This guy is great. Enjoy!
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It’s the 4th of July. You have time on your hands, and a Transformer and Bionicle obsessed almost seven year old at your side. What do you do? On an impulse, you hustle down to the nearest theater to watch the new movie Transformers.
You, in fact, buy the last two tickets to the 1:30 showing. You give thanks that you find two seats together as the previews start. You then regret with every bone in your body telling the almost seven year old that the movie might be scary.
You then hope that after you have run your almost seven year old to the bathroom (better there than in your lap, you reason) that the two seats are still available.
On your way back to said seats, you firmly resist the pleas of the almost seven year old who is having second thoughts about a “scary” movie and now wants to leave the theater and go home. You have paid $12.50 for this privilege and you are going to watch the movie.
So, this is what this father did on the 4th of July. And I walked away from the film thinking, “That was a fun movie!” Late into the evening I was chuckling about this or that element of the movie. Yes, it is about ‘non-organic alien life forms’ battling each other for the fate of earth. It is by nature silly. But it is also about the nerdy guy getting the girl, and it is about the slickest car you have ever seen — a Herbie meets ‘Knight Rider’ kind of moment. I had a good time, enjoyed the movie, silliness and all, and came away with a little boy who thought I was one great dad. His favorite, in fact.
This morning, I read some comments about the movie that caught me off guard. A good father who was previewing the film before taking his five year old son said this:
“From the constant use of the ‘s-word’ to the non-stop horndog jokes, about masturbation, virginity, and sex in general, the loving shots of Megan Fox’s cleavage, and the way Michael Bay moves his camera around her midriff like she’s a shiny object that he wants us to long for, this film is wall-to-wall stuff I don’t want my son seeing.”
Oops. Yeah, I guess he’s right. That stuff is all there, mostly, though he exaggerates a bit. If I were a good father, I would have noticed these things and been concerned about them, I guess. But I accept them as life in this world, too easily perhaps.
So, maybe I should not have taken him. But the movie sure was fun. And this much I know: he did not leave the theater fantasizing about Megan Fox’s midsection or asking me about masturbation. He spent the next two hours reliving the battles between Optimus Prime and Megatron, recreating them in his mind and on our kitchen floor. That was fun… and worth the risk.
I know this is trite, but it is one of life’s mysteries.
I think they pump special chemicals into the air of grocery stores. How else can we explain the fact that a couple of bananas which look perfectly yellow, with even a hint of green, instantly develop brown spots and look aged when I take them out of the grocery bag at home.
Treated air. It’s the only explanation. Perhaps you have a better one?
This final quote is the hardest for me to take, for its discomforting blindness. And yet it opens a door into a struggle that few of us have to face. As an adoptive father this quote shocked me.
“It’s hard to convince others about the depth of it… I’d have an abortion any day of the week before I would ever have another adoption — or lose a kid in the woods, which is basically what it is. You know your child is out there somewhere, you just don’t know where.”
(From a book detailing the experiences of women dealing with unplanned pregnancies before Roe v. Wade, and is quoted from a review in the Atlantic Monthly.)
This is stark.
It does reveals the sense of great loss felt by those who place their children for adoption, a loss that good counseling can ameliorate.
It as well, of course, reveals the blindness of those who cannot see their unborn children as children. Would she really rather see her child dead than lost in the woods? I cannot comprehend that.
I have often said, and truly believe, that one of the unsung heroes in the issues of life and death today are the women, often very young, who bravely against cultural resistance and often severe family pressure, choose to give their babies life. We rarely come face to face with the pain felt by those who then, having given their children life, try to give them the best life they can by placing them for adoption. These women suffer greatly for the sake of their children. But they give them life.
The birth mother of our third adopted child struggled the most. What she said at placement, though, will forever motivate me. “I want to give to my child what I never had: a father.”
This second quote comes from a novel that I just finished reading, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (there’s a name for you!). In the novel, the action is intersected with reflections of the retired sheriff who figures in the action to some degree. He is looking back upon his life, and wondering how the world had changed over the years he had sought to protect the citizens of his Texas county. At one point in these ruminations on the decline of culture, he reflects upon being at a conference and sitting next to a highly opinionated woman. Here is his report of the conversation he had with her.
“She kept on, kept on. Finally told me, said: I dont like the way this country is headed. I want my granddaughter to be able to have an abortion. And I said well mam I dont think you got any worries about the way the country is headed. The way I see it goin I dont have much doubt but what she’ll be able to have an abortion. I’m goin to say that not only will she be able to have an abortion, she’ll be able to have you put to sleep. Which pretty much ended the conversation.”
Oh, the stark logic of it.
Over the next few days I’d like to share with you three quotes relative to the issue of abortion that I have picked up. The sources are diverse and the perspective may not be your own. However, they are reflective of how people really think, and so they are worth pondering.
The first came from the broadcast of a speech on ‘reproductive justice’ which I heard on WMNF, the local community radio station which blesses me with great music as well as with commentary that is generally of a persuasion the polar opposite of my own. Stimulating.
I cannot tell you who was speaking, but her words were so clear that I wrote the what she said easily word for word. Here was her comment:
“I am a Roe baby. I was literally born two days after Roe was announced. And I feel fortunate to have grown up in an era in which abortion was legal. This was a right denied my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
I appreciate that these are the sincere and deeply felt sentiments of a passionate person. But can she not see what she is saying? Had that ‘right’ been granted her mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother, would she even be alive to have these sentiments? She should feel fortunate — fortunate to have had the right to grow up!
That is a right that has been denied to millions since.
Very sad.
[Note: I was not able to listen to the rest of her speech. Perhaps she qualified her statements in the body of the speech. If so, I am prepared to be corrected.]
The other day, I ran into a Windows networking tech helping a flustered Windows user at our nearby Panera Bread. I wowed him by showing my Windows programs running seamlessly on my Mac desktop. He was so impressed he told me that if he had not just bought a Windows laptop that the MacBook would be his computer.
Okay, so I’m a better computer evangelist than gospel evangelist. That much I’ve known for a long time. (The guy he was helping did visit church last Sunday. That was a plus.)
But this led me to solidify an observation I was forming in my mind. For me, the computer, and certain technologies associated with it, contain a definite ‘wow’ factor. I love the feeling of seeing something new work. I am moved with wonder by human ingenuity and creativity.
There is nothing wrong with that. To stand in front of the Mona Lisa or the Brooklyn Bridge and not breathlessly utter a ‘wow’ is to not be responding properly. But do I reserve the ‘wow’ response solely for technology and the like? Do I have the same deep sense of wonder for the things of God?
Should not my reflection on the Gospel constantly stir my heart and mind to utter a breathless ‘wow’? It should.
Am I more thrilled with the accomplishments of Steve Jobs than those of Jesus Christ? Sometimes I think I do have things mixed up, and I need to repent.
No doubt, we are to experience wonder. We are programmed to respond with a ‘wow’ to amazing things. We are created to respond with wonder. I just want to make sure my sense of wonder rests upon the right and proper and worthy things.
David Pogue writes a technology column for the NY Times, and obviously has more fun in his job than people should be allowed to have. His blog is always informative.
This week in addition to posting his review of the iPhone, he has produced a short video on the experience of reviewing the iPhone. It is a riot. I’m not going to run out and buy one, but the video is worth watching Click HERE to go to the page, and then play the video on the right side of that page.
Below are some notes on some recent movies we’ve watched, some new, some old. We’ve not been to the actual theater all summer, though opportunity might be coming to do that soon. Nothing profound here, no deep theological/redemptive reflections. Just reactions.
This movie was quite good, really. A kids’ movie that stuck to a story line, was not too heavy handed with its bullying theme, and did not depend on jokes about bodily emissions to carry it along. Since it was based upon an honest and realistic book, it carried with it some heavy themes. Toward the end, even my six-year-old said that he had tears coming to his eyes. I looked down (he was sitting between my wife and me) and he was wiping his eyes with his shirt. Critics seemed to love it. The girl who starred in it did a good job. She has the cuteness factor going for her, but she seems to have a bit more in place as well.
I seem to have become fascinated with Ingmar Bergman, much to the chagrin of my wife. I just need to make sure I watch these on nights that I’ve NOT been up since 3:30 AM. This film is in Swedish, so I use the subtitles. Bergman is visually compelling. Images from the film remain with me. But I am more interested in theological struggle. One is made aware in this film that both the bad guys and the good guys are capable of evil. His main character cries out, for Bergman himself I imagine, “God, I don’t believe in you. I don’t understand you. I don’t understand why you let bad things happen. However, I still ask for your forgiveness.”
This film is ranked 31st on IMDB’s top 250 films (right between It’s a Wonderful Life and Fight Club. On the original AFI greatest movies of all time it is ranked 12th, right in front of The Bridge on the River Kwai. It has two lines quoted in the AFI greatest movie quotes list. So, it’s a biggie.
I just wish I could stay awake for a whole movie these days. This one was about a silent movie star who has lost her star appeal and is slowly going crazy. I admit the b & w camerawork was captivating, and the acting superb. But the movie did not really come out and grab me. However, when a work of art is this well received, I find the fault in my appreciation of it to be in me and not in the work. I need to see it again.
A romantic comedy that actually was funny, did not drag, was not overly offensive. In fact though sex is trivialized as is usual in Hollywood, in this movie it is seen as something that, apart from a deep commitment (which we would say only comes in marriage), cheapens a relationship. There is rich truth in that. So, I liked it. Interestingly, the screen writer, among her other credits, has two other romantic comedies: Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. This gal has her genre down. That, and she apparently likes writing lines for Meg Ryan.
Yes, I have eclectic tastes, and am drawn to old movies. In my queue are all three Die Hard movies. I don’t know why. What movie do you think I should see?
Back in March I made this simple commitment: “to add a post at least weekly between now and the end of May. At that point I will evaluate and make a decision about the future. Of course, some weeks there will be more.”
I’ve done that, mostly.
And I’ve had fun doing this, though at times, it has been a labor, as I knew it would be. There have been some distractions and added responsibilities which have made regularity and faithfulness a bit more difficult. But we have kept at it.
So, now what? Should I keep going? The end of May has come and gone. Is this worth the effort? Feel free to tell me what you think (but be kind).
This blog is for discipleship and conversation. How do I see that?
It is discipleship in that I believe my calling is to use whatever means I can to ‘put’ what I have learned ‘into’ others. Preaching is the primary aspect of that, of course, but if there are other channels that God can use, I am ready to take advantage of them.
And conversation? I enjoy seeing how others respond to ideas. I enjoy the interchange, and a blog allows for some of that. (And some of the interchange we have experienced here has been very helpful.)
So, should I keep going? I am encouraged to keep at this, at least until the end of 2007. But I would like to ask a favor of those who read this. If you think I am offering anything helpful at all, would you spread this around? This is not for my own glory, but for the glory of Christ and the strengthening of his church. If you believe this is worthwhile, let others know about this blog. Show them how to subscribe to the RSS feed. Encourage them to check in frequently.
In the meantime, I’ll try to be faithful, putting stuff up here two or three times/week as my schedule allows. I hope you find at least some of it helpful, or at least interesting.
Thanks!