Cast Away:
A Message for the New Year

In the new movie, Cast Away, Tom Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a time-obsessed Federal Express employee. His plane goes down in the Pacific, and he is cast ashore on a deserted island. The film depicts in harrowing detail Chuck’s efforts to survive. (These scenes will make any moviegoer more greatly appreciate a hot shower and all the modern comforts when he or she returns home from the theatre.) Chuck also acutely feels the pain of his separation from Kelly, the woman he hopes to marry. (Warning: Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know the outcome of the story. Actually, the movie is so good I believe you will enjoy it even if you do know what happens).

After four years, a port-a-potty washes ashore which Chuck is able to fashion into a sail. He mounts the sail onto a raft constructed of tree limbs. He escapes the island and is picked up by a passing ship.

After his rescue, he finds that he has been given up for dead. He learns that a funeral had been conducted for him and even that an empty casket had been buried. Most painful was the discovery that Kelly had married another man and borne children by him. For Chuck, it is like losing his life a second time. A friend wonders if it will be possible for Chuck to go on.

Chuck tells him of his lowest point on the island when he had decided to hang himself. Being a consummate planner, he decides to first perform a test by hanging a log. The log was so heavy that it broke the limb to which the rope was tied. He realized that he was helpless to the point that he didn’t even have the power to kill himself. “Then,” he said, “a warm, comfortable feeling came over me like a blanket, and I knew that I had to live... Then the tide washed up a sail. Who knows what the tide may wash up for me now?”

Who knows what unexpected events, good or bad, may be awaiting any of us in the new year? I know of some who entered 2000 with no anticipation that it would bring death to them or a loved one, but it did. The tide also brought blessings in 2000. I can easily think of at least 8 people who regularly worship with us now, whom none of us had even met before the year 2000 began. Who and what will the tide wash up for us in the new year? I don’t know, but the thought of it fills me with anticipation and hope.

2000 C. David Hess

Cast Away: A Message for the New Year

Cast Away:
A Message for the New Year