11/17/2025
Everywhere we look the world highlights everything separating us. From our news headlines, social media feeds, even across the dinner table, differences are magnified, divisions are emphasized and it can leave us feeling distant, isolated, discouraged.
And yet, what I’ve learned is that despite everything seemingly pulling us apart, we’re far more alike than we realize.
In fact, our hope with Soul On Fire Movie was simple: to remind people of our shared humanity, to encourage moviegoers to embrace the beauty of their life story, and to inspire audiences to bravely live with faith, hope and love. Since release, we’ve received hundreds of correspondences from veterans, widows, pastors, addicts, business owners, retirees, and students that the film delivered on those goals. One of my favorites arrived three weeks ago.
The note read in part, “I have almost the same hands as you.”
It was from a second grader named Julia who had watched the movie with her family. Her mom shared that the little girl was born physically different than other babies. Although missing fingers and toes, Julia is bright and spirited and absolutely loved. Even still, she sometimes lacks confidence feeling different than all the other kids at school.
As Julia sat in that theater watching SOUL ON FIRE, though, she saw herself reflected in the story. She saw a boy who occasionally lacked confidence, struggled being different than everyone else, felt less than. And she saw a boy who eventually recognized the beauty in his scars, his brokenness, his life.
In his discovery, a little girl seated in a theater, recognized that same potential for not only how she viewed her hands, but how she perceived the value of her life, too.
My friends, the media, political systems and some people will strive to break us into factions.
And yet, when we see ourselves in someone’s story, in someone’s struggles, and in someone’s overcoming, something extraordinary occurs: Hope ignites, empathy blooms, hearts open, arms uncross and differences fade. We recognize that far from our differences making us weak, they serve to galvanize us together.
As SOUL ON FIRE leaves theaters and moves to a digital form reaching an even larger audience, my hope is that regardless how difficult life may get or how different we may feel, we recognize (as little Julia did) that our lives matter, we are loved, we are all in this together and our best is yet to come.
Today is your day. Live Inspired.
