“Forty-one, why did he do that?”

by chuckofish

Well, we are in for some bad weather again–of course, the Easter weekend will be rainy and stormy. So much for egg hunts etc. C’est la vie.

But our zeal will not be dampened!

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand;
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From burns beneath the noontide heat
And burdens of the day.

–Elizabeth Cecilia Douglas Clephane, 1868

We started watching Ben Hur (1959) last weekend and we will finish up this weekend. We are too old and go to bed too early to watch it all at once. But that’s okay. We have seen it so many times, we know it by heart.

“We keep you alive to serve this ship. So row well, and live.”

The familiarity of old films is one of the special pleasures in life. At least for oddballs like me and my family members who enjoy watching and re-watching old movies.

(The twins also got their first look at this classic movie.)

I know we are in a distinct minority here. I know this from the blank looks I receive when I mention an old movie no one else has seen. Sigh.

The other night watching the scene in the galley when Quintus Arrius orders Ben Hur’s shackles to be unlocked before the sea battle and the slave next to him asks him, “Forty-one, why did he do that?” and Judah says, “I don’t know. Once before, a man helped me. I didn’t know why then”…I thought of the times someone has helped me in a somewhat mysterious way. It is, of course, God working “10,000 things in your life every day” and we need to watch for those times. They may not be as obvious as Jesus giving you a drink of water when you are dying of thirst, but maybe they are. Keep watching for them.

In the meantime, watch a (good) old religious movie during Holy Week, check out the budding trees and plants in your yard, look up, pray.