Stranger than Fiction

I just finished watching "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Farrell. Yes. I know this is a Barry blog...bear with me for a second and you'll see how it all ties in.

Harold Crick is the main character and his life is being narrated by an author that is writing a book. All of her books are tragedies: the main character ALWAYS dies in the end. Harold's life is basically meaningless until it progresses towards its end (I won't spoil the ending for any of you that might want to watch it--I highly recommend it!). At the end of the movie, the narrator says that all our lives are a series of minor incidents that become major when you can see the entire story. And that we should enjoy the simple daily occurences along the way to the final outcome. For me, that statement just served to put the last year of my life and most recently the events of the last month into perspective.

Being a Christian, I always try to see God in everything. Some days I can, and some days I just can't seem to understand why "stuff happens". But God, in some respects, is like an author. He is writing our life story as we live it and he knows the final outcome. He knows how all the little pieces of the plot fit together and how each simple twist and turn can be a major change in the direction of the story. And most importantly, he knows his main characters better than we know ourselves.

God knew that Mr. Manilow needed to be a performer, not just a composer. God knew that his talent would be used in ways Barry himself couldn't even imagine. God knew that I needed the music of Manilow, as did and do so many others like me.

Our lives really are "stranger than fiction" and as Barry always admonishes us, we should enjoy the ride, do what we love, and above all, HAVE FUN...

Happy to be the main character in my life right now,
Texas Fanilow