Ice Age 3

Usually, by the time you get to the third sequel of a movie (unless it’s an intended trilogy like Lord of the Rings), you’re over the idea of that movie, the characters are old and you’d just rather watch re-runs of the first one. I mean, let’s face it: the element of surprise is over, right?

And yet, I was pleasantly surprised with the third instalment of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Your old favourites are back—Sid, Manny, Ellie, Diego and Scrat—along with a new friendly character, Buck. Diego is tired of being treated like a house cat while Manny and Ellie are dealing with expecting a child and the activities surrounding it, including Manny contemplating running away to start a new life.

Sid, too, is feeling lonely. He’s venturing across the ice when he falls through a thin patch and discovers a world under the surface. Here, he finds three abandoned eggs, which he takes with him to care for. What he doesn’t realise is the eggs are dinosaur eggs. Upon hatching, three new babies see Sid as their mother before their real mother comes to the surface to find them. Sid is kidnapped with the babies and taken back to the “underworld,” where his friends have to go to rescue him.

They brave the new civilisation of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures with their new companion, Buck, who leads them through the jungle to find Sid. Buck, who was also a lonely soul in search of purpose and adventure, hunts dinosaurs to fill his days.

Isn’t that how we all are sometimes? I don’t mean we hunt dinosaurs to kill time but at times, we lose purpose. We feel left out and lonely, like nobody cares for us or no-one has time for us.

So we choose to run away. We choose to go and find “eggs” we know we shouldn’t take, and bring them into our lives in the hope they’ll bring satisfaction and fulfilment. But in the end, it leads to hurt or tragedy.

God intends to use each of us. We wouldn’t be here if He didn’t.

And He wants to use us in the best place for our abilities and talents. We’re all created differently and for different purposes.

There’s nothing to feel “lonely” about or to believe we need to run away because God doesn’t seem to be listening to us.

He just knows what’s best for us and will reveal it when the time is right. It does take a lot of trust and faith but that’s God’s way of preparing us for what He has in store. And when the day comes, He will take us on a journey beyond anything we could have ever hoped or dreamed for.

Psalm 32:8 tells us, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you” (NIV).

Like Sid, sometimes we “fall through the ice” and find our calling there. Other times, we experience that world but are called back to the “surface.” Either way, God won’t leave us empty-handed. If we’re the best we can be where we are now, and make the most of every opportunity and situation, God can work through us.

We should cherish the people around us, too, because they might be the ones who one day have to brave the “dawn of the dinosaurs” to come and find us when we run into trouble. But that’s what friends are for: to encourage us, pick us up when we fall and give us companionship on our life’s journey.