Wake Up!
- Richard Selke
- Nov 19, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2024
November 20, 2024
LISTEN TO AUDIO
In the movie Joe vs. the Volcano, Joe is living in a sort of semi-conscious state, almost asleep. His life is a mess. He’s miserable. He has a horrible job and a terrible boss working in a wretched factory. He’s chronically depressed and he’s constantly sick. He’s always going to the doctor.
One day, his doctor tells him that he has a “brain cloud” – an inoperable, incurable condition that has no symptoms and he has six months to live. Faced with the news of his impending death, Joe wakes up and begins to come alive. He tells off his boss, quits his job, and goes home.
The Bible says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light … Wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5: 8,14, NIV
One morning, a stranger named Samuel Graynamore knocks on Joe’s door with a proposition. Graynamore’s company manufactures superconductors and he needs a certain mineral known as bubaru. The remote South Seas island of Waponi Woo has the world’s only supply of this precious material. The Waponis, the local tribe, have refused to trade their bubaru to Graynamore unless he can help them appease their fire God. Graynamore will give Joe an unlimited credit card with which he can buy anything and do anything he wants. All Joe has to do after his spending spree, is go to Waponi Woo, and voluntarily jump into the island’s active volcano. Graynamore needs Joe as a sacrifice in exchange for the bubaru.
Since Joe’s doomed to die anyway, Graynamore’s absurd proposal sounds almost rational.
Joe accepts! Many good things begin to happen to Joe as he moves toward his jump into the volcano – he finds love, faith and hope.
Joe boards a sailboat skippered by Graynamore’s daughter, Patricia. On the way to Waponi Woo, Patricia shares with Joe a very profound statement made by her father: “Almost the whole world is asleep – everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. Only a few people are awake – and they live in a state of constant, total amazement.”
Soon, a typhoon sinks the sailboat, but Joe and Patricia survive. On a life raft under a full moon in the middle of the ocean, Joe praises God and thanks Him for his life.
Many people go through life asleep, without a relationship with God. Even though God creates each of us to be in relationship with Him, He gives us the freedom to choose whether or not to accept Him – and many of us choose wrongly. However, by God’s amazing grace, even in our semi-conscious state, we can understand and accept the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
At the climax of the story, Joe actually jumps into the volcano.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Joe survives! And afterwards, he discovers that he’s been deceived. He remembers his brain cloud and tells Patricia the name of his doctor who turns out to be a close friend of her father. Graynamore and Joe’s doctor are in cahoots. Joe’s been tricked – he never had a brain cloud and he doesn’t have one now. Joe will live and with his new found faith, his life has changed forever. Joe and Patricia, with gratitude and hope, move boldly into the next season of their lives.
The famous theologian Kinky Friedman once said, “Lord we have sinned but who among us, ever really dances with the One who brung us?” We all need to wake up, accept the One Who “brung” us and dance with Him throughout this life and on into eternity.
In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you…”
To some folks, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior makes about as much sense as jumping into a live volcano. To them, the premise is absurd. But friends, the promise is profound! Maybe like Joe, your life is a mess. Maybe you’re miserable. Maybe something’s missing and you just can’t figure out what it is. Maybe you’ve been living in a semi-conscious state, almost asleep. Maybe you’re not totally asleep, but you’re not yet fully awake. J. D. Walt says, “The greatest impediment to my own awakening is that I’m pretty sure I am already awake.”
Know that God is with you. He has been with each of us our entire life and has never left our side. Wake up! Jesus is knocking at your door – open it! Let him in! Accept a relationship with God through a relationship with Jesus! Dance with the One who brung you! When you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you will live this life and the life to come in constant, total amazement!
REMEMBER & BELIEVE
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
In the meantime, wake up sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!
QUESTION
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we are thankful that you love us so much that you gave Your one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil and the evil one. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)
God bless you!
Richard
Christ Worshipper | Disciple Maker | Hope Giver
Welcome to In the Meantime. I'm glad you're here! We are living in the time between Christ's ascension into heaven and His promised return to earth. In the Meantime is a collection of stories about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and His presence, love, mercy and grace in my life. In the Meantime, Jesus is Lord! Hallelujah!
Comments