We never really expect to lose a loved one, do we?  Maybe after a long illness or an aging person, we see the writing on the wall; but really people in our lives tend to go in and out.

Our children grow up and then go out to make their way in the world.  Our siblings, or maybe we take a job in another state.  Our retiring parents move south.  Death is the more shocking of a loss and we know that too well.

In light of that, how should we be treating those relationships that are the closest to us?  For some reason family relationships tend to be the very thing that we take for granted the most.  I don’t know why that is, but it seems to be true much of the time.  The truth is we do not have our family relationships forever.

In Courageous, the young daughter of Adam is tragically removed from the family when she dies suddenly in a car crash.  What an incredible shock to any family.  Their family is then forced not only to face the issues of her loss, but their existing issues that were already a challenge among them.

Can we evaluate our relationships now, and then see how we can express what we have always wanted to say and do what we’ve always wanted to do?

My father died suddenly in 2008.  I mourned the loss of things that were never to become between him and me, but I did not regret anything said or unsaid.  I am thankful that we were able to live that way.  I want to be thankful for how  relate to my wife and children too, don’t you?  The only way to insure that is to get to it.  Leave nothing undone.  Make the most of the time that you have.

What are you willing for God to do in your life?

It seems that God is always willing to intervene in our lives but that perhaps we shut the door on Him by either wanting to take care of our own business or just ignoring God all together.  For those who are willing, though, He seems ready for action.

David stands ready to face Goliath and wins.  The three Hebrew young men are ready to stand against the foreign kingdom and get saved from death by fire.  The apostle Paul when he finally gives in to Jesus gets blessed and a calling.

In Courageous the Movie, Adam Mitchel proclaims his willingness to let God have control of his life.  He studies to find out God’s plans for fatherhood and seeks out God’s truth for being a dad.  I am reminded of the Old Testament verse in which God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Seekers are finders.  Find the truth of God in the Bible, in Christian people wiser in experience and study and in prayer.  When we find it we live it and we will never be the same again.

You have to know that sometimes God will do the miraculous in your life!  Why not all the time?  I cannot answer that.  I just know that sometimes He does.

In the movie, Javier is facing the edge of financial ruin losing job after job.  While it looks hopeless, we have to remember that God does some of His best work in the hopeless realm.  Javier is rejected from a job that he thought he had in the bag, so you can imagine his frustration.  Suddenly a man, who Javier does not know calls his name from a yard, and tells him to come over; he’s been waiting for him.

So without spoiling the great storyline details, he gets to earn some good money and has even greater surprises from the hand of God in the future.

It seems to me that we only really call out to God when we are in serious distress.  Other than that we can handle it.  God seems to show up most when we acknowledge our need for Him and/or when we are looking for Him to work.

I believe as the Bible says that He is ready and able to do anything beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.  So let’s look to Him first and seek what He would like to do in the situations of our lives and give Him a chance to work.