Even without movie subtitles, I watched and understood an entire movie spoken in a foreign language.
I was a seven-year-old living with my family in Rota, Spain where my dad was stationed with the United States Navy.
Like most homes in our neighborhood, our white stucco house had a flat roof. An outside staircase led to the rooftop, where we normally hung our clothes to dry..
But on Saturday evenings, our rooftop morphed from a clothes drier to a movie cinema.
The huge screen from the outdoor movie theater next door was aimed right at our rooftop. While patrons watched movies from rows of folding chairs, we took them in from our rooftop for free.
Making sense of it
Before movie time, my mom put my little sister to bed, popped a huge pot of popcorn, and poured the hot kernels into a brown paper bag. Then my dad carried the popcorn while my brother and I—with our pajamas on and blankets tucked under our arms—followed him up the stairs to the rooftop.
Up on the roof, we hung as far as we dared over the waist-high stucco wall and watched as moviegoers bought tickets and found their seats. The toasty smell of roasted sunflower seeds wafted up from the vendor stalls and made our mouths water.
Once the sky turned black and the crowds grew hushed, we knew it was time for the movie to begin. That’s when my brother and I stretched out on our blankets with the popcorn bag between us and watched the screen come to life.
But the movies were in Spanish.
And my brother and I couldn’t understand a word!
That’s when my dad—who’d become fluent in Spanish for his current Naval assignment—stepped in and translated for us.
We thought he was a genius.
Heavenly reminders
The huge bag of popcorn, the sights and sounds of the cinema, and the starry sky above us made for a special night. But without my dad there with us, my brother and I would have lost interest in in the movie within minutes.
My dad has since gone on to heaven. And, more than fifty years later, his presence on the rooftop reminds me of a few things about God—
1. When life doesn’t make sense, look at it from a heavenly perspective
Our circumstances don’t always make sense. Why is that person making my life so difficult? Why did this happen to me? When will that situation change?
Over the years, I’ve learned the value of a heavenly vantage point. When I’m trying to get clarity, the pages of my Bible often help me see things from God’s sovereign point of view. And when things still make no sense at all, the Scriptures remind me that I can trust the Lord whose ways are not like mine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours.
Isaiah 55:9 (The Living Bible)
2. When life doesn’t make sense, talk to God
During those warm rooftop rendezvous, my dad was attentive to my brother and me and was happy to interpret the actors’ dialogue.
In the same way, we can be assured that God is always listening. He isn’t bothered or annoyed by our prayers. In fact, He invites us to pray to Him. And when we talk to Him, He often speaks back to us through His Word, explaining more clearly what we didn’t understand at first.
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3 (Christian Standard Bible)
3. When life doesn’t make sense, sit with God.
God is sovereign.
Nothing is hidden from Him.
He knows every detail of yesterday, today, tomorrow, and a thousand years from now.
When nothing else makes sense, God does. He’ll bring comfort when we’re hurting, healing when we’re broken, and peace when we’re filled with confusion.
But those things are found in His presence.
Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for special occasions to spend time with God. He’s always available to us. All day, every day.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.
James 4:8, HCSB
