Christian Living

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Hollywood Quicksand
by Dan Blankenship


As a child, I watched many television Westerns like “The Lone Ranger” and “The Cisco Kid”. Of course they were reruns, but some of the black and white episodes contained scenes in which the characters found themselves struggling in quicksand. The “good guys” (Remember when there were such characters?) were usually pulled from the pool of muck just in the nick of time, while the “bad guys” (Remember when there were such characters?) usually ended up sinking into the oatmeal-like sludge, never to be seen again, except maybe in a different Western.

From an early age, I knew the one thing I had to avoid was quicksand. Well there isn’t a whole lot of quicksand in Northwest Indiana. In fact, I don’t think there are any documented cases of quicksand in my neck of the woods, at least not quicksand that devours tough hombres who find they have come upon the wrong path. So I spent a lot of time worrying about a natural phenomenon that I was never likely to encounter.

I believe the reason Hollywood used quicksand in so many of its older movies was because it really shocked the viewer. Watching the actor struggle to free himself from the quicksand became a sort of subplot to the film. The more the hero or villain struggled in the liquefied sand, the more submerged his body became, the more the viewer anticipated a last second rescue.

The physical properties of quicksand cause a struggling person to become more submerged in the substance. The process of trying to climb out of the quicksand creates a vacuum from the disturbed bottom layers of the pool. And according to science.howstuffworks.com the best way to keep from sinking in quicksand is to relax, lean back, and float on the surface of the quicksand, then begin to gently paddle to solid ground.

Christians sometimes try and free themselves from trials and tribulations by relying on their own abilities, much like the struggling cowboy in the quicksand. Yet, often our own efforts to free ourselves from life’s many challenges only brings us deeper into the Hollywood quicksand. If we first look to God and His infinite wisdom, and then proceed, we will avoid more of the sinking sand that songwriter Edward Mote warned us about in his hymn, “The Solid Rock” (My Hope is Built).

“On Christ, the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand,” Mote wrote back in the 1800s. The first time I heard that song my mind pulled forward all of those black and white films I had seen over the years, men struggling to free themselves from certain death. And I asked myself if I would be able to relax, lean back, and float on the surface of that quicksand, then begin gently paddling my way to shore. I was sure that I could.

But I knew that was only the first question I needed to ask myself. There were more questions: Was I willing to do the same with my daily life? Was I willing to stop trying to free myself from my daily struggles? Was I willing to relax and trust God to keep me afloat? Was I ready to allow God to show me where the solid ground was located? I believe that I was, and I believe that I am.

Solid ground is found in God’s word and His promise that “He will never leave us or forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:6, 31:8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Kings 8:57, Hebrews 13:5 NIV). The next time you feel like life has become too much of a struggle, remember it may be the struggle itself that is dragging you down, and you have the most powerful force in the universe on your side. You, with the help of our Lord, can defeat the forces of evil like they were nothing but Hollywood quicksand.

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