Looking Beyond Today

Yesterday I went to see the movie
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 
at an artsy theater in Palo Alto.

Dave was spending the day up in the city at the US Open Golf Tournament. 

I had just dropped Katie off at the San Francisco airport.

(Is there a nickname for that airport? Like LAX... but different letters?

Do people call it SFO? hmmm I don't think I've ever heard anyone call it that.) 

I had been wanting to see the movie
and since it was on the way home from the airport
I decided to just go do it. So I did.
On a Thursday afternoon it was me
and six or seven other people in the theater.
I was the youngest person there.

The movie was really sweet and fun to watch,

though Dave might have taken a bit of a nap
if he had gone with me.

And it was fun watching the ensemble of older,
incredibly talented actors
 like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

                                They were awesome.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the movie,

it's about a 20-something guy (Sonny) in India whose family owns an old hotel

that is very run down and hasn't been open for a while.

He tries to open it as a residence for retired people.

So a random group of older folk all end up meeting and living there together.

Sonny's the type of person that puts a positive spin on everything.

No matter what is actually happening or what people are actually seeing,

he tries to convince them to see beyond the present.

Throughout the movie we hear him telling them (with a cool Indian accent),

 "Everything will be all right in the end. And if it is not all right, then it is not the end."

I love that! And as I walked out of the theater I realized

that it's a really good paraphrase of Romans 8:28.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good

to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

That was a great reminder to me.

When something is going on in my life that I don't like so much,

something that I really really wish was different...
whether it's a small thing or a really big thing,

I need to remember that verse. I need to remember that God is in control.

And that this isn't the end of the story yet. I need to remember...

Everything will be all right in the end. And if it isn't all right, then it's not the end.