A Chaotic Moment

December 18, 2015
Around 1:00 pm

It was here! The most anticipated movie of 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, had finally arrived to movie theaters worldwide to continue the saga of a “galaxy, far, far away.” Cinemark Movie Bistro & XD, the movie theater in Fort Collins I had been working at for about two months, was packed to the absolute limit for Star Wars, with no “social distancing” whatsoever. I tore tickets that day and cleaned some theaters showing Star Wars. As guests came out of the showings, telling my fellow coworkers and I hints of spoilers, I bit my tongue to prevent from yelling, “Say no more!”

The 12:00 noon showtime for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in our XD auditorium, which held between 150-200 people, was sold out. While the halls and lobby were packed when people were going in to watch their movies, as all the movies played, the building actually felt a little empty.

That is, until about 1:00 pm, halfway through the movie, when the entire auditorium of 150+ people exited the XD theater into our lobby.

“Why, did they leave the movie,” you might ask.

The movie just stopped and turned completely off.

Of the almost five years I spent working at the Bistro, there were very few times when things like that happened. The management and staff made sure of it. The Bistro would grow to have the reputation of being the best movie theater in Fort Collins.

Yet, I’m not so sure that’s what our guests were thinking as the filed out hectically into the lobby.

Management gave each guest that came out of the theater a guest pass, which could be used to return to Cinemark to watch Star Wars again or another movie of the guest’s choice, free of charge.

I can even still see them now. I remember how it felt maneuvering my way through the crowd.

I don’t remember complaints. I don’t remember babies yelling. I don’t remember children having breakdowns about not being able to see Star Wars that day.

Yet, this I do know. Every guest that day was affected, because every guest for the 12 noon showtime could not take in with their senses the complete story of the latest entry in the Star Wars saga.

In 2020, movie theaters have been closed for a significant chunk of the year. Restaurants, bars, gyms, concert venues, churches have shut their doors as well. COVID-19 has changed so much of the world.

Yet, there is something I feel that I, and so many others, have forgotten consistently this year.

COVID-19, and every thing that has happened this year, has affected and will affect us all in multiple and different ways, both now and going forward.

There are just over two weeks that remain in the year 2020. Will next year be better? Will the vaccines work? Will the political madness and chaos end? Will COVID be gone and life return to normal? Will people be able to work and regain better levels of both physical and mental health? Or is what we are living in right now, “the end of the world as we know it.”

I don’t know the answer to any of that. However, I do know one thing to be true.

Waiting for us on January 1, 2021 at 12:00 am is a Heavenly Father, who deeply loves us. In His hands, there won’t be money, coupons, or passes of any kind. Instead, there will be grace, strength, supernatural peace, and everything we need to face another year.

We don’t even have to wait until then. We don’t even have to wait for another crisis for Him to show up.

He is here. He always has been here. His offer of hope and salvation remains the same, even in chaos.