I love every bit of the Heidelberg Catechism, mostly for its Christ-centered comfort. But when read carefully, the Catechism is also tremendously challenging.

No more so than in its explanation of the ninth commandment. We may think of if as a prohibition against lying, but the Catechism rightly sees it as much more. In fact, when I read Q/A 112 of the Heidelberg Catechism I count nine things we are to do in obedience to the ninth commandment.

1. God’s will is that I never give false testimony against anyone.

2. I twist no one’s words.

3. I do not gossip or slander.

4. I do not join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause.

5. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind; these are devices the devil himself uses, and they would call down on me God’s intense anger.

6. I should love the truth.

7. I should speak the truth candidly.

There’s a bizarre, surreal twist at the end of The Identical, right at the climax. For now, I’ll just say this: If you’re into Odd Dwarf Characters Who Appear at the Most Unexpected Moments, then this is the movie for you.Otherwise, there’s one — and only one — reason to see the new faith-based movie The Identical, and that’s for the music. For that matter, you could just skip the theater altogether and listen to the soundtrack instead. (I’m listening to song clips as I write this review. “You Gotta Get Up,” “Burnin’ Rubber” and “Bee Boppin’ Baby” are especially good.)

Newcomer Blake Rayne plays both protagonists, the literally separated-at-birth identical twins Ryan Wade and Drexel Hemsley (more on their different last names in a moment). Rayne already had a career as an Elvis impersonator when approached for this role. Musically, that was a smart move; the scenes in which Rayne sings are by far the film’s best moments. If you like 1950s boogie-woogie rock and/or Elvis, you’ll like the music in The Identical.

But if you like good acting, well, Rayne’s not your guy. The rest of the cast includes some decent talent — like Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, and Joe Pantoliano — which only further accentuates Rayne’s limitations. But the movie has other problems, too.

First, a reasonably promising premise is never fully explored. A poor young couple, William and Helen Hemsley, has twin boys during the Great Depression and decides they can afford to care for only one of them. When they hear that Rev. Reece Wade (Liotta) and his wife Louise (Judd) are unable to have children, you can guess what happens next.

Five years into my marriage, my wife met me at the door with her bags packed.

I should have seen it coming. I had packed my life with jobs and positions and commitments out of my deep-seated need to be needed. I was too busy, and the gentle, calm woman I’d married five years prior had decided she would rather be single than be married and do life all alone.

“Pam,” I said, my voice low and my words slow, “if you will stay here tonight—if you will agree not to leave tonight—I will walk in tomorrow and resign.” The red rims around her eyes told me she’d been crying all afternoon. “No, you won’t,” she challenged. “You won’t.” I asked for 24 hours, to prove that I’d make good on my plan. And by that time the following day, I had resigned every last role.

That was one of the first times I realized I have a problem: I’m addicted to being busy.

And it’s not just me. Every problem I see, in every person I know, ultimately is a problem of moving too fast for too long in too many aspects of life. Every problem. And I’m a pastor, so I see a lot of problems.

We think if we can keep going, keep busy, keep plowing ahead, our conscience won’t have time to catch us because—ha, ha!—we’ll already be long gone. And the reality is this approach actually works. But only for a time. “Life is like the breath,” writes Brother David Steindl-Rast. “We must be able to live in an easy rhythm between give and take. If we cannot learn to live and breathe in this rhythm, we will place ourselves in grave danger.” Maybe even the literal grave.

Because it’s easy for me to chase after the tempting buzz of busy living, I’ve learned to recognize the signs that my addiction has kicked in again. If you lean toward over-scheduled and under-rested, consider these danger signs of a busyness addiction: