Hello...this is Michael

I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see Slumdog Millionaire. I saw Jon Stewart interview the lead charecter this past week and was reminded what an amazing movie I was able to see crammed into my nearly front row seat at the theater. Slumdog is one of those “films” that caused people to kind of curl their eyebrows when you tell them what you are going to see tonight. As I was heading out the door a teenager asked me what I was heading out to see…

”Notorious”? (The story of the Notorious B.I.G.)

“Underworld” (vampire movie NOT involving anyone named Cullen)…?

"No, Slumdog Millionaire”

"Is that even a real movie”?

Yes kids…and what a movie.

So, quick breakdown...

Jamal, an 18 year old from the slums of Mumbai, gets onto the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”.

Yes…It really exists.

He does something that no one else has been able to do…win.

The fact that a kid from the slums is able to answer each of the increacingly difficult quesitons is cause for accusations of cheating. As Jamal tells his story, it’s revealed that he is so much more than a kid from the slums. Jamal’s experiences - most of them horrific - have given him the answers to the questions, but that’s not why he is on this show. Jamal is on the show for love….the kind of love that movies are supposed to be about.

See, when they were young, Jamal met a girl named Latika. From that moment he bagan to love her. When he lost her, he bagan a life devoted to finding her. Life had taken it’s toll on her - everytime it seemed they could be together life separated them again. Latika spent her life abused, mistreated, and never seen as anything more than a commodity to be traded and used for the pleasure of others. Jamal always saw her for who she truly was. He saw her beauty, the wonder that is her. Even with the choices she made in her life that seemed to welcome abuse without resistance - Jamal still saw the little girl who was caught in the rain.

Jamal’s story is of a good man on a reletless search for the one he loves - the one for whom he has chosen to be responsible. There seems to be no obsticle too big to find her. When he finally does he meets a woman who has resigned herself to her life. In many ways she had given up. She didn’t know she was being saught or believed she would be found. The first time he finds her is as an orpahn - and he chooses her. The next time he finds her she is a prostitute - he still chooses her. The next time he finds her she is the girlfriend of a gangster - he still chases her. Even though she had given up hope - Jamal always believed.

So, not only was I blown away by the size and scope of the love story - but I could clearly see our love story there. We too are saught by a lover. He has crossed time and space to find us. He has walked through tortures and trials only to find the object of his desire in the arms of others…trapped by our own life choises.

Like Jamal, Jesus knows the answers because of his suffering. Like Jamal, Jesus is relentless in his search...at great personal cost. Like Jamal, Jesus finds us in life choices that no longer demonstrate faith...and still picks us.

See, our biggest problem is that we don’t really believe we will be found - or that God is really looking for us.

One of my favorite scenes is the "phone a friend" scene. Watch Jamal's face. There is sadness as the call is made and no one answers, the world has given up. Then the one voice comes on the line...the voice that is the reason for the call. HIs whole face changes. She has answered his call...and he is overjoyed

"Hello...this is Michael."