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Ground Hog Day—the Movie
Ground Hog Day is an allegory (the use of characters or events to represent ideas or principles in a story). This movie is about a man who was very successful as a weather commentator on a popular TV station. In the public’s eye he was a celebrity. To those he worked with, he was a jerk. This story was about his producer, his camera man and himself going to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover Ground Hog Day. The story is a picture of a man who is consumed with his self life. All that mattered was what suited him. What made him comfortable and happy without consideration to others. Life was all about him. They arrived in the city the day before the festivities the next morning. They all awoke early and arrived at the event to be on time. The producer and the camera man were there early to take part in the festivities. The weather man got there in the nick of time to do the TV spot. He then gave orders to pack up and leave. The other two asked him if they could stay a little longer, but he quipped at them and said no! He said, “I have things I want to do.” As the story goes they started out but were turned back by a winter blizzard. They had to spend another night. The story at this point makes a turn for the worse for the weather man. The next morning was Ground Hog Day all over again.
I would like to share at this point how we can relate this story in our own lives. This particular movie became my all time favorite. I watched it every time it came on TV. It seemed I could not see it enough. I have no idea how many times I’ve watched it, but it has been a lot. I even went out and purchased my own copy on DVD.
One day while I was watching the movie, I saw something very familiar about the pattern of my own life as a Christian. When the Lord came into my life, I was a new man. As the days, weeks, months and years went by I was experiencing failure in my walk with the Lord. I began to see how self-centered I was. I was inconsiderate to my wife and my children. As the weatherman, I wanted everything mostly on my own terms.
In this movie, the weather man lived Ground Hog Day over and over again. This took him in a downhill spiral. I can only use my imagination on how many times the weatherman lived that day, over and over. He became a thief, a troublemaker, an all out criminal, and a master of deception. He indulged himself in every conceivable vice until he became utterly sick of himself. He committed suicide everyday in every way that he possibly could. Still he would wake up every morning living that same ground hog day over again.
There is a time in our life, that we have no other choice but to make a decision to follow Jesus, or follow death and hell. When God called us to His son Jesus, we were given a choice to make. The weatherman had to make a choice to change what he had become over years of living a deplorable and dishonoring life. He had been living the same day over and over again.
Unfortunately we cannot just make a decision to change ourselves no matter how bad or good we think we are. I came to the end of my miserable life 33 years ago. I made a choice to follow Christ and only in Him do we have hope.
The weatherman realized that day would never end. He began to take a different approach living his life the same day over. He knew that every day he could start over. So start over he did. He changed from a low life dishonorable person to a jazz pianists, an honorary doctor, a person who loved and cared for everyone in that town. He knew everyone on a first name basis. He served people every moment of the day from the moment he woke up until he went to sleep at night.
Even as Christians it is hard to know where changes need to be. The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. He will allow us to experience failure after failure, heartbreak after heartbreak until we become aware that we can never change ourselves. Some of us even have to experience despair and hopelessness before we realize it is not about us. God put us in this world for himself. Until we come to the end of our lives as we know it, we will not live the abundant life that Christ came to give us. In the story of the weatherman, when he died to his way of life, he woke up the next day and lived his life for others. When we lay down our lives for others, then we will be like Him. We will never have to live that same old life over and over. We can live a life of peace and joy. God created us on the 6th day to enter into the Sabbath—the day of rest. We will be forever with Him. Alleluia!!
Posted by Jim_Day on Mon 23 Jun 2008 1:57:54 pm | 2 comments
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