Up with Paul McDonald and Corey Stumne
Coming up on the Men at the Movies podcast, we discuss Corey’s favorite Pixar movie, Up. These characters reveal different ways to pursue adventure, dreams, and purpose, but only Russell invites people to join him in his pursuit. And in the middle of his epic adventure, Russell misses a boring curb the most. Adventure is out there, and let’s discover God’s truth in this movie.
Quotes
“Adventure is out there.”
There are things more important than your dreams.
Sometimes you feel like you owe it to a ghost of loved one’s past to do this thing, and, if you do this thing, you have fulfilled the dream and validate your existence.
If the adventure is just about what picture you can put in the scrapbook or social media, then it is becoming the idol. The goal of our lives shouldn’t be to fill up a scrapbook with pictures of adventure.
There are more important things than your dreams—and that’s very counter-cultural.
The dreams God gives us aren’t always dreams that succeed, but dreams to fail so that we grow and learn.
Our dreams, adventures, and purpose can become idols in our lives.
The things that we hold on to too tightly become our idols.
The boring stuff is what we remember most.
In the middle of an epic adventure, Russell misses the curb the most. It’s the boring thing that cultivated the most important relationship.
If you aren’t doing the daily stuff, the mountaintop won’t matter.
Adventure is meant to be shared.
Themes
Dreams and adventure gone wrong
Adventure: Going somewhere else, it’s exciting, and you expect awesome things to happen. Present-centric.
Dreams: Those things you’re striving toward, a future accomplishment. Positive. Future-oriented.
Purpose: What wakes you up in the morning. Internal, quiet, personal. Motivation.
The danger of social media’s approach to dreams, purpose, and adventure.
Three reflections of the pursuit of adventure/dreams/purpose: Both Charles and Carl hold onto a dream that has been corrupted.
Charles: Dream is to be the most famous scientist, but was discredited as a fraud. Motivated others with “Adventure is out there.” So consumed by the pursuit of his dream that it changed him. Living an adventure, but self-serving purpose. Impact is mistrust and aggression against others.
Carl: Pursues a dream that is connected to success or failure in a relationship. Feels like, “I have to do this to get closure.” Looks at all the things he hasn’t done, all the ways that he failed Elly. Impact is isolation, shame, regret. Accomplishes his huge dream, but he’s all alone.
Russell: dream was to get his badge, the impact of his pursuit in increase in relationship (Doug, Kevin, Carl). Everywhere he goes, he invites people in (and people who are misfits/in need/lonely). Chases relationship through adventure.
Resources
The Man Called Messiah by Corey Stumne
Questions
How do you find purpose when your job doesn’t feel like a dream/adventure?
Where do you find adventure?
What do you dream of?
What is your purpose?
If God gave you a scrapbook of your life, what do you hope is in the “Stuff I’m going to do” section?
Do you feel like God’s purpose for your life is to have a wholesome, self-serving adventure or are there more important things that should go in the scrapbook?
Where have your dreams failed? And how did that get you where you needed to be?
What is the impact of your pursuit of dreams/adventure/purpose, especially relationally?
How do you invite others in to your dreams/purpose/adventure?
Why do you pursue your dreams?
What’s your curb, the boring thing that you miss the most, the cultivated the important relationship?
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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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