Onward

Quest for a Miracle

Onward, Disney-Pixar’s newest computer-animated film, is set in a magical world full of mythical creatures such as unicorns, cyclops and mermaids. Except … no one believes in magic anymore.

Though their world is magic, the inhabitants are losing their belief in it. Now, flying horses board airplanes instead of using their wings and fire-breathing dragons have gas fireplaces.

Just One More Day But all of that changes for two teenaged elf brothers, Ian Lightfoot

How far would you go for one day with a departed loved one? by Diane Stark

In Onward, elf brothers Barley (left) and Ian Lightfoot are on a quest to restore the top half of their dearly departed dad

(voiced by Tom Holland) and his older brother, Barley (Chris Pratt). On his 16th birthday, Ian’s mother, Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), gives him a prearranged gift left by their father who died before Ian was born—“He wanted to meet you more than anything”—and Barley was too young to remember him.

The gift is a wizard’s staff that has the power to bring their dad back to life for just one day. Ian casts a spell, and it works! Kind of …. It only brings back the bottom half of their dad.

Now the brothers have just 24

Ian’s birthday gift is a wizard’s staff that has the power to bring their dad back to life for just one day.

hours to find a way to bring back the rest of him.

“We’re going on a quest!” says Barley.

The brothers encounter a helpful manticore (Octavia Spencer) and an entire police force made up of centaurs and fauns. They travel on The Path of Peril, following the map given to them by the manticore, searching for the magic gem she told them to find.

There’s only one thing she didn’t tell them.

“I told them about the map, I told them about the gem, I told them about the curse … oh, I forgot the curse,” the manticore tells Laurel when she goes looking for her sons. The boys will stop at nothing to finally meet their father. But will they succeed in their quest? How far will they go for one more day together?

Magic or Miracle? While our world is often far from magical, we do have quests to accomplish. These quests, however, are not usually as exciting as the brothers’ adventure with a magic staff and gem. Often, our quests are simply daily tasks, mundane things such as going to work, studying for exams or running errands.

But as we go about our days, you can be sure that people are watching us, whether we are aware of it or not. They’re watching how we handle frustrations and disappointments. They’re watching how we treat other people. They’re watching how we spend our time and our money.

For Christians, this is especially true.

This fact increases the stakes of everything we do. Our daily “to do” lists can have an eternal significance. Does our behaviour point others to God, or away from Him? When people see our faith in action, they may ask us about God, giving us the opportunity to have the most important conversation we could ever have.

Because sharing our faith with others is the reason why we’re here. There’s no greater quest than that. And it doesn’t just bring someone back to life for a day.

It gives them eternal life. That’s not magic. That’s a miracle.