Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007 - (Page CER9) GOOD FAITH Country singer and longtime actor Randy Travis plays a character modeled somewhat after the biblical Job in ‘The Wager.’ The character is a good man who had everything he needed then lost it all, but stayed true to God despite his misfortunes. ACTING IN T BY DAN BENNETT he Wager will arrive on DVD Dec. 31 for national church release and be available for retail in Spring 2008 from Pure Flix Entertainment (DVD $19.95). The film stars Travis as Michael Steele, an actor long ignored in Hollywood because of his Christian beliefs. Steele eventually overcomes the obstacle and is nominated for an Oscar. When his success begins to unravel and threaten his reputation, marriage and career, he must rely on the strength of his faith to stay true to himself. Unlike the biblical Job, Travis went from having little to having much in his own life. His story of moving from juvenile delinquent to country-music superstar and all-around good guy is now widely documented. “When they approached me about this film, they asked me to imagine what Job went through and to try to imagine the sermon on the mountain,” Travis says. “What if everything was going just right in your life, then everything started falling to pieces? You try to imagine something like that and you understand again the meaning of your faith.” For Travis, faith involved a long road. A singer even as a child, Travis went through a rough adolescence, including fighting, alcohol, scrapes with the law and bad choices. “My teen years are proof that finding God can change lives,” says Travis, now 48. “I’m living proof that faith really does work. God was patient with me, but I was in my 20s before I allowed that knowledge to do me any good.” It was when Travis began to listen to his longtime manager and business partner Lib, the woman who would become his wife, that clarity arrived. “I’ve given testimony often in my life, and it always comes back to meeting my wife,” Travis says. “When I was younger, if someone had hit me on the head and told me, ‘This is the message of the gospel, accept it or be condemned,’ I would have told them to get away from me. But my wife had a church back- ground. She was a great influence, and I wanted to be like her.” Travis picked up a Bible one night and started to read. “I continued to read and started reading on a nightly basis,” he says. “From then on I had fewer angry outbursts. I began feeling more at peace.” It’s a feeling of serenity that has worked well for the now soft-spoken Travis. “I still have my moments, but now I don’t get in fights,” he says, laughing. “I mean, we all get mad and tired. But I have worked on that a lot. It used to be that if someone had words with me, and it continued, one of us was going to get a whipping. But I let things go now. If something goes wrong on stage, I don’t get mad anymore. I figure whether the audience is laughing with me, or at me, at least they are enjoying the show.” >> RANDY TRAVIS ON MOVIES “Faith-based films are making a lot of headway in Hollywood, and I am not surprised … people are hungry for this kind of entertainment.” NOVEMBER 2007 / CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW 9
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