The Green Mile with Paul McDonald and Robert Moore
"The Green Mile" is a film directed by Frank Darabont that tells a captivating story about faith in unexpected circumstances. It is based on Stephen King's novel and follows the journey of Paul Edgecomb, a corrections officer on death row, who meets a kind-hearted giant named John Coffey. As Paul witnesses John's extraordinary abilities, he is torn between his beliefs and the justice system. With Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan's powerful performances, this movie explores the idea of how faith can thrive in despair, reminding us of the strength found in embracing the miraculous, even when it challenges our deepest convictions.
About Robert
Robert, like myself, likes to talk, but more importantly, he likes to create a safe space for others to be heard. God’s put Robert into many titles over his life from father, husband, and corporate leader to currently he serves in the Mental Health Space as well as a Podcast Host on God’s Glory in Men’s Real Stories. Through his own struggles that he's very vulnerable about, he's able to facilitate conversations that lead to healing of past and present hurt and trauma, all while giving God the glory for keeping our minds from self-destruction as He welcomes us into his loving arms with grace and forgiveness. See more at God's Glory in Men's Real Stories
Quotes
This movie reveals the challenges we face to accept the things we can’t unsee.
How often does God have to grab us by the balls to get our attention?
When we are at the end of our rope is when God shows up, and we can’t miss it.
We will try to rationalize anything so that we don’t look crazy to others.
Martha doesn’t say she believes Jesus is the Resurrection, only that He is the Messiah. She has to trust Jesus to fill in the gap.
There are things that we feel are dead that we don’t want to give to God because we don’t want to hope.
You couldn’t explain it in any other way except, “But God…”
Transformation, healing, and change are rarely comfortable.
If I don’t talk about it, how will I find others and set them free?
Themes
God shows you things that you can’t unsee.
The enemy tries to stop you from believing what you saw.
The tension between seeing things you can’t unsee and our desire to look away. Paul sees the tension of a man who is supposed to be a rapist and a killer but who is also scared of the dark and is able to heal others.
The growth of faith
Coffey heals Paul (experience the change, intimate, passive, received). What can’t be unseen is only known by two people (Paul and his wife). Coffey grabbed Paul when he got close.
Coffey heals the mouse (observe the miracle, corporate, invitation). Paul has to hand the mouse over to Coffey. “Give him to me boss.” Many people saw it, Paul risked looking crazy by handing the mouse to Coffey.
Coffey heals the warden’s wife (proactive, risky, knows he could help). Paul recruits Coffey and others to heal the warden’s wife. Risked their jobs. There’s someone else who needs to experience what I have experienced. Had to face a man with a gun.
The death of John Coffey: The people watching were not prepared to hear/know the truth. Everything dies if we don’t tell the story of the things we can’t unsee to the ones who are ready to hear the truth.
At no point did John Coffey use his healing as a leverage to get released from prison. The lie of religion is to use our “good” actions to say to God, “Look what I’ve done for you…now you do this for me.”
Resources
God’s Glory in Men’s Real Stories: YouTube, Instagram, Twitter
“When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
“Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.” So Mary immediately went to him.
Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him. When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there. When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them.
They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” - John 11: 17-44 (NLT)
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” - Mark 9:23-24 (NLT)
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” - 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
Ted Lasso—”The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
“His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.” - Judges 14:4 (NLT)
Questions
What moments in your life are those things you can’t unsee?
Where do you need to look more closely?
Where do you want to look away?
When has God grabbed you by the balls?
How did God show up when you were at the end of your rope?
What is God asking you to hand him, like Coffey asked for the mouse? Where is God saying, “Give it to me?”
What looks crazy to hand over to God?
Where have you lost hope?
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Edited and mixed by Grayson Foster
Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston
Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).
Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.
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