FlyWheel

If you have been reading this blog for the past week or so, you would know by now, that I am on a Christian movie-fest. :)

It started with "Fireproof", followed by "Courageous", and after that, I had the delight of watching "Flywheel".

If "Fireproof" was about having a godly marriage and "Courageous" was about godly fatherhood, "Flywheel" was about living a godly life of honesty and integrity.

Here is the synopsis of the movie, "Flywheel", from Fandango's  Jason Buchanan:

Alex Kendrick as Jay Austin, the unscrupulous used car
salesman

Weary of the masks he wears and the lies he tells, an unscrupulous used car salesman resolves to win back his wife, become a better role model for his son, and stop ripping off his unsuspecting customers, in the inspirational feature directorial debut of "Facing the Giants" director Alex Kendrick.

 Jay Austin (Kendrick) is the kind of used car salesman that customers fears most - dishonest, manipulative, and constantly smiling as he sends another lemon driving off the lot. Eventually Austin's deceptive ways catch up with him, prompting him to take serious stock of his life from the ground up.

Now, as Austin begins working to get his classic convertible back on the road, the repairs he performs under the hood begin to reflect the personal transformation that he is going through at home and at work. Determined to turn his life around for good this time, Austin soon finds out just how good things can get when he begins applying the philosophy of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

I really have no interest in cars and could not identify its parts to save my life, so when it conks out, I immediately call on my husband or a nearby service station for help. So, I have no idea what a flywheel is or how it works in a vehicle.  :)

Apparently, a FLYWHEEL is:

"a heavy disk or wheel rotating on a shaft so that its momentum gives almost uniform                    rotational speed to the shaft and to all connected machinery."

Max Kendall, in the convertible with a
stripped flywheel. 

According to Max Kendall, Jay Austin's mechanic, who was in charge of repairing his classic convertible, the flywheel was "stripped", so the car couldn't move. "When you put the key in the ignition, that sends power to the starter. The starter engages your flywheel; your flywheel turns your crankshaft; and your crankshaft starts your engine. The starter engages your flywheel. Without your flywheel, you are not going anywhere. A flywheel is sandwiched between the engine and the transmission. I have to drop the transmission to get to it."

A Flywheel

                                           * * *

I still don't know what it is. Haha!!! It looks like a hubcap to me! :P But anyway, I believe it is a metaphor for God -- that much I "get". ;)

One needs to have Christ. Without Him, we are not going anywhere. But, we have to deny ourselves, in order to follow Him. (Anybody with a better explanation, I am all ears!!! :))
 

This was the conversation between Max and Jay while they were talking about the flywheel:

Max Kendall: You sure have been carrying a heavy load lately. You okay?

Jay Austin: Not really, to be honest. I can not remember the last time I felt like my life was going right.

Max Kendall: So I should pray for you. Maybe you should pray for you.

Jay Austin: I don't know about that.

Max Kendall: Why not?

Jay Austin: I don't think God will listen to me right now.

Max Kendall: What do you mean?

Jay Austin: I mean He knows I'm not an honest man. He knows I'm a lousy husband and father. He knows how selfish and prideful I am. I don't even like myself, Max. I've got friction with almost every person in my life. I owe money to the bank that I don't have.

Max Kendall: I'm an old man, Jay. There's some things I wish I'd gotten right decades ago. But my pride got in the way. But when I learned to let the Lord run my life, a whole lot got a lot better. I don't mean to preach at you. But I just know my need. Frankly, I know that's what we all need. You know, this is a beautiful car. It's still got a good engine. But until we get that piece fixed, off the engine, it's not going anywhere.

* * *

Before he was convicted by the Lord, Jay was spiritually blind to his own sins and had double standards:

Bernie Myers learned how to be a smooth-talker from
his boss, Jay Austin.

Jay Austin: You shouldn't have done that, Bernie.

Bernie: Shouldn't have done what?

Jay Austin: Somebody's going to figure out she got overcharged $4 000 on this deal and make an issue out of it.

Bernie: What?

Jay Austin: Would you not want to kick the guy in the teeth who overcharged your wife several thousand on a car?

Bernie: She's not married.

Jay Austin: That's not the point! She's got a boyfriend, her parents or friends who are going to figure out she got sloshed on this deal.

Bernie: Whoa, who you're talking to? I just made a week's profit, and I'm getting slammed for it?

Jay Austin: Bernie, it's not the profit. It's the way you got it.

Bernie: Since when did you become a boy scout?

Jay Austin: You don't think you did anything wrong?

Bernie: Oh, so when Jay Austin pulls in a few thousand dollars it's good business. But when Bernie Myers does it to help the team out, it's ripping people off?

Jay Austin: You grossly manipulated her!

Bernie: You taught me how! I don't know what kind of game this is, but you've got different rules for yourself!

* * *

Here is an excerpt of the powerful sermon that convicted the main character, Jay Austin, of his numerous sins:

Pastor: "Listen, folks, listen. You're in the shape you're in today because of the choices you've made. Your marriage is in the shape it is in today because of the choices you've made. Your relationship with your wife and with your children is in the shape it's in because of the choices you've made. 

Jay Austin, while watching the convicting preaching of the  TV Pastor

You're in financial bondage today because of the choices you've made. God's Word would set you free if you would read it, but you're in bondage and you're trapped and you're under all the dirt and the stuff and you feel like you're a slave to your debt and to a relationship because you've not listened to the Word of God. And until you listen to the Word of God, you will make the wrong choices, go down the wrong road, lose your family, lose your home, lose your security, lose your investments, because God has a way to live life. And you and I cannot live life on our terms and ask God to bless that. 

And the reason that many people that I'm talking to today are in bondage and in frustration and in defeat, is because you don't really want to know what God says. And you don't want to live it God's Way."

* * * 

But after the Lord showed him the error of his ways after the sermon he saw on TV, Jay repented to God.

Jay Austin: Help me Jesus. You're in charge now. You're the boss.

Jay Austin: Okay Lord, this is your lot; I will honor You with it.

* * *

True repentance entails restitution and reparation. Jay had to ask forgiveness from the people he had wronged, starting with his wife.

Jay Austin: I know I hurt you terribly last night. I was wrong to do that, and I'm sorry.

Judy Austin: You're apologizing to me?

Jay Austin: I am.

Judy Austin: Is something wrong with you?

Jay Austin: There is.

Judy Austin: Jay, are you... are you dying?

Jay Austin: No. No. What's wrong with me is that I have been living for myself. I have not been the husband I need to be. I have not been the father I need to be. I have not been the spiritual leader I need to be. Today I asked God to forgive me. I have gotten myself in a mess in almost every area of my life, and I can't fix it. I admit that I have not been worthy of honor or respect or the love of my family. But I want to be.

Judy Austin: Jay...

Jay Austin: Judy, I'm asking you to pray for me. I need you. I need you terribly. I'm resolving to let Jesus be lord of my life. Everyday.

Judy Austin: You're serious?

Jay Austin: I am serious. I will be honest in my business. I will take responsibility as the spiritual leader of my home. I will love you. I will love Todd. And I will love our baby. So help me God, I will.    

* * *

This was what his godly father prayed over him, after Jay gave up his life to the Lord.

Mr. Austin: Lord, I thank You for my son Jay. And I thank You that he's turned his heart to you. Thank You for receiving him and cleansing him and directing his path. I praise You Lord for what You've done in him. Now Lord, in Your name, I bless him with courage, with faith, and with integrity. Lord, I call in a man of strength, love and grace. I ask, as his earthly father, that you would rain down favor on him, that he will know that he is loved and treasured, that You will bless whatever he touches. This is my son, Lord, and I give him back to you. Lord, I love him. Keep him and bless him. In Jesus' name. Amen.

* * *

What was remarkable in the film was that, in it I saw that Jesus really loved the sinner. He came for the sinners, and not for the righteous (Luke 5:32). A broken and contrite heart, He does not despise (Psalm 51:17).  And, what I learned too is that it is not enough to say that you have "given up your life to the Lord". You also must ask for forgiveness from the people you have wronged, make reparation with those you've hurt (Jay returned the overcharged amount to the customers he had duped) and really turn your life 180 degrees. Then, and only then, could you say that you really are a changed human being. You cannot say you have repented and yet continue to hold on to past offenses, slights and hurts, either to oneself or towards others. And you cannot profess that Christ now lives in you, if you still have not done anything to appease those whom you have sinned against before your "conversion".

What I also found very touching was how the Lord really worked in His children's lives. When one has truly offered one's life to God, He directs one's path, and filters events through His Able Hands. Nothing that happens then could be deemed as "bad" because even the supposedly "bad" events, He uses for a Greater Purpose. Every single occurrence, whether good or bad, is no coincidence. Everything is God's Incident. 
One just has to trust that He knows what He is doing and He's got us covered... literally covered with His Son's Most Precious Blood! 

Jesus is the "Flywheel" of our lives, the one that makes our lives move and have more meaning. Without It (or Him), we ain't goin' anywhere. (Just don't make me identify what a flywheel is exactly under the hood! I still won't be able to point it out! Haha.)

In my next post, since we are on the topic of "wheels", I will write about How To Let Jesus Take the Wheel (Salvation for "Dummies"). :)

May we all be richly blessed! :)