Breaking Away

Movies were more comfortable 30 years ago. You could trust a PG to have no naked people making you cover your teen's eyes. You could not blush and have to have a long discussion afterwards about how all that immorality that looked fun and normal would lead to horrible consequences and was not what God or I hoped for in their lives. You could point to the characters as the type of person you hoped they would grow up to be. I rarely go to the movies anymore. They are too graphic, too violent, too sexual, too depraved, too immoral. I know there are a few good ones, but even those often have sections that make me want to vomit.

So we often gather in our living room with Netflix, and the ability to fast forward should those sections appear. And since Netflix has very few of the new good movies we might want to see, we have been watching movies made when I was young. The one we saw a couple of nights ago was one I had forgotten. It was one of my favorites- Breaking Away. It is the story of poor "townies" in a college town. The heroes are four boys just graduated from highschool. None applied to college. All see a future doing blue collar work, like their folks did. It is their last summer of freedom, before they must enter the bleak, real world. One is an astonishingly good bicyclist, and wins medal after medal racing. The turning point in the movie is when he and his friends enter a bicycle race as the "townie" team, against the wealthy, tanned, gorgeous, athletic frat boys.

I loved that movie. The parents, while imperfect, were wonderful role models- a loving, hard working, committed, intact family. The four friends were loyal and fun and generous to each other- the kinds of friends we all wished we had. The bicyclist was a delightful and respectful and compassionate son, loving his parents fiercely, seeing through their foibles to their humanity. The child we all want our children to be. And when he rides his bicycle, the passion for racing the wind swirls through the very air.

The next morning, I strapped on my carpal tunnel splints on both wrists, and put on my bike helmet. I didn't know if I could bike with the injured wrists, but bicycling has always been one of my passions. I have had the wrist pain for so many months, that I had not biked nearly all summer til now. I had forgotten how much I loved it.

I didn't race the wind, like the boy in the movie. But I rode with the wind, and listened to peepers croaking in the nearby creek, fooled by the warmth into thinking spring was here. The wrist splints kept me pain free, though I only rode for an hour so I wouldn't strain them. I thought about decency, and kindness, loving one's family, honoring one's parents, living moral lives whether someone was watching or not. I thought of the title of the movie- Breaking Away. The young man was breaking away from the life of his poor town- I won't spoil the movie and tell you how. But he was wise enough to understand that the one thing he should never break away from was the love of family, or moral truths like honesty, integrity, and kindness. It was not a movie about God, but it made me think of God.

I patted the handlebars of my bicycle as I rolled it back into the crawl space under the house. The chrome sparkled, and it almost looked like it smiled as I waved goodbye while closing the door.

1 Thessalonians 4: 3-9
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.


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