Despicable Me

  Well, it was bound to happen at some point.  For the first time in years, I finally saw a decent movie on a plane.  For years, every time I opened the in-flight magazine, I would be disappointed to find another chick flick, or something similarly absurd (No, I'd never heard of The Tooth Fairy, and having seen the Rock in a tutu, I can safely say I was ok with that).  It would happen that a flight I desperately need sleep on would be the one with the movie I'd wanted to see for a long time (in case, for some odd reason, you're intrigued to read my reflections on the red-eye before this flight, click here), but I was grateful to finally see Despicable Me.

  Despicable Me is the story of Gru, an aging villain with grand plans and a few triumphs to show (He has the Times Square Jumbotron, the Statue of Liberty (from Las Vegas) and the Eiffel Tower (also from Vegas).  Having been upstaged by a new, young rival, who stole the Great Pyramid from Giza, he's hatched a new plan--to shrink and steal the moon!

  His new, young rival, Vector, foils his plan and steals the shrink-ray first, and Gru is unable to steal it back until a diabolical plot is hatched--Gru adopts three young cookie-selling girls in the hopes that through their cookies he will be granted access to Vector's home and thus, the shrink ray.

  Two quick points:  Gru's minions are hilarious, and there is a good chance you, too, will want a big, furry unicorn after the movie.

  I have to use a word I'm not particularly fond of to describe this movie--it's really very cute.  Heartwarming, too.  It's the story of how these three girls change Gru, despite the fact that Gru's intentions are nothing but selfish from the onset.  This movie reminds me of how often God takes me selfishness and pride and still manages to wrangle something good out of them.

  We read that 'all things work together for good for those who love God' (Romans 8:28).  This often happens despite our amazing abilities to mess things up--God does a work in us and through us, and God's love shines through.  Martin Luther said the only thing we add to salvation is sin and resistance--this movie illustrates how God works to soften our hearts, to change us, even when we don't cooperate.

  To no one's surprise, the airplane cabin seemed to get a bit dusty at the end of the movie, and somehow it got into my eyes...  stories of redemption do that to me, not only out of joy at the redemption, but because it gives me to cause to remember my own redemption, and the hope I have in Christ.