555-0123

Bruce Nolan, the frustrated news reporter is mad at God, life isn't going his way so he throws his prayer beads into the lake, challenges God, says that He doesn't listen or answer anymore...so he's done! The next day his beeper goes off multiple times, 555-0123, unaware of who it is, irritated by the constant intrusion, he throws the beeper out the window, it gets run over by a truck and still beeps...the number: 555-0123. Finally he calls the number, thinks it's a job, goes to the interview only to find that the person calling him was...God This is a brief scene from the movie "Bruce Almighty", I watched it last night and spiritualized most everything. Though I've seen this movie several times I never caught the number nor did I see the importance of this scene...I've been Bruce Nolan a few times in my life...I've been angry with God, felt like He wasn't listening or answering, and felt like throwing in the towel...or the prayer beads in this instance. What spoke to me in this scene was the thought that because things weren't going his way Bruce believed that God wasn't listening, and that when he gave up on God, God refused to give up on him, and rather than God just having Bruce's number, God gave Bruce His number...God refuses to give up on us, even when we give up on Him! I noticed a contrast between the beginning of the movie and the ending, in the beginning Bruce is frustrated, striving for preeminence, self serving, gives up on God and life...But at the end He humbles himself, surrenders, telling God...You Win, What Do You Want Me To Do? Isn't that the place we all must come to? A place of surrender and sacrifice?