Thursday, October 5, 2017

Vanishing Point















Bullitt is the ultimate car chase in movie history to me.  A strong argument can be made for Gene Hackman in The French Connection, or even Angelina Jolie in Salt, riding a Street Triple R, you see her, you hear me riding it.  No we never met. For shear suspense nothing beats Duel, never saw a nastier truck, and on long stretches of deserted roads I’m always on the lookout.  Smoky and the Bandit made it all laughable, made Burt Reynolds a hero, and sold a lot of black Trans Ams.  But one movie seriously overlooked, and rarely seen on any TV movie is Vanishing Point, where Barry Newman has to deliver a 1970 Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in record time to win a bet.  Definitely a time capsule, it is the ultimate anti-hero film, from his Viet Nam vet war experience PTSD, to the blind black DJ on underground radio tracking Kowalski, to the nude girl riding the Honda, maybe you did meet the nicest people on a Honda after all.  What an ad that would make.  But in between the car chases, which really aren’t chases, to the ending where he takes on the bulldozers and loses, Vanishing Point is a movie that best describes the moods, values, and attitudes of the 1969-72 times.  Fast cars, fast girls, fast motorcycles, and fast talking cops, it s the man vs. us.  And for a while it looks like we might win, or at least be winning....
There was a popular bumper sticker, if not a bit rude and inaccurate at the time saying “Jesus is coming and boy is he mad!” defining the non-believing world against the man, Jesus Christ.  Where Kowalski was the anti-hero we were really searching for a real hero, and Jesus was it, as many of us found in the Jesus Movement.  Some survived it, drugs and war took too many, but those of us who came to Christ found more than we could ever imagine.  We found a loving savior that was so far removed from the bumper sticker, and we had to tell others, we couldn’t keep Jesus inside,we had to share him.  With a sunset so far removed from the brutal ending for Kowalski, and without destroying a cool car and two bulldozers.  Where the blind DJ was underground, we were above ground and alive, not hiding, but living.  Naked as the girl on the Honda, and not ashamed of it for Jesus.   A time in history you had to be there, it goes beyond emotions, sights, and sound.  Cars and trucks, motorcycles and bulldozers.  It was action, from beginning to end.  And we found that action in the Bible, with God along with us for the ride.  One that still goes on today!
When Moses wrote in Psalm 91 that God was from everlasting as back as time goes, and before with no beginning in sight, but also everlasting in the future, with no end in sight we see eternity.  Add one day to either end and he goes farther.  But the Hebrew interpretation for everlasting is a vanishing point, going back as far you can see in the rear view mirror, and as far ahead as the sunset allows, then continuing.  In Jesus there is no vanishing point, for eternity, both before and after have no beginning and will have no end.  No crash at the end, no anti-hero to remember, it will be all about Jesus in eternity, which is a very long, long time.  The words of David Crosby of CSN singing “it’s along time coming...it’ll be a long time gone...” but for those of us in Christ it never ends!  So rejoice.  But for those who reject the offer made by Jesus, it is along time gone also, eternal hell.  I think of all those famous who died and didn’t know Jesus, they still died and whatever fame they found on earth meant nothing to God.  Who they stood for did.  There are rock stars and the one who made and placed the stars, you choose.  He gives you the choice.
In Duel we never saw the driver’s face, in Bullitt we never see that Bud Ekins is driving for Steve McQueen, who was pulled out after the famous shot of him overshooting the corner, and backing up with the ultimate wheel hop.  Too famous to risk.  There are stunt drivers to take the risk for the stars, Jesus took the risk to the end for us all.  And was resurrected, he knew no vanishing point, and we won’t either, for we too will be resurrected as he was.  Before the beginning God was, and after the end he still will be.  From vanishing point to vanishing point and all in between, God is.  That is why when Moses asked “who do I say you are,” God answered say “I am the great I AM!”  A forever today outside of the constraints of time.  Our last shot in Vanishing Point is Kowalski hitting the two bulldozers an exploding.  Our last shot before entering our vanishing point will be a new shot in heaven. 
In this Psalm Moses goes over how God created the earth, how his spirit gave it form, and how his spirit when entering our lives gives us life and form.  His book starts “in the beginning,” but God has none.  He is, and was, and will be.  A place like none other in the universe, because it says God gave it life, and then placed us on it, his ultimate creation, for his pleasure.  A planet and creation unlike any other in the universe, and a son, Jesus, begotten and unique to go with it.  If only Moses knew about Vanishing Point the movie, he would make quite a critic.  After watching three New Mexico sunsets, and remembering why it is called “the Land of Enchantment,” the sun rose the next day.  Reminding me how Jesus rose after the darkness, and gave us another day of life.  You can be part of the sunsets and sunrises, and from vanishing point to vanishing point in Christ or believe the bumper sticker.  When God formed the mountains, I just know he was thinking of those of us who ride, and will ride into a vanishing pint with him someday.  Kowalski couldn’t beat the system, it beat him.  Truth is like that, you can argue it, but unless you accept it and change, you will become a victim of it.  The truth will set you free, a pair of D-8 Cats will mess up your afternoon.  And your car.  If you are going out in a blaze of glory, make sure you are going to glory instead of a blaze.  Hell was meant for the devil and his fallen angels, not for man.  God has reserved a place for us called heaven.  With no vanishing point.  Hope to see you there, in heaven that is. I’ve seen the movie, I may be no critic, but God gets 4 stars, **** in my book any day.  I’m glad I get that many in his, and all the ones he knows by name.  Everlasting, never changing.  He’s been a long time comin...
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com