Choked Up

It wasn’t on my radar screen, but some friends mentioned that an acquaintance had invested some money in the movie. It hadn’t done very well commercially and was available not long after release on DVD. They thought I might like it. So, last Friday night I watched Seven Days in Utopia.

Some would say it is a movie about golf. It is not a movie about golf. It is a movie about the personal journey of a young man who is a professional golfer. Golf is secondary to the story. It is a vehicle, not a centerpiece.

It is a movie with a Christian message and contains all the things I hate about movies that are “Christian.” The movie is cheesy. The acting is bad, even though one of the main characters is played by Robert Duvall. The story line is obvious and is not filled with any surprises. Golfer implodes, meets wise old guru, spends seven days with him, resolves issues with his father, wrestles with major life questions and accepts Jesus, showing up in church with his Bible in his hand.

Movie reviewer Roger Ebert wrote this about the movie:

“I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again. It tells the dreadful parable of a pro golfer who was abused by his dad, melts down in the Texas Open and stumbles into the clutches of an insufferable geezer in the town of Utopia, who promises him that after seven days in Utopia, he will be playing great golf. He will also find Jesus, but for that you don’t have to play golf, although it might help.”

I can’t really be against any of that. It is just so trite and simplistic. Real life isn’t that clean and easy.

And yet, when the movie came to the point where the main character went through some gut wrenching (cue the predictable melodramatic music) soul searching and moved to embrace Christ, I began to tear up. That caught me off guard. Up until that point, the movie was making me more angry than engaged. I almost turned it off (except I had paid to watch it), but it touched me.

         

That happens to me most of the time when someone, either on television, in a movie, or in real life embraces Jesus. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances might be, how corny or predictable the story, how poorly written, or pitifully acted, when people meet Jesus, it touches me.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost, people who do not know the way, and He described Himself as “the way.” When people find “the way,” somehow it touches my heart. There is nothing more important we can be doing that pointing people to “the way.” I hope to get choked up more often.