a little obsession

so, i have a little obsession. several months ago, i bought the movie guys and dolls from barnes and noble. i hadn't ever seen it, but i figured i'd like it because i love musicals, old movies and it starred frank sinatra and marlon brando. i was right. i liked it from the beginning. and i've watched it on and off since then, but lately, i just want to watch it all the time. and listen to the soundtrack. and sing the songs. and share it with people.
besides just being a good story, there are some great songs and some really good lines in the movie, such as:

Sarah: You want to take me to dinner in Havana, Cuba?
Sky: Well, they eat in Cuba the same as we do.

Sarah: That bacardi flavor, it certainly makes a difference, doesn't it?
Sky: Oh, yeah. Nine times out of ten.
Sarah: You know, this would be a wonderful way to get children to drink milk!

Brannigan: What brings all these senior delinquents together?
Nathan: They got lonely. How am I supposed to know?
Brannigan: Why are they all wearing red carnations?
Nathan: They are also all wearing pants.

anyway, there's a random connection i want to make. a big part of the plot of this movie is that miss sarah brown runs a mission and they're looking for sinners. the gamblers are obviously the sinners the movie revolves around, namely sky masterson and nathan detroit. anyway, at one point in the movie, sky tells sarah he needs a more personal help to stop gambling. later on in the movie, sarah says something about how she's going to help him in whatever way is needed, "day and night, night and day." even though he didn't really want the help at first (he's just trying to win a bet) and she's totally drunk when she says it, hear me out.
last night at church, ellis talked about the parable of the lost sheep. shepherds give of themselves when they take care of the sheep. when the one gets lost, the shepherd goes and gets it and carries it back. sheep are heavy. it was not an easy task. and sometimes it's that way in our lives. relationships with others are not easy. they take work. sometimes we need to carry our friends or the people we're discipling, just as the shepherd did with the sheep, because they really need us or they're really hurt and they can't make it on their own. often, though, we stop with just being friends or getting someone to simply say they believe. we don't keep on with them, because it's hard. and sometimes it hurts us, too, because we're in the mess with the other person. so we stop.
in the movie, the way the mission tries to attract sinners is by holding prayer meetings and getting the 'sinners' to confess their sins (which is we stop a lot of the time). but sarah says that she's going to do whatever it takes to help sky, because he needs it. don't we all need it? and shouldn't we all be doing it? helping each other, no matter what it takes. carrying our friends. being there "day and night, night and day."
won't that hurt? won't it be hard? won't we get tired? of course. and we may not always want to do it, but it's what we're supposed to be doing. carrying each other. living in true relationship with each other.
day and night, night and day.

it made me think. because i know i'm not doing this the way i should be.


and on a totally different note, but kind of related, here's a fun story for you.
last night, lauren and i were in fell's point. i had just told her how much i'm loving this movie right now. as we were walking a few minutes later, some guy bumped into me and he said, "oh, sorry, doll."
it took me a minute to register what he had really said. and then i laughed. i didn't know people still talked that way.