Gò0dNews for the Future
The Cross Road ll of us at one time or another will find ourselves at a crossroad; when we do, which way will we go? One of my favorite movies is “Castaway,” starring Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt. There are a couple of scenes in the movie that make me choke up every time: the scene when Wilson floats away, and then the very last scene where Hanks is standing at the crossroad. In the movie, Tom Hanks’s character, Chuck Noland, is a time-obsessed FedEx systems analyst who travels the world, taking care of productivity problems. His plane crashes on an island, and he realizes he’s the only survivor; then FedEx packages start washing ashore. He decides to leave one unopened, and it’s almost as if you can read his mind, that he plans to deliver this package to the owner as soon as he gets off of the island. I see this unopened package representing hope for him. As we put ourselves in his position, wondering what we would do in his situation, we know we would do the same thing and leave. With his makeshift raft, the unopened package, and Wilson in tow, he finally finds himself out in the endless expanse of the deep blue sea, not knowing if he will survive at this point, but knowing he has no choice but to leave. Then the harrowing scene with Wilson’s floating away gets me choked up and in tears every time. When at last he’s finally rescued, he finds himself surrounded by those who
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thought he was dead. He finds so much has changed, and he can’t go back to the way it was before. We don’t know how many days have taken place, from the time he comes back to his previous life, until he finds himself at a crossroad with the unopened package, trying to find the owner. This particular scene in the movie really gets to me every time. It tugs at my heart, knowing that he must find the owner of the unopened package. It’s what he clung to for those four years on the island, his hope, and now, he doesn’t know which way to go. It makes me think of crossroads that we may have in our own lives at one time or another. Maybe we don’t know what to do in a certain situation. Maybe it’s a major decision, or even a minor one perhaps. If we don’t have the answer, we might not know who to turn to. “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16). When we find ourselves at a crossroad, ask the one who is our hope: His name is Jesus, and He can point you in the right direction. Listen to the one who represents your hope because He can lead you through any crossroad that you may face.
About The Author
A
by Beth Maxwell
My name is Beth Maxwell. Wife to Kevin, mom to Jeremy, Kurt, Alex, and our daughter Maria. I’m a Kindergarten assistant at Michigan Avenue School, who loves singing in my First Baptist Choir, and also loves writing.
