Crash with Paul McDonald and Morgan Snyder
Paul McDonald and Morgan Snyder talk about the 2004 film Crash. This redemptively disturbing movie is a mirror that reflects our faulty vision. Each character is at times a victim, and at other times a perpetrator—our choices determine which way we will go and which identity we will embrace. Thankfully, the person I am today is not the end of the story.
Join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie.
About Morgan Snyder
Morgan Snyder has served alongside John Eldredge since before the inception of Wild at Heart almost two decades ago. Originally developing and directing the retreats and conferences, Morgan now serves as a speaker, teacher, and Director of Strategy.
He is married to an extraordinary woman, Cherie, and finds great joy in adventuring with his son, Joshua, and his daughter, Abigail. When he’s not with his family or on mission, he is most often found on expeditions in the mountains of Colorado.
He leads the Become Good Soil discipleship branch of Wild at Heart: “Become Good Soil is above all an invitation. When the time is right, it is particularly an invitation into a decade to join me and a tribe of like-hearted men who together are recovering the path and process that restore the heart of a man. This is for the few who want to risk everything to live in a way that God has to show up. The invitation is made available to all. Yet it is always a few who respond to the wild heart of the living God with a wholehearted yes. G. K. Chesterton reminds us that every generation loses the path of Life, and every generation is charged with its recovery. For over 20 years, I have sought to curate and distill its recovery in our age. It’s my joy to share the adventure with you. To the few, the brave, welcome.”
For more information, visit the website: Become Good Soil.
He is also the author of Becoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man - “IT IS GOD’S DESIGN, DESIRE, AND INTENTION TO EMPOWER HUMANS AND ENTRUST THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ONGOING CREATIVITY OF THE UNIVERSE.
Yet a look at our history and the world around us shows that the story of most men is being entrusted with power and having that power bring harm to themselves and those under their care.
What’s gone wrong? When can you entrust a man with power?
In Becoming a King, Morgan Snyder shares that when we take a deeper pass at the external problems around us, we begin to see the problems within our souls. Yet there is hope in an ancient path that leads men to become trustworthy kings.
Journey with Morgan as he walks alongside men (and the women who love and encourage them) to rediscover this path of inner transformation. Becoming a King is an invitation into a radical reconstruction of much of what we’ve come to believe about God, ourselves, and the meaning of life.
It’s an invitation to a rare and remarkable fellowship of like-hearted kings and an honest conversation about what power and responsibility look like for men in our world today.
Traveling the path isn’t cheap. It isn’t easy. It isn’t quick.
But it is the heroic journey detailed within the pages of Becoming a King that leads to real life; to men becoming as solid and mighty as oak trees, teeming with strength and courage to bring to a hurting world; and to our sons, husbands, brothers, and friends becoming the kind of kings to whom God can entrust his Kingdom.
For more information on the book, visit the website.
Quotes
I would name this film as redemptively disturbing.
That which we share in common is greater than that which divides us.
Your perception shifts as you understand their story.
We all have this tug of war between victim and perpetrator.
What’s important is not race or gender, but the fact that we walk into a situation and we do not see that situation the same.
You have no idea what you’re capable of, and how brutal the world is.
The people in the Bible are more like us than we are led to believe.
The person I am today is not the end of the story.
It’s falsely empowering to be the victim, and blame others for where we are.
Blame is most often a projection of pain.
Themes
Redemptively disturbing
Plays on all of our stereotypes
That which we share in common (the imago dei) is greater than that which divides us. The culture of the world is about division, about setting us apart.
Everyone in the film is at some point a victim, and at some point a perpetrator. We can be victimized, but will we take on the identity of victim?
We are scared of others because of the biases we have.
Bias is a leaning in favor or against a person or thing compared to another. We have healthy, redemptive biases, and unhealthy, destructive biases.
Our biases shape what we see. We don’t see clearly. The goal is to deal with our planks so we can help others with their specks.
We get to choose which way we will go, which identity we will embrace.
Resources
Link to Crash Movie worksheet
“Jesus never expected us simply to turn the other cheek, go the second mile, bless those who persecute us, give unto them that ask, and so forth. These responses, generally and rightly understood to be characteristic of Christlikeness, were put forth by him as illustrative of what might be expected of a new kind of person – one who intelligently and steadfastly seeks, above all else, to live within the rule of God and be possessed by the kind of righteousness that God himself has, as Matthew 6:33 portrays. Instead, Jesus did invite people to follow him into that sort of life from which behavior such as loving one’s enemies will seem like the only sensible and happy thing to do. For a person living that life, the hard thing to do would be to hate the enemy, to turn the supplicant away, or to curse the curser… True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would.” - Dallas Willard
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” -Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” -Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)
Become Good Soil podcast
Becoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man by Morgan Snyder
“There’s a way to be good again.” -The Kite Runner
"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it." -Aung San Suu Kyi
“The primary work of God is finding men to whom he can entrust his power. And the story of most men is being entrusted with power and it bringing harm to themselves and those under their care.” - Dallas Willard
Questions
What facts shape your life? What happened in your story that shapes who you have become?
What have you done today that you can be proud of?
What does the phrase “redemptively disturbing” mean to you? How does it apply to this movie?
Where have you been a victim of bias?
How have you victimized others through your biases?
How can a bias be good and healthy? Describe some of your own.
How can a bias be destructive and harmful? Again, describe some of your own.
When do you say, “I can’t see how/why they did this.”?
Morgan said, “Blame is a projection of our pain.” How have you experienced this?
What do you hold in common with the people most unlike you?