1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,000 This is the Real Faith Podcast where we talk about a movie clip, a scripture, and make 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,600 an application. 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,560 We hope these provide encouragement to you. 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:16,960 I'm your host Chuck Bower. 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,480 I hold my undergraduate degree from Johnson University and my master's in historical 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,700 theology, Christian literature, from Wake Forest University. 7 00:00:25,700 --> 00:00:30,720 After a successful church ministry of 28 years, I became a public school teacher currently 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,140 teaching high school English. 9 00:00:33,140 --> 00:00:35,200 We hope you are blessed by these episodes. 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:40,200 Do you think I'd ever go to Sunday school? 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,200 Puny God. 12 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,200 I love you. 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,200 I know. 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:56,200 As you wish 15 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,480 Welcome back to Real Faith with Chuck Bower. 16 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,200 I really appreciate your positive feedback from the first episode. 17 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:03,200 I really do. 18 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:08,120 Thank you for sharing the news about the podcast and again, the positive feedback. 19 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:14,120 For the month of January, I'll be looking at time, both for the movie clips and scriptures. 20 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,960 Last week, I focused on Kung Fu Panda and living for the day because each day is a gift. 21 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:21,260 We must redeem the time. 22 00:01:21,260 --> 00:01:24,440 We must use our time wisely. 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,920 This week, our clip comes from Interstellar. 24 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:33,040 Interstellar just recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary and was re-released into 25 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,480 theaters last November. 26 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,440 Currently it's streaming on Netflix. 27 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:43,240 I really enjoy Christopher Nolan films and this is no exception. 28 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,960 As an aside, I'm really looking forward to his adaptation of The Odyssey that's supposed 29 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:53,040 to come out next year because that's one of the main texts that we teach freshmen at West 30 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:54,560 Stokes High School. 31 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,200 Back to Interstellar, it has a big star cast. 32 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:04,040 Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Timothy Chamoulet, Michael Caine, 33 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:05,040 among others. 34 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,320 It's truly an epic sci-fi film. 35 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,040 It clocks in just under three hours in length. 36 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:17,440 Interstellar in a nutshell is a story about a man who must leave his children in order 37 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:23,020 to find an inhabitable planet for the human race due to the Earth's decay. 38 00:02:23,020 --> 00:02:28,600 Our protagonist, Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, makes that painful decision and 39 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,120 leaves with his crew on his ship Endurance. 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,880 There's a lot to explain, so if you've never seen it before, I highly recommend it. 41 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,040 It does require your undivided attention. 42 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:48,480 NASA, working in secret, had already sent scientists on solo missions through a wormhole 43 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:52,160 to planets that might be inhabitable for human life. 44 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:57,120 One of these planets is called Miller's Planet because the scientist Laura Miller 45 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,760 landed on it and activated her thumbs up beacon. 46 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:06,520 Again, if a solo scientist found a planet that could support human life, they would 47 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:08,160 activate their beacon. 48 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:13,200 Then Cooper, Matthew McConaughey's crew, would follow up and visit the planets that 49 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,240 had the thumbs up beacon. 50 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:21,720 Miller's Planet is orbiting a black hole called Gargantua, and because of that orbit, 51 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,360 time is different on Miller's Planet. 52 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:32,000 Get this, one hour on Miller's Planet is equal to seven years on Earth. 53 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,120 There's a nice little Easter egg that Nolan did. 54 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:39,680 If you watch this clip, there's a little tick sound in the background with the music, and 55 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,120 it's just over a second, and it repeats. 56 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,240 I think it's 1.25 seconds. 57 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,580 This little tick repeats. 58 00:03:47,580 --> 00:03:51,040 That represents one day on Earth. 59 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:56,540 Again, one hour on Miller's Planet, seven years on Earth. 60 00:03:56,540 --> 00:03:58,620 Three of the crew go down to Miller's Planet. 61 00:03:58,620 --> 00:04:00,560 It is a water world. 62 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:01,880 It's covered in water. 63 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:07,640 The mountains they think they see are actually giant tidal waves coming toward them. 64 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:14,320 So Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, Brand, Anne Hathaway, and Doyle, who is played by Wes 65 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:19,200 Bentley of Yellowstone fame, quickly determine that it would be impossible for this planet 66 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,160 to sustain life. 67 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,840 They try to get Dr. Miller's capsule. 68 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:25,120 Doyle gets swept away. 69 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:31,160 Their ship gets waterlogged, but they finally escape and arrive back to the Endurance ship 70 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:38,160 where Romilly, played by David Giasi, is waiting, and we get our clip of the week. 71 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,800 Hello, Rom. 72 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,800 I've waited years. 73 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,240 How many years? 74 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,240 By now it must be... 75 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,240 It's 23 years, four months, eight days. 76 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,240 Doyle? 77 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:07,160 I thought I was prepared. 78 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,160 I knew the theory. 79 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,800 Reality's different. 80 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,560 And Miller? 81 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:16,560 There's nothing here for us. 82 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:21,560 Why didn't you sleep? 83 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:25,280 Oh, I had a couple of stretches. 84 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:27,680 I stopped believing you were coming back. 85 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,840 Something seemed wrong about dreaming my life away. 86 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,520 I learned what I could from the black hole. 87 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,000 But I couldn't send anything near Florida. 88 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,040 We've been receiving, but nothing gets out. 89 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,040 Is he alive? 90 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:45,280 Oh, yeah. 91 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:46,840 David? 92 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:49,920 We've got years of messages stored. 93 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,440 This is just a crushing clip. 94 00:05:53,440 --> 00:06:00,240 Romilly patiently waits for 23 years, four months, eight days, as announced by the robot 95 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:01,680 TARS. 96 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:07,400 They were on Miller's planet for a little over three hours, but to Romilly and everyone 97 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:12,640 else on earth, it was over 23 years. 98 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:17,280 It's crushing to Cooper because his children would now be adults. 99 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:23,760 He missed most of their lives, and that hits him like a ton of bricks. 100 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,640 Again, I encourage you to watch this movie when you watch this scene. 101 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,900 Cooper, Matthew McConaughey's character, goes right around Romilly because Romilly 102 00:06:30,900 --> 00:06:33,200 says you've got video messages stored. 103 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:40,280 So his children send him messages every so often, but he could not send them any because 104 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:41,540 he was on Miller's planet. 105 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:46,840 So he's got 23 years worth of messages. 106 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:52,600 I dare you to watch the following scene where Cooper is watching these video messages from 107 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,760 his kids and not cry like a baby. 108 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:57,160 I mean, it is powerful. 109 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,480 It gets me every time. 110 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,240 So what's our takeaway? 111 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,320 Well, time is fleeting. 112 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:05,320 We know that. 113 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,920 We don't have to have somebody tell us that, but that is a theme that we see throughout 114 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:09,920 scripture. 115 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,800 Our time is so short here on earth. 116 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,660 Listen to Psalm 39. 117 00:07:15,660 --> 00:07:21,240 It's a Psalm of David, and he starts off this Psalm with talking about not wanting to sin 118 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,880 with what he says, so he's going to wait. 119 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:28,320 But then he gives us this, again, Psalm 39, verses four through seven. 120 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,480 I'm reading from the New Living Translation. 121 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:36,320 He says, Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. 122 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:41,000 Remind me that my days are numbered, how fleeting my life is. 123 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:47,440 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand, my entire lifetime is just a moment 124 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:48,440 to you. 125 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:52,000 At best, each of us is but a breath. 126 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,120 We're merely moving shadows and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. 127 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:00,200 We heap up wealth not knowing who will spend it. 128 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,440 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? 129 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,960 My only hope is in you. 130 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:12,720 So David is reflecting and admitting to the Lord how brief his time here is on earth. 131 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:13,900 And we can say the same. 132 00:08:13,900 --> 00:08:16,760 Our life is but a breath. 133 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:21,720 I did a sermon illustration years ago, well, probably decades ago, but you know how time 134 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:27,920 goes, with a jar, some small stones, pebbles, sand, and some water. 135 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,880 I think I might have done it on a Sunday evening service. 136 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:37,160 I had the jar and I held it up, think of like a mason jar, a large one, and I poured the 137 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,200 small stones in all the way to the top. 138 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,300 Next, I pour in the pebbles. 139 00:08:42,300 --> 00:08:46,120 And as I'm pouring in the pebbles, I shake the jar so that the pebbles would fill into 140 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,240 the cracks created by the small stones. 141 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,880 Fill the jar all the way to the top once again. 142 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,560 Then I take the sand, same thing. 143 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:56,720 I pour in the sand. 144 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:01,960 I gently shake the jar as I'm pouring it in so that all the cracks and crevices are filled 145 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,120 in with the sand, all the way to the top. 146 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:07,880 The mason jar is packed full. 147 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,560 Stones, pebbles, sand. 148 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:16,840 Next, I take the jar again, hold it up, and I pour in some water a little bit at a time, 149 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:21,120 very carefully, and the water fills in everything. 150 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:26,480 Every space that the stones, pebbles, and finally sand couldn't fill in, the water, 151 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:28,400 of course, finds its way. 152 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,280 And I hold that jar up full. 153 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,340 Can't get anything else in there. 154 00:09:33,340 --> 00:09:38,160 And I ask, what's the lesson learned of this illustration? 155 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,620 I think I might have done this at church camp as well. 156 00:09:41,620 --> 00:09:47,640 Most of the time, people will say, well, the lesson is that you can always get more in 157 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:48,640 your life. 158 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,200 You can always cram more in. 159 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,200 If the jar is your life, then you can always fit more in. 160 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,160 But that's not it at all. 161 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:01,520 The lesson is you must start with the big rocks. 162 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:06,440 You have to start with the big rocks, or else it'll just turn into a mess, right? 163 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,000 You can't put the big rocks in afterwards. 164 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,440 So what are the big rocks in your life? 165 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:16,600 Now we can say the Sunday school answers, the Lord, family, friends, but that really 166 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,620 is it, isn't it? 167 00:10:18,620 --> 00:10:21,360 Those should be the big rocks in our lives. 168 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:27,560 Have we put those things in places of authority in our lives, because if not, it gets really 169 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:29,160 messy. 170 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,780 In the meantime, the clock is flying. 171 00:10:31,780 --> 00:10:35,080 We think we'll get serious about the Lord one day. 172 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:38,080 We'll get serious about our prayer life one day. 173 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,840 We'll get serious about our family relationships, spouse, kids, parents, one day. 174 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,980 Listen, I've always said we make time for the things that we want to do. 175 00:10:48,980 --> 00:10:51,080 And our time here is so short. 176 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:52,640 It's fleeting. 177 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,860 Ask parents of high schoolers how fast those middle school years went. 178 00:10:56,860 --> 00:11:00,920 Ask parents of college kids how fast those high school years went. 179 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:02,760 They fly. 180 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,400 We must be intentional about our time. 181 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,480 We've got to put those big rocks in first. 182 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:10,480 Don't wait. 183 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:14,720 Get the big rocks in first and then add the other things. 184 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,200 Our lives pass so quickly. 185 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:22,080 Don't end up like Cooper and miss out on what really matters in life. 186 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,240 Put the big rocks in first and keep your hope in the Lord. 187 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:27,680 Thanks for listening this week. 188 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:32,340 I'll see you next week on Real Faith. 189 00:11:32,340 --> 00:11:37,040 If you enjoyed this episode of Real Faith, please hit that subscribe button so you don't 190 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,040 miss out on future episodes. 191 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:45,600 Remember, you can find us at wherever podcasts are found and on scbauer.com. 192 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:53,000 There's also contact and bio information on that website. 193 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:15,960 If you have a question or if I can help you out, please let me know.