Rust, an inspirational film starring Golden Globe nominee Corbin Bernsen, was a nice surprise. A little fed up with many of the plot-poor movies of late, I found myself browsing the shelves at Blockbuster not even hoping to find anything worth watching, when I stumbled into this title.

Rust Movie Theme

Rust tells the story of James Moore, a former pastor going through a midlife crisis of faith. Unable to come to terms with his doubts, he returns to his hometown seeking answers he hopes to find at the old church where he initially felt his calling as a child.

Upon his return, James finds the place quite changed, and he learns of a local family who perished in a fire apparently set by Travis, his childhood friend and local loon. James goes to visit Travis in jail, and while he is a little surprised about his friend’s implication, he can’t but accept the man’s own rendition of what happened the fatal night of the fire.

A few days later, a disturbed local youth takes his life, and the town mourns the loss while collectively shaking its head at what could have motivated the young man to go through with such an unthinkable act. James continues to visit Travis in jail, and time after time, he becomes more and more convinced of the man’s innocence, even if Travis himself accepts his fate as it is; his memorable words at some point: “My mother is fine; I am fine. It’s all according to God’s plan – He creates the plan, we only have to play our part.”

Mindless of Travis’s acceptance of whatever plan may be at play, James begins to dig deeper to find out what truly happened. Friendship and an unquenchable thirst for justice set him on a path of discovery sometimes at odds with the will of the rest of the town, only too glad to have someone to blame for the deaths. The plot continues to evolve in a crescendo of events interesting enough to stand out, yet average enough to be credible.

The film makes many excellent points. One of them is James’s growing awareness of each person being connected to everyone else.

Rust Movie Trailer

Rust is one of those rare movies with a story so compelling that it stands out on its own, without need of explosions or foul language to capture one’s attention. Rust is heartwarming and profound; definitely a movie that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and one filled with powerful lessons that will likely stick with the viewer for a long time to come.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. We all know this famous prayer by Francis of Assisi.

Jesus said “I give you peace, my peace I give you”. Jesus gives his peace to us. He differentiates his peace from the peace given by the world. We all talk about peace in the world. We are talking about the peace given by this world through treaties and pacts, as opposed to the true peace of Christ. The peace of the world is conditional, while the peace of Christ is unconditional.

The peace of the world can be bought by power, money and pacts. The peace of Christ cannot be bought. The peace of the world is delusional and fragile. It truly doesn’t exist. Peace of the world is brought about by “marriages of convenience”, between people, nations and ideologies. The peace offered by the world is politically correct, but not spiritually correct.

The peace of Christ is an internal peace. It does not depend on your circumstances. You could be living in poverty, but still could experience peace. You could be living in war-torn Iraq, but still could experience peace. You may be persecuted, but still could be a bearer of peace. You may be hated for your nationality, color or personality, but sill could experience the internal serenity of Christ. The world cannot bring this peace to you. Troops cannot protect this peace. It is a peace, offered to those who are meek, humble and pure in heart. It is a peace offered to those who have an original innocence in them.

The peace of Christ will bring happiness in the midst of despair, hatred, sadness and darkness. It will happen only when you die in Christ with all your sins and all your pride. Francis of Assisi is calling us to experience the peace of Christ as experienced by him.

Please hear Lord Make Me An Instrument song

What is the problem with faith? Why Christ kept on asking before healing somebody – “Do you believe in me?”

Faith in a person, including Jesus Christ, comes from trust. When we trust a person, we are entrusting our thoughts, our hopes and our doubts, to that person. In other words, we are giving up our self-reliance, and are putting our hope in the integrity of the other person’s character.

There is a risk in believing. When the level of our trust is great, the level of our dependence on the other person will also be high. We are playing with our own security, and are depending on the character integrity and dependability of another person.

We are shaped by our experiences. We see politicians who lie. We hear about pastors and priests, who fall in their walk with God. We hear about parents who do not care. We see collapse of financial institutions due to lack of accountability. We see unfaithful spouses. We live in the midst of a corrupted society, where we cannot trust the person next to us. We see religious people who are hypocrites. We are risking ourselves when we trust and believe in some one. Suspicion about another person’s intent is sometimes a protective instinct, particularly in our society. ‘

Jesus Christ is coming with a revolutionary proposition.“Trust in me”, he says. Trust in me, in spite of what you see around you. Trust in me, even when your life experiences have taught you to be careful in trusting another person. Trust in me, even when you do not see me. This call to believe in Jesus is a bold one. It is like swimming against a water current. People will think that you are naïve or foolish when you dare to trust in an unseen God.

I know a man who told me not to dare, when I jumped into the band wagon of Jesus. His argument was simple “when you risk too much your fall will be a big one. If you risk less, your fall will be a small one?” He is still comfortable. I am not comfortable in a material sense, but I dared to risk. Who has not paid a price for his belief? What is life with out belief? We will live in constant paranoia and fear, when we refuse to trust in God.

Look at the pages of history. You will see the story of many dictators, who killed thousands, because of their own fear. You will conquer fear, when you trust and believe in God. It may not be wise in the eyes of the world, but it will liberate your mind and soul from fear. Yes, you will pay a price. Yes, men of God will let you down, but the God of men will never let you down.

Please read Fighting For Faith