Our small group did a bible study on Joseph:

Genesis 39
2The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate...

But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

The one thing that struck me about the passage was God's constant presence with Joseph and through Joseph, everyone else was blessed. Grant me that favour, God, that through me can I bless others wherever I go and whatever the circumstance, I will be useful in Your sight.

I watched Gladiator again with a friend who has never seen it. And I was bowled over by the parallels between Maximus and Joseph- both were put in charge of a large number of people and then accused wrongly of something they did not commit, yet in those hard circumstances the prison warden/gladiator owner entrusted them with duties beyond their initial position and then through a series of circumstances, became more powerful than 98% of the population.

The funny thing about Maximus was that as a general he fought for a cause- the cause being to unite Rome under one single empire for Marcus Aurelius. When he became a gladiator his fighting ceased to have a purpose save entertaining people for a few minutes. While he was warming up in the Coliseum before his fight against another undefeated gladiator, he told Proximus, his 'owner', "There once was a man who had a dream. This is not it, this is not it!" He knew the heart of the one true emperor, he knew that the empire was supposed to cease to become republic and the public was getting distracted by pointless games.
Ironically the movie itself is pure entertainment; nevertheless I want to be a Maximus in that I may never waver from the set goal. He gathered a respect from his peers because he never fell short of who he was and gained the trust of the queen, Marcus Aurelius and finally Senator Gracus.
For the sake of the glory of Rome, he risked all.
Can we now, for the sake of the kingdom of God, risk it all for Him?
Let me keep running this race- I do not know where it will lead me to, but set my eyes on the prize.
Why do we dislike Commodus? Because he is self centered, morally unsound and only cares about gaining respect through deceiving and pleasing people while Maximus is who he is and has a higher goal beyond himself thus attracts people to him.
This time around, I noticed that Maximus' ultimate goal was to go home. Funny, we have the same interest.
My favourite line in the film: what we do here in life, echoes in eternity.


I'm stuck in 2046 with only memories.
我永远都记得. 我无法改变.
J'ecris dans les langues je ne comprend pas parce que je ne veux pas savoir entièrement.
Maintenant, je sais que je chante,
Ru Guo Mei You Ming Tian.