by Pastor David Tinker

In my sermon on Sunday, January 12, 2014, I shared about the following from the movie, Toy Story.  I found an image of the foot of Woody with Andy’s name written on it.  Here is a written form of what I shared in the Sunday sermon regarding this image.

“The 1995 movie Toy Story shows Andy’s toys come to life.  When Andy is not around the toys talk, move, and have a sort of community life.  Andy is a little boy who cherishes his toys, but he especially cherishes his toy Cowboy “Woody”.  The story goes that on Andy’s birthday he receives a very exciting new toy:  Buzz Lightyear.  Buzz is a Space Ranger, complete with a laser beam, space helmet and a means to communicate between planets.  Buzz Lightyear becomes the new favorite toy of Andy.  He even makes sure his name is written on the bottom of Buzz Lightyear’s foot with permanent ink.

The Buzz Lightyear toy, while Andy is away, gets the impression that he himself is the real Buzz Lightyear, rather than a toy like the rest of the community.  After a series of mishaps he is brought to the reality that he is just a toy.  Buzz goes into a blue funk and no longer cares to even be a toy.

This is when the original leader of the toys, Woody, starts to show his stuff.  Woody truly cares about the toys and he also understands their purpose.  All the community of toys are “Andy’s Toys”.  They are there for Andy to play with.  Andy’s Toys are special, important and are loved by Andy.  Andy cares so much about his toys that he puts his name on each one.  Woody shows Buzz that both Woody and Buzz have the mark of Andy on their feet.  Woody shows Buzz that each toy is special not because of what they can do, but because they belong to Andy.  They are Andy’s Toys.”