Faith in Film 2, The Blind Side

Tonight we're going to be screening "The Blind Side." I remember when I first saw the trailer for the film, and how it moved me. It doesn't always take a lot for me to get excited about a film while watching the trailer, but this formed a different kind of instant connection.

My normal Sunday morning routine is to wake early, shower and get ready, and catch a few minutes of ESPN's Sunday morning shows before church. At 6 a.m., "Outside The Lines" airs. The show features stories that illustrate the human drama of sports.

In April 2009, on a Sunday morning before church, "Outside The Lines" aired a story on Michael Oher, a young offensive lineman drafted the preceding day by the Baltimore Ravens. As I listened to Michael's story, and the story of his adoptive family, the Tuohy, I was moved. To me, it was an example of faith in action.

"The Blind Side" tells a fictionalized version of that story, and I think the same principle holds. This round of Faith in Film I divided the content between films that offer a view of God, and how we interact with God, and films that offer a view of how we interact with each other in this world. I think "The Blind Side" is the perfect film to begin that second half of this session because it offers a beautiful example of faith in action.

Sean and Leigh-Anne Tuohy didn't save the world, but they made the world better by saving Michael Oher. We may not all be able to fix the problems of this world (only God can do that), but we can all do little things, expressions of the love Jesus Christ showed us, that make this world a better place.

That is what the story of the Good Samaritan is about. It's a call to live the faith we profess with our mouths. It's a call to engage in the brokenness of this world and let our light shine, not walk past and carry on with our lives. It's a lesson I still struggle with, and I'm sure many do too.

That's what makes a story like "The Blind Side" so powerful. It's faith in action. It's compassion in action. It's a reminder that we can all serve God by serving one another in love.

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