This is the first blog in a new series that I am starting entitled "Faith and Film". With this series, my intentions are to share spiritual insight and wisdom I have gathered from a movie that I have watched.
First up in this series is one of my favorite movies from the 80's: "Field of Dreams". "Field of Dreams" is the story of a young farmer (played by Kevin Costner) who builds a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield after hearing a calling and receiving instructions from an unknown voice. After rewatching this movie recently, I discerned the following spiritual nuggets below that we can apply to our everyday lives:
It started with a voice…a calling: “If you build it, he will come.” In the "Field of Dreams", the main character, Ray, built a baseball field in the middle of a corn field. It reminded me of the biblical character Noah, who had a calling from God to build a large ark that had never been built before, even when there was no sign of rain.
After Ray heard the first set of instructions, and did that one particular thing, then “the voice” gave him another set of instructions. Often times, when we have a calling from God, we want God to give us EVERYTHING all at once: What is this for? Who’s going to help? When do I start? When does this end? We want to know what God knows. But we’re not God, and if we knew what God knew, we wouldn’t need God….and we wouldn’t need faith in God. So God gives us one step at a time, because that’s all we can handle is one step at a time. Too much too soon would overwhelm us and make us want to quit on our God assignment or vision.
When given his next set of instructions, “ease his pain”, Ray then had to go somewhere and help a man he had never met in a place he had never been. Our purposes, our callings are often connected to a person or group of people and a place.
The main character Ray follows prophetic nudges even when it didn’t make sense to him or anyone around him. It’s Ray’s obedience that leads him to being successful in the completion of His calling.
Some people couldn’t see what Ray was doing, but he did have some people who believed in him and surrounded him with encouragement and hope and the extra push when he needed. In this movie, Ray’s wife and daughter were the only ones who could see the baseball players, at first, because they had the same belief in what Ray was called to do. As others joined Ray in supporting him and his calling, then they were also able to see the ghosts of the baseball men.
In the last instruction, “Go the distance”, “the voice” led Ray to a writer he admired from afar, who ended up being a purpose partner and received the same calling, as he heard another calling, which was the same one that Ray heard. God will send people who are aligned to bring forth His vision and who have the same calling to walk with us and pursue and execute the God-given visions and dreams He’s given us.