Les Miz

My sister introduced me to musicals when I was in high school. She bought tickets to the Les Miserables show in Urbana, Illinois. I think that we had just missed the Chicago show. My brother was attending school there, so my sister and I drove down to watch it all together. I remember her purchasing really good seats for us (she had just gotten her first job as a CPA). After that, I was hooked on musicals. I saw The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Aspects of Love... but the undertones of God in Les Miz moved me greatly.

I ended up seeing that musical 3 more times. I saw it with some church friends in Chicago. Also saw it in Korea - in Korean. I was a bit disappointed because I couldn't sing along in English, but I still was amazed. Then, I saw in New York City with my husband. AND, he fell asleep. He says that he won't fall asleep if he sees it again. Too high of a price to pay for a chronic movie/musical sleeper...

My youth pastor even used the story in his sermon. He spoke about grace. One of the characters was shown grace by a priest. He couldn't understand why, but he used the grace he was shown to live his life uprightly, doing good. Another character was shown grace and he couldn't take it. He didn't understand why, so he decided that he had to kill himself.

Pastor Paul tried to teach us that we needed to open our eyes to the grace that God was trying to extend to us - even though we didn't deserve it. He wanted us to realize this truth and to run with it. Run with it to do good. To share God's love with others. To live our lives in a manner worthy of the grace given to us.

This past summer, I discovered that Youtube has the 25th anniversary show of Les Miserables - the London production. I watched it all. So many familiar faces came out to sing. It made me cry as I heard the songs. One of my favorite lines from one of those songs has always been: To love another person is to see the face of God.

I will warn that this musical isn't for young children. There are some raunchy scenes, which show some of the harsh realities of this world. I chose to pick out the good. Every time I hear the songs from this musical, I am reminded of God's grace. I find myself asking, "Why have you shown me so much grace?" But then I come to realize that it is not because of me. It is because of who God is.

by t3hfiasc0