We shall have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but we have only one swift hour before the sunset in which to win them." -Robert Moffat

Me and the gang watched Schindler's List last night. The idea was sparked with a round of "Shout About Movies." My team correctly guessed that the last black and white movie to receive the Academy Award for best picture was Schindler's List, but none of us had ever actually seen it. Obviously, that's not really a movie that you get together with a group of people and have a party to watch. "Hey guys, Miss Congeniality, Legally Blonde, or Schindler's List?" But as all of us at one point or another had wanted to see it, Kenley ordered it on Net Flicks.

I was amazing at how Schindler could act completely indifferent with Nazi officials, convincing them that his Jews meant nothing to him except a few extra coins in his pocket over and over. He spent his entire fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying supplies to keep his workers alive. He even bought artillery shells from other factories to pass off as his own so that his own factory would not have any part in helping the German war cause. In the movie Schindler says to his accountant Itzhak, "Stern, if this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy."

And while the ending was incredible, with Oskar Schindler saving nearly 1,100 Jews from certain death in Auschwitz, it was Schindler's own reaction to everything that moved me the most. He is surrounded by 1,100 Jews who owe him their lives and this is what he says:

Oskar Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just... I could have got more.
Itzhak Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Oskar Schindler: If I'd made more money... I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just...
Itzhak Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Oskar Schindler: I didn't do enough!
Itzhak Stern: You did so much.
[Schindler looks at his car]
Oskar Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
[removing Nazi pin from lapel]
Oskar Schindler: This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
[sobbing]
Oskar Schindler: I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!

And that got me thinking (as movies usually do). When my life is over and I stand before God, I know I'll have my share of cars and lapel pins. Selfish ambitions and wasteful living, time that could have been spent furthering the kindgom. I won't stand there going, "I could have made more money. I could have gotten that promotion," but I am almost certain I will look around me and say, "I could have gotten one more person. I could have fed the hungry, shared my time, and told one more about the love of Christ."

In church a few Sundays ago, Erik was talking about what we build our foundation upon. We're reading in I Corinthians. Paul said this, "But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

I know I've gotta be more careful about how I build. Maybe I should quit typing and go do something. Do widzenia.