In one of my favorite scenes from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Galadriel turns to Gandalf and asks “Why the halfling?”

Gandalf turns to face the camera and replies: Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.

This scene caught my attention. Listen to Galdalf’s narrative, “…I’ve found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay…”

God needs to get the gospel message out to us, so what’s His plan? First, He starts with the most unlikely fellowship: a few fishermen, a tax collector, etc. He chooses people with faults and shortcomings and interestingly, not one of them was a scholar or rabbi. They had no extraordinary skills. Neither religious, nor refined, they were ordinary folk, just like you and me. This is the fellowship He chooses to kick off a revolution of rescuing the human heart.

He doesn’t stop their, He then invites us into story. Unbelievable. He took a staggering risk when He decided to let others into His story, and he lets their choices shape it. Isn’t it amazing that God uses ordinary folk like you and me in His plan of redemption?

Tell, me…what has had the biggest impact on your life? Hearing some profound speaker sharing some spiritual narrative; hearing a message on Sunday morning or hearing a persons story of how an amazing loving, forgiving and graceful God changed them? I am not saying that the speakers and the pastors are not part of His plan, but it’s the story of the ordinary folks. It’s their testimony that has that relatable impact.

Revelation 12:11 shares, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

No am I suggesting that God doesn’t have thing under control? Nope!

Are there times where God has to intervene? Yup!

Check out some of the stories He writes. Moses taking on pharaoh to rescue the Israelites…He intervenes. David taking on Goliath…He intervenes. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, facing the fiery furnace…He intervenes. I could keep going.

Yes, God is relentlessly pursuing us with his love. This is why God stepped into human history as a man. That’s why Jesus is God Himself who walked among us, because in matters of love you have to go yourself! Jesus came to us, engaged us, and pursued us. He bled for all mankind sacrificing Himself to set us free, to set the record straight and to pave the way for relationship with God Himself.

…but He also invites ordinary folk like you and me into His story.

As Samwise Gamgee once said, “It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”

Our stories of redemption in a crazy mixed up world really matter. There are people and circumstances in this world that seem to want to stamp out that joy we all yearn deep inside for. But sometimes, this is exactly what we need, and it couldn’t have come along at a better time. I could have stayed in Middle Earth for three more hours, and then three hours more. If only to forget, for just a little while, that the world outside can be such a painful place, and to be reminded that there is some good still worth fighting for.

Why Bilbo Baggins? Because his character of humility, innocence and purity is something sorely missing in our world today. He’s not superman, batman or that superhero that gets the limelight. He’s a simple hobbit who does extraordinary things, whose simple acts of kindness and love can hold the darkness at bay.

And I can’t wait to go on another adventure with him.