Salim and Jamal Malik are slumdogs, little boys, ankle biters if you will, from the slums of Juhu in Mumbai, India. If you know anything about India at all, and the poverty, I need not say any more. You don't get much more underdog than this. These kids were born into wantonness and filth. They give 'lack' a new meaning to the Western world.

As I said, these are just little boys. Foes and filth lurk around every corner – no, that's not true, it doesn't lurk – it presents itself openly. Abuse and poverty run rampant through the veins of their city like a deadly virus through a body.

And as if filth and poverty aren't enough their mother is murdered. Then enters Latika – a little girl Jamal's age who captures his heart -who has lost her family, too. The three are homeless, hungry, misplaced children rummaging the garbage dumps when Maman 'rescues' them with sickly sweet words and lying lips, not to mention an ice cold refreshment; a temporary respite that promises relief when it is really opening the gateway to hell. Not all that glitters is gold.

No, Maman is no saint ladies and gentleman. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing, a ruthless child trafficker who even goes so far as to mutilate children so they will earn him more pity money as beggars on the streets. The boys escape him by the skin of their teeth. Latika, however, does not, thanks to Salim, who has an angry, heartless, dark side, which surfaces more and more throughout the film.

After years of fending for themselves, doing whatever it took to survive, Salim succumbs to the life of a criminal, but Jamal (though a lowly Chai Runner) is an eighteen year old, clean cut, well mannered young man who finds his way onto "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Winning a million bucks is never his goal; his goal is to find Latika as he hopes against all odds she is watching, and will somehow, someway, come to him.

Jamal is ridiculed by the host: apparently a most undeserving slumdog going for a million bucks was ludicrous and something deserving mockery. Others more scholarly had tried and failed; why would a slumdog succeed? But he was succeeding, because life's school of hard knocks had taught him well.

But then he was accused of cheating. Of course he was . . . . slumdogs don't ever win, right? Jamal was not only accused, he was arrested and tortured in an attempt to bleed a confession out of him, but he never confesses, simply because he did not cheat. He could prove his answers. And he did, one by one, during flashbacks of his childhood throughout the entire film. Every point of child hood pain was a future answer to his life; a key he needed to succeed.

And it breathes hopes into those of us who, too, are slumdogs by our own estimation, perhaps, or according to the opinions of others, perhaps, simply because of where we 'have come from': those of us who have been flooded with trials and tribulations and checkered pasts leading to epic failures yet still we hold fast to the promise that God will turn all things for the good, because he promised to.

In the end Salim surrenders to his conscience, and his love for his brother, and does a180 by releasing Latika, a sexual prisoner – who is watching the program by the way – so she can go to Jamal now on the verge of winning the entire jackpot. And he does, win the whole kit and caboodle, not to mention the girl.

The conclusion hosts a glorious end – love overcomes, the slumdogs are millionaires and all wrongs have been righted – unless you are bothered by Salim's death, which honestly I was because that's how I'm wired . . . . always rooting for the underdog to overcome . . . but I doubt it bothered most.

It is a terrific story of success against all odds with a perfect ending that, let's face it, doesn't always happen in real life quite that perfectly, not that it can't or won't if we refuse to give up.

***

"Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired."

Now, there are many things I could and would like to talk about but the most intriguing to me is the amount of fight and tenacity in this kid, Jamal. The faith and determination he possessed that he could . . and By George he would . . . pull himself out of the clutches of fate – according to the dictation of his past - and press on towards the goal of an honorable and profitable future is extremely admirable, if not downright infectious.

It isn't the mature Jamal that thrilled me the most but the child Jamal that displayed this raw, fervent, strong-willed spirit that captured my heart.

Jamal's relationship with Salim is one defined early on in the film when Salim traps Jamal in a less than modern outhouse – the toilet a gaping hole above an open field, a cesspool of defecation collected below – so Jamal couldn't join Salim and the gathering multitude of adoring fans clamoring for Amitabh, a famous actor's, attention. The pit is deeper than Jamal is tall at seven years of age. We know because in order to escape his imprisonment he free falls into the cesspool and temporarily disappears beneath the surface.

But it was the only path to freedom, and this is one bird that refused to be caged because, yes, his feathers were just that bright.

To me Salim represents an evil spirit and although this theme doesn't hold true throughout the entire film it does fit into much of it. Salim traps his brother in this stinky 'hell hole', to keep him down: stifle him, control him, punish him, imprison him and break his spirit. Jealous and controlling spirits do that to a person. You know the whole Cain and Able thing. But, you see, Jamal wouldn't let forces of evil get control over him, and he was willing to do anything to acquire his heart's desire, even if it meant charging into the fray – the fray being 'poop galore' – the communities' excrement.

Jamal had his sights set on getting that famous autograph. He pushed his way through the crowd. "Move! Get out of my way!" He is covered in poop, and his stench is unbearable as he passes through the crowd. His very touch leaves remnants of the foul substance as a reminder that he has passed this way. Some turn their nose in disgust but Jamal, undaunted by the crowd, is heading towards the prize, too swift for the authorities that would hold him back, too determined to give up, too hungry not to obtain his goal. He by no means shies away from judgmental looks or words of ridicule, and he gives no thought at all to what Amitabh may even think of him. Rejection is not on his radar. Childlike faith and tenacity pay off. Jamal certainly stands out in the crowd, and Amitabh gives him an autograph.

The kid is bold, and confident, and sure of what he hopes for . . . and he simply will not take no for an answer.

***

In the book of Mark, chapter 7, we read about a Greek woman who discovers Jesus' secret hiding place. She's a mother – a desperate, hurting mother – of a demon possessed child. She will not take 'No' for an answer. She throws herself, uninvited, at the feet of the Master begging him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

She doesn't belong there. She doesn't qualify. She's not one of the elite.

So Jesus kicks her to the curb and insults her. Verse 27 "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

Like Jamal who was considered a dog from the Juhu slums of Mumbai, this woman was also considered a dog as she was simply not of Jewish decent. In other words, she was from the wrong side of the tracks and undeserving.

But let's not misunderstand the scriptures. Jesus isn't truly insulting the woman, and he's not really kicking her to the curb, nor does he consider her a dog, but he is playfully bantering with her as he is so completely moved by her boldness, and her faith. Jesus is reveling in the moment where faith, love and tenacity all collide. This mother didn't care if she had the stench of a slumdog, she knew who she was, what she wanted, what she needed, and nothing would stand in her way. So she bantered back, for all it was worth, and Jesus rewarded her. The girl was healed of the demon.

In the book of Luke, chapter 8, we read about another woman with the issue of blood – an outcast, unclean – who pushed her way through the crowd and did the unthinkable; touched the border of Jesus' garment. Outcasts were not allowed in the city gates much less allowed to touch anyone, so this was not a perceived risk on her part, but a very real threat – she could be stoned to death. But when she touched him Jesus 'felt' her faith – "I perceive that virtue has gone out of me," he said – verse 46, and he was so moved by her touch that he stopped what he was doing, and healed her. Her faith made her stand out in the crowd that thronged for a touch from Jesus.

I could go on and on with equal examples. Time and time again we see in scripture that Jesus isn't concerned with who we are, where we come from, what ails us, embarrasses us, or how filthy we are or what anyone else has to say about us.

Heck, Jesus himself was from the 'armpit' of society: Nazareth, with a very racy lineage. In fact, listen to what one of his disciples, Nathanael, said when he was first introduced to Jesus. "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" John 1:46

Uh, yes, the savior of the world. Drrrrr.

***

All too often in my own life I have considered myself to be the scum of the earth; a slumdog, a nobody going nowhere leaving traces of, well, crap everywhere I went and everything I touched. I was trash. I was made from trash and would always be trash. I mean that's just how I perceived myself to be, plus I had evidence to back my theory up.

But God didn't care about my evidence, or my opinion of myself. What he cared about was ME, and what he admires is a spirit of tenacity that refuses to give up.

Yes, God honors boldness and determination to overcome. He himself invites us to come to His throne of grace in BOLDNESS expecting to receive grace and mercy from him. But we must be willing and determined to reach out and touch him in order to receive.