Spiritual Insights I learned from Watching the Movie: Catch me If you Can

You know, it is amazing what Hollywood can teach us, even if it is not the point of a movie. I discovered this from watching the movie, "Catch me If you Can." If you want an overall plotline on the movie wikipedia's article on it is the best place to go.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_if_You_Can

My little take on the movie will assume that you either read the synopsis there or you actually watched the movie. Overall, I found the movie excellent and the protagonists very cunning and clever. So here are the two insights I dicovered from watching that movie:

First, a Rule I learned for people who are considering marriage or are married,
Do not be alone with a member of the opposite sex in your house behind a closed door.
Especially when your spouse is not aroun and with a person who you have potentially more than juust a professional relationship with. This can lead to the temptation to interact with one another inappropriately or inappropriate thoughts.

In one scene Frank's mother requested that he not say anything to his father, she said that he didn’t have to because there was nothing to tell. She even bribes him with money in order to keep him quiet. This “nothing to tell” is the code name for him catching her with another man behind a closed door, which probably lead to her and her husband’s bedroom.

Sorry girlfriend, but that is not nothing to tell. A member of the opposite sex does not belong in your house in your bedroom with the door shut when your husband is not around . The “nothing to tell” is really you having an affair that lead to your divorce with your husband and your child running away.

It is unfortunate because if she had of chosen to stick with her marriage and kept her marriage vows, perhaps her son would not have run away to become, someone who cashed, "$2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign "1. True, he probably wouldn’t have become the multi-billion dollar man in making security protocols for checks but it could have spared spending a couple of years in an isolation cell in one of America’s prisons and all the millions of dollars he stole and the heartache that he experience and all the heart ache he caused other people.

Man it is amazing what a simple rule of not being alone with a member of the opposite sex behind a closed door can do, unless they are like your brother or something. However, I am sure the affair was going on for awhile for Frank's mother in this movie but I can clearly see what the implication was in that scene. That nothing was something and it would be best for all Christians and non-Christians to heed the warning.

Second: Sin is only great for a season.
When Frank gives himself up to his love interest, he has suitcases and suitcases full of money. Some people probably would look at it and ask for someone to sign them up for that. However, it seems to show that a life of ease built because the person was a common criminal comes to an end. That sure was the case for Frank Abegnale Junior.

Yeah... Forging checks might bring huge bucks but I think God would prefer if I skipped life in prison. Even better, He'd prefer if I did not steal money in the first place!!!!! Since, He would probably be the first to toss me in jail if that is the life I chose to live. Nah! No criminal activity for me, but...

I think that applies to sin in general. For example, an affair can have nothing to with wealth but is still fun...For a season then it leaves a trail of heartache behind! Yeah, sin can be nasty business, even though it can be fun for awhile. I saw that throughout the movie and even the real Frank Abegnale admitted that , " [I] consider my past immoral, unethical and illegal. It is something I am not proud of. I am proud that I have been able to turn my life around and in the past 25 years [I have] helped my government ... deal with the problems of white collar crime and fraud."

Another example is something from my life. Darth Vader was fun. I collected everything from the books and movies to action figures. My Star Wars games had to have Darth Vader in them or else I would not be interested. Now? I realized that he was the culprit behind my dry spiritual life.

For a time I noticed my spiritual life kept hitting a see-through brick wall. I wanted to go to God but I something, or someone was blocking the way. Sorry, Darth, but you werer the person and you had to go. Yeah, obessions can be sinful and can keep you from God. Great for a season, but in the end it was in my way and in God's way!!! Yep, you guys will never see Darth Vader on my accounts or in my topics again. I love God too much to do that.

Verses for thought:
1. "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immporal" (Hebrews 13:4 NIV).
2. "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel" (Proverbes 20:17...Man, that was advice Frank could have used!).

Notes:
1. Abagnale and Associates, "About Frank Abagnale: FRANK W. ABAGNALE (Ab'-big-nail)Author, Lecturer and Consultant", http://www.abagnale.com/aboutfrank.htm (accessed May 3, 2009).
2. Loren Eaton, "Catch Me if You Can," Plugged in Online Movie Reviews, http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0000102.cfm (accessed May 3, 2009).