The Karate Kid

This is going to age me, but The Karate Kid was the first movie I ever watched using a VCR.  My friend Michael and I must have watched it 5 or 6 times in a row.  I'm not sure if we liked the movie that much or just the fact that we could watch it as much as we wanted to.  You can only image how excited I was to watch Karate Kid Part II.

I was flipping through the channels last night and noticed that Karate Kid Part II was on tv.  It was fun to bring back some old memories of the show.  But it reminded me how disappointed we tend to be with a sequel.  Almost everyone agrees that the first movie is the best.  You can't blame the movie makers for trying to make lots of money off of a good thing.  Why wouldn't they make part 2, 3, 4, and 5 if they could.

As I sat on my couch thinking about it, I realized that we often live our lives that way.  Rather than break the mold and try something new, we change a couple of things in our routine and hope it turns out to be something bigger and better.  In reality, we become less interested, unfulfilled, and perhaps frustrated with our circumstance.

The hunger in us to try something different is not an accident.  Even the Bible encourages us to start over:

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

So enjoy the books and movies with sequels and trilogies, but don't forget that a new opportunity is right around the corner if we are willing to take a chance.