One Night With the King

Although I don't have much time, I'd like to say that this was one Biblically based movie that pleasantly surprised me. Relatively few of the details given by the Bible were changed. While additional fiction was added to fill in what the Bible doesn't say, it didn't significantly change the tone of the Biblical material. The book of Esther in the Bible doesn't mention the name of God or contain references to any other parts of Scripture, but the movie showed Esther and Mordecai praying to the Lord, references to several other Biblical narratives, and even a beautiful part where Mordecai reads from Isaiah. There was no foul language in the movie or off-color scenes. Even parts of the story from the Bible that could have been suggestive were down-played. The sets and costumes showed a magnificence that did as much justice as could be done to the extravagance of the story, and the acting wasn't bad, either. Surprisingly for a movie made by a secular company, it magnified the work of God and the faith of his people. Go see it, rent it when it comes out on video, or buy it (according to your preference), but it would be nice to support this type of movie with your cash so they can make more like it.

P.S. Plugged In Online (where I regularly go for movie reviews) highly praised it as well; however, their reviews can be spoilers since they are often so detailed.

okay,okay

I spent too much time reading other people's blogs today. Both of my breaks here at work were used up in this sometimes helpful, othertimes wasteful, practice.

Anyway, I read through some blogs of Christian guys my own age, some with whom I attended Bible college or with their wives. Most of the time I was encouraged to read of the work of God in the lives of these others and to see the expansion of good Christian families. Other times I was discouraged to read petty or belabored arguments and discussions that sound like Charlie Brown's teacher to me. "Bwah, bwah. Bwah bwah bwah bwah." Or more accurately, they sound like this, "I'm twenty-something years old with a four year degree from Bible college and/or still in seminary. Therefore, I'm qualified to criticise and malign all sorts of experienced and faithful pastors and teachers in this particularly pompous tone of voice."

Let's just say that humility is attractive and rare.

On that opinionated note we no longer wonder why I'm still single. :-)

New beginnings

I'm officially moving to this new blog site, since I've damaged my other one beyond repair, then I lost the email address of the help guy. It's a long story.

Gradually, I'll transfer over the archives from the old one, but they will be missing the interesting comments that they orginally generated. Anyway, sending out emails to let people know about the new blog caused people to email me that I haven't heard from in many months, weeks, or years. One positive blessing already! This new format is also much easier to use, which helps when you're as "computer accident prone" as I am.

Senior Moments

A few minutes ago, I was headed down the hall of the nursing home where I work. A very old gentleman was propelling himself in his wheelchair in the opposite direction. He rarely ventures from his room and even more rarely initiates conversations, so I was surprised when he stopped me.
"Do you have a minute?" he asked.
"Sure. How can I help you?"
He pointed to the back of his wheelchair. "I'm kind of worried about where I'm going to fill this thing up."
My response was a blank look.
"With gasoline. So it will go faster," he explained.
"You're in luck, Joe. It's not a gasoline powered wheelchair. Much cheaper," I responded.
"Oh, okay. That's good. Thanks." And he continued down the hall.
So now there's one guy not bothered by high gas prices.