Enter Stage Left

I grew up on a diet of western’s and murder mysteries.

My mother would let me sit up and watch shows such as Callan, and Z Cars.

Later it was Kojak and Columbo.

Any movie with John Wayne, or Alan Ladd was a winner.

We thrilled many a time waiting in that moment when the villain would spring the trap and my mother would cry “dirty work at the crossroads.”

It was lost on me that it was always Danny Williams who made the arrests in Hawaii Five O. The leg work couldn’t have been done without Danny doing what Danny did, and the show wouldn’t be the same without “Book him, Danno,” rounding off each episode.

Later, when I discovered the Lord of the Rings, I realised that Frodo could not have achieved what he did without the rock solid support of Sam. Sam was very much about strength of character and faithfulness.

If you think of any hero or heroine there is someone standing at their side who supports them in what they do, or in some way makes their victories possible. They don’t, and often can't act alone. They need support.

Quite often these “sidekicks” are more often than not completely underappreciated.

In many ways movies are nothing like life. More so now than back in the 60s and 70s, Hollywood doesn’t come anywhere near close to reflecting the truth of the lives ordinary people live.

Life is not Hollywood.

Anyone who has been following the Bible Bloke for a while has been with me on my journey starting with the first couple of Psalms which segued into an exploration of the First Book of Samuel.

Lately my focus has been on Hannah, and I have unfinished business with this wonderful lady who in many ways is as ordinary as the rest of us. She paints for us an amazing emotional landscape through which we pass, sharing her hurt and her renewal.

And yet, she is on screen, as it were, for a very short time, the quintessential “supporting actress.” Her presence lingers in the person of her son Samuel. She is a vital “someone” in God’s eternal plan of salvation. However minor she might seem, she is given to us in Scripture as someone we can relate to, feel for and understand.

She is us.

Over the past few weeks however, I have wondered whether or not I should even continue with my blog, or just give it up. After all, what’s the point?

And yet we all have seasons of dryness, we all spent time in the wilderness.

Isn’t that the reality God has given us in and through His Word? He has given us an incredible landscape of “supporting actors” who shadow the stage and yet achieve so much to help us apply God’s truth and love to our own lives? They show us how we should live according to God’s will. In these characters, however short a time they are on stage, we can see how their situations might apply to us. We may not necessarily be able to aspire to a David, or Joshua, or Moses or Miriam, but we can equate to Hannah or Naomi. Or a Zacchaeus or Silas.

Perhaps the more flawed they are the more we can learn from their relationship with God in the pages of the Bible?

And so, moving forward, it seems to me that these “supporting actors” are the one’s I am keen to meet, to know better, to reveal, and explore, so to answer the question: “How did God work His great plan through you?”

How is God working His great plan through me?

By shining a light on them I think each of us can see what they did and how they coped and we can learn and grow through their example in the simple, ordinary lives they lived. I think that’s a worthwhile endeavour.