I’m talking about the Elves, people, the Elves. \u00a0In the second film, LOTR: The Two Towers, Elrond’s band of Elves are on their way to The Undying Lands (Heaven, if you will, Nirvana, if you won’t) and are leaving the humans to battle Sauroman and Sauron’s armies alone. \u00a0Then, they have a change of heart. \u00a0Yes, they could’ve gone straight up to The Undying Lands without feeling any pain at all and lived in harmony and beauty forever. But they chose not to. They chose to stay and fight on the front lines during the Battle of Helms Deep and every last single one of those elves bit the dern dust<\/em>. \u00a0Why is this significant? These Elves knew they would probably die, but they also knew where they were going afterward! That’s why they did not fear death and they did not fear pain because they knew it would only be temporary. They knew their rightful place was in The Undying Lands and they therefore had no reason to fear.<\/p>\n Christians, this ought to be you. \u00a0You ought not live in fear of death or pain or destruction of this world because you know where you’re going! You know that at the end of all things, you will be living in beauty and paradise and surrounded by love and all good things. \u00a0That ought to make you fearless! \u00a0Not reckless, not YOLO, mind you — not like Gimli and our band of lovable (and seksi) heroes were living, prepared to die in a blaze of glory. \u00a0You know that your blaze of glory comes AFTERward. \u00a0That ought to give you wings to do something great on this Earth and lead more people to the freedom to do great things fearlessly, as well.<\/p>\n Be elvish, my people, be elvish.<\/p>\n (Scripture reference: 1 Thesaalonians 4:13-18<\/a>: “Do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope…we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort each other with these words.”<\/strong>)<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Speak Against Evil<\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>In the first film, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf and the rest of the Fellowship are being chased by a Balrog, a demon of Morgoth. In one of the most famous (and short) speeches in movie history, Gandalf stays behind as the Fellowship runs to safety, looks that demon square in the eyes and speaks to it forcefully, saying, “You shall not pass. YOU– SHALL NOT –PASS!” And what do you know? The Balrog doesn’t pass. OK, Gandalf doesn’t either, but he did what he set out to do, which was to keep the demon from getting past him and killing Frodo who had the One Ring.<\/p>\n We see this again in the second film, The Two Towers, when Sm\u00e9agol, the schizophrenic former Hobbit, is battling his evil side, Gollum, who was corrupted by the One Ring. Gollum is trying to tell\u00a0Sm\u00e9agol that\u00a0Sm\u00e9agol has no friends, nobody likes him and\u00a0Sm\u00e9agol can trust nobody but Gollum and\u00a0Sm\u00e9agol must therefore, kill his master, Frodo, and his companion Sam, and get back the One Ring. \u00a0Sm\u00e9agol knows Gollum is evil and “tricksy,” and not to be trusted, so he speaks to his evil side, “Leave now and never come back!” He says this to Gollum over and over again until Gollum flees!<\/p>\n Of course, Gollum catches Sm\u00e9agol at a weak moment later on and is therefore able to take control over his mind again, which is why, especially in our weakest and darkest moments, we must stay on our guard and continue to speak forcefully against evil, whether it’s internal or external.<\/p>\n (Scriptural reference: Matthew 4:10<\/a><\/strong>: “Jesus said to him,\u00a0\u201cAway from me, Satan!\u00a0For it is written,” then quote whatever scripture applies to the evil you’re fighting against!)<\/p>\n 3) Look beyond the faults of others\u00a0<\/span>:\u00a0<\/strong>There is something powerful about seeing the best in other people even when they are not showing us their best.\u00a0 That simple act of grace on your part can not only give you peace about another person\u2019s bad actions, but it can also stop someone in the midst of their bad actions.\u00a0 In the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Boromir\u2019s climactic interaction is a perfect example of this.\u00a0 At the end of this film, Boromir becomes corrupted by the One Ring and tries to take it from Frodo\u2019s hands.\u00a0 Though Frodo is afraid of Boromir in the moment, he \u00a0doesn\u2019t hold Boromir\u2019s actions against him.\u00a0 Frodo remembers that Boromir has not only pledged to protect and defend Frodo on this journey to destroy the One Ring, but Frodo also knows that Boromir has actually done just that up until this point.\u00a0 Acknowledging that Boromir is a good and loyal person who is doing something out of character by trying to attack Frodo and take the ring, Frodo says to Boromir, \u201cYou are not yourself!\u201d\u00a0 Frodo knows that it is not Boromir who is trying to hurt him and steal the ring, it\u2019s the One Ring that\u2019s corrupting everything, which is why Frodo must destroy it.\u00a0 That\u2019s grace. Frodo doesn\u2019t condemn Boromir because he knows Boromir\u2019s heart. As a result, Boromir comes back to himself and is immediately sorry for trying to take the ring.<\/p>\n Another example is Sam and Frodo, throughout the trilogy.\u00a0 On more than one occasion, Frodo tries to get rid of Sam and go on the quest alone, but Sam refuses to leave Frodo\u2019s side. Sam knows Frodo cannot carry the burden of the One Ring alone.\u00a0 In Return of the King, Frodo goes the farthest he\u2019s ever gone in trying to push Sam away.\u00a0 Frodo believes Gollum\u2019s lies that Sam is trying to steal the ring from him and so Frodo violently pushes his best friend to the ground and tells him with evil eyes, \u201cGo home, Sam. I don\u2019t need you!\u201d Mind you, Sam has crossed most of Middle Earth with Frodo, fought for and with him and protected him from dangers seen and unseen and here Frodo is believing that Sam could betray him so terribly and banishes poor, faithful Sam.<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0<\/strong>Do not Fear Your\u00a0Past<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Aragorn had issues, y\u2019all.\u00a0 The Age of Men is ending and it\u2019s all his ancestor Isildur\u2019s fault and so Aragorn is feeling like it’s his fault, too. \u00a0 Back in the day, Sauron came to destroy mankind with the help of the One Ring to Rule Them All, and he killed Isildur\u2019s father, Elendil, making Isildur the King of Gondor immediately. \u00a0Isildur then (temporarily) destroyed Sauron by cutting off Sauron\u2019s finger that had the One Ring on it. But instead of taking the One Ring to Mount Doom and casting it into the fire as Elrond told Isildur to do so that everyone could be free of its corruption, Isildur got fancy and thought that the One Ring looked right nice on his own finger and said, NAWL, to Elrond.\u00a0 Of course, the power of the One Ring corrupted everyone in contact of it and Isildur was murdered over it.\u00a0 Which brings us to Isildur\u2019s heir to the throne of Gondor and the leader of The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn.<\/p>\n Aragorn\u2019s guilt over Isildur\u2019s failure made him run away from Gondor and become a ranger. While he was happy to step up and help The Fellowship protect Frodo on Frodo\u2019s journey to destroy the One Ring at Mount Doom, Aragorn did not want to take any role in his homeland, Gondor, least of all his rightful place on the throne as king. He was too afraid that Isildur\u2019s weakness ran in his own veins and he too would be a failure. That fear kept him from achieving his greatness.<\/p>\n Sometimes, we live like Aragorn, whether it\u2019s because of a mistake we made ourselves or a mistake our family member\u2019s made.\u00a0My mother was an alcoholic, so I\u2019ll be an alcoholic, my father wasn\u2019t there, so I\u2019m not going to be there for my children<\/em>, the excuses \/ fear go on and on.<\/p>\n But let me tell you about the epic failures Jesus had in his own family tree:\u00a0\u00a0 Rahab was a prostitute, Judah and Tamar were adulterers and King David was an adulterer\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0a murderer and the list goes on. \u00a0God allowed Christ to come through these flawed individuals to show us first that He can do anything He wants with any number of screw-ups. He’s God. \u00a0He also did this to show us that we are not where we come from. \u00a0Because of Christ, we are free not only from our own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of our family. \u00a0We don’t ever have to be them and once we surrender our past to God, we don’t ever have to be burdened by it again.<\/p>\n With the help of friends who loved him and believed in his purpose, Aragorn was able to overcome his fear and take his rightful place on the throne of Gondor. \u00a0It’s time we defeated fear and took our rightful place in this world too!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.brookeobie.com\/districtdiva\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/12\/go-home-300x169.gif\")
\u00a0But of course, Sam knows Frodo is strung out on the One Ring and is not himself, so he follows Frodo and Gollum from a distance, continuing to look out for Frodo. It is because of Sam’s great faith in Frodo that Frodo is able to come back to himself.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good friend! And that\u2019s how we should be with each other, always providing grace to people who make mistakes and are acting unlike themselves.\u00a0 We never know what people are dealing with or what stresses they are under, so we should try and look beyond the mistakes they are making, remember what good characteristics they have and try to help them as much as we can.<\/p>\n