Promises, Promises

Here's a bonus blog for the week. I was going to do it as a Facebook status but knew it would get kind of long so I decided to blog. If you don't want to read it, then don't. But at least it's taking up less space in your news feed. 

Today I watched The Terminal. It's a movie I've seen several times and have always enjoyed it. In case you've never seen it, here's a brief synopsis:

      Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks) travels to the US from his country of Krakozhia but, as he is traveling, a war breaks out in his country. Because of the war, his passport is not recognized and he is not allowed to leave the airport to enter the US. He is told he has to stay in the international transit lounge at JFK Airport. The Customs and Border Patrol director is certain Navorski will escape the airport. But he is so dedicated to his reason for traveling to America that he makes Gate 67 his home. He befriends airport workers and a flight attendant. In his possession is an old rusty Planters peanut can. When asked what's in the can, his answer is always, "Jazz." Eventually, he discloses that his father had a love for jazz. He had sent letters to the greatest jazz musicians asking for autographs. Before his death, Viktor's father receives the autographs of all but one. Viktor promised his father that he would travel to the lounge at a Ramada Inn where this last musician performs. 

Navorski's friends help him fulfill his promise

All because of this promise to his father on his death bed, Viktor stays in the hotel just waiting for several months. He could easily walk out the door and escape. But he waits. When the war in his home country ends, the CBP director will still not let him leave except to get on a plane bound for home. However, his new friends help him get out of the airport. He takes a taxi to the hotel, gets the autograph of the last musician, and then happily takes a taxi back to the airport to go home.

This got me to thinking about promises. When we promise someone something, how seriously do we really take it? How hard would we work to keep a promise we make? Certainly it wouldn't involve something like living in an airport for several months so we could carry out our mission. But would we fight adversity to make our promises come true? 

What promises have you made that you haven't kept? Did you really try hard to keep them? Let me tell you that I'm going to do everything in my power to keep ever promise I make. If I think I can't keep a promise, I won't make it. Can you make that commitment?