BogartRobinsonKeyLargoWhat do we want? Our consciousness is saturated with the sounds, sights, and smells of things that we associate with satisfaction, even if it is satisfaction that lasts only a few seconds.

We convince ourselves that if we can accumulate enough of these things, in as wide a variety as possible, we will remain satiated for the foreseeable future. Yet our heart, our mind, knows better, even if we keep those thoughts buried deep below, so we won't experience the crashing, humbling cognitive dissonance of reality. That place inside us that we don't let out, because it is so at odds with the way we've structured our lives, that place longs for the more that only Christ can satisfy. And He satisfies for eternity. Taste and see that the Lord is good.

The scriptures below capture the perils of ignoring that place deep inside our minds, as does the film clip from a 1948 movie.

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Ecclesiastes 1.

Hell and destruction are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man.Proverbs 27

In the clip below from Key Largo, the quintessence of this unquenchable desire is presented in stark relief, in a confrontation between a fugitive gangster, Johnny Rocco (played by Edward G. Robinson),  and a World War II hero, Frank McCloud (played by Humphrey Bogart). While outside their Florida Keys hotel a hurricane roars, downing telephone lines and trapping the gangster and his troops, McCloud spars with Rocco over what he is really after.

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

  • Jesus be the centre

    Center is a song that speaks of the essence of our life in Christ, and echoes the words the Christ Read More
  • I Lift My Hands

    A powerful hymn of adoration and praise Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir. This succinctly captures the joy of knowing our savior. Read More
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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Christ is a Great Savior: a review of the movie Amazing Grace +

    Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21 Read More
  • Wilberforce, Hollywood's Amazing Grace, Charlotte Allen +

    William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a Read More
  • Making Beauty out of Ugly Things: Grace by U2 +

    Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries Read More
  • The True Nature of Grace and Love: a movie review of the Soloist +

    The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist Read More
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