Andy's Blog: A Personal Word

February 23, 2010

Feb. 23, 2010

They were showing reruns of Forrest Gump on TV last week. It is one of my all time favorite movies. It shares the story of a young man who is mentally “challenged,” but whose life in every other way challenges us. 

In the movie, Jenny is a young girl who rescues Forrest from the bullies on the school bus. They become life long friends. But as they grow up, it is apparent that Jenny is the one who most needs rescuing. Terrorized by an abusive, alcoholic father, Jenny spends much of her life running. She leaves home in search of love.

Through the years, Forrest continues to cross paths with Jenny as she bounces from one relationship to another. She, too, becomes an addict. The only fixed point in her life is Forrest, who continues to believe in her innocence and goodness, and he continues to love. But Jenny continues to run and search.

It takes a terminal illness for Jenny to realize that the love she has been searching for was right there waiting for her all the time. It was the love of Forrest who was simple and not very smart, but who knew what love was. They married, and for a few brief months before her death, Jenny finally discovers the peace that only love can bring.

The season of Lent is a season of return. It calls us back to the basics of life. The good news of the gospel is so simple that we can miss it: the one constant in life is God’s love for us. We can try to find that core love in lots of other ways, and come up empty.  Yet no matter where we run, how lost we become, His love is there waiting for us when we are ready to return and receive it. 

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