And I'm Going With You

Our family started watching Amazon's new Rings of Power show, which I'm enjoying. Don't listen to the haters. It's actually really good. Anyway, it got me thinking about my favorite movie ever: "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

I remember watching it for the first time, and even though it was almost three hours long I didn't want it to be over. It was that good. If you haven't seen it, block out an afternoon and watch this fantastic film. I know many will say it's not the best of the trilogy, but it's my favorite as it was my introduction to Middle Earth.

For those that haven't seen the movie, here is a two-sentence recap. In a mythical land, an evil lord has created a ring of power, which corrupts whoever wears it. Because men are more easily corrupted by the ring, two small creatures called hobbits are commissioned to take the ring to a far-off land called Morder and destroy it. The two hobbits are named Frodo and Sam.

Frodo is the main ring bearer, and when the journey becomes too treacherous he tries to protect his lifelong friend Sam by leaving him behind. Frodo escapes in a moment of confusion, boards a canoe, and begins to row away. Just then Sam runs out of the woods and begins to call his friend back, and Frodo yells, "Go back Sam! I'm going to Mordor alone." Then Sam says one of my favorite lines in the whole movie, "Of course you are. And I'm coming with you!" Sam walks out into the water to chase the canoe but can't swim. He begins to drown, and right at the moment it seems like he is lost, a hand plunges into the water. grabs him, and pulls him up.

They continue on their journey together. As it should have always been. Frodo was never going to be able to accomplish his mission alone. He wasn't meant to. They were better together.

Like Frodo, you and I were never meant to go about our journey alone. We need our Sam. We need someone who will say, "I know. And I'm coming with you." We're better together.

Tomorrow we're going to look at a passage in Acts, where a church that would face many difficulties persevered because they were together. We can be tempted to do life alone, but God never intended it to be that way. You and I were made to stick together, no matter what. Join us tomorrow and learn about the beautiful togetherness we have in Christ.