Evan Almighty

To be honest with you, when I first saw the previews for "Evan Almighty", I wasn't too impressed. I've seen Hollywood try to re-invent biblical stories and messages into something that's more "fan friendly"...not wanting to offend anyone. So, when they started showing previews for a movie that was attempting to make a modern day Noah's Ark, I was very skeptical as to what kind of fluff we'd see.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

In this movie, Evan Baxter, played by Steve Carell from The Office (one of my fave shows!) is a former TV news anchor who has won a seat in Congress and he and his wife are on their way to Washington DC to live. They bring their 3 boys and all their stuff to an extremely young yet affluent neighborhood outside the Capitol called "Prestige Point". Success also brings high profiled appearances and as such, they arrive in a brand new Hummer H2. This thing is huge and flashy, just the kind of image Baxter wants to portray. Yet, almost immediately, things begin to happen that indicate this may not be a normal relocation.

The first morning of his new job, his alarm goes off at 6:14am. The camera zooms in on the clock and we see it's a General Electric brand but only the GEN are still colored. The rest of the ERAL ELECTRIC are faded out, having lost their white painted cover. So what you see is GEN 6:14 on the screen.

As he gets up, wondering why his clock went off so early, he stumbles over a large crate on his front doorstep full of tools like hammers, awls and such. He thinks it's obviously been delivered by mistake and thinks nothing of it.

However, we begin to see more "coincidental" episodes that reflect GEN 6:14 that culminate with God Himself appearing before Evan. God, played by Morgan Freeman, reveals that He wants Evan to build an ark and He'll send him the tools and materials needed. Evan, skeptical as we all would be, laughs at this guy who's obviously not all there and walks away to begin his day in Wash DC.

As is the case in real life, when God wants you to do something and wants you to hear from Him, He is real good at being persistant and grabbing your attention. God shows up in one scene in front of Evan everywhere from the backseat of his Hummer to the traffic cop along side him to the pedestrian crossing the street. It's really well done and very funny watching Freeman playing this part and Carell's exasperated mannerisms.

As the movie progresses, Evan begins to believe that God really does have a mission for him...the task of building an actual ark. Like the real Noah probably went through, Evan began to face ridicule from everyone from his friends & co-workers to even his family. When the ultimatum was finally given from his wife to either "come back to them" or they'll leave, he remains commited to the task before him and his family leaves.

To me, the most relevant point in the movie occurs when Joan is sitting in the restaurant right after she's left Evan and God visits her in the form of a waiter. Freeman (God) scoots up next to her and begins to ask her what is wrong. She tells Him that it's her husband, that Noah-type guy, who's got her so confused and hurt. God mentions to her how we all need to remember that during those times of trial in our lives, God gives us "opportunities" to find what we're asking for.

When we ask Him for patience, He doesn't wave a magic wand and give us immediate patence. He gives us the opportunity to practice patience.

When we pray for courage & strength, God gives us those moments to show our courage & strength.

It was this message that really struck home for me. I've often prayed and asked the Lord for patience, strength, courage, the ability to live righteously and do what He wants from me. It's suddently dawned on me that these things don't happen instantly but only when I truly rely upon Him will I begin to see more patience, strength, courage and righteousness in my life.

As far as the movie itself goes, it's a decent family movie to see with very little language issues for the little ones. Of course, with animals involved, there are a few "poopy" scenes where birds or llamas get the bad guys but overall, it's a fun flick for everyone. It also doesn't hurt that for once, Hollywood didn't steer away from the issue of God and try to put Him into some humanistic box.

It actually showed Him as Someone who loves us enough to come down to our level, reaching out to us when it becomes obvious there is no way for us to reach Him.