Will Hunting

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

Friday night we hosted our second dinner in the new house. By the end of the night we had 25 people show up and many first-time guest. We praise God for the work he is doing in our midst. God is bringing people to us from all walks of life like Antonio, Ben, Jude, and Jimmy! The evening ended with Jude reciting some of his poetry for us. He definitely has a gift.
We followed the dinner up with an “after party” at Alicia’s parent’s house. Her parent’s were out of town and we broke out the board games and ping-pong. I know we are a wild bunch. It was cool to get to know some of Alicia’s friends. One of them was a police officer for UK’s campus, his name is Pete. I asked Pete if I could do a ride around with him next week. I figured what better way to learn about the needs of the community than to roll with a cop. At the very end of the evening, Antonio, who usually is pretty quiet told me he had an awesome time. I was blown away by a comment so mundane because of who it was coming from. First of all Antonio is a great man, but a man of few words. It was nice to see him enjoying himself and feeling embraced by the community. Guys like Antonio have impressed me because he has been willing to go visit with us. Antonio is still pretty new to the church, might not have the education or socio-economic background that others do but is willing to do the work that very few people are willing to do…get out of their comfort zone and be a laborer in the harvest field. The guy even went out with us in the rain!!!

All it takes is a willing heart to serve God. When I was in seminary I almost forgot that. People would get so caught up in reading textbooks about evangelism or living in community instead of actually putting into practice what they are reading. Sometimes I think people hide behind books. I’m tired of the talk and hype that books bring. I know you can learn a lot from books and of course it is great to read but if faith without works is dead than reading without acting is also death. When I was thinking about this today the movie, Good Will Hunting, starring Matt Damon and Robin Williams came to mind. Here’s Will (Matt Damon) who is a genius that can quote every book ever written. But Will doesn’t know what life is really about behind what he is reading. I know this is a long quote with some expletives but I think it’s right on to living a life that is integrated.

Sean: So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about women, you’d probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right, “once more unto the breach dear friends.” But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes, that the terms “visiting hours” don’t apply to you. You don’t know about real loss, ’cause it only occurs when you’ve loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much. And look at you… I don’t see an intelligent, confident man… I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you’re a genius Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine, and you ripped my fucking life apart. You’re an orphan right?
[Will nods]
Sean: You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally… I don’t give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can’t learn anything from you, I can’t read in some fuckin’ book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I’m fascinated. I’m in. But you don’t want to do that do you sport? You’re terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.