Reviewed by: Fred
Was just thinking about the movie Big Fish (which I saw last week with my sweetiepie) and I got an idea. Some are familiar with the fact that ancient Christians used the fish as a covert symbol of identity. It was an acrostic, ICHTHUS was greek for fish, each letter in the word stood for another word. It came out somthing like "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior".
But after seeing the movie I started thinking of other layers in the symbol. Jesus fed the masses fish (and bread). He told fishermen to follow Him and he would make them fishers of men. He fried up a catch of fish for his disciples after his resurection. He also humorously overloaded thier boat with fish catches on two occasions. Jesus liked the symbol of catching fish.
But after the movie I thought of another obvious symbolic layer that I've overlooked until just now. When we are "caught" by the love of God, we all become fish out of water. Like the main character in the movie, who was a fish out of water we long for something more. We thirst for something this world cannot supply.
Until the day we die, if we abide in Jesus we have all the water we need. He wets our bodies down, like you see when a whale is beached and people are lovingly trying to help them by keeping them wet. Of course there is much deeper satisfaction in being in Christ here and now than there is in being a beached whale, but I hope you catch the essence of what I'm saying.
We don't belong here. We were made to swim the rivers and lakes of glory. We were built for glory, we were made to last. The instant we find our identity in Christ, we become too big for this world. We gasp for water and Jesus quenches our thirst and feeds us too, teaching us to be totally dependant on him. (Remember, independance is NOT a thing that pleases God--he is the vine, we are the branches, apart from Him we whither and starve and can do nothing!)
Think of the U2 song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Yes God is good to us now, but try to imagine the joy of actually being in our element!! To be in the environment we were re-created for in Christ... well... that would be Heaven wouldn't it?
Maybe there is something to be said for the almost universal love of humans for the sound of the ocean or big lakes. Why does it draw us so? Maybe it becons to our most basic needs though we usually don't think of it or understand it. Maybe it calls to us... "come rest in my deep waters, refresh your thirsty soul, be what you truly are, what you were always meant to be".
By the way, the movie was wonderful. I am a hopeless romantic sap and ate up every second of it. It is certainly not explicit Christian eternal hope that the movie is trying to communicate, but as with so many things, it does so anyway if you just look hard enough.
I love Tim Burton and his storytelling style. I pray for him. I don't know where he's at with God, but I dream of spending time with him in the big water in the sky, where there will be no more gasping and choking and we can speak freely and openly about all things good. | 
