Raging Bull

The story of Jake LaMotta. Jake seems to be obsessed with being the best boxer. He also becomes obsessed with Vicki, a young girl from his neighbourhood. Jake is married, though badly, and in spite of that he pursues Vicki, eventually marrying her. Even married, he remains obsessed. He must control her, he must know what she is doing, even when he’s not around. LaMotta follows these two obsessions through the movie.

Fittingly, he quotes from “On the Waterfront” in the closing moments, with a flat interpretation of Brando’s famous “I coulda been someone, I coulda been a contender” lines. This reminds us of the way LaMotta could have turned out if he had been willing to both work within the parameters of the boxing world, and also not thrown fights for his own personal gain.

I wasn’t sure when the movie was over what I was supposed to feel. There is never an attempt to make LaMotta likeable or honourable. Tough perhaps, but worthy of respect, no. I only felt bad that LaMotta turned out like he did, a washed up, almost was who is more famous for being depicted in this movie than for anything he actually accomplished in his life. Sadly, since this is based on his autobiography, (though some important details were changed for the movie) this is not just a movie but someone’s life. Perhaps that is what made it arrive on AFI’s top 100 list. As a work of fiction it wouldn’t work, as a biography, it makes it more dramatic.

This movie is way too gritty for my tastes. The language is over the top in its presentation of the 1940’s. Of course, the boxing world may have been that raw, but personally I felt the language made this movie painful to watch, not just gritty and honest.

This movie makes me now want to finish watching “On the Waterfront”. We own it, but the DVD has a flaw in it that makes it quit working about 2/3 of the way through. I want to see how that film plays out Brando’s comeback from a has-been boxer to life on the docks battling union corruption. That movie at least had some redemption available for the character.

Barrabas

I wrote this little monologue back a couple of years ago for a school Easter presentation. I don't know what made me think of Barrabas in the jail, its been a few years ago since I wrote it.

I was a good kid. I really was. Everyone thought I'd grow up to work in the temple. I was a really
good student too. Smart. That's the word everyone used. Teachers, parents, other kids. Smart.
Its good to be smart, but its hard too…

I remember when it changed though. I was in Grade 5 and Jonas moved to town. He was different. He always said stuff like, "I don't know why we have to keep doing this stuff. It hasn't worked for 600 years…"

I liked Jonas. He had a way with words that made people listen to him and I listened. I was getting tired of doing the right thing all the time. I wanted something exciting in my life. Jonas brought excitement. Sometimes we'd tip over market stalls just to hear the owners yell. Sometimes we'd scare people into thinking we had leprosy. Sometimes we'd just sit around and make up things to do, crazy things, things we'd never follow through on…

When we were all done school, Jonas and I decided we wanted out of our little town. We headed
north, far from the Roman headquarters. And we did what we wanted. Jonas had started to come up with his own ideas about the way people should be governed and it had nothing to do with Rome, priests, God…

We started out small in our law breaking, but then Jonas came up with his plan. The government was wasting money he said. He was going to take back what was stolen from him… I didn’t think that people would end up dead, though. I didn’t think this was where I was headed way back in Grade 5.

So far I’ve done a lot of blaming other people and my circumstances for why I’m here. I don’t want you to get me wrong. I’m guilty. I took a bunch of guys and got the job done. I knew it was illegal. I knew it was against everything I’d been taught and I did it anyway. That’s how I ended up in jail and how my story started to get out.

One day when I was sitting there, sitting there, like every other day in that damp wet filthy stone cell, I heard a noise like I’d never heard in my whole time in prison. There’d been crowds outside before, there was always something going on. This was different though. This was something huge. There was a lot of shouting. I wondered to myself if they’d finally taken Jonas, though he’d always sworn that they’d never take him alive. Suddenly I heard something that made my blood run cold. It was my name.

BARABBAS BARABBAS BARABBAS

Well now, what do they want with me? Then it happened again, louder than before and this time it brought a chill to me because immediately after the chant I heard the words I’d dreaded since my trial…

CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM

So it had come to this. My life which was so full of potential was now going to end like this. At the hands of the people I’d come to hate, for doing something that every civilized nation everywhere declared was wrong. I was going to die and I deserved it…

The next few minutes were the longest ones of my life. Shouting from the end of the long dark hallway, keys rattling, soldiers laughing, all added up to one sad funeral song to me. I didn’t know what to do. I stood to my feet knowing that I could do nothing now. Mercy had passed me by. As I had let it pass by for those now dead in my past…

Dragged from the cell, shoved to the ground, prodded with the blunt end of spears by soldiers too eager to use the sharp end. Led to the end of that long hallway, out into the cool night air, only to hear the last words I’d ever expected… “GET OUT OF HERE.”

Get out of here? I staggered, nearly falling. I turned to look at my tormenters. There had to be some cruel joke coming next. I slowly backed away. The soldiers didn’t even watch me go, they hurried away, back to the party or whatever was going on in the meeting place where the crowd was.

I was stunned, more stunned than the day I’d been arrested, more stunned than the day the Roman governor Pilate had pronounced me guilty.
“Get out of here”… the words echoed around me. How could this be?

Who is being crucified then? How could it be? Why was my name called out?
I had to find out.
I hurried up to the crowd, I didn’t care that I didn’t smell very good. I didn’t care that I was covered in dirt and cobwebs. I asked the first person I saw what was going on.

“Where have you been?” he asked. I didn’t answer, just waited for a response.
“It’s Jesus,” he said. He’s going to be killed. I guess the priests have had enough of his teachings.
“Why were they yelling, ‘Barabbas’, then?” I asked.
“We wanted Pilate to let Barabbas go free,” he replied. Pilate said, ‘Jesus or Barabbas goes free,’ and we chose Barabbas.”
“What? You let Barabbas go free? Why? What has this Jesus done wrong?”
“Um… I don’t really know…I think he’s really bad though… I really don’t know, I know the priests want him dead.”

I wandered away in shock. Someone else was dying when it should have been me.
Why? Why not me.
This man’s death was giving me life. I was determined to use it for something good.

Rear Window

In “Rear Window”, we have another matching of Jimmy Stewart with Alfred Hitchcock. They did four or five together. ( I just finished reading Jimmy Stewart’s biography last week and I don’t remember if there was a fifth one…Vertigo, Rope, Anatomy of a Murder, Rear Window and ? Someone feel free to remind me! Comments are always welcome.)

With Rear Window we have an interesting shooting style. The whole movie takes place through Stewart’s window, give or take a few clips when he goes out that same window at the end of the movie, or within his small apartment. Hitchcock gives an interview in the edition of the dvd we watched and he says that the idea was to basically look at Jimmy Stewart, then show what he is looking at, then shoot his reaction to that sight.

Without giving away plot details, the movie itself plays as a very modern tale. We’ve got people peering into the lives of others with very little intention of getting involved. One neighbour even cries out, in the middle of the movie, that the people living around their courtyard are not neighbours, because neighbours care about each other. It strikes me as having a lot to do with a tremendous book I read last summer called, “The Safest Place on Earth“, by Larry Crabb.(Larry Crabb wrote the book who’s title I borrowed for this blog.) In that book, Crabb describes our typical church life as being a bunch of people sitting so they can’t really interact with each other…at least he picks on that aspect of a traditional service as an example. From that position he says that we need to circle up, turn our chairs toward one another, find people who we can connect with and form spiritual bonds with each other. Risk, become vulnerable, be real, and enjoy other people’s humanness and God at work through them as well.

Suffice it to say, when Stewart and his friends in “Rear Window” attempt to interact, they do find real hurt, real pain, real humanness, and solve a crime in the mean time. When you do the same in your spiritual life, you find all of those things too, give or take the crime. You also find real joy, real community, real love, real honesty, real Christianity.

Funniest thing I've read in a while

Hand Soap bottle
Our bathroom

“Entice your senses with the aromatic blend of Jasmine and the delicately sweet, floral notes of Orange Blossom.
The creamy formula envelops your hands in a delightful bouquet while thoroughly cleansing your skin. Your hands are left feeling clean, soft and freshly scented.”

Great stuff. Which senses are we enticing when it is aromatic, because it seems there is more than one. Since smell and taste go together, I guess its taste!
Why are the words Jasmine and Orange Blossom capitalized? Are they song titles? People? Townships?

Why would I be “enticed” to buy soap that is delicately sweet, more than soap that is just orange- blossom scented?

Who talks about “floral notes”, let alone cares to be thinking about them when reading the back of a soap dispenser?

Who reads the back of a soap dispenser?

Notice that it is not the creamy soap, but the formula, which happens to be creamy, that envelops your hands.

This is what happens when you let the same person who writes for Hallmark write for your soap dispenser labels. “aromatic”, “entice”, “delicately sweet floral notes”, “creamy formula envelops”, “delightful bouquet”, “freshly scented”.

Notice that your hands feel - not smell, but feel freshly scented.

Why is it written like this? Is this a rarity? Is there more of this stuff out there?

And now a word from my friend Derri

Here's a clip from my friend Derri of The Lost Dogs and the choir (capitals omitted on purpose).

The funniest thing I’ve read recently...

Grocery store parking lot, Ottawa:

“We regret, but we are not responsible for damage or loss suffered to your vehicle while parked in this lot.”

Really? You regret it? Then you won’t mind making restitution for the damage caused. You don’t regret it, you are glad you’re not. You went to your lawyer to make sure you weren’t before you put up the sign.

Is this not symptomatic of the way we live? We politely avoid responsibility. We attempt to maintain a modicum of humility while at the same time we want to avoid blame. Without doubt, this is as human- as like me- as you can get.

Vertigo

First off, its the movie, not the disease...

At first, I couldn’t understand why this movie was on the top 100 list, especially since it made number 9 on the updated, 2007 list. Of course, this is Alfred Hitchcock so it is definitely a psychological thriller, but the strange behaviour of Madeline definitely made this a classic. The title even, "Vertigo", is barely central to the plot, then suddenly it appears. The nature of mental illness and love and acute melancholia and a guilty conscience are at the heart of this amazingly gripping movie. The deeper in you go, the more it makes you say, “What is going on?” Then you remember that it is Alfred Hitchcock and you wonder why you didn’t see it coming.

It is said that a majority of people in mental institutes are in because of guilt. Without fully thinking that thought through as it applies to this movie, I believe this is related. I’ve only seen a couple of other Hitchcock movies, but in those the plots were similar to each other. In “The Birds”, “Psycho”, and “North by Northwest”, the plot revolves around a strange occurrence which seems plausible, but involved something stalking someone else. In Vertigo, the scenario seems implausible, but you soon believe that it is real.

After a while, as the facets of the diamond are polished up, the reality appears, this is a great movie!

The most startling thing about this movie is the way that Scotty begins to obsess over his lost love and works to replace her by dressing up a passer-by to look like her. You feel a queasiness, being fully aware that this man is not well. What is even more shocking than his requests of his new love is that, though she knows it is not healthy, and that he is pursuing a love from the past, she goes along with it to be with him. She plays a character and falls for him, while he falls for the character, not her.

So what do we do with this? “It’s just a movie,” we say, and trudge on. I wonder though. Do I expect my wife to turn into what I want her to be? Do I love her for who she is? Can we say we truly love if we want them to change? As years go by in any relationship, new secret rooms are opened up to us, either revealed or discovered. How we handle these revelations speaks loudly to the depth and commitment of our love. Will we grow and continue to love or will we expect things to change in our partner?

Back to School!

Maybe back to blogging too? I've been putting stuff down all summer, but dial up internet does not make it too fun. I know, cut and paste, but anyway... maybe now I'll get at it. Thanks for still checking in!

The Godfather

So we finally watched The Godfather a couple of nights ago. What a fun, great movie... well, disturbing might be another word to add to that description, but we both really enjoyed it.
Probably the acting was what made it so good. That and feeling like I knew the culture slightly.
What really struck me was how like the church this could be. People can look after one another. Don't say anything about your family, family comes first. Look out for one another. Don't be surprised when you are asked for a favour. Respect and expect respect.
Of course there is also fear, murder and unfaithfulness, and, though I've just finished reading "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown about 20 minutes ago, that should not be what the church looks like and I know it, so don't shoot me... Wait, maybe a bad use of the language there. At any rate, I'd say if your tolerance for blood and gangster movies is pretty good (remember this movie was made in 1972, a pretty strong point in American film making, but a gritty time too), then you should love this movie. I know its alway number one or two on most "Best of" lists, its number three on ours down this page somewhere. Not too bloody, language is pretty good, all in all a great classic

Just to let you know

I'm still alive. We currently don't have internet at home, new computer doesn't come with a modem, apparently! (Everyone must have high speed???) Anyway. School's out, summer's in. Having a great time.

Happy Birthday!

It is my dear wife's birthday today. She'll never tell you how old she is, but let's just say, she's around 25!

I love you, dear!

I hope you have an awesome day. Congratulations on arriving at this esteemed age!

Whether tis better...?

Win or participate?

As a Christian school we often debate about what is the Christian view on sport. Is it cowardly to try to be inclusive and let all play, winning being a possible side line?

As a coach, is it okay to try to win?

What about the kids?

What about those who compete to win and are held back by those less dedicated or skilled? Is it fair to them to learn to lose, so that others will learn to compete, to be team members, to have fun?

If the Christian school teaches our students to lose, who will teach them to win? There are lots who will be willing to take on people who just want to win. Politics, terrorists, Al Davis...

How do you win with class? We can all paint on a smile, clap appropriately, say nice things, like, "Good effort", or "Nice try," but who teaches us to win with class, if all we ever do is lose?

Is it about competing, then? Just compete and see what happens? We obviously can't do anything about another team better prepared or better skilled. Do we just do our best then? Is it okay to add strategy that only leads to winning then(Intentional walks, traps, delay of game tactics, taking a knee)? If it is just about competing, then some of these things would have to be eliminated. Is there any point in talking strategy, making plays, practicing our own skills, if its just about participation?

Should winning be a goal? If we don't try to win, are we cheating our students out of the joy of seeing hard work pay off with favourable results? How do we demonstrate to our students that its okay to want to win, that its okay to feel bad when we don't, that sometimes we fail because others fail, that sometimes we succeed through no skill of our own? Sports. There are so many lessons.

As a coach, sometimes I feel pressure to win. Our school tries to focus on fewer sports in order to see better results (read that as win) in those areas. We even won two tournaments this year. A first since I've been at this school. That puts pressure on me to have them succeed. Often I feel like my lack of experience or know-how may lead to less favourable results than I would like. Should I feel that pressure? Should I be getting myself better skilled, paying big bucks and getting certified so that we can be even more successful?

I wonder if Christians have lost their desire to succeed. Are we content with being beaten? With coming last, but being nice about it? We start our own leagues and labels and movie companies, etc, but why? So we don't have to compete with bigger dollars, more creative, less scrupulous people? How do I teach my students to rise above if I don't want to myself??

Shaaaaaaaaaark!

JAWS
(see #48 below)

Does this movie ring true? I’m not talking about giant sharks eating whole fishing boats. I’m talking human decisions. I thought the giant mechanical sharks were quite believable except for one moment when the thing jumps on the boat. Otherwise it was really terrific for 1975.

The issue for me is more about whether the actions of the characters are true. Would a politician and a physician intentionally stand silent? Would a police officer allow themselves to be quieted into no action? Would a parent let their child go to swimming knowing what they know?

I found that all in all, the politician’s stance was believable. His job was at stake. If the beaches were empty, then his job would be gone. He could easily convince himself that there was no shark, or that it was a freak, once in a lifetime event.

As far as the medical examiner was concerned, I didn’t see how he could be silenced into changing his report, and the movie doesn’t even try to convince us. He just does, it’s implied that there is intimidation or something, but we’re never really let in on it.

The policeman I found the hardest to believe of all. He has so little to lose, especially as a parent. Why he allows the events to be worked out the way they do is bizarre. I appreciate his efforts to bring down the shark later, but even then, his aversion to water is ignored and he just heads out to sea.

Why does this movie stand up so well as a classic then? I guess it’s the music. Duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh. I mean you still hear that familiar theme today to imply impending disaster. I think the randomness of the attack is fairly well designed too. With so many potential victims, except for the boat captain, you can’t really anticipate who is going to be next. I also think the first time you see the unbelievable shark glide by underwater you realize that it is a bigger problem being faced than you ever expected.

Fun movie, I suppose. I think I still prefer "The Birds".

The American Film Institute top 100 list

Sabrina and I decided a couple of years back to see if we could round up and watch the top 100 movies as voted on by the American Film Institute(1997 list). Oh, American films only on the list... Its a great list. We're avoiding a few of them, well, Sabrina is avoiding them, but since we have to see them together...our rules, (individually we've seen some of these not checked off, but we want to see them together.) After watching the first 20 or so, I decided that I wanted to make something of it, not just sit through them, so that's where some of these blogs come from and hence, why I'm suddenly writing about a thirty or eighty year old movie.

update...now we've seen 41/100 as of July 1, 2008
another update, I think we're at 49 as of August 20th
1.CITIZEN KANE (1941) √
2.CASABLANCA (1942) √
3.GODFATHER, THE (1972)√
4.GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) √
5.LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) √
6.WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939) √
7.GRADUATE, THE (1967)
8.ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9.SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10.SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) √
11.IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) √
12.SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) √
13.BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957)
14.SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15.STAR WARS (1977) √
16.ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) √
17.AFRICAN QUEEN, THE (1951) √
18.PSYCHO (1960)
19.CHINATOWN (1974) √
20.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)√
21.GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940) √
22.2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23.MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
24.RAGING BULL (1980)
25.E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) √
26.DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) √
27.BONNIE & CLYDE (1967)
28.APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) √
29.MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) √
30.TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31.ANNIE HALL (1977) √
32.GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)√
33.HIGH NOON (1952)
34.TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) √
35.IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36.MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37.BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946)
38.DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39.DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40.NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) √
41.WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42.REAR WINDOW (1954) √
43.KING KONG (1933) √
44.BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (1915)
45.STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951)
46.CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
47.TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48.JAWS (1975)√
49.SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937) √
50.BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51.PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE(1940) √
52.FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53.AMADEUS (1984) √
54.ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55.SOUND OF MUSIC, THE (1965) √
56.M*A*S*H(1970)
57.THIRD MAN, THE (1949)
58.FANTASIA (1940) √
59.REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) √
60.RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) √
61.VERTIGO (1958) √
62.TOOTSIE (1982)
63.STAGECOACH (1939)
64.CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE (1991)
66.NETWORK (1976)
67.MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962)
68.AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951) √
69.SHANE (1953)
70.FRENCH CONNECTION, THE (1971)
71.FORREST GUMP (1994) √
72.BEN-HUR (1959) √
73.WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939) √
74.GOLD RUSH, THE (1925)
75.DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76.CITY LIGHTS (1931) √
77.AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78.ROCKY (1976)
79.DEER HUNTER, THE (1978) √
80.WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
81.MODERN TIMES (1936)
82.GIANT (1956)
83.PLATOON (1986)
84.FARGO (1996)
85.DUCK SOUP (1933)
86.MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87.FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88.EASY RIDER (1969)
89.PATTON (1970) √
90.JAZZ SINGER, THE (1927)
91.MY FAIR LADY (1964) √
92.PLACE IN THE SUN, A(1951)
93.APARTMENT, THE (1960)
94.GOODFELLAS (1990) √
95.PULP FICTION (1994)
96.SEARCHERS, THE (1956) √
97.BRINGING UP BABY (1938) √
98.UNFORGIVEN (1992) √
99.GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967) √
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

Annie Hall says WHAT???

First off, I know this review is 30 years late. Sadly however, the movie is still relevant to today’s pop culture. What we have here is basically a view of the world that says love is good, but how we go about it doesn’t necessarily have goodness to it. Woody Allen, a name that today means “laughingstock”, at the time meant “relevant”. No body is laughing at the message of Annie Hall, even though the delivery may have been humourous. This is black comedy though. Laughing because it hurts, its better than crying perhaps…

What seems to be missing in this movie is the Midwest. New York is portrayed as hard working, serious, sad even. California is portrayed as partying, laid back and foolish. Into these two settings we have our main characters trying to establish their relationship. The only real mention of any middle ground is to mock Annie’s Wisconsin upbringing, that things neat and peachy are outdated. From this we get the idea that ideal relationships, happy endings, and improving conditions between spouses and lovers is not really something modern Americans should think is possible. Either live morosely, expecting the worst, or live uncaringly with whatever the outcome is.

I want something more. I’m living something more. Is there foolishness and sadness? Yes. But is there hope and progress and joy and real love? Absolutely. Annie Hall, there is a better way.

Entitlement

I actually had a parent tell me a few days ago that their child was entitled to a party. Two times. They compared it to having a birthday cake at a birthday party. “Who cares whether they’ll eat it or not, a party has a cake”. “My child will have a party.”

I wonder what that means to someone in Somalia watching their child die of starvation? I wonder if they feel like their child is entitled to a graduation party? I wonder if education is more important than the party? I had a different parent come to see me about that same time, for the first time all year. To discuss academic concerns? No, and there are a few things that could have been discussed. They came to discuss a party. I wonder why I struggle at times with getting students to take any learning process seriously at all? If graduation from school is more important than school itself, what kind of message am I fighting against when I try to get them to put out any effort.

Forgiveness part 2

This concludes my previous post of a few days ago...

With great regret, I can honestly say that at times I have found myself the offended and was unwilling to respond with forgiveness right away. We need to feel vindicated. We want to be heard, but even more we want others to know the depth of our pain. Forgiveness implies that we are leaving behind the weight of what we’ve been carrying based on that offence. We want to drop it. We don’t want the bitterness and anger and sadness and strain that that unforgiving spirit brings us.

Here are a couple of related thoughts. Is your complaint you are bringing about your brother worthy of having them removed from fellowship in the local church? Some may be saying “if its Mrs So-and-So, or old Mr Kadidlehopper, then yes, yes, yes! I’ve had to put up with their foolishness for 60 years.” Don’t forget that God’s had to put up with your foolishness for 70 years, or 26 or 53, or 36 and ¾ to the day, in my case!

Secondly, is refusing to fix something worthy of having yourself removed from the local church? I heard someone this week say, “if he was more thick-skinned he wouldn’t be complaining.” I thought that was an interesting thought. But it avoids the issue. This person was being accused of something, and they came up with fault for the other person to avoid that they had offended. Obviously developing thick skin is a valuable tool. But our job as offending party is to acknowledge our offence and make things right.

Is there ever a time when someone is too petty and hard to deal with, that no matter what there will be something wrong no matter what? Likely. Perhaps you’re saying, “Yes, it’s so and so over there!” Perhaps someone is saying it about you. The exceptions do not negate the rule. The exceptions make the rule even more important. By bringing private grievances before other witnesses, it allows the pettiness to be exposed.

How many times must I forgive? Until 70 times 7! Keeping track means you are not really forgiving. I mean, Jewish tradition said three times. Peter was stretching it to say 7. Jesus was saying, “If you’re keeping count, you’re not forgiving. Not the way God has forgiven you.” Here is where we come back to humility. Its not about me anymore, its about Christ. It’s about living life like Him. To truly follow Him in this area, we must forgive.

Forgiveness

We are currently internetless. This is very hard to do. I think it would be easier to go without a phone. Hopefully in the next few days we'll have dial up of some kind... oh, we've moved in case you didn't know. You'll have to check my good wife's blog, at some point I'm sure she'll have pictures up and such.

Anyway, I had to preach this Sunday, the following is where I was coming from, I'll post the rest later. Too much of a good thing...or bad thing, you know.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of forgiveness lately, I believe God allows us to deal with certain areas, think about and practice certain things for a season. Forgiveness has been it for the past couple of months.

One of the most celebrated movies of 1992 was called Unforgiven. I saw it for the first time about a month ago. In it the hero, played by Clint Eastwood faces the consequences of his past and is faced with his unpayable debt to society. He has killed and even though in the wild west, his past is excused, he is still marked a killer. He can not be forgiven and forgotten. Worse still for the character is that he can not forgive himself. He lives on with the guilt of who he has been and who he remains being.

Recently I heard that David Berkowitz, the notorious New York City Son of Sam murderer had given his life to Christ and one of his victim’s mothers had forgiven him. Stories like that are not extremely rare, but still refreshing and inspiring when you hear them.

I’ve also been inspired lately by the ease with which our boys utter the phrase, “I forgive you.” No hesitation, no grudges, no debating, or explaining how they’ve been hurt, just “I forgive you.” How does their father get to be like his sons?

A couple of weeks ago at the junior youth group we help lead in Kleinburg, we were watching a video clip from Rob Bell about forgiveness, and how you never know when you are having your last chance to make things right. One of my favourite song writers, Mark Heard put it this way, “Nobody gets the second chance, to be the friend they were meant to be.”

Personally, I’ve also been struggling with my own inability to forgive in a truly Christ-like manner. I find it so easy to expect forgiveness, its been easy to learn to say “I’m sorry,” or “I was wrong”. The struggle for me is not in those phrases, its in forgiving. In the phrase, “I forgive you.”

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Just a short quick note to let you know that I had a great day reminiscing about you today. Happy Birthday, hard to believe you're 97. You barely seem 80 to me. I hope someday I'm as gracious as you.

A pretty powerful video

We've been pretty busy... too busy to stop and think most days... moving and all. But I saw this video today and thought I'd add it. I used to really like Russ Taff and think that his story here is so honest and such a testimony to the power of a real Jesus to change lives today.

Proximity

I've noticed my lazy parenting skills recently. Its so easy to get frustrated with boys who are not behaving or heading toward potential problems from across the room. Next thing I know I'm raising my voice or getting one of them in trouble when I know that I could have prevented things by being near. I know this because when I stand up or begin to move in their direction, suddenly misbehaviours cease! Does my moving toward them indicate vengeance or punishment, not necessarily. It should indicate a desire to direct, protect and guide.



So then I was thinking about God.



God reminds me in 2 Timothy 3:16 that scripture is useful for teaching, correcting, training, and rebuking.

God came near to me, not so that I would be afraid, not to impress me with how awesome and big He is, not to get me in trouble but to show me love.
Think of the curtain in the temple at Jesus' death. The Bible tells us that it was ripped in two from top to bottom. We now have access to God, to that holiest of all places. And yet, I was thinking in terms of God and His movement toward us. He stepped out. He drew near. He made Himself known to us. He got tired of yelling at us from across the room and came near to us.

Hebrews tells us, chapter 9 I believe, that Jesus entered that true holiest of all holy places by going directly to the throneroom of God. Not just the earthly, symbolic separation has been torn down, but the real separation has been removed also. We now have access by grace, to come boldly before our God and see Him for who He is. What a comfort that is.

Revelation 5 reminds us of that in visual form too. The Lamb, from the midst of the throne opens the book and reveals the book of life. God, Himself, opens the way for us, when we couldn't do it.

So, now that God has gotten up and made His way across the room to us, what are we going to do?

Choose an Identity

Those words, “choose an identity”, appear as you sign in to add comments to these blog postings. (Of course, you can always sign in anonymously and you are strongly encouraged to comment, just so I know who is checking this out!) Anyway, it got me thinking, again, about the internet and its anonymity.

Choose. You decide, who do you want to be? Do you like the real you? If not, be someone else. Does the rest of the world not understand you, be someone else. Be ornery, or nice. Be kind or spiteful. Be true or false. Be old, or young. Be male, or female. Be who you want to be, no one else knows… no one’s looking but God.

Of course, the anonymity also gives us the opportunity to say things and be misrepresented that we never would were we communicating face to face. The lack of accountability and the fact that the people who read what we write likely don’t know us, makes it easy to adopt a hard stance on an issue or with an individual. It also gives free reign to “free speech” advocates to abuse the intention of whoever came up with that term in the first place. Rather than speech seasoned with salt, we dump on the whole box.

Kierkegaard said, “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” And the man has a point. If we’d utilize the latter, the first would be less needed. Editing is a great option for email and posting on the internet. Asking a second opinion about a choice of words is not only a good idea, it’s wise. It took me a couple of years to realize that I was both allowing myself to get caught up emotionally in other people’s poor use of the internet and was baiting, or flaming in net terms, at times. Hopefully once we understand these things we can learn to get positive results out of the exchange of thoughts, ideas and opinions rather than anger and further polarizing that occurs at times.

2008 Washington Nationals

I wanted to post this before the season started, but I forgot, even though I typed it out at the end of last week. Now that the season is two games old and "we" are already 2-0, I don't want people thinking that any positivity in the following is based on those two wins. Of course, hope always springs eternal, and those of us who followed these fellas back when they were the Expos know not to give our hearts away to them so soon.

What I expect to see this year:
Surprising starting pitching.
Ryan Zimmerman is a year older and should be better.
Dmitri Young was good, but a healthy Nick Johnson is better. Plus trading Young should bring back some good player for the future.
The outfield is far better subtracting Ryan Church and adding Lastings Milledge.
The catching combination of Paul LoDuca and Johnny Estrada are way better than Schneider and Flores were last year.
The infield has lots of depth. The outfield has lots of potential, if not overpowering.
Of course pitching will be an issue this year, as for most teams. Depth wise, there just isn’t a lot there as far as stars or even potential stars. There should be serviceable guys to hold them in games, but won’t be too many days of shut outs and amazing stats at the end of the season. There seem to be good players on the horizon, as far as minor leaguers, but Nationals fans must be starting to feel like its time to start seeing the results of the rebuilding process. If we don’t, then its not rebuilding, it’s just fallen into ruins.

I expect 3rd place, likely 4th, but nearly a .500 team should be not just hoped for but expected.

Life Lessons from Unforgiven

Unforgiven was an Oscar winning movie when it came out 15 years ago or so. I finally saw it this weekend and found it quite thought provoking.

Among its issues were forgiveness (obviously), guns, duty and valour, law and the beauty of living in a world governed by it.

I don't like movies like this, in general, I mean, too much violence, too much senselessness, but... at the same time, there is a lot to be said for what is being presented here.

It was an interesting weekend, I sat in on a riding meeting for a certain political party. One of the issues raised was guns and the "right" to bare arms. To me it was as disturbing to hear the conversation go on (unargued, might I add) as it was to think of what would happen if they were wrong. I don't see the American system of gun ownership being particularly great, and yet here were people openly advocating that we go that way. Perhaps it is the joy of living in rural Ontario, as opposed to a little closer to Jane and Finch, (notorious gang hot spot in Toronto) as my school is.

The gun culture of Unforgiven makes a stark comparison. The only guy we see who is not carrying a weapon is often displayed as mercenary and weak. Those who carry guns though end up dead, all but two, and even then they claim to be either dead or dying.

Sanctity of human life was brought up at the political meeting. I sat wondering what that meant to them. Does that mean that human life is important, sacred even (whatever that means)? Or does it mean that God gives it and takes it on His terms? If its the last, I'm with them. Yet, at the same time, adopting a gun culture in which you're allowed to carry a concealed weapon or at least have one for self-defense does not extend the idea that human life is sacred. It simply says that my life is sacred, and the life of someone threatening me or my property is not. The idea that guns cure anything is pretty risky. I know guns don't kill people, people kill people. I know that the government has no right to ______ (fill in the blank yourself). Do we really know what we're asking for though?

Watch Unforgiven if you dare, and think carefully.

Feel free to comment below. I'd be interested in hearing a dissenting view.

The Ten Commandments

We watched The Ten Commandments over Easter. Apparently its the Easter movie, according to tv... and since culture takes their direction from tv... that's the law! Anyway.

If this is what Easter is about, then we miss the message. Easter is not about the law, about freedom from slavery, about Moses. It blows past that and goes so much deeper.

The movie itself is a loose adaptation of the Biblical account. It takes some necessary licence with the story, filling in dialogue and plot points for instance. But it also takes unnecessary turns as well. Its one thing to assume things and skip over things for the sake of time, another to say that something happens that didn't.

Now you can say, its a movie, who really cares what they did. Go ahead, I'll give you a second to actually say that... time's up. But. If movies are modern literature, then we must be very careful that we don't let our movies that tell Bible stories become our Bible. (See VeggieTales!) We must turn to the Word itself, see what it says, see how the movie varies from the written account and not the other way around.

And, since we're talking interpretation here. This movie presents as its central theme that the story of Moses is about people bowing to God's laws and not man's. That no one has the right to take away our freedom. Is this a modern reading? An American reading? A satanic influence? We have to be careful that we don't take minor life lessons that can be learned and make them the story. We have to read the Moses account and see what God is doing, not a humanity thing. God rescued his people from slavery. He presents the law to them so that they can have freedom from death. He offers freedom and life to all who trust and obey. Blood sacrifice was the only way to avoid death in Egypt, and a blood sacrifice is the only hope for me today. Praise God for Easter and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.