Again with the "UP" discussion.....

[jpeka65844]

So I weighed in a few weeks ago on "UP" being too sad and depressing for me to view on a regular basis.....

Yesterday was our founding pastor's last Sunday. He'd been at our church for the entire 25-year history of it! And it was retirement time......
His scripture was that of Moses standing on Mt. Pisgah looking over the promised land and being told by God that he would not reach it along with his people.

Jay took that a step further and revolved his sermon around Paradise Falls....Oy!!! Not a dry eye in the house. Throughout his sermon, he removed his stoles and robes and hung them on a coat rack with a blue balloon tied to it. He also showed clips of "UP" and likened them to the journey that our church has made over the past 25 years. It used the "Adventure Book" theme to show off pictures of various happenings over the years: baptisms, mission trips, construction, music programs, etc...At the conclusion of his sermon, it cut to the page at the end of the book where Ellie had written "It's been a great adventure; now go have another one! -Love Ellie" only he'd changed it somehow to read "Love, Jay"

Sobs!!!! Now I'll NEVER be able to watch this movie!!!! But amazing that it reverberated with him in such a different way; not the loss of spouse or life's regrets, but the closing of a chapter that was all about experiences and people!

Discuss....I think I have something in my eye........

 

[mainegal]

But amazing that it reverberated with him in such a different way; not the loss of spouse or life's regrets, but the closing of a chapter that was all about experiences and people!

I am glad you had the opportunity to see this movie in a different light.

I saw the "lesson" to be that the adventure is all of life's journey, not just the destination.

 

[safetymom]

Wow! That was a great sermon.

 

[Mrs D]

That sounds like a great sermon! Does your church upload video? I'd love to see it!
My church has been doing a series on how the universe was made, one I particularly liked was about laminin. If you google it a youtube clip of Pastor Louie Giglio comes up. Pretty cool.

 

[jpeka65844]

Our church doesn't upload video; I would definitely love to have yesterday's!!!

I'm going to see if I can get a transcript of Jay's sermon, though. I'll see if I can figure out how to post it!

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I just saw this movie for the first time about a week ago and I can't stop talking about it! Yes, the beginning is very sad but I think it's a great life lesson for anyone. So good for your pastor for relating that to his/your parish's life. I only wish more people would live each day as if it is an adventure - we seem to get bogged down in other things too often and forget to live life

 

[alamode]

I could SO relate to UP it's scary. My wife was a HUGE Disney freak. I bought her endless Disney presents for Christmas (snowglobes, the VHS Deluxe box sets, Waterford crystal ornaments etc), and proposed to her during intermission at the Beauty and the Beast play in Toronto. We even had a Disney themed wedding.

Our "Paradise Falls" was to be Walt Disney World. We got information about Disney Vacation Club, and actually started a savings account to put money away for purchasing it.

Then came child number 1, followed by child 2 and 3 (twins), and my wife being diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma 10 days before the twins were born. Luckily in Canada our medical bills were zero, but given the circumstances, saving money for a Disney vacation was the furthest things from our minds. Eventually, on October 16th, 2006, my wife passed away from her cancer.

I finally took our kids to WDW last May, which was extremely bittersweet. I could only imagine the joy on my wife's face seeing WDW with the kids. After touring Saratoga Springs, I ended up buying 130 DVC points via resale with the last of my wife's life insurance.

So for me and my family, owning DVC is like owning a piece of our own "Paradise Falls".