I went by myself to see Les Miserables tonight. It was my second time watching it and still I was moved to many many tears. A couple days after Christmas was the first time I learned anything about the story. I’d never read the book or seen the play. But now it has consumed me.
There are so many incredible, redemptive themes in the movie that if I were to write about all of them, this blog would be much too long for your attention span, and probably mine as well.
My two favorite characters:
1. Jean Valjean (from slavery to freedom of hate and revenge)

His transformation and all that he becomes. His character and his mercy. When you look at him, all you can see is love and goodness. He reminds me of Jesus, and I can’t help but love him.
2. Enjolras (who I like to call Fake Robby)
(Fake Robby)
(Real Robby)
…I mean seriously, twins.
Anyways, back to the character. I’m kind of obsessed with Enjolras. Because of his courage and his resolve. I love when he calls the people together and with sobriety reminds them of the hour:
“It is time for us all
To decide who we are…
Do we fight for the right
To a night at the opera now?
Have you asked of yourselves
What’s the price you might pay?
Is it simply a game
For rich young boys to play?”
But my favorite line is when he exhorts the lovesick Marius, saying:
“you’re no longer a child
I do not doubt you mean it well
But now there is a higher call
Who cares about your lonely soul
We strive toward a larger goal
Our little lives don’t count at all!”
What a babe.
There is a higher call. And there is something that is worth fighting for and dying for. There is a cry in my heart and an ache in my spirit for a people who will not be slaves again. I’m speaking more figuratively because we live in the land of the ‘free’ and yet so many live as slaves.
In schools, in churches, and in the workplace people all over the world are slaves to addictions, compulsions, money, fear, anxiety, depression, and the list goes on. I can’t settle for people to not KNOW that they can be free. I can’t sit back and watch as people continue living like slaves! When will the remnant rise up and sing the music of a people who will not be slaves again? No matter the cost and no matter the sacrifice.
When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums,
there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!