Hi, my name’s Craig and I’m working on my Disney addiction.

I grew up a child of one of the greatest eras that animated movies ever knew. A time when films were new and ideas weren’t regurgitated remakes of classics, made to appear like real-life situations, with CGI beasts, lions, and elephants. My house was littered with VHS tapes of Disney films, our Sega Megadrive had all the latest Disney games, Aladdin and the Lion King.

It’s not my fault that I’m the way that I am, I was flooded with Disney from an early age and in fact much of my sense of adventure, and love of overarching stories through a time period, comes from a love of these films. They even impact upon my preaching some of the time, and now that Marvel and Pixar are under the same banner, well, now Disney has really claimed a huge deal of my downtime enjoyment!

Some of the later films have been truly excellent though. Frozen for example was a fantastic almost out of no-where hit, I loved it. I didn’t go the cinema to watch it (grown man alone at a Disney animation isn’t the best way to be portrayed) but I watched it at home one afternoon off work, and then watched it again with my wife when she came home. A few years later, Frozen 2 comes out and I’m struck with the angst of ‘Will this just be another sequel, or will it be something special?’ It’s a good film, that does a good job of following the first film, but could also stand alone relatively well (in my opinion).

Yesterday I was meeting with someone from our church who is going through a hard time. I’m also aware that many of us are either struggling with hard situations directly, or struggling because members of our church family are facing really challenging times. There’s a song towards the end of this film called ‘The Next Right Thing’ which is sung by Kristen Bell. Although it’s sung about her sister, Ana walks a path of getting out of the darkness, and stepping into the light; in the film coming out of the darkness of a cave, and heading towards the literal light of outside. 

In difficult situations when there seems to be no obvious route forward, at times we can only take single steps. Throughout my life as a Christian, amidst even the most heart-wrenching of times, I have learned that the important thing to do is to trust Jesus and seek Him to know which step is the next right one. When there is no clear way forward, trust in Jesus for just one next step, and He will accompany us forward. Taking the next right step however hard it will be, whilst trusting in the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, means that every step is toward the light. Through difficult times, let us not concern ourselves with the fullness of the journey, but with following the Way that He leads. When we take the step that is the next right thing, there we discover obedience to Him who is our Master and Lord; there we discover the comfort of our Saviour and Friend amidst the darkness.

Life doesn’t always work out like a Disney film, but nonetheless, there are some nuggets of wisdom to be found within them. Let me encourage you, with every step, walk towards the light, do the next right thing. In the darkness trust in the one who provides the light in our lives.

Thanks for letting me share