Gladiator

Rent it on Amazon

I, like most guys in the world, am a huge fan of big epic movies. There is just something about them that gives me goose bumps. Whether its the big action sequences, watching a man go up against insurmountable odds and come out on top,
motivating monologues, or seeing good triumph over evil (cue Tim Allen's grunting) there is just something that draws you back over and over again. No matter how many times you watch one of those movies they still blow your mind and leave you wanting to go out and take on the world.

One of my favorite movies is Gladiator. You know the tag line (imagine the movie previews guy with the deep voice saying this and I dare you not to get goose bumps) "The general who became a slave, the slave who became a gladiator, the gladiator who defied an emperor." Just writing this makes me want to stop writing and watch the movie the whole way through.

Anyway, in the movie there is one of my all time favorite movie lines. This does need a little background so let me set it up for you. It is the big opening battle scene filled with swords, archers, fire, guys grunting, and of course the build up music that lets you know that something awesome is going to happen. Maximus (the main character) is leading the Roman empire on their last conquest against a tribe in Germania. As Maximus, who will lead the cavalry is getting his men into position he gives his amazing epic speech that I am pretty sure most guys have memorized. In the midst of this speech he says something so deep, so profound that sometimes it gets lost in the manliness of the moment. As he is delivering this speech he says "What you do in this life echoes in eternity."

WOW a truer statement has rarely been spoken and in an epic, bloody, testosterone filled drama nonetheless. Think about that for a second "What we do in our lives echoes in eternity." The good moments, the bad moments, the mundane moments, the uneventful moments, the quiet moments, the loud moments, the proud moments, the humble moments, etc... all affecting eternity. The enormity of that statement just blows my mind.

Thinking of your actions that way kind of forces you to live on purpose doesn't it. Knowing that your actions affect someone's else's eternity makes you stop and think about why and how you are doing the things you are doing. Try it for a little while. Live on purpose, live intentionally and see what eternity can look like. Chris