I have found myself going to Redbox more frequently over the past few weeks. One reason is that it is convenient, cheap in these tough economic times and becoming a great opportunity to people watch. This can be entertainment in itself. If you haven't done it, it is a great opportunity to view to social dynamics of entertainment decision making in the process. The engaging discussions, arguments, choices that are made, the debate over which movie to get and why. I have found the interactions between parents and children to be the most provocative. This past Saturday, I watched a family of five try to pick out one movie out of a possible fifty plus choices. Each kid chose a movie that was either rated R or PG-13 and the parents said little if anything. Each kid gave their justification for why their choice was the best, and each were on the verge of throwing a fit if they didn't get their way. What is a parent to do? They have the credit card and ultimately have the final decision on the matter. Whatever the parents choice, only one kid was going to be happy in the end. In this case, the parent made their own choice and disregarded their kids choices altogether. That's democracy for you!
Would you say something if you saw a parent pick a rated R movie for their family or would you turn the other way and say nothing? The parent in this case picked a rated R movie (horror) for her kids (all of whom were in elementary school). I do not know if she let the kids watch the movie, but I can only assume that she did so.
I remember having nightmares as a kid when I watch movies that were beyond my age level. Even today, I am very careful about the things that I fill my head with and do not watch rated R movies anymore. God calls us to have pure minds and pure hearts, otherwise we fill our lives with the garbage of the world.
The next time that you go to Redbox, ask yourself the question, "what am I filling my life with by watching this movie?" Here's another thing to think about the next time you watch a movie. Who is the Christlike character in the film? What is the films socially redeeming value? Who has the "saved" or repentance moment in the film?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Soaring
This week Kerstin found a passage in the book Deepening your Conversation with God: Learning to Love to Pray (by Ben Patterson) about praying for strength. I thought that I would share some of it with you.
"A week later Dan came home from college -- to wash clothes and eat, as usual -- and we were talking in the kitchen. Okay, I thought, now ask him what he would like prayer for.
I asked, and he answered, "You can pray that I will pray more."
I'm glad I wrote that down in my journal, for not only can I share it with readers, but I am encouraged to keep praying not to give up. That's how Jesus said to pray -- not give up. So often I feel like giving up. There's only one thing I can do when I feel that way: pray that I won't! That is, I must pray that I won't give up praying when I feel like giving up on praying. The very thing I feel week to do will be strengthened in the doing.
In fact, I think there is a kind of "aeronautics" to persistent prayer. Isaiah 41:31 declares, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles." I've watched eagles soar in the canyons of the Rocky Mountains. It's a beautiful sight to see them perched atop a cliff, then folding their wings to their sides, throwing themselves into the canyon and plummeting toward the bottom until at just the right moment they spread their wings and are shot back into heaven, gliding on thermal drafts that come up from the canyon floor. I have a friend who is a fighter pilot who told me that eagles have sensors in their nostrils that enable them to know not only the precise moment the thermals are ready, but also in their fall the precise moment they've reached the right speed to spread their wings and be thrust upward.
There is a lesson about persistent prayer -- abandon yourself to God's promises the way an eagle falls into a canyon. My tendency is to scramble up the rocks of life's canyons and just sit there and stew. But in persistent prayer, I can completely throw myself on God's mercy and pray until God acts and I am borne aloft on his power. In the meantime, I am coming to know him better and my strength is renewed."
Is there a place in your life where you feel like you are falling into a canyon and need to be lifted up? My prayer is that we will all be like eagles and soar with God's strength and power.
"A week later Dan came home from college -- to wash clothes and eat, as usual -- and we were talking in the kitchen. Okay, I thought, now ask him what he would like prayer for.
I asked, and he answered, "You can pray that I will pray more."
I'm glad I wrote that down in my journal, for not only can I share it with readers, but I am encouraged to keep praying not to give up. That's how Jesus said to pray -- not give up. So often I feel like giving up. There's only one thing I can do when I feel that way: pray that I won't! That is, I must pray that I won't give up praying when I feel like giving up on praying. The very thing I feel week to do will be strengthened in the doing.
In fact, I think there is a kind of "aeronautics" to persistent prayer. Isaiah 41:31 declares, "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles." I've watched eagles soar in the canyons of the Rocky Mountains. It's a beautiful sight to see them perched atop a cliff, then folding their wings to their sides, throwing themselves into the canyon and plummeting toward the bottom until at just the right moment they spread their wings and are shot back into heaven, gliding on thermal drafts that come up from the canyon floor. I have a friend who is a fighter pilot who told me that eagles have sensors in their nostrils that enable them to know not only the precise moment the thermals are ready, but also in their fall the precise moment they've reached the right speed to spread their wings and be thrust upward.
There is a lesson about persistent prayer -- abandon yourself to God's promises the way an eagle falls into a canyon. My tendency is to scramble up the rocks of life's canyons and just sit there and stew. But in persistent prayer, I can completely throw myself on God's mercy and pray until God acts and I am borne aloft on his power. In the meantime, I am coming to know him better and my strength is renewed."
Is there a place in your life where you feel like you are falling into a canyon and need to be lifted up? My prayer is that we will all be like eagles and soar with God's strength and power.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)