I hope you have had a chance to download and read “The Natural”, a chapter from an unpublished manuscript that discusses a movie with the same name. If not, I hope you will read it when you can. You can download it below.

I hope it strikes you the same way it did me; that storytellers can believe they are inspired by certain things -- but the story they write suggests something very different. The Natural is quite special because it tells God’s Story in such detail, and starts at the very beginning, in the Garden before the Fall. And then it describes in detail the two basic things we have all struggled with since Eve first sinned -- the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life.

The first few pages of my piece on The Natural convey the fact you just missed something very monumental, a great breakthrough, and I apologize for that. It was this breakthrough that not only changed my life, but opened my eyes to the wonder of stories and how God has always wanted to use them to heal our hearts where they are most broken. Maybe it is time to get back to telling that story, truly, the story of my life. But my story is just one example, one example of what God wants to do for all of us -- deliver us from the things which have always held us in the greatest bondage.

It is a very sad thing that our lives can be like Roy Hobbs, a young man who had been raised in a good family and had so much going for him. Who was innocent, maybe too innocent, and then fell so abruptly when tempted by an evil seductress. (If you haven’t seen the movie, you must. My clumsy paraphrases could never do this masterpiece justice, plus Randy Newman wrote the musical score!)

It is sad that Roy betrayed Iris so quickly, but even sadder that he also abandoned her. This story is just another example of the one real story, best illustrated by the parable of the prodigal son. The Fall had to make God so sad. Everything that was meant to be so good, especially perfect love, became so marred; and even as believers who have the assistance of the Holy Spirit, this life remains a great challenge.

But God will never forsake or abandon us, no matter how much we have forgotten and abandoned Him. The scene at the baseball park when Iris first comes to see Roy play after not having heard from him for sixteen years, is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. The screenwriter and producers created it for unknown reasons of their own. As believers, we watch it and are simply dumbfounded.

It would be an incredible thing to sit with a group of folks and go around the circle, one at a time, trying to describe in detail the very first time you felt God’s presence. I mean, really felt it. God can be incredibly creative. I wonder if He chooses a way to speak to each of us that we can understand, based on our experiences, our personality, the way we tend to think. Jesus most definitely did this, for He spoke very differently to each person He came into contact with. For me, a Freudian psychologist, God chose dreams, something I knew how to interpret. How incredible is that?

I would love to hear from some of you with your comments or questions, and if it is okay, to share those in this newsletter to assist with our conversation.

Next time we will continue with our discussion of The Natural.