Its Always Going to be Something

by Don Harkey

One of my favorite movies is Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. When I tell friends this, I get really odd looks. The movie probably doesn't land on many people's list of favorite movies and it is not at risk at being placed on any American Film Institute list. Most people I know who saw the movie thought it was mildly funny, but not very memorable. Yet it ranks among my favorites.

The movie is about a hypochondriac named Joe Banks. Joe works in a despicable job and has a despicable life. The movie does a great job of showing his pain as he goes through the motions surrounded by tragically lost people. One day, on one of his regular doctor visits, his doctor tells him that he is going to die from a rare condition called a "brain cloud". He only has a few months to live.

This new view on life gives Joe the courage to finally tell his horrible boss how he feels about him and ask out the girl in his office whom he has always liked (who is also very lost and is one of 3 characters in the movie played by Meg Ryan). Joe goes home, unsure what to do next, when he gets visited by an eccentric old millionaire. The man has heard about Joe's condition and wants to offer him a chance to be a hero. He is to travel to an island of Waponi Wu and serve as a sacrifice to the island natives by jumping into the islands volcano. If he does this, the islanders will grant the millionaire mining rights to the island. Joe agrees and sets out on an adventure traveling to the island.

On the way, he finds himself and he finds his true love, Patricia (another character played by Meg Ryan). As he climbs to the edge of the volcano (spoiler alert!), he decides to marry Patricia and she decides to jump into the volcano with him. "We'll just see. We'll just jump and we'll see.", says Patricia. The jump symbolizes both characters leaving their past lives behind and starting anew.

Both of them jump just as the volcano explodes, shooting them out of the volcano into the water as the island is destroyed behind them. Having miraculously survived their leap, the two are left swimming the ocean at the end of the movie. In a quick discussion, Joe finds out that the doctor who diagnosed his "brain cloud" actually works for Patricia's dad, who was the millionaire. Joe is not dying. At first, Joe is actually upset by this news, then he realizes that he is going to live.

As the two float in the ocean on top of Joe's huge luggage cases (which miraculously appear), Joe begins to lament their situation floating out in the ocean with no land in sight. They had just survived situation after situation, yet Joe still doubted his future. Patricia just looks at him with a smile and says, "It's always going to be something with you, isn't Joe?". The End.

We sometimes exchange the illusion of control over our lives for really bad situations. We stick with jobs we hate, we put up with despicable people, and we start to limit our world to a small little corner, just because we seem to have control over that small corner. The truth is that God is in control. As a mentor of mine one said, "God is in control and its a good thing, because we would really mess things up!".

That is what the movie is about. In the movie, Patricia tells Joe that her father once said that "Most people spend their entire lives asleep, but their are a few who are awake, and they spend their lives in constant amazement.". This is true. How many times do we drive home under a brilliant sunset or ignore a great idea from a employee? Life is a bunch of leaps. The exciting ones require Faith.

God is in control, and that is a good thing!

(WARNING: Do NOT jump into a Volcano!)