What It's About: Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) takes command
of a massive shipping vessel and tries to get his crew to take his
pirate-prevention drills seriously. His pleas are heeded more when actual
Somali pirates show up, but Capt. Phillips has no time to gloat: The pirates
take control of the vessel and, when that plan falls through, kidnap the
captain as a sort of consolation prize. "Just business," pirate
captain Muse (Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi) tells Phillips. But with the American
navy bearing down on Muse's tiny lifeboat and frazzled crew, business could
prove to be very, very bad.
Some Thoughts: Captain
Phillips, based on a true story, is a taut thriller that doesn't have much
(any?) spiritual subtext. And yet there's still something to talk about
here—lessons on how we Christians, on the sloshy boat of life, can deal with
metaphorical pirates when they come aboard. But be warned: Dangerous and
slightly controversial waters ahead. Beware the screaming eels.
I know of Christians who get
really angry with those "Jesus is my co-pilot" bumper stickers. Jesus,
they say, should be the pilot—taking
you wherever His flight plan says. (And if you're a strict Calvinist, of
course, the whole craft is on autopilot besides.) There's a lot of theological
truth in that: We should, I think, be conscious of serving God and sublimating
our own selfishness to His greater purposes. Right?
But that doesn't mean
that you should just sit in coach and wait for the beverage tray to come by. Even
when God plans your path, you gotta sometimes work to follow it.
Take Captain Phillips.
His own largish craft, the Maersk Alabama, has its course already set, its
destination determined by (as it were) a higher power. But plenty can go wrong
on the voyage to the promised land (in this case, Mombasa, Kenya) in these
unpredictable seas. And while Phillips' crew seems willing to trust providence
that the ship won't encounter anything unexpectedly nasty, the captain wants to
take every precaution and prepare for the worst.
It's good advice, I
think. While Scripture sometimes encourages us to not fret about the
future—"It will have its own worries" (Matthew 6:34)—I think it's
probably wise and prudent to plan ahead a little. There's a difference between worrying about the future and preparing for it.
'Course, sometimes
trouble comes to visit no matter how well you prepare. So it is with the Maersk
Alabama, when four pirates clamor over the side and take over the ship. By
then, it's too late to conduct anti-pirate drills or order a set of much-needed
laser cannons. You have to deal with the mess you've been handed. And while the situation was certainly serious,
Captain Phillips didn't panic. Instead, he stayed calm, gave secret orders to
his terrified crew while the pirates were right there and eventually convinced
the Somalis to split. (The fact that the crew captured Muse didn't hurt,
either.)
Other guys might've given
up and let the events run their course. But Phillips knew he and his crew still
had a job to do. They had to still get to their Kenyan promised land, and the
captain and crew used their smarts, guts and guile—all abilities and traits
given by God—to help that happen.
But all of Phillips'
preparation and resourcefulness couldn't prevent him from being captured by the
pirates himself. He sacrificed his own well-being for the sake of his ship and
its crew, and as such spent a great deal of time at the mercy of his captors.
He was stripped of power and surrounded by danger. And all he could really do
was listen for guidance and wait for help.
The help he sought, of
course, was the American Navy in all its awesome splendor. The voice he longed
to hear was manifested in a megaphone, not a booming voice from the clouds. Yet
there's something of Noah in Phillips: Trapped in an endless sea with nothing
to do but wait for salvation.
There are times when I
think all of us find ourselves in a place like that—a place where we can no
longer rely on our own strength or cunning. We're forced into a place of
weakness. Or maybe more fairly, a place where we're forced to acknowledge our
weakness. When we realize that we must give up our own agenda and truly say,
"Thy will be done." Life of Pi—when
Pi is adrift on the open ocean with only a hungry tiger for company—is my
favorite film example of this principle, but Captain Phillips (with its strange similarities to Pi) is pretty
good, too. There comes a time when we must let go and allow ourselves to rest
in God's hands, come whatever may.
It's interesting that
Muse and his crew don't reach this point, and it's arguably their undoing. It
grew increasingly clear that powers far greater than they (again, the U.S.
Navy, but a nice, if somewhat strained, metaphor for God) were in charge. They
were given ample warning that, if they continued on the path they chose—and not
allow the ship to get to its promised destination—that things would turn out
very, very badly. But they continued to press forward, relying on only their
own strength and will. And it wound up costing them everything.
It's another good lesson
for us: When a voice from above tells us to reject the selfish path we're on,
it's a good idea to listen.
Questions:
1. I was pretty struck by
how similar, in some ways, the two captains—Muse and Phillips—were to each
other. How were they similar? Different? What sorts of challenges did each
face?
2. What would you have
done in Captain Phillips' shoes?
3. I felt a little bad
for Muse's situation—pressed into piracy, it would seem, by Somali warlords.
But none of that excuses what he and his crew did. How do you think the
American judicial system should've treated Muse?
What the Bible Says:
"The plans of the
diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to
poverty."
Proverbs 21:5
"Many are the plans
in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."
Proverbs 19:21
"Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7
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