“It's fine to live in the now. But the best thing about now is that there's another one tomorrow. I'm going to start making them count."- The Spectacular Now
I watched a weird movie tonight: “The Spectacular Now.” It wasn't a movie that I would normally watch. I'm not a fan of stereotypical teenagers. The main characters both started out that way, a drunk party-goer 18 year old, Sutter Keely, who doesn't want to think about life after high school and a more conservative“nice girl” Aimee Finecky, who likes sci-fi. I almost turned it off a few times, in the first few minutes. I wasn't eager to see a young guy stumbling around drunk and mourning his recent break up with his girlfriend (who had already moved on). But despite the latter and a large amount of “awkward teenager” talk, it quickly became obvious that beneath the party-boy exterior that he is extremely thoughtful and downright sweet. Even when he's drunk, he's really deep. Sutter and Aimee both struggle with thinking that nobody could ever really love them, or that they could be good enough.
There was a lot of things that really stood out to me about their story. First, Sutter really just wants to help Aimee out. She's living in a rut and just doing the same old thing. He doesn't actually want to hook up with her at first. Even when he realizes that he likes her, and she him, it's still not his goal.
Second, Sutter doesn't care that his friends think that Aimee is lame. He's seen her and has actually taken the time to get to know her and talk with with. Yes, Sutter, the seemingly stereotypical party guy loves the unloved. He loves everyone. In his pain, he helps and loves others.
Third, even when Sutter and Aimee fight (because every relationship has conflicts), Aimee proves that she loves him more than anything. Even when his inevitable drunk driving almost kills them both. She immediately asks if he's okay. “I almost just killed you and you wanna know if I'm okay?” He yells at her. “Yeah, I wanna make sure that you're okay.” She replies. Aimee is so selfless with her love. I imagine that I would be a “little” ticked off if that happened to me. But time and time again, no matter what Sutter does, Aimee loves him unconditionally.
Finally, their story is awesome because it is unique. I don't like stories where you can predict the ending, or even the next scene. This movie totally blew me away. It made me laugh and it made me cry (for unpredictable reasons), like a good love story should. I have always believed that God has a perfectly unique love story for anyone who is brave enough to answer the call. Aimee could have ignored the drunk guy who passed out in someone's yard. It only took that one action to set them both on a life changing adventure.
Now, I feel like I do have to say that there was a lot of cussing and crud in this movie. I've never been comfortable with the idea of teens dating and giving their heart (and virginity) away on a whim. But I also like to look past those details and embrace the story as a whole. But I liked that they both matured and took on life together, no matter what. I realize that it's uncomfortable to accept a story like this as the reality of many people. We look at it and go “sin, sin, sin” and “shame, and “shame, shame, shame.” But guess what? This stuff happens. It's reality. Whether we “like” it or not, it's the world around us. And the harsher reality is in God's eyes, sin is sin.
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
-James 2:10
Sins like teenage sex make us uncomfortable. It's hard to love people that we're uncomfortable with. But why are we uncomfortable with other people who sin? We all sin. We're not better than them because we didn't make “that choice” or do “that sin”. We all sin. And we're all held accountable for our sins. We're also held accountable for not loving people who sin differently than we do. Yeah, I learned a lot going to college in Portland. I talked to people that I never would have before I had the realization that if God loves us, sin and all, then He loves everyone else, sin and all. I realized I grew up thinking that anyone who commits a sin of a sexual nature is a bad person. The first time that I talked to a gay guy, I was surprised that I was talking to him in the first place…..then, I realized that he was a human being, no different than me. He was friendly and polite. He lives differently than me, but I live differently than anyone else reading this. It hit me: “SO WHAT?! He's made choices in his life, I've made choices in my life. Does God love him any less? Does God want him any less? Did Jesus die less for him? Um.... no.” Not one bit. It dawned on me that God's unconditional love for every person ever to live means that He actually loves everyone.
And then comes Sutter and Aimee. Two teens who both make bad choices and commit sins. But both love people for who they are, just because that's who THEY are.
Word Count: 900
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