Indy Escapism at It's Best...and Some Deeper Thought

I have to tell you that I've forgotten how much fun an Indiana Jones movie can be. After all, it's been nearly twenty years since the last installment of one of my all-time favorite movie trilogies. On this particular Saturday the little wife and I were in desperate need of some good old fashioned escapism - especially after the stress and emotional smorgasbord of having our oldest daughter get married last Sunday morning...at sunrise...outside...and then having our middle daughter move out into her own place on Friday. You might say that it was a long and somewhat difficult week, so as we nestled into the seats at the Granbury Driftwood Theater this afternoon for a matinee showing of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," I felt sort of like the Calgon bath commercial of some years ago..."Indiana, take me away." And take me away Indiana did. What a great movie! Yeah, yeah, I know, its been called brain candy, and some of the critics have panned it as not living up to the prior Indiana efforts; but hey, if I want deeper meaning, I'll go see an M. Night Shyamalan flick. Indiana Jones is precisely what we needed today, and it did not disappoint. You had all the escapist staples - good guys, bad guys, good-guys-turned bad guys, the primary villan, danger, intrigue, high energy chase scenes, stuff getting blown up, the love story sub-plot...it was all here! Combine all this with a diet coke, a box of Junior Mints and my bride sitting next to me and I'm not sure, but I think I might have experienced a little slice of heaven right here in G-town, Texas today! But you know what? For no extra charge, I came away from this Indiana movie with a little deeper spiritual thought in my pocket - as I recall that I have with all three of the previous Indiana Jones movies as well. There always has been a very spiritual undercurrent to the Indiana Jones product. I mean, who could ever forget Indiana stepping out into nothingness over a bottomless abys, only to have the invisible bridge appear beneath his feet? A crystal clear illustration of the true nature of faith. In a similar vein, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is most definitely an Indiana Jones for the information age and it speaks directly to our most ardent search for knowledge, truth, and understanding. I'll not blow the plot for those of you who are yet to see it, but for those who have seen it, how poignant of a moment is it when Indiana realizes that its not a treasure of gold they've been seeking (an Indiana plot staple), but yet, a treasure of knowledge? Sitting there in the darkened theater, it reminded me that life really is a pursuit of knowledge, of continually trying to make sense of this window of time we have on this blue marble suspended in space. It reminded me that Solomon, obviously quite a seeker of knowledge himself, wrote that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." It reminded me of the simple fact that without God and His Word, this life makes absolutely no sense at all. It reminded me again that it is in the discovering and living out of God's calling and purpose for our lives that true meaning and cotentment are found. It is serving the true and living God that gives life its context, its meaning, and its purpose. And after all, at the end of the day, isn't that what every human being desires in the deepest depths of their souls? To truly know why they are here and to understand what this life is all about. Reminds me of the old saying that the "richest man existing without knowing God's purpose for his life, lives in abject poverty of the soul." Wow! Indiana Jones is better than ever...pure-de escapism and deeper thought, too! And all that for just five bucks a head!