“Big Fish” Stories

In the 2003 movie Big Fish, Ewan McGregor stars in a story that centers on a son's relationship with his father during his final days.  The father spent his life creating fantastic stories of himself, sometimes to the embarrassment of his son.  In the movie the son relives these events through his father's eyes so that he can finally understand the true man.  It ends with the father dying in the hospital asking his son not to let him fade away, but to go out with a great story.  He looks into his son's eyes and asks him to "tell me how it ends."  The son, finally understanding the father, creates a fantastic tale of his own that shows his father going out in one last incredible journey.

I think most people, certainly men, desire to go out with a "Big Fish" story - to live their last day doing something great, something they love, something that they'll be remembered by for generations to come.

Yesterday, I watched a 60 year old drag racer make his last pass.  Mark Niver lined up in the Top Alcohol Dragster semi-finals at Pacific Raceway, cut a great light and won the race to the finish line.  At nearly 300 MPH, he deployed the parachutes to slow the car.  The chutes opened but then detached from the car leaving Mark to use only the brakes to stop the dragster.  It wasn't enough.  Mark was able to slow the car before the sand trap but the speed was still too great when it impacted the catch fence, folding the chassis and ending his life.

Mark's life ended with him not only doing what he loved, but winning at the sport he loved.  I think most people would say that Mark had a Big Fish ending.  But that wasn't the only Big Fish story that day.

That morning during the Team RFC chapel service I listened to John Medlen talk about the final days of his son's life.  Eric Medlen was injured in2007 during a test run at Gainesville Raceway, and for the next 5 days he struggled to say alive.  His father says that at one point he was standing outside the operating room considering an operation that the doctors wanted to perform when a feeling of warmth poured over him and he heard his son tell him to let him go.  He heard his son tell him his body was irreparable and that he was secure in God's promise they would be together again.  Eric Medlen was an accomplished racer but in my mind and in my heart when I think of him, I will believe that his Big Fish story will be the one of spending eternity with his heavenly Father, a story of hope and comfort that his earthly father bravely shares with others.

So when our time comes, what do we hope our Big Fish story is?  Is our hope that our Big Fish story is based on earthly events, that it becomes a legacy that endures for generations?  Or, is our hope that our Big Fish story comes from our Father, and endures through eternity.  If your desire is to go out in a blaze of glory here on earth, you have to understand that there are two problems with that.

The first is that for the most part, we may not dictate our last day here on earth.  It’s great to think you'll go out doing something you love or something spectacular but it's also likely that you may go to sleep one night and not wake up.

The second problem is that it might make a great headline to go out with a bang, but those headlines and the generations that remember eventually fade.  Quick, what was your great-great-grandfather's Big Fish story?  A 100 years after you're gone will anybody care?

Or is your desire to leave behind a Big Fish story that glorifies the symbol of the fish - Jesus Christ?  A story of Christ dying on the cross for us so that we can stand before God without sin, a story of His grace and His mercy, a story that could change another's life for eternity, not just for a few generations.

Mark Niver and Eric Medlen, two racers with Big Fish stories.  Mark's family will remember that he died winning the last run of a sport he loved dearly.  Perhaps some that hear Eric's story may understand they need Jesus in their life and decide to commit their lives.  It may not make headlines here on earth but imagine the celebration when they meet Eric face to face.

Scott Soper