i am so excited about going on vacation. I wasn't last week, but now i realize my potential of getting away, seeing my best friend, and going snowboarding. How awesome is that?! My goal is to relax and enjoy myself and not think about my job. It isn't much of a vacation if your job is consuming your thoughts when you're away.

I realized today that I won't have the opportunity to see the "Passion" before I go on vacation, and i definately won't go see it while i'm on vacation. I don't know. I can't say that I eagerly anticipate seeing it. On one hand, I want to be like many others who will see (experience) this movie, but on the other hand, I am anxious about the emotional turmoil that seeing such a vivid depiction of Jesus' last 12 hours will evoke inside me. I have no doubt in my mind that the movie will have a serious impact on me (which is good), but I am not so sure that I'll ever want to go through it more than once.

What exactly is the true value of experiencing such a movie?! I won't be fully sure until I see it, but I think it has do with the experience itself. So many of us have become nominal Christians (in a way). We believe in God, we see his power and provision, we trust in Jesus and call him Lord. But many go through life with nothing more than a bunch of snappy biblical comebacks (theologies), propositions, and quick answers to hard questions, that actually experiencing God in some way has either become marginal (or worse) avoidable. I know the gospel story. There won't be anything in Mel's movie that shocks my intellect. I won't be quoted saying, "oh, I never knew that actually happened!" okay. fair enough. The movie is an instrument. When we all hear the "music" it yeilds, we will realize that we didn't pay to see another version of the story we know, we paid for an experience (well worth the price). I don't want to see it because I want more information, but because I want to know (experience) the passion of Christ. The interesting thing that the protestant community has done is make this an evalgelistic event. Here we have a case where the gospel story is so powerful, that it easily becomes the protagonist for its own movement...why? Because you don't just sit and watch, you experience, and when the gospel is experienced the gospel is spread.