Friday, while carrying some items down the steps to our basement (in my stocking feet) my foot slipped on the very first step and I fell all the way to the bottom of the landing … injuring (but not seriously) my right ankle, knee and hip.

Sunday morning in my office while sorting through a stack of articles I came across one that gave some advice on how to avoid household injuries.   To prevent falls down the steps in your home the article said to wear shoes instead of just socks.  Especially wear shoes with some tread on the soles.  I remember glancing at this article a few weeks back – but ignored the warning.  Walking with a limp today reminds me that I should have paid attention.

Whats it going to take for GOD to get our spiritual attention ?  A life threatening disease, illness or injury ?  Financial ruin ?  Job loss ?  A broken marriage ?  The death of a family member or loved one ?  What would truly get our attention ?

GOD gave us a light to show us HIS way.  Are we paying attention ?

John 3: 19-20-21 states …

“… Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light … everyone who does evil hates the light … But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light …”

The light of the world is JESUS … are you paying attention … have you stepped into the light ?

Christian Dads has rung in 2010 with a new site design. Please pardon our dust as there’s still a bunch of revisions going on. We’re not even close to the full launch. Consider this the beta launch.

Site contributors will be getting an email shortly explaining everything.

2010 don’t tell God how big your problems are. Tell your problems how big God is!

According to research the first Christmas tree came on the scene in the European country of Latvia in 1510.  That’s about 500 years ago.

From my perspective I believe the first Christmas tree arrived about 2,000 years ago.

You see the Bible often refers to the cross of Christ as a “tree”.  And it seems GOD hung the first ornament on that “tree” … and that ornament was JESUS Himself … a willing sacrifice.

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds we are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Although the story of JESUS as a man starts with a wooden manger … it doesn’t end with a wooden cross … and it doesn’t end with an empty grave either.  It ends when HE returns to claim His followers, defeats the devil and establish His everlasting Kingdom.

Maybe we should not take our tree down this year.  Instead leave it up … take off all the ornaments … find a small wooden cross … and hang it on our tree as a reminder of the greatest gift of all time.  The gift of JESUS.  (Romans 6:23)
Have a ”Content” New Year … IN Christ alone

Although few exist, you can still find public businesses who actually wish you a Merry Christmas and play Christmas carols.  I found such a place yesterday in Geneva, Illinois  … so I listened carefully to the lyrics while I waited in line.

Here is a snap shot of what I heard – - -

“Glooooooooooooooooooria in excelsis deo” …. means “glory to GOD in the highest“.

“Oh Come Oh Come Immanuel” …  “Immanuel” means “GOD with us“.

“Worship Christ the new-born King” … “Christ” means “anointed one“.

“Christ the Savior is born” … “Savior” means “one who saves or delivers“.

“Merry Christmas” is a nice greeting … but do folks really know how to have one … do I ?

In order to bring glory to GOD in the highest we must grasp the truth that GOD became one of us when HE sent His Son …  the anointed one … to save and deliver us from our sins.

What a gift we have in JESUS.

“… but the gift of GOD is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD. Romans 6:23

Sports movies are always going to be a hard thing to pull off. While we love sports, and we love sports stories, a movie about sports takes away probably the best part of sports–the unpredictability. In a film, the fate has been determined. Besides, in most sports stories, you know that the team usually wins–unless that’s not the point. If it’s a movie about a bunch of losers, they will end up winning the big game. If it’s a movie about people coming together, the team can lose the big game and it’s OK. In a film like “Remember the Titans”, you get both scenarios and it carefully balances two stories of a football team coming together, and race relations coming together in a volatile time in this country.

“Invictus” is similar in its approach. It takes place after the apartheid is over in South Africa, and Nelson Mandella (played by Morgan Freeman) has been elected president. Meanwhile, the other central character of the film, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), is the captain of a very bad national rugby team, known as The Springboks. Mandella attends a game, and watches them get brutally outplayed by England; the blacks in the crowd root for England, while the whites root for the Springboks. He notices that the strain of the culture is still very apparent, and he wants to do something about it. It so happens that South Africa will host the 1995 Rugby World Cup, so Mandella mandates to Francois that the Springboks must win the World Cup, in order to bring the country together.

The problem is, half the country abhors the Springboks and everything they stand for. There is a meeting by the Sports Board that wants to get rid of the Springboks name and colors (green & gold), as they represent the apartheid, and the Afrikaans. Mandella tells them to forgive, and that changing the name and colors only makes this about revenge and not forgiveness.

Mandella does not have a lot of support at first. His security is also blended with whites, to the dismay of the blacks who are protecting him. There is no question the film tries to display the intolerance in the country. Meanwhile, the Springboks have gotten a new coach who wants to train them harder, and the team doesn’t agree with these new practices, and thinks that there’s too much pressure put on them. Francois wants them to rise to the occasion.

All of this is a great premise, and the film starts with a lot of promise. The problem, though, is that it never seems to come together. It does illustrate the tensions that the country still has with itself, and it even shows the rugby team improve as most sports movies will display as they get closer to the big game. But it just seems like Clint Eastwood, normally so well at developing characters and atmosphere, is just throwing things onto a canvas and hoping it all sticks. Some if it does, but not enough for it to resonate. I never felt a part of this film. I felt like an outsider, and that’s not how I felt when I watched “Remember the Titans”. I think I know why.

Mandella, in the film, as a character, has no real flaws. Denzel Washington’s character in “Remember the Titans” had things in his own life that provided challenges. Mandella doesn’t have full support, but no one necessarily opposes what he does. His doctor tells him to rest, but nothing really happens when he disobeys. Mandella was a great man at that time, but I’m sure he had his flaws. I think the movie shows him to be too much as a saint. And if he’s your main character, it just doesn’t work. The other central character, Francois, also has no visible flaws. And we don’t get enough “locker room” insight to watch the chemistry of this team grow, and watch them come together to become a greater team. That has to happen in a sports movie.

So that’s primarily the issue. The film doesn’t really have a focus. It does a good job with certain images of what post-apartheid life was like in South Africa. There’s also a very poignant scene in which Francois tours the prison that Mandella spent 27 years of his life in, and envisions Mandella in that cell, and working in the yard, while Mandella recites “Invictus” in his head. But overall, the film just misses and doesn’t bring it all together.

There are a few other issues I had. First, it’s the sport itself. I don’t really understand rugby. This is not a country that really embraces it as a major sport. The scenes displaying the game seem to capture what the game is–but I don’t really know what they’re doing. In that regard, it’s hard to follow whether you’re supposed to get really excited, or really tense. How does the point system work? Or the time? It seems to use a time scheme much like soccer (which I do follow) but the overtime rules went over my head. Also, I still don’t understand the scrum part of the game, and that becomes essential in the climax of the film. I was lost. I think the film could have done us a favor and give us a few scenes of strategy and play that showed exactly how the game worked, from soup to nuts (did I just use corporate speak?).

The other issue is smaller but it really bothered me. The music. Well, not so much the score–that was beautiful. It was the really cheesy songs that just took away from the drama. Usually that doesn’t bother me, but this was not background music. It was distracting, and I thought it just took me out of the mood of the film.

On the bright side, the performances by Freeman and Damon are exceptional. Damon pulls of a South African accent which is probably one of the more difficult ones to pull off. I give him credit for that. Freeman, as usual, is excellent as Mandella.

It’s a bit of a disappointment that this film didn’t hold together as well as I had hoped. Compared to “Remember the Titans”, I think that film just executed better because it stuck to a theme and stuck to its characters and showed them to be human beings as well as heroes. I can’t believe I’m giving more credit to a Disney movie than a Clint Eastwood film. I never thought that day would come. But I guess anything’s possible.

My rating:

Family value: Any child under the age of 13 may find this boring, or won’t know much about the apartheid. The film doesn’t really go into the history of it, and it may confuse them. There aren’t too many bad words and there’s no sex or any amount of violence to keep you from taking your kids. I don’t know how they’d react to the rugby, a sport that very few American kids can relate to as far as I know.

While watching a Thanksgiving football game I heard a commentator mention over and over again the unique “spirit” in a particular running back. He ran hard, could read his blockers, was able to cut on a dime, and kept his high-stepping knees driving forward with power when about to be tackled.

The commentator stated … “All running backs need this kind of special spirit.”

To be an effective representative of GOD you and I need a special spirit as well. And we cannot manufacture this spirit on our own … it must come from GOD alone and is offered through HIS SON alone.

Speaking through the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel, God says …
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you … I will put my Spirit in you … you will be my people and I will be your GOD … I will save you from all your uncleanness.” Ezekiel 36:26-29

And Jesus stated in Acts 1:8 of the New Testament …
“ … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you … ”

As a Christ proclaimer … do the people around you (and me) see GOD’s spirit ?

Saturday I officiated a funeral for a 74 year old man. During the order of service I introduced his son to give a brief eulogy. I stood off to the side partially listening but mostly thinking about the opening point of my message.

Suddenly and without warning the son giving the eulogy turns to me and says:
“Pastor would you lead us in The Lord’s Prayer?”
My mind was a blank … I had no idea … no clue. Not only could I not remember the Lord’s prayer, I could not remember the passage of scripture where it was found.
Feeling like an idiot … with all eyes on me and no where to hide … I simply admitted that I was a pastor with no clue. To my surprise the congregation responded with a forgiving chuckle … as if they had been to that blank and empty place before … so they started without me.

Later that day I re-examined The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6. Verse 10 is a request for God’s kingdom to come. However … if you are not truly on God’s path …
then you better be praying that HIS kingdom does NOT come.

The return of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible … and if you have yet to believe and receive the life changing Jesus who went to the cross for your sins and mine … then you are living an empty life of foolishness.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

Growing up I knew exactly what my parents expected from me. Although these expectations were made clear … often times they needed to be reinforced on my back-side.

As a high school, college and seminary student life was a little easier when precise curriculum guidelines were in place. Although these expectations were made clear … at times I failed to meet them.

As an average to below average high school and college athlete I experienced coaches who defined my strengths and weaknesses … and I usually appreciated their advice.

With all this said … How about GOD … What is GOD’s number one expectation ? At the end of my life and yours what counts is did we yield to GOD’s expectation ? GOD’s own Son … JESUS … made this expectation VERY clear. He said …
“I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again. … You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
John 3: 3 & 7

You and I cannot enter into the LORD’s Heavenly Kingdom on our own merits. It takes a new birth … a second birth.
We all celebrate our physical birth date … but when was your spiritual birth date ?
When did you make an intentional decision to believe and receive JESUS ?

You may neglect or ignore other expectations … and get along seemingly just fine … but don’t miss GOD’s expectation.

The Nobel Peace Prize appears to be centered around an outstanding person (or persons) making a significant contribution to world or international peace. A nobel gesture for sure, but one that Jesus himself probably would not receive if He were still in His earthly body today.

Scripture makes it clear that the Prince of Peace (Jesus) did not come to earth as a man to accomplish world peace among the nations. Instead Jesus instructed us that we would always face wars and rumors of wars until He returns to establish His Kingdom.
(Matthew 24:6-7)

The peace Christ came to give us … is the peace we can experience within the depths of our hearts. A peace beyond all understanding. A peace that insures salvation. A peace that conquers pain and suffering and even death. A peace that is free to us … yet paid for when Christ willingly suffered on the cross.
As life flies by … don’t miss this … claim this “peace prize” for yourself.

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts …” Colossians 3:15

This has to be one of the most well known children’s books of all time. Anyone who is anyone remembers this book being read to them by teachers, or their parents, when they were growing up. Alongside our various “Ramona” and “Berenstain Bears” books, was an old library copy of “Where the Wild Things Are”. I remember very little about the book, except the monsters.

The film, directed by Spike Jonze (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Being John Malkovich”), explores the book’s very thin idea about imagination, and creates a real world surrounding an imaginary one reminding me a bit of “The Neverending Story”. In fact, the beginnings of both movies were similar. A young boy with a big imagination is an outcast among his peers and comes from a broken family. In “The Neverending Story”, the character Bastian skips school and falls into the world of the book he’s reading. In “Where the Wild Things Are”, Max loses himself in a far-off island inhabited by big (and somewhat scary) monsters who are facing a crisis.

The film has an uneven feel to it at first because we’re not exactly sure what to like about Max. He’s obnoxious and likes to run around and scream a lot. But what exactly is his problem? Is it the fact that no one listens to him? Is it that he has no friends? We’re not even really sure if he does or not. But I guess we’re supposed to feel sorry for him. I’ll admit that I didn’t really, at first. When he first reaches the island with the monsters, they’re having problems with a monster named Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini); and, like Max, they’re not really sure what his problem is, either. But he’s throwing a temper tantrum, and Max joins in. Carol takes to Max, thinking maybe they understand each other–and Max convinces the monsters that he is a king. Carol makes him their king, and like in the book, they have a “rumpus”.

At this point in the film, I was really lost on what this was about. It seemed to have no direction. Because the screenplay didn’t flesh out Max’s character enough, we’re only left with a bunch of howling creatures and a howling boy set against a howling soundtrack.

But once the plot unfolds with bringing a conflict in, it does take shape and in the end, redeems itself. A character, KW, has two owl friends named Bob and Terry that for some reason Carol doesn’t like. What you don’t find out is why–but I believe that may be the point. Carol is just being selfish and while he wants everything to be the way it was–with everyone together–he refuses to change himself or be more open minded. In Max’s real life situation, he is exactly like Carol. He’s broken away from his family because he doesn’t want to adapt or accept change.

At least, that’s what I got out of it. The film’s major flaw is the directionlessness of the first two acts. It has moments of fun and laughter, but because it seems to have no purpose, it’s empty and hard to follow. I could see not only the children in the audience squirming, but the parents were just as clueless and impatient. The film finishes strong, however, and James Gandolfini’s fine performance as Carol saves the movie, in my mind. His intensity and sadness provide depth that allows you to feel something for him.

Overall, the film is a good one–but I’m not sure what kids will take away from it. If they’re not incredibly petrified by the monsters, they might be confused by what is going on during the movie and wondering why the monsters are depressed. But if they get the fact that the movie is about selfishness and why it’s important to open your mind and change with the situation, then the film has done its job.

I just think it could have been done a bit better.

My rating:

Family value: As I indicated, the monsters may scare younger children. There are some intense moments when we are first introduced to them. Again, kids may be confused by the plot so get ready for a lot of questions. I hope you can answer them. If not, just tell them to drink their soda and enjoy the movie anyway.