PASSION SENSE

Passion Sense in Movies.

At Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Ortigas Park around 1, waiting for my lunch to be served, I saw a boy wearing a familiar bright orange shirt with a huge smiley print walk across the garden outside the shop. He picked a park bench under the trellis shade, sat, and opened a book! He sat quietly flipping from page to page enjoying the breezy afternoon. I recognized him as one the sons of an elder at church. I invited him in and offered him a cold blended drink. He agreed.
After a few minutes of small talk about church and family, he asked what I was doing there. I told him that on my days off, I eat out in a quiet restaurant or coffee shop and write on my Moleskine notebook. "What do you write about?" he asked. "Well, stuff--anything about anything!-- lessons gleaned from a movie I just saw, expounding a quote by a famous person, learnings from seredipitous moments, reflections from my Bible readings, among others." I answered.

"Interesting," he said, "I've always wondered what pastors do on their free time...so, you write!"

"Yes, I do...well, I try. You should too."

"Well, P. Jon, I'm not a good writer...my grammar's not that extensive!"

"You know, it doesn't take a lot of words to write....well, it actually does...but you have to begin somewhere. Your vocabulary will grow in time as you write. What are you passionate about?"

"Filmmaking!"

"Oh, cool...me, I've always wanted to be a screenplaywright! That's why I like intelligently written films."

"Like LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN?--Bruce Willis and Josh Hartnett?"

"I haven't actually seen that. Tell me what it's about."

"In New York, when the unlucky newcomer Slevin arrives in the apartment of his friend Nick Fisher for a leisure time, gets mistakenly taken as being his friend, who owes money to two powerful bosses of the criminal world. He is pressed by The Boss to kill the gay son of The Rabbi, as a payback for the death of The Boss's son. Nick's next door neighbor Lindsay, who works in the morgue, tries to help Slevin and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, the cold-blood killer Mr. Goodkat is mysteriously helping both crime lords, while Slevin is also pressed by Detective Brikowski, who is chasing The Boss and The Rabbi. In the end, revenge is a dish best served cold."

"Wow! That's like an IMDb plot summary! I'm gonna go get a DVD of that."

"You should."

We went on and on talking about filmmaking- writing, and directing. I headed off, so did he. He said he's always wanted to walk around the Central Business District but never had the chance to until today, so he planned on doing that all afternoon.

The boy was in many ways unique compared to kids his age (13). Most of the boys his age I know are confused with what they intend to do when they grow up. I was having dinner with a group of guys in their late teens who are more childish in every way than this boy I had lunch with. This one is totally different. He has passion and he's willing to explore the world (even if it meant walking around Ortigas Center) to find out more about it. It could be due to his upbringing, or perhaps his exposure, I don't know. What I know is, the boy has passion!

Passion sense of Luther.

Last night, I watched the movie Martin Luther. Luther struggled under years of guilt and depression as he searched to find the means of Grace, evetually, that search became his passion. I read a quote this weekend where Luther said that during this time, prior to his discovery of the plain meaning of scriptures, the one thing he longed for was, "to know, even for an instant, that He [God] wasn't angry with me."

On the plain reading of scripture, Luther came into an experience of the Father's love that he described as, "Simultaneously saint and sinner".

I feel unworthy, but He will not let me confess. I feel shameful yet He clothes me. I am undone in the unending Grace of God as I look up and see the Christ dying in my stead, and I break down in everlasting joy in the Father's arms. All my understanding of the world is transformed. The God who rules the universe had led me into this moment of having my soul filled with the knowledge of His grace and mercy. God has birthed in my person the knowledge of His love. He has poured in my heart affection for Him through the gospel. All my attempts to earn His favor were thoughts of clay born of my infantile mind. I groped after knowledge, but my food came directly from His hand. God's ways are too marvelous to imagine. His love endures forever. All the days of my life I will sing of His loving kindness and mercy in the presence of His people and indeed in the presence of my enemies.(bhightower)

It is this moment; this crossroads of an instant where eternity and our existence meet that creates, forever, passion for the experience of the Father's love. After the discovering the truth about God's grace, Martin became passionate about telling others about it!