Saved by a salty popcorn napkin...

"Thanks Bart, for writing one of my favorite songs of all time. And thanks for your story. It enriched me, uplifted me, and yes - emoted me." 

Yesterday my wife and I had the "day off". I know - sounds funny for a couple of old retired folks to say that. But for retired folks with two young grand kids, we do stay busy. We decided to go and see a movie. For a change, Hollywood has a couple of movies out right now that peaked our interest. The first is "7 Days in Entebbe" (love that very true story), and the other is "I can only imagine". Both sounded like worthwhile shows to see. After some discussion, we decided on "I can only imagine".

My wife and I both like Christian contemporary music. The group Mercy Me, with lead singer Bart Millard is one of our favorites. Their hit song "I can only imagine", has been sung by just about every Christian music performer around. This movie is the life story of how Bart became the man he is today, how Mercy Me came to be, and, the true significance of the song "I can only imagine". Most importantly however, it is a story of forgiveness and redemption.

We saw it around lunchtime, so we split a box of popcorn for lunch. We have seen faith based movies in the past. Some good, some very good, others just tried to be good. I had no clue going in if this movie would be good or maybe not so good. 

Dennis Quaid played Bart's father and Trace Adkins played his manager. Both men did simply stellar jobs. But the young man who played Bart (J. Michael Finley), was a show stopper. The writing, the acting, the music, the editing were are award winning caliber.

My wife and I recently saw on pay for view, one of the shows which was up for an Oscar this year. It was dark, depressing, and contained no message. When it was over, I felt like I needed a shower. "I can only imagine" was just the opposite of that movie.

I don't emote much when I see a movie. At best, I might get a lump in my throat. This movie was so good, the pathos so strong - my eyes started getting very moist towards the end. I can't remember the last time that has happened. All I had at my disposal was my used up, salty, popcorn napkin. I wasn't much, but it saved the day.

Hey Hollywood! Listen up! This is the kind of movie my parents took us to back in the day. No violence, no bad language, no sex. Just an excellent story about something very, very uplifting. Do you want to get your audience back Hollywood? The new deluxe seats are not the answer. Nor is the unlimited popcorn. It is the caliber of movies made that will bring people back. And one more thing. Make more movies like this, and maybe our young people will more pattern after the goodness in life rather than the dark side. 

Thanks Bart, for writing one of my favorite songs of all time. And thanks for your story. It enriched me, uplifted me, and yes - even emoted me.