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Courtesy of BFI – Warner Bros

19 October 2019 • WAR CRY • FILM 3 Gene Kelly takes part in a musical number

Sound judgment S

ingin’ in the Rain fans are basking in a glorious feeling of nostalgia, happy again after the 1952 musical returned to selected UK cinemas yesterday (Friday 18 October). In the film, adulation is pouring in for silent movie star Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and his on-screen love interest at the premiere of their latest blockbuster hit The Royal Rascal. Don proudly reflects on his success, having ascended the acting ladder from an on-set stuntman to Hollywood heart-throb. As he leaves the screening he is mobbed by fans. Looking to get away, he jumps into the first vehicle he sees, which is driven by budding actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds). She takes him down a few pegs, declaring her honest opinion that his work is repetitive and he’s simply a ‘shadow on film’. Don is taken aback by her criticism, having previously heard nothing but praise for his work. Surrounded by flattery, he turns to his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) to seek out an authentic second opinion about whether his films are any good. While facing this crisis of confidence, Don is confronted by the soaring popularity of talking pictures, which seek to usurp his silent movies in the nation’s hearts. Caving into public

Prepare to be soaked in song as a classic thunders back to cinemas, writes Emily Bright flattery. But as we can sometimes quickly realise, it’s often more important to hear the truth than simply be told what we want to hear. Throughout the generations, people have sought truth from many different places. Millions have turned to the Bible, which Christians believe reveals the truth of God’s love for us. It’s important to One Bible writer explains that by encountering the depths of God’s love, hear the truth we can receive ultimate fulfilment. He says: ‘This is how much God loved the the studios. Together, they navigate the world: He gave his Son, his one and new world of talking pictures and fall in only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing love. in him, anyone can have a whole and When the premiere of The Duelling lasting life’ (John 3:16 The Message). Cavalier finally arrives, it is panned If we root our lives in God’s love, we by the critics and Don is worried that are putting down firm foundations in an his career will be destroyed. He turns unshakeable truth that God wants us to Kathy and Cosmo for consolation, to enjoy a whole and lasting life. who see things as they actually are. God wants to flood our lives with Together, they work to resurrect the his support, whatever circumstances film by integrating tap-dancing and we may face. Whether it’s our first or singing numbers. fifty-first take in life, God is still willing Like Don, we may want people to to take an active role, if we let him in on make a song and dance out of our the scene. achievements, or seek out praise or demand, the studio that he works for decides to take action and start filming its latest project, The Duelling Cavalier, in sound, and chaos ensues. As he embarks on this new challenge, Don reunites with Kathy, who is now a cinematic chorus girl at

‘It was as if someone had just turned off the power in my body’ In a week that includes World Spine Day (16 October), which raises awareness of spinal conditions, CHRIS NORTON tells Emily Bright how he overcame paralysis from the neck down to walk his wife down the aisle ISTIMING his tackle by a split second M during a college American football game, Chris Norton smashed his head

into a player’s legs. In that instant, he was unable to move any muscle below his neck. ‘I tried to get up, but I couldn’t and I didn’t know why,’ Chris remembers. Thinking that a trapped nerve had triggered a temporary loss of sensation, he convinced himself that he would be okay. But as the minutes ticked by and he still couldn’t move, he became increasingly fearful. ‘It was as if someone had just turned off the power in my body. I kept thinking it would come back on, but it never did,’ he tells me. Surrounded by doctors from his college in Decorah, Iowa, and later by paramedics, Chris was bombarded with medical questions about which muscles he could move. Every minute that elapsed felt like an hour. He was cut out of his helmet, placed in a neck brace

and strapped on to a stretcher. Swept into a waiting ambulance, Chris was transported to the nearby Winneshiek hospital, before being helicoptered to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. As he stared up at the roof of the helicopter, feeling frightened and overwhelmed with questions, he realised that he was struggling to breathe. He wheezed for help, but the medics couldn’t hear him. Composing himself, he focused on inhaling and exhaling until his breathing returned to normal. After Chris had undergone a series of x-rays, an MRI and a spinal operation for a broken neck, his surgeon delivered a devastating diagnosis: there was only a 3 per cent chance that he would ever feel anything below his neck again. On that day, 16 October 2010, his entire future was thrown into doubt. He says: ‘I was

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Chris Norton was paralysed while playing in an American football game

6 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 19 October 2019

From page 5 in shock, questioning my own reality, thinking: “Is this my life? Is this really happening?”’ ‘This sense of urgency and panic started building inside of me. I was determined that I would not be in that 97 per cent. And so I set out to do whatever I could to be part of that 3 per cent.’ During his time of crisis, Chris turned to his Christian faith to sustain him. ‘God had always been kind of there, and on the bench if I needed him,’ he reflects. ‘But after my accident, I felt lost and scared and was forced to be completely

This sense of urgency and panic started building inside of me dependent on God. My life was turned upside down but when I turned to him, God gave me hope and helped me to keep moving forward.’ Chris began his rehabilitation by nodding his head for hours. It was the only movement he could make. A breakthrough followed when he regained movement in his left shoulder, allowing him to sit a little upright in a wheelchair. But the spinal cord injury caused irregularities in his blood pressure, triggering sensations of nausea and light-headedness as he sat up in his chair. He continued regardless,

determined to push himself as much as he could during his rehabilitation. ‘I tried to stay in my chair every day for just a little bit longer each time,’ Chris recalls. His efforts paid off in a remarkable way. ‘Around the five to six-week mark, on Thanksgiving Day, I wiggled my left big toe, he says. ‘That was a sign that my legs were starting to activate, with the muscles firing, and I was determined to walk again.’ With renewed resolve, he sought to rebuild his life, starting with an ambitious aim. He explains: ‘When I returned to college in 2011, I set the goal that I wanted to walk up on stage at my college graduation’. While he was working towards his goal, he met Emily. She was inspired by his goal and suggested that he try a gym called Barwis Methods, which is based in Michigan and specialises in helping people recover from injuries and neuromuscular disorders. ‘I gave it a try and loved it,’ he says. ‘It was a great workout. I decided to move up there and train full-time to give me the best chance to walk across the stage at my graduation.’ As that graduation in May 2015 approached, Chris grew increasingly apprehensive. ‘I trained about four and a half years for one moment, one walk across the stage. I was nervous going into it, knowing how

hard I’d worked and how much time I’d put into it, and didn’t know what reception I’d get from the audience.’ But as Emily helped him out of his wheelchair and across the stage, he

Chris participated in rehab sessions

19 October 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 7

Our worst moments can be the source of our greatest gifts hands, and that no matter what happened, I still had Emily. The wedding walk was successful, and that felt amazing.’ Their day was reported on by People magazine, with its video receiving more than 900,000 hits on YouTube. Seeking to encourage other people to overcome the odds, Chris became a professional motivational speaker. He says: ‘Since college, it Chris and Emily practising the graduation walk has been my life mission to help people stand up to the challenges they’re facing. received an overwhelmingly supportive Because of my message and my past, response. ‘People started cheering and people are encouraged to take on their clapping and everyone stood up. As I own personal obstacles.’ accepted my diploma, I looked out and He has also set up the Chris Norton saw everyone in the room was crying. Foundation, which raises funds for That’s when it hit me, how emotional and equipment and facilities to support the powerful that moment was.’ rehabilitation of people with spinal cord His college graduation was all the more injuries and neuromuscular disabilities. memorable because he’d proposed to The non-profit organisation has raised Emily the night before. As their wedding nearly $1 million to date. approached in 2018, he set himself a new Chris and Emily felt inspired to share target. their experiences, and wrote a memoir, ‘I wanted to walk Emily seven yards The Seven Longest Yards, which was down the aisle, side by side. I did published earlier this year. The book everything in my power to make it chronicles Chris’s rehabilitation, Emily’s successful, but knew that it was in God’s experiences of depression, and their

decision to foster 17 children and adopt five girls. Looking back on his life, Chris tells me: ‘My accident definitely strengthened my faith. It made me reflect on how grateful I was to live 18 years able-bodied, and to have my family, community and my God. ‘When Emily and I put God at the centre it transformed our relationship, her mental health and our lives together.’ Chris hopes that by sharing their story, they will be able to help other people through their own struggles. ‘We want people to know that we’re not meant to do everything on our own. We need to depend on God and others. It’s okay to seek help and be vulnerable. ‘We also wanted to show the real moments when we pushed past our fears and doubts, to encourage other people to keep on going and choose hope. Our worst moments can be the source of our greatest gifts.’ l The Seven Longest Yards is published by Zondervan

Chris and Emily on their wedding day in April 2018

10 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 19 October 2019

ADOPTING A NEW LIFE

Kr ish Kandiah

To mark National Adoption Week (14-20 October), KRISH KANDIAH, founder and director of the adoption and fostering charity Home for Good, talks to Linda McTurk about his personal story of caring for children in need ORE than a decade ago, Krish M Kandiah and his wife welcomed their first foster-child, a newborn

baby, into their family home. The couple were not new to parenting, having already had three children born to them, but the child placed into their arms by the state required special care. For the baby girl who had arrived in the Kandiah household, a permanent home with her birth family was not an option – but a home with another family might be. As she began to settle with her foster-family, her social worker asked Krish and his wife to consider permanently adopting her. But the request came at an unexpected time for the couple.

‘Emotionally and psychologically it didn’t appear to be a great time to adopt a child,’ Krish admits. ‘I was in the middle of a difficult workplace situation and my mother had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer.’ Despite their personal challenges, the couple decided to go ahead and adopt. Krish has fond memories of the day in court when their foster-child legally became their daughter. She was only a toddler at the time. ‘We were nervous and all dressed up, ready for anything,’ he remembers. ‘Our social workers looked a bit nervous too. Then the judge came in and told us that this was his favourite part of the job because normally he sent people away to prison, but here he was making

a family. Afterwards, the kids went up to the judge’s bench and tapped the gavel – it was great.’ Today Krish and his wife have seven

Despite challenges, the couple decided to adopt children: three from birth, one adopted and three foster-children. Along with his responsibilities at home, Krish is also the founder and director of Home for Good,

19 October 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 11

Even the traumatic parts of our lives can be woven into a bigger tapestry

a charity which encourages people to consider adopting and fostering children. Krish was motivated to help children in need by the experiences of his extended family. Krish’s mother and her two sisters, who were all mixed race children living in India, were rejected by their wider family after their father died in the Second World War. All three sisters were put into different orphanages. Krish says the experience scarred his mother. Like Krish’s mother and her sisters, children placed into care can sometimes

carry painful stories from their past. ‘People should not have a rosetinted picture of fostering or adoption,’ Krish explains. ‘There are often extreme circumstances that bring children into care. such as severe neglect or physical violence.’ Even though some fostered and adopted children have a traumatic family history, Krish believes that there is still hope to be found in their stories – a conviction that stems from his Christian faith. ‘There is a part of the Bible where it talks about God bringing beauty out of brokenness and that he can turn our mourning into dancing,’ he says. ‘I find that helpful because it is not erasing the pain and trauma, but it is also recognising that there is a bigger story that God is working out. Even the traumatic parts of our lives can be woven into a bigger tapestry.’ It has been more than a decade since Krish and his wife legally adopted their daughter. As she gets older, Krish hopes that they have made a positive difference in her life. ‘I want her to know that she is unconditionally loved,’ he says. ‘Children with early trauma sometimes have ongoing life challenges and that’s

normal and to be expected, but I hope through the ups and downs of life that she knows we are always going to be her parents.’ While there have been many things that Krish has tried to teach his adopted daughter, she has also taught him a lot. He outlines some of the insights he has learnt from her in his book, The Greatest Secret. ‘My adopted daughter saved my Christian faith,’ Krish explains. ‘She helped me encounter God at a whole new level. It was through the experience of adoption that I came to a fresh realisation of the love of God. ‘The Bible talks about God lavishing his love on us, that he has unfailing grace and compassion towards us and that it is relentless. He knows about our trauma and is incredibly sympathetic to what we have gone through. ‘God is willing to pursue us not just to rescue us or to forgive us, but to adopt us. God is the best adoptive Father we could ever hope for and he wants to include us permanently in his family.’

l The Greatest Secret is published by Hodder & Stoughton

12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 19 October 2019

Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Alan, who has cancer; and for Thomas, who is seriously ill The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances. Send your requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.

Becoming a Christian There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures

Between the Testaments HE latest external date reference in T the Old Testament – ‘the 20th year of King Artaxerxes’ (Nehemiah 2:1 New

International Version) – is circa 445BC. In the New Testament, the earliest contemporary time stamp is ‘in the time of Herod King of Judea’ (Luke 1:5). Herod ruled when Jesus was born and his reign is traditionally calculated as beginning in 37BC. The 400 or so years between the two Testaments are sometimes known as ‘the silent centuries’. God, though, was far from inactive. By the end of the Old Testament, the people of Judah have been released from Babylonian captivity by the newly dominant world power, Persia. In 332BC, Alexander the Great defeated Persia, and Judah came under Macedonian rule. After Alexander died in 323BC, his kingdom was split and Judah passed to the control of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria. When Syrian King Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes) instigated a pogrom against all things Jewish, including murder and the desecration of the Temple, a resistance campaign followed. The Maccabean Revolt (167–160BC) was led by the priest Mattathias and, later, his son Judas Maccabeus removed the occupiers from Judah.

An account of the times is found in the books known as 1 and 2 Maccabees. Early on, the writer records: ‘We have been rescued by God from great danger, we give him great thanks for championing our cause against the king’ (2 Maccabees 1:11 New Jerusalem Bible). These books, found in the Greek (Septuagint) and Catholic versions of the Old

The years between the Testaments are known as ‘the silent centuries’ Testament, provide eyewitness accounts of the persecution of the Jews and their consequent struggle for independence. For most of the next 100 years, the Hasmonean dynasty – the last independent Jewish kingdom – reigns. In 64BC, Rome takes over from the fading Hasmoneans. In 37BC, Rome appoints the Edomite Herod as a vassal king to rule from Jerusalem. It is to King Herod that the Magi travel, asking for the location of the birthplace of a new ‘king of the Jews’ (Matthew 2:1 and 2). And a whole new testament begins.

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