St. Francis

Francis: A Biography of the Saint of Assisi, Michael De La Bedoyere,

The distinction between a legal possession and an attachment due to love in one's heart may seem academic, but in this instance it helps to remind us that it was never through lack of a deep human attachment to the men and places he loved that he set himself to go through life possessing nothing of the things in which he so much delighted. (98)

Exodus 8
Exodus 9

"Become a Better Bible Reader"

Discovered this pink blog, I have a question..., whilst surfing. Excellent content. For example, this post entitled, Apologia on Reading the Bible. Contains a helpful .pdf link and these five suggestions for becoming a better bible reader:

1) Read the Bible more
2) Read great literature (prose and poetry)
3) Read books on reading
4) Listen to classical music (I don't really do this one)
5) Read the Bible more

Brick

I had to remove Brick from my favorite movies of 2007 list, because, uh, it was made in 2005. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a great movie.

In a nutshell, it's boiler-plate detective fiction set in a modern high school. That may sound like a quirky, unwieldy mix, but it works. The fast paced dialogue, filled with flat-foot jargon, sounds natural coming from today's energized, over-confident teen. All the players are there too: the rough, the kingpin, the dame, the damsel-in-distress, the geeky sidekick, the barely-permissive authority figure, the scuzzy low life informant.

In addition, there was little profanity, and almost no sexuality. The violence was rare, but intimate and harsh. This was a pleasant surprise. Any movie set in high school today seems to wallow in adult's projected vice. Not so Brick.

It was a recipe for disaster that turned out quite nicely. I hope someone remembered to write down the recipe.

Official Site
IMDB

Invincible

As my 2007 favorite movie list slowly evolves, I'd like to fill in the gaps with reviews. Here I'll take the current front-runner: Invincible.

Note, first, that my list does not claim to be an actual "best of" list, such as an Oscar selection list might try to be. Nor is my list intended to represent those movies that should be accessible and enjoyable to all. Hardly. These movies appeal to me. They demonstrate my tastes and my idiosyncrasies (few though they be).

Which things being true, one might wonder why a football movie appears first. I've played football, organized, unorganized, or disorganized, two times in my life. I may have run around during a football game as an unwitting participant, but I'm only counting the times I touched the ball.

But this is no ordinary football movie. The story of Vince Papale, played with ferocity and depth by Mark Wahlberg, inspires, obviously, and also hits close to home. The hard-up Philly setting looks and feels a lot like our own area. The characters are mill working men. They are not entirely admirable. They are not overly complex. They set their hope in football.

And the story is not all that Christocentric. Not really at all. Papale may be a type of Christ, who succeeds through suffering; or a type of early apostolic servant-leader, throwing his body before special teams. Bah. He's fun to watch. He's passionate. He's anxious. He's tough, perseverant, faithful (in a loose sense). He's humble. He's bold. He's authentic. He hits hard and runs fast.

And the sound track is sweet. I should pick it up. It really is really, really good (I know you shouldn't use really that much).

Final thoughts? This movie should not be number one, but it is, 'cause it's my list and, hey, I like these Rocky styled movies that stress qualities like faithfulness, perseverance, humility, suffering, and pluck.

Official Site
Apple Trailer
Amazon
IMDB
Kids In Mind
PluggedInOnline
The Soundtrack

Daily Devotions

I know I've posted this before, but I've been working to write a brief devotional each day for some people in our church. They receive it via email. I've been blessed in these reflections, and so would like to share them with you all. If you "subscribe", then you'll receive them automatically in your reader as soon as they're posted. Not that you need more to read, I know, but...

Read a few and see if you'd like to get them. You can also email me (right sidebar) and ask to be included in the daily (would you believe semi-weekly?) email.

Exodus 5
Exodus 6
Exodus 7

"A Conversation at the Grown Up Table..."

This post from Mark O made me laugh. I hated sitting at the kiddie table.

The Guardian

Who knew? First, Will Ferrell surprises me by 1) keeping his pants mostly on, and 2) turning in a stunning performance in Stranger than Fiction. Then, perpetual college boy Ashton Kutcher didn't ruin The Guardian.
In fact, The Guardian gave Invincible a run for the number one in 2007 slot. Underneath the whole story about Coast Guard rescue swimmers flows this myth: the fisher of men, who holds the hopeless when their strength is gone and pulls them toward the light. The theme says it well: "So that others may live." Remarkable. Then, atop that unusual base layer we add excellent acting performances (Costner, Kutcher, et al.), an emotionally believable and compelling story line, and stunning cinematography. Result? A very, very good film, of which you've probably not heard much.
Two thumbs way up (those are David's and Jenecia's thumbs).

Official site
The Guardian at Amazon
IMDB
Kids in Mind
PluggedInOnline

All The King's Men

"This time came from that time, you know."
-Jude Law's character, All the King's Men

Velvet Elvis

"You rarely defend the things you love. You enjoy them and tell others about them and invite others to enjoy them with you." (027.8)

What a great outlook. And tone. Joy, the noun, and Enjoy, the verb, dominate the culture, the feel, the ethos of Rob Bell's own Velvet Elvis.

Similarly, he says, "this pursuit of Jesus is leading us backward as much as forward" (014.6). By that he means, the best answers for today come from way-way long ago. So he dips into a lot of Judaistic first-century background to extract truth before he applies it.

You could find more in depth critiques of Velvet Elvis elsewhere (I commend Ben Witherington's fair and positive review). It is a book amidst a series of books that church men and women need to read. We need to revisit the essence of Christianity, Jesus, before we do any more stupid stuff. Stupid stuff like not trying new things, not embracing failure as a primary witness, not creating damn-what-comes. Stupid stuff like sitting still, thinking CCM is contemporary (these are my own diatribes, not Rob's).

In fact, as controversial as Rob may be, his book is surprisingly gentle. As noted above, he's not fighting (*ahh* what a relief), he's sharing what he loves. And he reminds me that I too love what He loves, Jesus, while he's at it. Thanks, Rob.

Rob (interview at Belief.Net)
Mars Hill (his church)
Pick up a Velvet Elvis
Pick up a copy of the book Velvet Elvis
Google Excerpt

Links regarding children

The Public versus Private school debate gets reexamined at The Simple Dollar. (HT: Get Rich Slowly)
Internet Monk discusses Evangelical Anxiety regarding their kids. His eight warnings at the bottom of the post are excellent.

Frederick Buechner

I don't know much about Frederick Buechner, but from the sounds of it, he seems to have a good handle on the Normal Christian Life: self-described "part time author, Christian, pig." I should like to know this man's work better.
More:
access to an 18 minute interview with him
Wiki-Buechner

Disturbing Story

This story came across the wire today: Grandmother discovers infant's body under bed. Now, it's gruesome and horrific and one might want to go superficial and blame society, television, fast food, rap music, Conservative/Liberal agenda, or whatever. But scan with to the bottom of the article. We read:

The district attorney said Mrs. Troutman had been unaware that her daughter had given birth last week. (emphasis added)

That is, Mrs. Troutman, the mother of the 25 year old woman charged with murder. Is society messed up? Sure. Always has been. But this is where we can sniff for the cause. A girl was "messing around," went to term, had a baby, and her mom didn't even notice? Close relationship? No. Unbelievable. The daughter lacks moral discernment. Why? Her mom didn't even notice that she'd had a baby "last week."
As we consider how to best introduce Jesus to people, we should remember the primal importance of family. After all, the guy who literally went before Jesus described his work as "turning the hearts of the fathers back to their kids" (Luke 1:17; Mal4:6). Are we really loving people if we don't love the people they love? This disturbing story reminds us to pray and work for families to know Jesus together.

Best Movies 2007 (final)

My favorites:

1. Invincible (my review)
   
2. The Guardian (my review)
   
3. Stranger than Fiction (my review)
4. Music and Lyrics
   
5. Once
6. Dedication
7. Ocean's Thirteen
8. The Shooter
   
9. The Illusionist
10. 3:10 to Yuma

Honorable Mention:
The Gridiron Gang, The Prestige , Spiderman 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, All the King's Men, Casino Royale
All my movie reviews

Stranger Than Fiction

Will Ferrell just catapulted in my estimation of him. He went from "I won't watch any more of his movies" to "he was awesome!" He was really, really good. Or, perhaps better, he was a part of a really, really good movie.
Stranger Than Fiction was the best movie I've seen this year. Sweet, funny, disturbing, unnerving, edgy, strange, real, friendly, dark and good: this multi-chronicle of Harold Crick turns along familiar paths, but paths less traveled these days.
We post-moderns enjoy stories postmortem, after the fall, knowing the story is like ours, the hero like us. That is to say, not a hero, not an exciting story, here East of Eden. So for a story to come along that entertains but does not leave it at that and worse (as in the case of the All the King's Men remake), is a mild grace to us. Grace? Sure everything feels lost. We, like Mr. Crick, know we're going to die. "But God...", or, in this case, but Emma Thompson. Hmmm. Most unusual.
And so I commend this film to my adult friends. Manage your expectations well and you'll have a wonderful experience, leaving, if only for a moment, our dark woods.

Don't Waste Your Life

In whatever fashion you can access (I use iTunes), get, watch, and use the "Don't Waste Your Life" podcast videos from Desiring God. (try this)