Cover image via The Chosen.
In recent years, a lot of emphasis has been focused on our Savior’s invitation to “Come Follow Me”. We are encouraged not just to believe in Christ, because as he said, even the devils “believe and tremble”. Instead, he has “marked the path and led the way”, and we have the incredible blessing to be shown and taught how we can follow him on that Covenant Path toward our eternal destiny.
I love watching “The Chosen” TV series about the life of Christ. For me, it has surpassed Franco Zeffirelli’s marvelous 6-hour miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth” in my heart and mind as what I consider the most authentic, the most impactful screen vision of Jesus. In the 1970’s I wrote a screenplay for a successful feature documentary film about the search for the “historic” Jesus, but in “The Chosen” I have found the living, loving, laughing, and adorable Christ, and I’ve fallen in love with him all over again.
I had a dream recently where I was pondering Christ’s invitation to “Come Follow Me”, and the Holy Spirit overwhelmingly impressed upon my heart the desire to indeed follow Him, however poorly and imperfectly I can. Then a thought crossed my mind from Peggy March’s 1963 hit song “I Will Follow Him“, especially as it was re-arranged in the movie “Sister Act” and sung as a hymn to our Savior by a choir of nuns. The key phrase for me was:
“I love him, I love him, I love him,
and where he goes I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow”.
When I woke up, I felt one of those rare but wonderful strokes of creative inspiration that I believe is a gift from God. I found several versions of the song on the internet and edited them together, and then illustrated it with some of my favorite scenes from what else? “The Chosen”. Several times during the video editing, as I watched Christ teaching his new disciples, or healing the sick, or embracing a repentant sinner, I felt a rush of the Spirit, and the tears flowed. They still do.
I hope this video blesses the lives of its viewers as much as it has blessed mine in putting it together, building on the marvelous creativity of others. I guess this is what is sometimes called a “fan film”. No copyright infringement is intended, as this is just my personal offering, in an attempt to follow Him.
Each time I watch it, I think, “how can I follow Him more closely, now that He has “marked the path and led the way”? May you find inspiration in it as well.
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Robert Starling has been a writer and producer for the NBC Television Network, and at Schick Sunn Classic Pictures, Osmond Productions, and the media production department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His recent book “A Case for Latter-day Christianity” is available in many bookstores, on Barnes and Noble, and on Amazon.com in printed and e-book versions. He lives in Riverton, Utah with his wife Sharon. They have four adult children and eleven grandchildren.
