Dear Trekker,

Working with teens for more than 60 years of my life, I can confidently say, little has changed with the teenage crowd! Teens are wondering (and wandering), going beyond the here and now, saying always in a myriad ways, Who am I? What is my destiny with the world so chaotic and unpredictable? Do  I even have a destiny? Why am I here? (Whatever “here” means.) Will the world “blow up” before I’m 18? Why  not “try everything?” Does anyone care, really, about me? Am I just a chance product of my parents “making out”…no wonder they’re divorced now?

I wrote a few years ago (July 2015) on the “identity challenge.” Seems as if with broken marriages and families, diminished and yet diminishing faith, global scare tactics, fading economies and mores, rampant racism (and exploitation of the same) etc., kids today hardly have a chance. Throw in sexual experimentation and drugs, lies and deceit…no wonder kids today are anxious, depressed, face trauma and self-harm practically daily, have low self-esteem (if any at all) and feel “alone” and lost in a topsy-turvy world. Besides all of that, they are “sinners” like the rest of us. To lie, cheat and steal are just convenient short cuts learned early in life.

The cry and plea of youth today are captured beautifully in a current hit move, Overcomer. If Christian films were ever “in the world (of Hollywood) but not of it,” surely this is the all-star movie! (Trekker, see it, rent it, buy it!) The movie, from the book by the same name, is straightforward! A high school basketball coach, on the eve of an expected winning season, “loses” his team and position as businesses move out of town. He’s a white male father figure demoted to cross-country coach with one squad member, Hannah Scott, a black asthmatic runner. Her parents are dead, so her grandmother said. But dad is alive and was a successful runner before being “done-in” by drugs. Hannah’s sports journey involves self-discovery only Jesus Christ can give, and the question of her life is solved as she finds who she really is…a champion in Christ with value and worth.

The movie repeatedly brought tears to my eyes! What a presentation of the gospel in real-life terms and drama! What lessons are taught…on grace, the value of a human life, redemption, restitution, origin of self-esteem and identity. Never has a movie been made that so embraces the truth of II Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone (man, woman, boy or girl) be in Christ, he (she) is a new creation; old things are over, all things are forever new.” You trekkers who have seen the movie know of what I write. You who have not seen the movie, simply must! And to think, made in Hollywood, shown in commercial theaters making millions of dollars while people meet Jesus! May it gross millions of dollars and millions of souls.

One’s identity is important! We are who we are because the Creator God made us and redeemed us! But we lose our distinct identity apart from Christ. I wrote four years ago words even more true today. “Actually, the culture wars about sexual identity and gender roles are so fierce, many (mostly millennials) are confused and victimized with little hope of discovery. Confusion bled over into sexual relations and marriage expectations. What a mess…and we talk about a “high standard of living” amidst an ever-present, infectious suicide rate that should be a widely acknowledged embarrassment to the culture! God help us!” Little has changed! Conditions of today are even more confusing as we pit one prejudice against another, virtually unaware of the squishy foundation upon which we stand.

I wrote then (four years ago) the significance of Psalm 8 for me and “my day.” We are made in His image, we are redeemed by and in His love as set forth in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the hymn says: “Christ for sin atoned, what a wonderful Savior.” Such thoughts are beyond time.

Much of Overcomer harkens one back to our identity as outlined in Scripture. Ephesians 1:11-14 words come to mind by the Spirit: “In Him [Christ Jesus] we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we [Jews], who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you [Gentiles] also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your [Gentile] salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Inserts mine.) Such a passage establishes the applicability of the Gospel promises to Gentiles as well as Jews, and is an interesting commentary on the value of Christian themed main stream movies today!

Overcomer is clearly a movie whose primary purpose is to encourage people who already know Christ to continue growing in the living out of faith. The producer of the film, Alex Kendrick, relates the following: “Our culture wants to say identity is what you feel, or what culture says about you, or some status [in some way]…and all those things can [and do] change. So, who are you when what you are known for is stripped away?” (Inserts mine.) Kendrick goes on to say, “There is truth in our movies that will bleed over into secular audiences as well [read ‘Gentiles’ in Ephesians 1]. Many people [non-Christians, or Jews in Eph 1] that watch our films are impacted by the messages, even if they don’t share our faith [when entering the theater]. We can make a movie, but only God can change the heart.” (Inserts mine.)

How true! God can and does change hearts, yesterday, today and forever…in theaters and along all corridors of life. The title of the film is inspired by 1 John 5:5: “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” Believers, we have life through His name! (John 20:31b). Surely now… that is identity!

Go see the film, trekker! You won’t be sorry! It’s entertaining, inspiring and life giving!

Your friend,

Jim Meredith