Christian
When we last left Simon he was fending off some poachers on a Texas ranch while teaching others to forgive.
In this episode of Sons of Thunder from Pure Flix, Simon motors down the highway where his good-intention act to help someone in distress gets him attacked and without a motorcycle.
PLEASE NOTE: This article marks a change in this series. The previous 3 articles (Season 1: Episodes 1, 2 and 3) were all play-by-play recaps of the episodes. Going forward, starting with this article, the articles will all be review & commentary with the expectation that you've already watched the episode.
DO UNTO OTHERS
Watching the intro scene makes me wonder how many of us would stop to help someone these days. Do we just keep on traveling in the middle of the night and hope "those people" get some help or do we pull over, like Simon, and become the help that we hope they'd find?
Not going to lie here, this is tough for me.
If I were Simon, the first thing I'm thinking is "this is a setup." Basically, someone who is stranded is a probably a criminal unless proven otherwise.
Part of this response, which I think many of us have, is simply our self-preservation and awareness at work. We've all seen the incidents where this very thing plays out in real life. And it probably doesn't help that movies & news prey on this fear to sell product, get attention, etc.
The thing is, if the situation were reversed, would we be hoping someone like Simon would come along soon or would we be content with sitting there stuck (and/or in need of help)? We'd probably be a little nervous or even scared in the middle of the night along that road.
I'm not advocating always stopping for everyone no matter what, but what I am saying is maybe we shouldn't be so quick to turn our eyes away. Maybe we should spend a moment evaluating & praying (quickly with eyes open if driving). And maybe, just maybe, there will be times where you're led to be like Jessie who came to Simon's aid when he needed it most.
Be the person you want to interact with in the world.
LACK OF CONTROL
After getting dropped off by Jessie, Simon just goes walking in the middle of the night and low and behold, he finds his bike outside a bar. I can just imagine what thoughts must have been running through his head.
If only he had a spare set of keys, he could have rode off and we'd be done here. Alas, he's forced to deal with the forces behind the theft.
When Simon enters the bar he finds a late-night poker game going on and soon realizes just how not-in-control he really is in life at this moment.
Isn't that a moment for all of us though?
Many of us (maybe all) have a notion of being in control of some part of our lives, but really it's God who is in complete control.
Simon is upset, but he really only has a few choices here:
Count it all as lost and walk away (bike lost).
Start a fight and attempt to gain physical control to remedy the situation (final outcome will probably be worse than the first option).
Realize God is in control and follow His lead, which very well may be walking away and losing the bike.
Continue to fight against the current, be upset, be restless with the lack of control you have until you finally arrive at point #3.
I believe Simon is choosing point #4 at this point. He's clearly upset and doesn't like the options being presented to him and he's unwilling to walk away. Eventually he will realize God is in control and submit to His glory.
THE DEVIL OFFERS GIFTS
Simon is presented with the "opportunity" to take a loan and do some gambling, which he's against. However, perhaps feeling as if he has no choice or the Lord's leading, he sits down and engages the men at the table.
As Simon sits down he tells the men:
We often can have this warped image of Satan as a creature who is always trying to bash us in the face directly, but he's far more crafty than that.
The devil will use all sorts of methods to eventually steer us wrong (he is patient).
He will even use the Bible and truth (the best lies always have truth in them).
A pastor who is now with the Lord once talked about walking the narrow path and that the Devil isn't trying to get you to stray extremely far from it immediately (although he'll take it). Instead, it's just increments of taking small steps away until one day you look around and realize that the path is way, way over there.
This reminds me of God's Not Dead where Marc Shelly (played by Dean Cain) was talking to Mina's mother about how she prayed her whole life and, according to him, was a mess/failure. But on the other hand he never prayed and his life was "perfect."
In response, she says:
"Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want them turning to God. Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door's wide open. Till one day, time runs out, and the cell door slams shut, and suddenly it's too late."
The devil games us according to our characteristics.
For some it's a "successful life," for others it's power, for others it's sex/drugs and so on.
Psalm 23 tells us the the Lord is our shepard and he provides ALL we need. We lack nothing.
ON THE RIVER
The poker game in this episode was done very well. Throughout it we see several dynamics at play with each of the characters as some of them wrestle with conflict.
Mr. Clinton is the orchestrator of this cards-of-chance concert. Basically, he's a representation of the devil. He even gets upset when Simon "brings Jesus" into the conversation.
He puts everyone in their place and works each of them to his delight as he feels like he's in complete power.
Mr. Clinton loves to give "gifts," but as Simon points out, his gifts come with strings.
On his left is the toothless Sheriff who's lost real authority because he's given into Mr. Clinton's financial power (he even points out the the only reason the town isn't 100% dead is because of Mr. Clinton).
This is something that's probably easy to do in a smaller town where resources are scarce. But as a result, the Sheriff is now a shill for Mr. Clinton's rule.
He's gotten used to just being a limp figure of authority. In fact, during the poker game he even tells Simon to "turn the other cheek" because "it's easier for everyone that way."
And later in the episode he realizes that the bike really belongs to Simon and he's faced with that internal conflict of what's right vs what's viable again.
Rather than upholding what's right, the Sheriff looks at what's viable and starts trying to rationalize the situation by pointing out all the "good" things Mr. Clinton does for the town.
On Simon's left is the thief and womanizer Tate. He has no remorse for stealing Simon's bike, continually tries to buy Melody's attention (quite literally) and cheats every chance he gets. He's Mr. Clinton's nephew and one could say his disciple.
Eventually, Tate loses and is out of the game, which ends up angering Mr. Clinton because Tate lost the keys to the bike to Jessie.
And as it turns out Jessie is there to win money to pay off the debt on his father's land and get the deed, which Mr. Clinton doesn't want to see happen as he wants the land. And thus trading the bike for Simon's chips is something Mr. Clinton doesn't want to happen and he's willing to do anything to stop it.
At this point I was thinking Simon could just cash out, leave and buy the bike off Jessie later, but Mr. Clinton, who probably knows this, would just stop Jessie from leaving with the keys.
Also Jessie seems focused on having that deed tonight, which is why he asked Neville (the banker) to bring it. Doesn't Neville just sound like a banker's name? Oh, there goes Neville the banker again ...
Later in "poker night" Tate starts taunting Jessie and his faith. He tries to get Jessie to sell the land to his uncle and leave. Just like a disciple of the enemy.
Mr. Clinton tried to keep Tate's mouth shut because he knew he'd say too much and Tate sure did.
Eventually big-mouth Tate reveals that this "worthless dirt land" is going to be part of a highway project. Oh boy, that's kind of important don't ya think?
It was a grand reveal as no one but Tate and his uncle knew about the plan.
HEAT IN THE KITCHEN
With the cat out of the bag and the truth that Mr. Clinton is a liar, things get interesting.
Jessie and Neville go big over a hand while Mr. Clinton starts stirring up conflict by pointing out that Melody had a diamond ring on her finger the other day.
This leads to a physical confrontation with Jessie and Tate, which is exactly what Mr. Clinton was hoping for.
He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve and is prepared to use them all to get what he wants.
In a final attempt to stop Jessie, he tries to kick him out of the bar claiming Jessie is a hothead (of course it was Mr. Clinton that orchestrated everything).
Thankfully the Sheriff, perhaps convicted after realizing how bad he's been lied to, finally shows a backbone and forces the game to go on.
After Jessie wins with a straight flush, Mr. Clinton once again tries to stop everything.
The Sheriff finally had enough, stepped in and removed his power (knocked him out).
OUR PURPOSE
In the end Simon got back his bike keys, but more importantly he knew why he was there in the first place. And all of the events of the evening made perfect sense.
Often we don't know why God is having us take a step or where we're going, because we can't see the future.
But that's ok though because God knows what He is doing even if we don't.
Other times we get spun around just trying to find our purpose in life. We may even read entire books on purpose.
And sometimes we don't even seek His guidance, but rely on our own limited sight and understanding.
Like a good shepard, God lays out the right path and calls us to keep us on that path so we arrive at the required destination.
Maybe instead of trying to see everything in the scope of time, we should just look at this moment in time and ask God, "Lord, what can I do to serve you?"
And maybe instead of waiting until we see and understand everything, we should just do what God asks (since he is the creator of everything and knows everything after all).
Have faith in the Lord and follow His lead.
AUDIO
As a side note, I was re-watching this episode to prepare to write about it and this time I decided to wear headphones.
With the sound turned up a little, I heard the low idling of a motorcycle throughout the episode, which I had missed when watching on my TV. Pretty neat.
Did you hear it too?
Until next time ...
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!