lost his entire family, was stripped of absolutely everything he owned, and trapped out in the ocean in a life boat in the middle of nowhere with a Bengal tiger trying to take his life. Really? And I just thought I was having a bad day?!
Eventually the tiger and he became friends and Richard Parker became somewhat of a life line for him. A kindred spirit keeping him company while lost at sea. It never really tells you exactly how long they were lost at sea, but I know it was at least two weeks or more. He was completely broken, lost, and had no other options. Yet even though he lost everything and was in such dire straights he still had an attitude of faith and trusted God. He does what he can and begins fishing and is able to feed himself and Richard Parker along with collecting rain water for them both to drink.
I don’t want to ruin the whole movie by telling you everything that happened in it, but there are three things I’d like to point out here. First, when we’re in the middle of tragedy or something bad is happening in our own lives it’s important to keep hope, courage, and faith while we’re going through it. Pi was trapped out there in the ocean with a tiger and he found ways to focus on what he could do instead of what he couldn’t. Second, even though it doesn’t feel like it we need to remember from the very first moment God was always with us. Pi could have slept through the storm and died with the rest of the people on the ship, but God woke him up and therefore saved his life. Third, even though something may look and feel like it’s the worst possible situation you could be in eventually God turns it around for good. Richard Parker may have been a threat in the beginning, but became a life line in the end.
There are many more points to this movie that show off the love, guidance, and provision of God. Those are just a few that really stuck out to me. While this was just a work of fiction it still makes you stop and really think about Gods guiding Hand in our lives. Every one of us has different things going on that test us daily and rock us in profound ways. When those times come trust God through them, keep faith, always know and remember God is with you, and try to find the good in every situation.
God is there with you, God is making a way, and God will turn things around for good. Trust Him, have faith, and most importantly BELIEVE!
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