On Saturday a friend was showing the movie "Cast Away" starring Tom Hanks. I remember watching this movie years ago, so I decided to sit down and watch it once again. It was half way through, Tom having just arrived onto a deserted island after his Federal Express plane crashed. There, stranded for over four years, he develops a friendship with "Wilson," who happens to be a volleyball that washed ashore when the Fed Ex plane crashed. He painted a face on it, and it was his companion throughout his ordeal. When Tom Hanks finally finished constructing a makeshift raft, he and Wilson attempted to escape the island to be rescued. Yet during hard times in the ocean Wilson was knocked out of the raft and Tom, torn between helping his companion and staying on the raft, obviously chose life over a volleyball. Yet his desperate cry for his friend, "Wilson, Wilson," was a touching moment that actually sparked a well-known metaphor amongst five friends.

We were having a conversation via email on spirituality, each from his place of employment, when one friend used this Wilson scene to illustrate the group's relationship to Jesus. We were very close, the five of us — at least, we were at that time. We did everything together. Every weekend we would consult with each other to see what the plans were; yet time and distance have made that camaraderie almost impossible now. I left to Tennessee from New Jersey where we were, to answer my call to the gospel ministry, and now I find myself in Michigan. One friend moved to Pennsylvania and has undergone the joy of fatherhood for the very first time, and when you combine that with the responsibilities of family and work life, the constant hanging out came to a halt. We still see each other and talk to each other, but it's been a while since the five have been together in one room. Those were the days. But back to the Wilson analogy and the reason I bring it up.

This one friend made the comparison this way. He stated that the raft/boat represented Jesus Christ and that as long as we remain in Him we are safe. He identified me as the only one on the boat during that particular time in our lives. He characterized me as one who is yelling for his friends to get on the boat, like Tom calling for Wilson in "Cast Away." Everyone on that email seemed to agree with his assessment. He went on to say that at that moment the waters were peaceful and indeed life was peaceful for us. Life was peaceful and it appeared safe not to be in the boat. Yet, he wondered, in which direction those outside the boat were headed — himself included? Were they drifting closer to the boat or drifting farther? If a storm came, would they be able to get on the boat or would the storm take them farther away?

The storms did come and there has been trouble; we all have experienced it, and whether you are in the "boat" or not, the storm is just the same. The difference is that there is eternal safety in the "boat/Christ" rather than in the water. So I wonder: Where we would honestly characterize ourselves now? Are we closer or farther away? "Wilson, Wilson" is Christ's cry for as long as we have breath, for heaven would be a better place if we could all be there, spouses and children included.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea ... and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; for the first things have passed away." (Revelation 21:1, 5)

I love my friends.

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Gio Marin is the pastor of the College Station and Waller Seventh-day Adventist Church in the state of Texas. He is currently working on a master of divinity degree at Andrews Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, with a dual emphasis on systematic theology and church growth & evangelism. Send him an email at {email GioMarinColumn@aol.com}GioMarinColumn@aol.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Gio Marin.