Meant for More Than Just This (Eph. 4:1) January 24, 2010
“Kung Fu Panda” is an animated movie about a panda named Po who longs to be a Kung Fu hero.[1] But several obstacles come between Po and his dream. Perhaps the most significant is the fact that Po’s father longs for Po to take over the family’s noodle restaurant. The movie opens with Po dreaming about being a Kung Fu master. He wakes up and comes downstairs to the restaurant’s kitchen where his father is preparing noodles. His father asks Po what he was dreaming about. Knowing his father would disapprove of the Kung Fu dream, Po lies and says, “I was dreaming about—uh—noodles.” “Noodles?” his father asks. “You were really dreaming about noodles?” Po’s father cries out, “Oh, happy day! My son, finally having the Noodle Dream! You don’t know how long I have been waiting for this moment! This is a sign, Po! You are almost ready to be entrusted with the secret ingredient to my Secret Ingredient Soup! And then you will fulfill your destiny and take over the restaurant—just as I took it over from my father, who took it over from his father…” “But, Dad,” Po asks, “didn’t you ever want to do something else? Something besides noodles?” “Actually,” his father admits, “when I was young and crazy, I thought about running away and learning how to make tofu.” “So why didn’t you?” Po asks. “Because it was a stupid dream,” his father replies. “Can you imagine me making tofu? No, we all have our place in this world. Mine is here, and yours is—.” “I know,” Po interrupts. “Mine is here.” And Po mopes off, dissatisfied with his calling in life, his destiny.
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