Overcomer

Image Credit: Sony Pictures, Kendrick Brothers, & Provident Film

Mary Croft, 13th May 2020
Tags: Life Review Drama Family Sport

Well, the Kendrick Brothers have gone and done it again! This is a truly inspiring film all about faith and forgiveness.

It takes us on the journey of a young girl called Hannah (Aryn Wright-Thompson), who has a past filled with loss and questions.

Hannah is stuck in a loop of bad decisions and pain. Pain from the loss of her parents, from lies, and from failure, but she has a gift in running, despite having asthma.

Alex Kendrick plays the character of John Harrison, a coach who loses his basketball team and is therefore reassigned to coach the cross-country team. However when he holds the try-outs, only one person turns up: a girl with asthma.

“What’s the point?” Coach Harrison asks, “One runner matters”. An incredible line from the school’s principle, Olivia Brooks (Priscilla Shirer).

Who are you?

This introduces one of the most prominent questions throughout the film, “Who are you?” A husband? A coach? A girl with asthma? A principal? A Christian?

‘When you find your identity in the one who created you, it will change your whole perspective.’ That is what this film is all about. People of all ages, all backgrounds, and all situations, finding their identity in Jesus. Finding the reason they exist, and looking for the answer to who they are.

The film answers this question by explaining the gospel. Explaining that there is a father who has always loved you, a perfect father, and he wants a relationship with you.

To have this relationship, you have to understand that Jesus died on the cross, “that you were created to know him and worship him. And if you trust him, and know him, then that’s faith. He doesn’t force it on you, he offers it to you.”

Maybe you are reading this now and it feels like a light has turned on, and you want to know this God. If that’s the case and you want to say yes to Jesus, then maybe you could say this prayer that is led by Shirer:

Today I place faith alone, in Christ alone.

“Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and I need a saviour. I believe that you are that saviour, so today I place faith alone, in Christ alone, to forgive my sins and come live in me. In Jesus name, Amen.”

If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, welcome to the family! This is a huge and incredibly exciting moment in your life.

I recommend that you do what they suggest in the film. Go and read chapters 1 and 2 of Ephesians in the Bible. And as you do this, write down everything that it says about who you are now, as a believer.

You are loved. You are saved. You are a child of God.

"I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord.

‘“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ Jeremiah 29:11 in the Bible.

As the characters in this film learn to trust God with their lives, they are able to let go of past hurts, and look towards the future, by placing God as their priority.