The Process Begins Again

Last night, Vagabond Pictures reached an important new milestone - the completion of the synopsis of our second film, "Dane". For those who aren't familiar with the process of writing a film, there are certain steps you follow before a film is complete. Each step reveals a little bit more about the project. After coming up with an idea (first step), a very basic beginning, middle and end are figured out (step two), and then the entire story is fleshed out from beginning to end in a very basic Good guy shoots Bad guy type format which is called the Synopsis (third step). At this point, the writers know the entire story from beginning to end. So now, if you were to ask me what it was about, I could tell you with much more confidence.

In house building terms, the synopsis would be the framing. It doesn't look anything like a house, but its the structure upon which everything relies. If the framing is screwed up, the house will fall down before its finished. So in terms of writing, the synopsis might just be the most important part.

The next step in "Dane" will be to take the synopsis and scene by scene flesh it out into a script. In the first draft of the script, we will give voice to the characters, describe their movements, and start to visualize the look of the film (locations, time of day, important props, etc...) And then in subsequent drafts of the script, we will simply refine the script until we have exactly the story we want.

Ironically, the completion of the script is only one third of the story creation process. The story gets further refined during the actual filming as Director, Actors, and Crew work to bring nuance and meaning to the words. And then the story gets its ultimate polish when it goes to Post Production and editing, sound, and music are added to make the film a real world that you can visit for the duration of the story. But no matter how much additional polishing that will be done to the story, at its core you will still find the structure created by the synopsis.

We've created the story... now begins the process of making the film.

(Oh, and did I mention we want to start filming in June... so, the next part might be a little rushed. ;)

The Line on the Horizon is Red Ink

Here is my fiscally sound economic strategy.

1) If I don't buy the latest U2 Album, I will save money.

2) However, since I know that if I go online to Itunes, I will probably buy the latest U2 Album, I will not go on Itunes and be tempted... thus I will save money.

3) If however, I hear the latest U2 Album on the radio, I will likely be tempted to visit Itunes and buy the latest U2 Album, therefore, I will stop listening to the radio and will not go on Itunes and not be tempted... and I will save money.

4) On the other hand, if I hear someone humming the latest U2 Album, I will wonder what they are humming, turn on my radio, hear the latest U2 Album, go to Itunes and buy the latest U2 Album, therefore, I will put my fingers in my ears so that I can't hear anyone humming the latest U2 album, and will not turn on the radio, go to Itunes, and buy the latest U2 album... and money will be saved.

5) I am not aware of it, but there is a slight chance that I might be able to read the lips of someone singing a U2 song, and not recognizing the words, unplug my fingers from my ears to hear the tune, leading me to the radio to hear the song, then going to Itunes and downloading the latest U2 album, therefore I will pluck out my eyes and... AAAAAIIIIIGGGGHHHHHH!!! That hurts! Okay... I will wear extremely dark sunglasses, put my fingers in my ears, not turn on the radio, not go onto Itunes, and not download the latest U2 album... thus saving myself a fortune and dooming the entire world economy.

Dang you, U2, for causing this economic crisis!

The short and short of it... A Trip Summary!

I was sitting on a warm sandy bank of the Salmon River, wearing a heavy coat, but warm and content. A half empty bottle of cool beer sat next to me in a slightly carved out section of the bank. My fishing pole lay next to me, cold water still glistening on the line that I had just removed from the river. In front of me, the river flowed by downstream, right to left. I watched as my friend's (Russ) bobber drifted lazily by hoping to see that familiar tug that indicated a fat Steelhead had just bit on the hook. I smiled - content and happy and completely void of all thoughts of work, family, and the daily grind. Fat, happy flakes of snow floated by as yet another small flurry wafted gently around us, dropping white dandruff all over my heavy coat. I was completely unaffected by its cold or wetness and could only enjoy it for the beauty of its design. Across the river, about two hundred feet away, a herd of mountain Big Horn Sheep grazed on the free wild mountain grass of the lower slope of a mountain. They were visiting the lower elevations while their normal homes were being covered in fresh white powder. I watched the sheep butt heads over a few fine tufts of grass and thought of the wonder and miracle of Idaho.

On the way home on Friday, we passed a field of fallow land covered by a herd of Elk at least 300 strong. We had to stop our truck and wait as a small family unit of 20 or so Elk crossed the road in front of us.

My fishing pole remained empty for the entire seven days I was in Idaho, but I had the fishing trip of a lifetime. Planning your next trip? Might I suggest the Land of the Yankee Fork in central Idaho? Your cell phones won't work. Your radios won't work. The fishing might suck. But you will not find a better place to recharge your batteries.

Deep Thoughts Before A Fishin' Trip

I read this headline on AOL:

Proof that tiny reality star actually eats.

And here is a breakdown of my thoughts:

Wait... what is a reality star? Is that some sort of pulsar that exists in one plane of reality but not in others? And why is it so tiny? And what kind of matter is it eating? I mean, if its tiny, I can see why astronomers might not have...

Oh, wait... its just another darn People Magazine story. Never mind. Apparently I had left my astrophysicist filter on my brain this morning.

I need a vacation.

And on that note, I'm off to wintery Challis, Idaho for a week of sitting on the bank of the mighty Salmon river while getting snowed upon and watching the river allegedly filled with fish float by in front of my hard rock perch. Oh, and I'll be eating hot dogs and drinking beer while enjoying all this outdoorsy scenery and fresh air - to which I say, there's a reason I go back year after year for more! Have a great 11 days while I'm gone.

Will

My Constant

A little more than a week ago, a colleague of mine was standing in front of a packed church in Kenya on a communion Sunday handing out food and necessary supplies to children and women who were wearing nothing but rags. He said that as he stood there watching the poorest of the poor lining up for basic needs, he couldn't help think that here was a group of people the Jesus had come for specifically. These 800 people were truly God's children.

This was in a middle class neighborhood church in Meru, Kenya on the side of Mount Kenya near the equator. The church, not unlike the one I attend myself, was in a neighborhood with homes and businesses and was established by allegedly fiscally sound parishioners. Yet, when a survey was conducted on request of the new in coming Pastor, it was discovered that nearly 200 families and over 500 children were literally hanging on by their fingertips, often going without food or money for days at a time. Needless to say, this came as quite a shock to this neighborhood church. In a country so used to extreme poverty, they had assumed themselves above such needs, and while willing to help their neighbors, it was with the understanding that God's blessings would be waiting for them when they went home at night. To discover such need on their own doorsteps was eye-opening. As a church, they repented of their blindness to the need within their own community and vowed then and there to make sure that none of the 200 families went without from that day forward.

The 800 people were at the church that Sunday to sign up as the second group of neighbors to need help. 800 in addition to the 200 families already in dire straits. In Africa, there is one surplus commodity and that is need.

When I heard this story, I think my heart broke a little. Not from the knowledge that so many people need help, but from the idea of a church repenting of its sin and seeing the truth in its very midst. I imagine this scene repeating all over the United States again and again and the American people coming back to God by discovering the suffering in their own communities. My heart yearns for just such a reawakening. But I am afraid that we here are still in the dark, still in denial about the suffering on our own doorstep. We are still looking for a bailout on a physical level, when we need a bailout on a spiritual one.

On the TV show, LOST, there is a time travel element called the Constant. On the show, the Constant is supposed to be the one person that you can focus on so that you don't slip away into madness during moments of temporal flux. We are in a state of flux right now that is in no way temporary. What is our constant? The President? Congress? Wall Street? What is keeping the American people from slipping into madness during this period?

When I left my last job, I knew only one thing that I wanted in my next job - a feeling of worth and value. At my previous job, I was told many times that I was expendable - that my skills were a dime a dozen and that I was easily replaced with others who required less money. This corporate mercenary tactic seemed prevalent in the entire capitalist system. Loyalty, job performance, nor skill seemed to matter so much as the bottom line. As long as the company needed to make more money (none of which ever trickled down to the employees actually doing the job) nobody was safe. If you played the game, and played it well, there were stock options and bonuses and all sorts of perks. If you didn't play it well, there was only hard work with little hope of reward. It seemed to me at the time like a fiscal popularity contest, like something a High School senior in the best clique might create. Those with the perks, kept the perks. Those without the perks were expendable and easily replaced by others without the perks.

Is it any wonder now that so many people are upset with AIG and their guaranteed bonuses? The people who signed these contracts were the people that were upholding the status quot. They were the people with the bonuses giving bonuses to other people with bonuses. The average schmoe at AIG probably doesn't get a thing. And what justification do they have for receiving their bonus? It was guaranteed. Not earned. Guaranteed. Why does the High School Quarterback get to be King of the Prom? Because it's guaranteed. That's the way we always do it. That's the way that it is done. And as long as the system remains constant, business can continue as usual.

That is their constant. That is their justice. Bonuses guaranteed and not earned. We are doing fine while others suffer because that's the way it works. That our secretary, Sally, might be losing her home to foreclosure because AIG had to lay her off doesn't bother us, so long as our bonus comes through on time and in the guaranteed amount. We can go home tonight content with the fine legal system that protects our guaranteed money.

Don't you just wish for one moment that you can shake these people and say, "Open your eyes! Look at the world around you! Look at the suffering in this world! Now, tell me how you can justify such excess?"

Don't you wish someone would shake you and say the same thing?

I don't make much money. I never have. I doubt that I ever will. I don't hate people with money, but I hate people who think that money is the end all and be all of life. I look at someone like Bill Gates who repented of his sin and started giving away the vast amounts of money he had to help people around the world. I look at Bono who spends almost as much time fighting for the poor of Africa as he does glamming around the world as a rock star. These people were given wealth by God and have discovered that they have a responsibility to use that gift to help others. We all have that responsibility - no matter how big the gift we've received. I try to help out as much as possible, but I know that I don't do nearly enough. I am in awe of those that do. But money, in and of itself, is a tool and not a measure of value. Value is what we get from our use of the tool, not the tool itself. In that case, I feel like I get value for my money. Lots of value. I may not make much money, but I earn all that I make, and I get even more value from it.

For my constant is the Lord,
the Creator of all things,
the arbiter of value,
the distributor of gifts,
and the scales of justice.
My bonus is the kingdom of heaven,
my prize the brotherhood of saints,
and God is my ultimate rest.
Until then, I will work for him.

Happy John Day!

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

The Spell is Broken by Danny Ho!

As I listened to the sweet refrains of Nothing Compares 2 U as performed in Hawaiian by Danny Ho, son of Don Ho, at the end of the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall I suddenly realized what an idiot I've been - living a demitasse life while accomplishing some pretty remarkable feats. It occurred to me that if I poured one ounce of the courage I showed in going out and making my first film into the rest of my life, there was literally nothing I couldn't accomplish - which is probably rubbish, but anything sounds good when Danny Ho is singing.

In the meantime, however, my life is starting to become consumed with the obsession that is DANE - our next film. We have been working these last five weeks or so on a workable synopsis while at the same time hashing out such important details as to which character gets which gun and just how corrupt is our corrupt cop. Its things like this that make you long for the days when you can do something simple, like set up three lights, gel them, get the correct color temperature and f-stop and exposure time and make sure the shadows don't fall anywhere you don't want them and don't forget the negative fill and... ahhh filmic bliss! Writing is hard. Filming is easy. Danny Ho is still singing and that last statement still sounds good.

Up next, besides a week spent snowbound river side with a beer, a pole, and a charbroiled hot dog, is the crewing of DANE as we film our first Character Study and play around with things like Par Cans and HMI's and other assorted things. Costume dramas and prop fatigue and set dressing and script revisions and late actors and late crew and hair pulling and permission wrangling... ahhh heavenly producing! Keep it coming Danny Ho! Nothing Compares 2 U!

The Great Recession is upon us all and we stab at its belly but we can taste its smelly underside as it flattens us. Its going to be a while before we work our way out from under its girth. What a great time to start a film company! What a liberating time for spending frivolously on a film! What an incredible opportunity to throw your money away on something other than Ponzi schemes, Disney Fan Clubs, and the enabling of Pro-Athletes steroid habit! We've raised 0 Dollars so far and only have $10,000 to go! Be the first on your block to join DANE 09 - the exclusive DANE fan club for people with money! Put on some Danny Ho and sign those stimulus checks over to me!

Ah... to be young and in love again... I guess I'll just have to settle for being young!

U2 and The Echo Within

My first exposure to the rock band, U2, was in the late 1980's as the band was sweeping the world with the success of its Joshua Tree album. There was this girl (isn't there always ;) who loved the band and since she was smoking hot, I decided that I should take a listen. At first, admittedly, they were not my cup of tea. Their rock ballads were, well, kind of granola to me. I pictured a whole bunch of peace advocates and no nukes people sitting around dreaming counter culture dreams and listening to U2 while complaining about the English in Ireland. Then Andy (of A Mile From The Beach fame) and our good friend Greg used one of the songs as accompaniment to a slide show for our Youth Group. The song was In God's Country, and I was officially blown away.

My secondary reaction to U2 has fed my fascination with this band ever since. Here is one of the most kick-butt rock groups in the history of rock and roll singing about faith. As I listened again to the Joshua Tree, I was surprised time and time again of the inclusion of the Christian message. I didn't understand a lot of what was being said, but I understood that it was cool that someone could sing about God and not become some preachy Christian rock band.

Through the years, my appreciation has only grown and not because U2 has become more Christian over the years, or less, or because of all the wonderful things they have done for Africa or Amnesty International, etc... My appreciation has grown because the band continues to create songs that are meaningful to them. They sing about love and about war and about politics and about lemons and all sorts of other things, but those messages are all infused with their understanding of the world. And their understanding of the world is infused with a deep love for Jesus Christ. They can sing a song that speaks of the deepest yearnings of a man for a woman with lyrics like, "Please, please, get up off your knees," and you can hear that yearning in the voice and imagine the sort of passionate embrace that these two lovers will embrace - or, you can also imagine an apostle standing on the side of a road in Jerusalem watching his Lord stumble while carrying a cross to Golgotha. U2 is a band that lives its faith and as a result of that faith, everything they do is colored by it. This is the kind of life that, as an artist, I want to live.

A short while ago I read the book The Echo Within by Robert Benson. This book was a quick and fascinating read about what it means to be called by God. I was startled right away with the author's assertion that being called by God doesn't necessarily mean that you are being called to deeper ministry at a seminary or a Bible college. Sometimes it just means that God wants you to use the gifts that you have to further His kingdom. I admit that I didn't connect these thoughts with U2 right away, but when I did, I realized that this was exactly what this rock band was doing. It means that for the rock band, U2, rock and roll is their calling. When put in that light, suddenly the idea of God's calling becomes much more eagerly anticipated. What is God calling me to do?

The Echo Within explores this idea with Robert Benson's life as our guide. He talks about the various steps along his journey and how each one ultimately led to the point where God called him to a life of ministry as a writer. He explains how not all of the steps along the journey made any sense or were clearly defined as signposts on the way, but that when he realized that he was being called, suddenly the entire journey became illuminated. He notes that there are many people along the path who contributed to his education and to his enlightenment, and that they aren't always what we would consider teachers. And he illustrated the many different false steps he'd taken down the path until he realized what he'd probably known all along - that he was a writer and that God wanted him to write.

What a fascinating concept - the idea that implanted in each of us is that one BEST thing that we were meant to do, and that part of our calling is to realize that this Thing and God's Calling for us are exactly the same. That we can be a great musician and a great Christian at the same time; that one doesn't have to bow down to the other. We are all unique individuals with lots of gifts, but there is one that makes us happiest and that is closest to our true nature. This is God's calling to us. Use this gift to glorify Him and to spread His word. God will do the rest.

And so, in the end, I see that God wants me to be a writer and He wants me to use that gift to further his kingdom. Now, the only question I have, is how does one do that? I imagine that as with all other things prayerful consideration is required to answer that question.

Book: The Echo Within
Author: Robert Benson

Summary:
The Echo Within is a profoundly affecting, honest look at the myriad ways we are drawn into our life’s best work.
Written out of his own lifelong search for and response to the calling voice of God, Robert Benson recounts his discovery of the meaning of vocation, work, and purpose through the ups and downs inherent in family life, professional choice, and spiritual experience. With clarity and insight, and in the elegant prose for which he is known, he gently invites and encourages readers to find such deep truths for their lives as well. In particular, he illuminates the way for readers to explore:
· ways to sense the Holy in our pursuits, both in the pursuits themselves and within ourselves.
· how to fall into our vocation and chart a course toward it at the same time.
· how to love the work we do, and the process of doing it.
For anyone beginning a new career or sensing a needed change in their life or wrestling with a transition suddenly thrust upon them, Robert Benson delivers wisdom, humor, and heart in what he’s learned about listening for The Echo Within—and how it can help us discover our calling.

Author Bio:
Robert Benson has written more than a dozen books about the discovery of the sacred in the midst of our ordinary lives, including Between the Dreaming and the Coming True, Home By Another Way, and Digging In. His work has been critically acclaimed in a wide range of publications from The New York Times and USA Today to Spirituality & Health and The Benedictine Review. He is an alumnus of The Upper Room’s Academy for Spiritual Formation and was recently named a Living Spiritual Teacher by SpiritualityandPractice.com. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

To purchase this book, please visit Amazon.com

Stranger is fiction?

As an intellectual conceit, the idea of a dinner with Jesus Christ of Nazareth would be fascinating. Think of all the questions you would ask him. Think of all the great stories he would tell. Your evening might begin with a quick nosh on some appetizers as Jesus discussed his childhood growing up in Nazareth, and then somewhere over salad, he might begin to talk about his ministry. I would imagine that there might be a few surprises - some things we have never heard and some things that we don't want to hear. As with all meals that we've had over the years with old friends or distant heroes, the evening would be full of unexpected twists and turns that would nevertheless be entirely satisfying.

So it was with great anticipation that I started reading Dinner with a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory (see details below). Its the story of Nick Cominsky, a young married man with a daughter, who is struggling with his marriage and his job. One day he gets an invitation to have dinner with Jesus Christ. Now, at this point, you could take the story in two directions - the one I suggested above or a more straight-forward, YEAH RIGHT approach. The author chose the latter approach and I found that it was oddly compelling because even though its represented exactly as the story appears, there was a part of me that kept wondering whether the author might weasel out at the end and have Jesus turn out to be an actor or something. Anyway, Nick is certain that this is a practical joke set up by his friends in the office, but he is curious enough to check it out and goes to the dinner. What follows is a conversation that stays with Nick and with us readers for a long time to come.

What would it really be like to have a conversation with Jesus? I love David Gregory's approach to have the conversation be very, very personal. His concept of Jesus is not the one that many of us would conjure up as a fascinating dinner guest - a virtual authority on anything and everything. By instead having Jesus be Nick's personal Lord and Savior - the type of Diety that might take an evening off from His busy schedule to spend an evening having dinner with us on a one to one basis - David Gregory makes Jesus even more real and powerful. This is not the sort of diety who needs to tell us about all the great things he's done, but is the sort that wants us to join him on our own personal journey into a more loving relationship with God. Jesus doesn't shy away from tough talk. He's not Nick's buddy. But His concern and love for Nick shines through - like the ultimate best friend and brother all rolled into one. This intimate conversation shared over the course of a meal at a local restaurant was profoundly moving by implication. It makes the reader want to have the same sort of conversation with Jesus, and at the same time, makes us realize that there is nothing preventing that but our own stubborness.

As soon as I was finished, I picked up the second book in the series, A Day with a Perfect Stranger (also by David Gregory) which picks up with Nick's wife, Mattie, a few weeks later as she contemplates ending her marriage to Nick because he's now become a Jesus Freak. I knew this was going to be a much harder sell because of two very important things - that Mattie was dead set against the idea of religion and that she was a woman. That's not to say that women are any less capable of having a relationship with God, but that they think differently about things and that the approach David Gregory took with Nick was not going to work with the character of Mattie. And I was right, it was a much harder sell... but it totally worked. In this book, the genius of a personal Jesus became much more apparent.

In this second book, Mattie is flying on a business trip while contemplating ending her relationship with Nick, when a stranger sits next to her on the flight and strikes up a conversation. As we begin to suspect that this stranger is, in fact, Jesus the conversation remains relatively neutral - probing, but neutral - not at all like the more or less direct conversation with Nick. The concept for this story might also be a lot more far fetched. We've all had the conceit of imagining dinner with Jesus, but who's ever thought that Jesus might sit next to you on an airplane? Though, to be fair, if you knew Jesus was on a flight with you, you would either breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing that it wasn't about to crash, or, conversely, imagine the worst and that Jesus was there to call you home. ;)

The conclusion to the second book was also more satisfying as we discover some of the very personal reasons for Mattie's rejection of religion and how a personal relationship with God is able to start the healing process of these feelings. It reminded me very much of the woman at the well and of Jesus saying that He will give us the water of life. Mattie's character begins as a normal woman who we only realize at the end was truly disfunctional and broken when Jesus begins to heal her. How many other people out there do we know that are completely normal? How many of them require Jesus's healing touch?

In the end, though both books were on the same subject, they were completely dissimilar in their methods. Each one brought a character into a relationship with God, but by utterly different means. And it left me with the impression that there is no one way to be a Christian because each relationship with Christ is going to be completely different depending on the individual - just as it would be with any other relationship. There can be no "fans" of Jesus - only brothers and sisters, only personal relationships are allowed. Jesus is more than just a guy we meet on a plane or a fascinating guy we invite to a cocktail party. He is the God who visits our home where our children want to play with him and our dog wants to cuddle with him and He asks us to sit down while He serves the hors d'ouvres because we've been standing on our feet all day. He is family, and yet, He is Father and Mother as well; comforting, stern, joyous, and helpful when we need it. David Gregory has written two books that made me feel I'd spent time with Jesus - and that's a pretty high compliment.

Books: Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and Day with a Perfect Stranger

Author: David Gregory

Summary: Dinner with a Perfect Stranger:

You are Invited to a Dinner with Jesus of Nazareth

The mysterious envelope arrives on Nick Cominsky’s desk amid a stack of credit card applications and business-related junk mail. Although his seventy-hour workweek has already eaten into his limited family time, Nick can’t pass up the opportunity to see what kind of plot his colleagues have hatched.

The normally confident, cynical Nick soon finds himself thrown off-balance, drawn into an intriguing conversation with a baffling man who appears to be more than comfortable discussing everything from world religions to the existence of heaven and hell. And this man who calls himself Jesus also seems to know a disturbing amount about Nick’s personal life.

…………..

"You’re bored, Nick. You were made for more than this. You’re worried about God stealing your fun, but you’ve got it backwards.… There’s no adventure like being joined to the Creator of the universe." He leaned back off the table. "And your first mission would be to let him guide you out of the mess you’re in at work."
………….

As the evening progresses, their conversation touches on life, God, meaning, pain, faith, and doubt–and it seems that having Dinner with a Perfect Stranger may change Nick’s life forever.



Summary Day with a Perfect Stranger:

What if a fascinating stranger knew you better than you know yourself?

When her husband comes home with a farfetched story about eating dinner with someone he believes to be Jesus, Mattie Cominsky thinks this may signal the end of her shaky marriage. Convinced that Nick is, at best, turning into a religious nut, the self-described agnostic hopes that a quick business trip will give her time to think things through.

On board the plane, Mattie strikes up a conversation with a fellow passenger. When she discovers their shared scorn for religion, she confides her frustration over her husband’s recent conversion. The stranger suggests that perhaps her husband isn’t seeking religion but true spiritual connection, an idea that prompts her to reflect on her own search for fulfillment.

As their conversation turns to issues of spiritual longing and deeper questions about the nature of God, Mattie finds herself increasingly drawn to this insightful stranger. But when the discussion unexpectedly turns personal, touching on things she’s never told anyone, Mattie is startled and disturbed. Who is this man who seems to peer straight into her soul?

Author Bio:

David Gregory is the author of the best-selling books Dinner with a Perfect Stranger and A Day with a Perfect Stranger, and coauthor of two nonfiction books. After a ten-year business career, he returned to school to study religion and communications, earning graduate degrees from The University of North Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary. A native Texan, David now devotes himself to writing full time.

Check out the books here:

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

and

Day with a Perfect Stranger

The Quagmire of the Arts vs Society debate

Whenever a new debate begins about the lack of morality in teenagers, the inevitable argument is, "Its all the fault of the media." Whatever the media is at the time, its their fault. Now, the problem with this is the incredibly short sighted nature of this argument. It forgets to take into account that this argument has probably been around as long as Socrates and maybe even longer - and has yet to be proven true.

Let's backtrack... In my mind, I am of the opinion that the lyrics I hear on the radio today are extremely suggestive. Clearly, any teenager or kid wearing suggestive clothes or doing adult things must be influenced by the media into doing them. (The argument being that without the media influence, they would, of course, be perfect angels ;)

However, when I was a teen myself I know darn well that there were suggestive lyrics, clothing, television, and movies all around me. To what extent did they get me into trouble? Umm... if I blame them now can I undo some of the punishments I received? No? Well, then, the truth is that I wasn't influenced by the media at all. Nor does it influence me to do bad things now. Oh, sure, occasionally I might hear a great song on the radio and not realize that I've accelerated a few extra miles per hour over the speed limit, but for the most part, no influence whatsoever.

So Bart Simpson didn't make me do bad things. Video Games didn't turn the generation after mine into gang members. And rap lyrics are not responsible for the end of Western Civilization as we know it. Going back... the Beatles didn't end American greatness nor bring about everlasting happiness neither. Comic Books didn't create an entire generation of criminal thugs. TV didn't rot our brains. Jazz didn't corrupt our souls, nor did that Rock and Roll stuff you hear so much about. And, for that matter, classical music, that we know of, has only caused one riot in Paris.

The reason this debate becomes such a huge quagmire is that so many people engage in it without any proof on either side. They see their rebellious teens and they list their teenage passions and they automatically equate the passions with the rebelliousness. And how much easier is it when the rebelliousness and the passion go hand in hand. Admit it, if you liked Pat Boone and your kid, no matter how rotten, also liked Pat Boone, you would never think that Pat Boone was the cause of your child's rotten streak. No. It would have to be something else, something anathema to the way you think and relate to the world, that is causing your child to behave differently than you.

Art is created to reflect life. Adult art is going to reflect adult life. Teen art is going to reflect teen life. And since teen life and adult life are so often at odds with one another, adults are naturally going to be suspicious of the art of teenagers because it likely reflects attitudes that are different from their own.

That being said, Rap still sucks. U2 is still the greatest band ever. Star Wars still rocks. And Rock and Roll still rules the world. And any teen that disagrees with me ought to spend four years in a military boot camp! ;)

Canary in the coal mine

I'd worried this day would come. It appears that a major retailer has started dropping product lines. We don't know whether this is business related or CPSIA related yet, but the curious timing of it coming just two weeks after the CPSIA deadline seems awfully suspicious. If this is CPSIA related, I would expect a great many chains to start following suit on just about everything even remotely related to children.

The Suffering of the I-Conomy

I don't know. I don't know what'll work. On the one hand, fiscal conservatives say don't spend a damn thing... yet they were the ones who got us into this mess in the first place. Yet, they also were the ones that made Reaganomics work. On the other hand, fiscal liberals think the best solution is to throw lots and lots of money at the problem and make it go away. Massive government help is what characterized the New Deal of FDR and what got him elected four times. But I think the jury is out on whether that actually helped the economy since a war interrupted the experiment (and I think that's exactly the sort of history we DON'T want to repeat).

What I can say is that there is no one right solution. If there were, economists wouldn't have jobs. What I can also say is that people are suffering. They are losing jobs. They are losing homes. And we're long past the point where those losing jobs and homes are the ones who caused the problems. We're well into the period of serious collateral damage and even fiscal conservatives are starting to lose jobs and homes and retirements. Regardless of what solution works and what politics that solution derives from, it is up to the government at hand to make it happen.

In that, I'm somewhat optimistic that Obama is President. What I don't know about what he intends to do as President could fill an encyclopedia - heck, he's only been President a month. What I do know is that he is not jaded, cynical, nor a slave to party doctrines. I believe that he will do whatever he can to solve the problems of this nation. Whether that is ultimately good enough is something we shall all have to wait to find out.

I just hope that my i-conomy can survive until then.

I think I'm So Clever!

In my accounting office there are two paintings. The first is a Manet. The second is a Monet. I always walk by and think to myself (and sometimes I say it out loud), "Manet! Monet! Money!"

Twelve Step Jedi - Final

A week from today is the World Premiere of my first film, Twelve Step Jedi.

I've been writing stories since I was in second grade. I'd have a flash of an idea and I couldn't wait to get it down with pencil and paper. To me, the writing was a way of living it - like make believe with words. I'd think up an idea, then I'd act it out in nouns, verbs, and adjectives. At that point, I was content.

The thought of sharing this idea with anyone else was never why I did it. But, of course, you begin to discover that there's a certain notoriety that comes from being a writer. People think you're smarter or a genius or something. And that affects your writing. Its not enough to just write down an idea and enjoy it for a while. No, you have to perfect that idea so that others can enjoy it. It robs the idea of any special power and makes it a commodity to be bought and sold. You begin to be judged as a writer. Its not the worst thing in the world, but it does take away from the special feeling of being a writer.

When I first had the idea for Twelve Step, I thought it would be a good idea for a film and I played with it a little in my mind before I let it slip back into the eternal realm of ideas never to be realized. It was only when Andrew Navarro insisted that we make a film together that I suddenly dredged it up. Together, as we began to talk about it, I started seeing this idea in a different way. For once, this wasn't an idea that I created and that others judged. This was an idea that came out of my head, but that didn't gain traction until others added to it.

All through the long months ahead, Andrew and I fleshed out this idea into a story and finally into a script. At the premiere next week I will be showing actual footage that we recorded of one of our writer's sessions where you can see a character take shape and actual dialog created. The writing process is almost mystical in that when you are watching it, words seem to just fall out of thin air and become absorbed into the brains of the writers. The footage shows us throwing out ideas, rejecting the bad ones, laughing at the good ones, and putting it all down on paper. Its a video record of two people visiting the exact same idea at the exact same time. And at the end of that particular session, we put the script to bed.

Again, I got that feeling of visiting the idea in a new way when we got together with the cast for the first time for the script reading. Here was my idea taking on flesh and blood and sinew and voice. But by now, it wasn't just my idea. Now it was Andrew's and mine idea. It had evolved beyond a simple thought into a full blown script. And here were a group of actors starting the process of bringing those words to life. They were allowing me to hear what my words sounded like and giving me a first glimpse into what my world looked like when seen through my eyes and not my brain. It was just the first sip of a sweet champagne.

Over the next two weeks, we filmed almost the entire movie. We jumped around from one scene to the next and took many takes, and I'd like to say that I found the process as intoxicating and as pleasurable as the script reading, but I was mostly concerned with making sure that we got every line of dialog and every shot of footage that we needed in the time allotted.

When, at last, the film was done and I'd had enough distance from it to at least catch up on my sleep, I started watching the film. And my eyes opened yet again as I saw the first shape of a finished film on my computer screen. Here were the living and breathing characters walking around and talking and behaving as if I'd summoned them off the page. Here were the words I'd first heard spoken at the script reading. Here was the story that Andrew and I had crafted over the course of six months. Here was the idea I'd first noodled with almost a year before... in the flesh. But it wasn't quite perfect.

And so, over the past few months I've been messing with the edit and adjusting the color, and fixing some glaring problems with the story, and adding sound and music. And finally, when I pop that DVD into the machine and turn it on, I am visiting this other world that I first imagined more than a year ago. This brief glimpse of an idea has grown into a full fledged movie with story, character, dialog, and music.

When you watch it, you won't see the various layers. You won't hear a line of dialog and think about the creation of that line, or the various lines that didn't make it, or the eight different versions of that line that the actor gave, or what that line sounded like originally before editing and before sound effects and before music was added. You will see Gabriel Hall telling Pad... Monica that he loves her and you will be swept up by the moment as you visit this magical world for a brief forty nine and a half minutes. You will experience a world that popped out of my mind.

And I will experience it as well. Because the truth is, the way I knew the movie was done, was when I realized that I could no longer see it for its individual parts. It had become its own thing. It had started to exist on its own, combined, merits.

For the first time since I started writing way back in second grade, I have finally created something that others can visit and see just the way it first formed in my head. You can be a part of my crazy world.

A week from today is the World Premiere of my first film, Twelve Step Jedi, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have already.

The Perils of Living In The Moment

Over the past weekend I have been challenged by a series of blog posts by my good friend Randall Sherman talking about the reactions to those Germans of the World War II era who lived through one of the most heinous regimes in modern history by their children who had to grow up with the knowledge of their parents activities during this period. As Randall so aptly pointed out, for children of American's who participated in the war, we wanted to know what our parents did, but for children of German's during the same period, their children wanted to know what their parents didn't do. I am challenged by this notion as well by being in a class that is reading the great sermons of Martin Luther King Jr. His comments about the civil rights movement while it was happening seem to mirror some of the same discussions being conducted at Randall's blog. Namely, what is evil? How do we recognize it? And what is our responsibility as citizens to confront it? And finally, to what extent are we complicit in the perpetration of this evil?

The Nazi regime and its crimes seems to be a great touchstone for modern people to discuss evil. We have awoken to the notion that for evil to exist it needs a great deal of fertilizer to grow. Some of this fertilizer comes from the use of strength and fear to subdue those that would stamp evil out. Some of the fertilizer comes from the control of information. Some comes from lies and deceit. But the greatest portion seems to come from the manipulation of our own baser instincts to hate things that do not conform to our world view. When hatemongers seize on our natural hatreds this way, an entire people can be moved to do horrendous things.

Which isn't to say that all German people did horrendous things. No. Far from it. But, point of fact, horrendous things were done by German people and a great many people knew about it and did nothing to stop it. And these people who were not doing horrendous things were normal people. They were church goers. They were respected citizens. And many of them would never even contemplate lifting a finger in violence to their neighbors. Which is what causes the mind to boggle at the nature of things that were done on their behalf.

Martin Luther King reminds us of the horrendous things being done to his people on behalf of church going, respected, peace loving citizens of America. In sermon after sermon he tells us of the evils being perpetrated to an entire class of people in order to maintain the status quot. What were your parents doing during the Civil Rights struggles of the 50's and 60's? What did they do before that period? How complicit were they in the oppression of that period? These aren't easy questions to answer.

Pastor J.D. Ward, our Christian Education leader, reminded us on Sunday night that all generations are judged by the rules of tomorrow's society. Right now we are committing evil in the eyes of generations to come. Things that we are doing, that we are not even aware is wrong, will be judged in the future as evil and we will be called to task for our complicity in it. We might be judged for the raping of the planet. We might be judged for the Iraq war. We might be judged for the horrid laws we have passed against our brothers and sisters of the Gay/Lesbian persuasion, or our neighbors from the South looking for work in this country. Or perhaps it will be something that we're not even aware of at this moment, some act of madness that we can not even imagine yet that will have its roots in our current practices today. No matter how much we try to see beyond this moment, we are still forced to live in the now and to work with the knowledge of what is good and what is evil that we have available to us.

Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." We are blind to the possibilities of the great evils that we are perpetuating right now. All we can do is pray for enlightenment before we have done too much harm.

Saved by Absurdity?

As an update to the CPSIA nonsense I wrote about last week, so far, nothing has happened. And nothing has happened precisely because this law is so badly written that nobody has any idea what it actually says. Even the governing body of the CPSC is having such a hard time interpreting the law that a Federal Court struck down one of its interpretations.

Of course, this regulatory Mexican standoff can't last forever. Sooner or later, someone's going to pull the trigger and then all heck is going to break loose with the potential that manufacturers and consumers and the government might spend the rest of the decade in court trying to sort all of this mess out.

So let's call this the sitzkrieg - the phony war - where everything appears to be sunny and warm without a bomb in sight. The distant thunder you hear on the horizon, however, tells you a different story.

Filing up my time

No Movie. No classes. No youth group. No vacations. No houses to build. And soon, no basketball. What's a man to do?

Come on, after 608 posts, you know me better than that. If there's one thing I'm good at, its filling up my time with new projects.

So, I'm now working with a group that's trying to get a mission project off the ground in Kenya. I'm also making a return to church politics (as a member of the Nominating Committee). And I'm taking a short course through the church on the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I'm also donating my SUV to Habitat for Humanity (you'd think it'd be easy, but its not), trying to find out what happened to the fishing pole I sent in for repair, running a Girl Scout Cookie service on the side, and catching up on a lot of reading and TV. Thank God I finished all of my previous projects before both LOST and Battlestar Galactica came back on the air.

But mostly I've been writing again (and not a moment too soon). I'm trying to get a whole bunch of projects going all at once so that as interest wanes in one project I'll have another project to work on. I'm writing one novel and six scripts. The novel is science fiction. The scripts are science fiction, detective story, romantic comedy, historical fiction, super hero story, and an adaption of a true life story. My mind sometimes reels as I go from one project to the next, but that's okay because it keeps my mind off the streets and from joining a gang. Honestly, sometimes, where it will gooooooo...

So, that's it. Back to my busy life that is still somehow a vacation from the previous year's projects... ;)

Greater Depression Watch #3

Remember this date... February 11th, 2009... It will long be credited as the day the Greater Depression really hit its stride. Why? Because Congress has got its head somewhere that you and I don't want to visit.

The gist of the problem is this. Congress, in trying to be seen as being 100% safe for children, has created a law called the CPSIA (I may have mentioned this before). This law states that lead and pthalates shouldn't be too high in children's products - which is a good idea. However, on February 11th, this law goes into effect nationwide on all products - even ones that are already on the shelves - and any children's product that hasn't been tested (and passed) for lead or pthalates must be removed from the shelves and destroyed. Unfortunately, what Congress didn't explain fully is what a children's product is. They are leaving that to the CPSC to decide. The CPSC hasn't even formulated rules to figure out how they're going to figure out what's a children's product or not, much less given any sort of clear definition. Should they happen to come up with some workable guidelines in the next hour or so, that would give manufacturers exactly four days to test every single product they have for lead and pthalates or have their products removed from the shelf and destroyed.

Now, lest you think I'm exaggerating this problem, I'm telling you that this will effect the entire country in profoundly disturbing ways. Teachers will have to basically strip their classrooms of all toys, books, furniture, rugs, and any other product created for the use of children - and destroy them - or face fines of up to $100,000 per offense. And good luck replacing all those items, because the stores that sell the items will be pulling them off the shelves (Micheal's is one chain that I know of) and destroying them, then asking the manufacturers to reimburse the store for the lost merchandise. And the manufacturers? Well, without the ability to sell new merchandise to anyone until they have their products tested and with requests to reimburse their customers for all the products sold, these companies will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy and close their doors. Which will mean that not only will millions of people lose their jobs in the next month, but the banks which thrive on the money they lend manufacturers will collapse as well taking the rest of our fragile economy with it. So basically, its pretty much financial armageddon.

Now, the CPSC has tried to resolve this conflict. They've said that there will be a stay of enforcement until February of next year. But yesterday, the Federal Court in Atlanta basically said that the law will remain in effect come February 10th. And Congress's reaction? They've called for the resignation of the head of the CPSC because of her inept handling of the law (thus making it virtually impossible that any clarification will occur between now and February 10th, by the way). So, basically, we're screwed.

I'd like to think that cooler heads will prevail, but I think people have become so blase to doom and gloom pronouncements that they simply refuse to see the writing on the wall. I've been dealing with this problem now for four months - trying to steer my company on a path that will ensure its survival - and everytime I've thought my pronouncements of doom and gloom were over the top, I've been proven wrong. It'll be much worse than I've ever thought - but only so long as the people in charge of implementing this law continue with their heads in the sand. If cooler heads and wiser thinking prevails, this need merely be a small blip in the business world (tougher testing, yeah, okay, we can handle that - no problem). However, these people are not keeping their cool and seem intent on bringing this situation to the brink. They are barreling towards a precipice despite all the danger signs simply because they refuse to believe that the danger exists in the first place. And by the time they go sailing out into the void, it'll be too late to undo the damage.

So, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best, or come February 11th (four days from now) watch as every news channel in the country starts talking about empty shelves and manufacturers folding left and right and wondering how this could possibly happen.

The Curious Case of the Kamikaze Bee

One of the many things I learned on my recent trip south to help build homes was that if you haven't done something to rile up the Devil today, you're not trying hard enough in your Christianity. Or to put it in the words of the Asst. Reverend of the First Baptist Church of Pearlington, MS, "If the Devil ain't hoppin' mad at you, you ain't praying hard enough!" Thanks to these wonderful words, I now have this mental image of Satan in a battle control center watching my every move and either high-fiveing his minions when I totally screw up (too often, I'm afraid) or throwing things at the monitor when I do something right. But just so you know that Satan isn't above a little cheating and unsportsman-like behavior from time to time, he can throw things at me as well to show his displeasure and try to get me off my game.

Needless to say, I must have really pissed him off lately. After a successful mission trip, I immediately set to work with a new mission group looking to help with street kids in Kenya. And I've also been starting up the hard work of our nominating committee looking for new church leaders. Beyond that, I'm starting to finally get my act together now that I'm done with film classes and my film. I've gotten back to my workout routine and my diet that I reluctantly abandoned when I went back to school last fall. I've been getting more sleep, reading more books, spending more time in prayer and in community with others - basically all the things that Satan really hates.

Which is why he sent the kamikaze bee after me yesterday.

I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden there was a streak of something and WHAM! my lower lip hurt like hell. I looked around, dazed, for the culprit but saw nothing. My eyes teared up with the sudden wave of pain and I gingerly touched my lip to feel it raw and throbbing already. But, after a minute or so, my head cleared enough for me to figure out that I'd probably been attacked by a bee and that I was either going to go into anaphylactic shock or I was just going to be in pain for a while. When I didn't go into shock, I started to walk back to my work.

A second later I realized something was crawling on my neck and WHAM! the darn bee stung me again - this time in the neck. Stupid terrorist bee! One suicide attack wasn't enough?! This time I shook the bee loose and tried to deal with it Jack Bauer style, but the bee flew away laughing as it did.

So, yesterday, as I sat around my office with an ice pack on my Free Botoxed lower lip, and sucked up the pain like a man (I kept the crying for my mommy on the inside) I suddenly thought of those words and realized that Satan had merely been trying to get me off my game by sending his Killer Bees at my Dome. I guess I must have made Satan hoppin' mad! And that made me smile... but only for a little bit before the pain made me reapply the ice pack.

HoHum, Its Done

I've been trying to figure out a way to capture the excitement of this moment... and then I realized, "What excitement?" Film Making is a long, slow process, not unlike building a building. The excitement in building comes with the first shovel of dirt and, maybe, when someone cuts a ribbon. Finishing the building is a cause for a nice beer, but not a ticker tape parade. Same with a film.

Here's how I finished the movie. I was making some final tweaks to the film and as I was doing so I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, I am so bored." And then I realized that the film was done and that I really never wanted to see it again. I saved the file and shut her down. Tonight, I'm burning the film onto film. And tomorrow onto a DVD.

Which isn't to say that the film is bad or that I am already sick of it. But the editing cycle is one where you start off wondering how the hell you're going to get a film out of the mess of spare parts, then where you start seeing a film emerge, then where you think about all the cool things you can do to improve it, and finally, when you realize that it doesn't need any more work. It may not be perfect, but its definitely finished.

Lucas said you never really finish a film so much as abandon it. Well, I'm kicking this thing to the curb. So long, don't write!

Anyway, all kidding aside. Twelve Step Jedi (complete with cool "original" soundtrack) will mark its World Premiere hopefully sometime in February. I'm still working on that.

Script work on our next feature begins immediately (we've been doing preproduction now for about two months) with an eye towards filming sometime this summer in locations around San Francisco. Come to the World Premiere and maybe catch a preview of the new film.

The Calling

The Calling of the First Disciples
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.

21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew 4:18-22

What was it about Jesus that caused the first four disciples to drop what they were doing and follow Him. I've often asked that question to myself - certainly every single time I've read this passage. But even beyond that, the motivation to do things completely out of the ordinary has to come from somewhere.

As a school kid, I'd read that Adolf Hitler's voice was hypnotic and that listening to him in the German language was to listen to a master orator and to become enticed by his message. He would soothe his crowds with pride and false promises and make his people believe whatever he had to say. It didn't hurt that he was able to deliver on a lot of his promises early on and his early victories only helped promote the power of his speeches. But I still wonder, was his voice enough to bring people to commit genocide? How about places like Rwanda? Or the killing fields of Cambodia? Or Dresden? Must there always be a compelling figure to push people to do things they'd never do in normal circumstances?

So, if it wasn't Jesus' gift of gab, then it must have been his eyes. He must have cast a spell on them with His eyes. One look at the disciples and they must have seen that Jesus was God - even if they didn't recognize it just yet.

But wouldn't that be cheating? Wouldn't that be a tipping of the hand? Surely all of God's power and authority rested on Jesus's shoulders, but then why didn't the entire ancient world flock to his side? Why only 12 disciples? Why only fishermen and tax collectors?

I finally received my answer yesterday and the implications were profound. Jesus did use his God given powers, but not to bewitch his disciples. He merely looked into their hearts and knew that they were ready to follow. It wasn't that Jesus picked them out of the crowd and said, "He's good with catching fish, I'll bring him along." Jesus looked at a crowd and found twelve whose hearts were ready to find the truth. Twelve who were ready to serve the son of man. It was nothing that Jesus did to make them ready. It was already inside of them.

So, if you were in a crowd of other folks and Jesus walked by, would He call to you? Would you hear Him? Would you drop what you were doing and come to his side? Jesus won't beguile you with His power. He won't bewitch you with His words. He will simply call you and hope that you answer.

Are you ready to serve Him?

Images

For more than twenty years now, hurricanes have meant high winds, downed power lines, boarding up windows, and hunkering down for safety. Pearlington, despite its relative closeness to the Gulf of Mexico, has never experienced flooding of any kind.

For Lee, this meant putting up boards over his windows on his cedar home. His wife, Phyllis, who suffers from severe arthritis watched as he went about this normal everyday chore while the clouds overhead began to get darker with the impending storm.

For Frank, he and his wife had their truck packed and ready to go just in case. They'd be listening to the radio to see where the hurricane was going to make landfall. They weren't terribly worried since their home sat on top of a little hill so that even in the unlikely event that the Pearl River crested its banks, they should be affected at all.

In the meantime, Hurricane Katrina started to flatten as it approached land. Instead of going quickly and narrowly across a small area of land, it broadened. Its winds swirling counter clockwise meant that it started to bring waves counter clockwise from the west, built them up as they swept east, and turned them loose on the coast east of New Orleans.

In New Orleans, many people with the means evacuated. But for the poor and the needy, buses were to be made available... except that the bus drivers had already been evacuated. Everyone hunkered down for the storm and waited.

The Pearl River started to crest its banks and began flooding the relatively flat bayou country of Mississippi east of New Orleans even before Katrina made land fall. Giants waves were being pushed ashore and before they had a chance to recede back into the ocean, other waves rose on their backs and pushed even further inland.

For Frank, by the time it was obvious that they should leave there was already a foot of water on the ground. The only thing to do was wait it out and hope for the best.

For Lee, the only thing was to help his wife up into the attic and hope for the best.

New Orleans, other than the hurricane remained relatively unaffected - the winds knocked down trees and power lines. The rain battered houses. The swelling seas sloshed over the levees in a few places and beat the heck out of the roadway over Lake Pontchatrain, but for the most part, Katrina left New Orleans unscathed.

The water continued to rise along the Pearl River. It rose 5 feet. Then 10 feet. Then 15 feet and it showed no signs of abating. Buildings were torn from their foundations. Cars and trucks disappeared. Wildlife was killed. Less fortunate people drowned and were never seen again. It continued to rise. 20 feet. 25 feet.

Frank made it to his roof and managed to untie a boat that had become tangled in the trees. He and his wife huddled in a boat while Hurricane Katrina lashed them. Somewhere nearby, Dallas was swept from her home naked. She climbed up a tree and managed to save ten dogs. Lee and Phyllis prayed for rescue as the water crested just six inches below their attic.

When the water receded, almost the entire town of Pearlington, MS was gone. Churches, Post Offices, homes, businesses, people... almost nothing remained.

In New Orleans, those left behind clamored for help while those outside of the city clamored to be let back in. But the city remained locked down in both directions.

Two days after Katrina hit, the levees broke and New Orleans flooded. Most people who had homes in the lower class neighborhoods lost everything. Those left behind had nowhere to go. Shelters were overcrowded and unprepared. Chaos reigned and television images burned.

Pearlington was as silent as a grave. There were no cameras there because there were no people there to use them.

My tent was on the site of the former Post Office - just a long stone's throw from the Pearlington river. Down the street, a tall fire building - newly restored - and about the size of a small warehouse stood watch over the area. At a point some 26 feet up, there is a red line on the warehouse to indicate where the river crested.

Pearlington had never experienced flooding before - certainly never enough to concern its residents. Since 2005, its been flooded three times. And each time, a little more of the community washes away.

Letting it all sink in

Its been quite a time over the last week or so. A new President, a miraculous plane crash, and an entire week spent rebuilding homes and lives in Pearlington, MS. I have so many images and thoughts floating through my head right now that I literally don't know where to begin. So, I thought that instead of talking about the bright things of the past week, I'd lay some background details on you so that you can understand some of these new wonderful thoughts in context.

For the past several months I've been dealing with a new law that's been taking effect since November. Ostensibly its supposed to be a children's product safety law designed to prevent the sort of lead contamination we have seen in toys in the past. Unfortunately, the law is extremely broad in its approach and also extremely vague in its interpretation. The end result is that while the law says one thing, retailers are being forced to interpret it another way leaving manufacturers with lots of bald spots on their heads from where they're pulling out hair on an almost daily basis.

This has been an extremely stressful few months. In addition to the self-inflicted school finals and final projects, I have also been working extremely hard to finish my film. On top of that, I have been given more responsibility at the USF scoring table due to the worsening condition of my Uncle. With the economy in the toilet and bad news on television on a nearly continual basis, in addition to everything else, I was really feeling the stress to the point that it was starting to effect my health.

Its hard going to school for a semester. It not only throws off your relaxation schedule (I'd like to occasionally have a weekend off, for instance) but it reeks havoc on things like your diet, exercise, and stress relief. Throw on top of that the stress of doing projects and taking tests and going to school is not really for the faint of heart. Really, the young need only apply.

But I was handling it well... if it hadn't been for everything else. In the week before I left for Pearlington, I had to tell myself to calm down and think of things besides work on many occasions when I felt my heart beginning to race and my blood pressure begin to rise to extremely dangerous levels. I really worried for my health and my life and the thought of spending an entire week at hard labor seriously gave me pause.

Ultimately, however, I decided that if I didn't get away from my current life for a week I would probably have a heart attack. I made a vow with myself to turn all my problems over to God for a week and just do His work.

You have NO IDEA how good a vow that turned out to be. I didn't call work. I didn't think about my movie or future projects. I never checked a basketball score. I shut out the rest of the world and just lived in community with Christians for a week doing His work. I built a roof. I played cards. I joked. I sang. I sat around a campfire for warmth. I slept on the floor. I walked everywhere. And for one week, all of my problems became His.

It sank down into the 20's most nights. The floor was hard and the heat didn't always work. Standing around and climbing ladders all day, only to be broken up by long walks to a tool shed, or heartbreaking conversations with homeowners, combined with a lot of shivering when an icy wind cut across the lot, made for long, hard days. But I returned home destressed, rested, replenished, and inspired.

There are so many things I need to tell, but first, I wanted you to understand where they were coming from. It was a hard week, but it was a vacation compared to real life.

And now, back to the grind...

Old Man River...

As of Monday, Jan. 12th, I'll be in Pearlington, MS for one week chasing gators, dodging mosquitoes, and helping people rebuild (still) from Hurricane Katrina. I shall return on the 20th.

Until then, have a good week and try to survive until I get back.

Commentary: Intelligence in the White House

I, for one, am happy with Obama's choice for CIA Director in Leon Panetta. In fact, I'd say that the best asset of Panneta is exactly the one thing that rankles the "Intelligence" community so much - the fact that he's an outsider.

When I was in Naval Intelligence the community was a series of fiefdoms where there was a lot of duplication of effort - the idea being that you could never have enough eyes on any given situation. The CIA looked at the entire world. The DIA did so as well. The DEA had their guys. The FBI had their people. NSA did their thing. And nobody listened to anybody else. The CIA guys were convinced they were right and didn't need to be questioned by DIA guys and vice versa.

But despite all that rigamarole, in general the intelligence was good because the person in the White House knew all about the system and how to glean the best intelligence from the community (Bush Senior used to be the head of the CIA). Clinton didn't have a clue about intelligence matters, but did the next best thing - he ignored them as much as possible. "W", on the other hand, had some very manipulative bastards running his intelligence gathering. With the same information sources his father had so effectively used, W's people managed to massage the intelligence to get it to say whatever they wanted. WMD's in Iraq? Sure. And they're an imminent threat too!

The Intel Community with an "expert" in charge managed to completely miss 9-11, and followed that up by getting us into a war in Iraq with faulty intelligence. And yet, the naysayers are demanding of Obama that someone from the Community be put in charge of it.

No, I like Obama's decision because while Panetta won't be an expert on Intel matters, as former Chief of Staff he also won't be so easily manipulated. He should be able to sift through Intel issues and figure out what's good, what's bad, and what smells like last year's fish. He'll be above the in-fighting and ought to be able to bring some much needed, outside, reform to the Community - instead of the lip-service that's been paid to the idea of Intel reform since 9-11.

The Head of the CIA doesn't create the intelligence, so that part of our capabilities will not be affected, but he does decide how that intelligence gets disseminated. And for that, I think its good to have someone who can smell politics a mile away in charge.

At the threshold of wisdom - the 600th Post

Funny that - my 600th post on New Year's Eve. A milestone for a milestone.

I learned a great deal this year. I gave up on my novel and learned to use the disappointment as a motivation. I produced a movie and learned that doing God's will doesn't always have to be boring. I edited a movie and learned that I still have a lot to learn about movie making ;) I watched an entire election unfold and learned that the American people can get sidetracked from time to time but still know what's ultimately important. But these are all things that are peripheral to my experience of this year - lessons learned, not lessons earned.

The most important thing that I discovered this year is that intimacy is not sex and that true happiness comes from the sharing of life together with others. Throughout my entire journey this year, the highest moments have all come from times spent with other people whether traveling together or sitting on a shoreline fishing or taking pictures or making a film or working. Moments spent alone (though necessary for reflection) were moments when I could not grow. It was in those quiet moments spent with others talking about their lives or their families or their thoughts that I made true connections with others - that I mattered.

I seek next year to continue this quest for wisdom by seeking out others and learning to share with them the moments that make up a life - moments of laughter and moments of anger and moments of sorrow and moments of joy. We are all the children of God and just like our biological siblings, we can't chose not to be related. Its only through shared moments that we will ever learn to reach that point of common understanding where your burdens become my burdens and your blessings become my blessings. I seek to bridge those gaps and truly understand.

No Reason For Confidence

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 1

As I was duly reminded this morning, I am one step away from financial disaster. My job is on shaky ground and I really don't have any sort of back up plan. I don't have thousands of dollars in a bank account. I have never been successful enough to even consider any sort of "life" insurance. I have no equity of any sort in any thing. If the worst case scenario should strike, I would be left with nothing but my wits.

And yet, I have a great hope for 2009 that I can't explain. At a time when I should be at my most pessimistic, I can't help but being optimistic.

I can watch the news and be scared. I can read the headlines and tremble. I can hear stories all around me of people being laid off and losing their homes and savings and I can feel the palpable fear that surrounds me - but I am not afraid.

I have faith that even if all these things come to pass and I spend a good portion of 2009 homeless or jobless or running from creditors and bankrupt that God will use me to the best of my ability. I have the great hope that for the first time in my life I Shall Fear No Evil For Thou Art With Me!

Oh, my life may take a Job-esque turn for the horrible next year, but if it does, I know that God will be with me. I can't explain this feeling to those that do not have it. But if I had to define it, I know that the definition would be Faith. Not faith that I shall remain untouched and safe and prosper, but faith that even in the darkest hours of my life, I shall know the love and glory of Jesus Christ. Its kind of hard to be pessimistic after that.

So Thank God and prepare for disaster. 2009 is going to be one bumpy year!

Looking Ahead to 2009

The funny thing about the end of this year has been how much 2009 has begun to gel in reality and not just in my mind. Usually I get to this point of the year and I start making plans for next year and... well, that's all they are - plans. I can plan anything I want and whether it comes true or not has always been as a result of luck and sure determination. But this year, my determination is getting to relax a little. I don't have to make things happen by sheer force of will and I guess that's put me in a good and hopeful mood for the new year.

So, for starters, I'm not going to take classes next semester. I've decided to give college a rest for at least a semester (though my opinion might still change before classes begin). I've learned all the stuff I set out to learn two years ago. Anything more, at this point, would be gravy.

I will continue with the stat keeping for USF as it appears that my Dad and Uncle will probably call it a career after this season. They've been keeping stats at USF since the late 60's/early 70's. I've been helping out for about the last four years. But they're both ready to retire from this job and let the torch pass to a new group of stats people.

I will most likely return to Idaho for some fishing during Spring Break. We'll see how my finances hold up. This is the one time of year I get to spend with my "other" family and my other town.

In January, I'll be traveling to Slidell, Mississippi as part of the Presbyterian efforts to rebuild that region after Hurricane Katrina nearly three years ago. I'll be there a week showing my love for Jesus and my complete lack of carpentry skills ;) Prayers are always willingly accepted.

Sometime early next year there will also be a Movie Premiere of 12 Step Jedi. This film is currently finishing up the sound work and the composing and recording of the sound track. We are hoping to have two premieres - one for the cast and crew (so we can get all the nasty comments and ribbing out of the way;) and one for everyone else and friends and family. I will let you all know when the premieres will be scheduled.

After the premiere, work will begin in earnest on "Dane" - our follow up film. Andrew and I have been huddled together now for hours since finals ended feverishly throwing out ideas for this film and the truly wonderful part is that we have been on the same page in almost every single detail. The short description of this film is that it is Hamlet meets Film Noir - which describes more the feel and the look of the film than the actual plot. Either way, we begin script work the moment 12 Step wraps.

We are also trying to form a film collective to aid us in the pre-production and production of Dane. Combining actors, directors, producers, filmmakers, and other artists, we will have a group of people interested in the mutual development of film and other projects. So far we have had preliminary discussions amongst potential participants and the general consensus is positive, but there's still a lot of work to do before a collective is formed.

I have other ideas, of the normal year end variety, but I'm thinking that I already have a lot on my plate for next year. Some of these other ideas might see the light of day in 2009, and some not, but I'm definitely not going to be sitting around next year. And, for a change, I don't have to do all the work. And that's an extremely good thing.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A quick recap...

For those of you who want the short version of my last ten days and next ten...

1) I finished up my final two classes in cinema - Advanced Cinematography and Advanced Sound. This required the complete creation of sound for three scenes from my movie and a final exam in Adv. Cine. Needless to say, I'm a little mentally exhausted right now.

2) I am well into the sound edit of my film. This is the third to last step. Second to last being the mixing of sound and music. And final step being actual distribution (i.e. DVD's, etc...) Short answer - not going to happen before Christmas.

3) I'm negotiating the creation of a film/acting cooperative with my co-producer and a group of students at San Francisco State. This will hopefully play a huge roll in the coming year.

4) Christmas continues to enthrall me with lots and lots of activities; concerts, services, and, of course, shopping. Always a busy time of year, made doubly so with my school and work schedules.

5) Work continues to kick my a$$ thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but I'm finally getting a handle on it... just in time for the economy to completely tank. *sigh*

6) All those signs and portents that my unusually "normal" life would soon be rocked by waves of change seem to be leading to a fundamental change in my current lifestyle in the very near future. (I.E. God has plans for me and the veil is just about to be pulled). I'm ready to embrace whatever He sends my way.

That's it. I'll try to get back to this blog next week for those of you still around to read it and maybe expand on some of these topics then. Until then, or if I don't catch you sooner, have a nice Christmas!

I'm just saying...

I had a thought. Occasionally, I do.

This Christmas season, instead of asking yourself, "What should I get for the person who has everything?" ask instead, "What should I get for the person who has nothing?" Tougher question to answer.

Reverse your thinking.

Reason For The Existence of Cable TV Found!

Not a huge fan of cable TV. In fact, basically, its four hundred channels of the same kind of crap that I can get for free, so why would I pay more for it? Except, of course, that with the new Digital TV stuff, its becoming increasingly unlikely that I'll be able to keep getting crap TV for free. So I finally bit the bullet and got cable.

In a nutshell... BORING! FORTY TIMES MORE BORING THAN USUAL!

UNTIL...

I watched the greatest show ever seen on TV on Saturday - Extreme Trains. The show's host is a conductor on a Maine RR who loves trains. But he's not just a geek with a hard on for powerful locomotives, this guy likes everything about trains from the tracks to the canto-levered lines to the bridges that span train lines. I've learned more about my college town (Pocatello) from this show in five minutes than I learned the entire time I lived there (two years) and all because a train passes through there. In the episode I just watched last night, I got to see a crane rip apart a refrigerator car, the engineer training school and the train simulator they use to train their engineers, and a refrigerator car loaded with produce get one of its wheels replaced while still on the track (very cool). This show is not only cool for adults, but also for kids. Had this show been around when I was a kid, I'd be a train engineer right now.

Anyway, I have my new favorite TV show and a reason to DVR again. I highly recommend this show which managed to be both educational and entertaining at the same time. Will Bob says check it out.

P.S. Its on the History Channel, in case you were wondering.

The Further Adventures of Jeremiah the Prophet

The Further Adventures of Jeremiah the Prophet

Chapter One
1 And so it came to pass that the great Jeremiah the Prophet who had spoken of God's displeasure to an evil and corrupt Judah escaped the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and fled with his remnant people towards any country that might spare him. 2 And thus did he pass out of all knowledge of the great books.

The Coming of the Great Scribe
3 Thus it was that the great scribe, Wilsephus found the Prophet in a refugee camp near the land of Midian as was foretold by the stars. 4 He presented himself to Jeremiah with the words his master had told him to say, "Oh wise and wonderful man of God, I come to you seeking employment. For it is written that you are semi-retired and yet, the people still come to you seeking words of wisdom or just to hear your latest forecast of doom and gloom. I grovel at your feet to learn the ways of being truly dark." 5 And the great Prophet looked at Wilsephus and sayeth...

"What the heck is that?"

"I'm sorry, Master, did my scribing offend?"

"That's not even close to the true story."

"That's true, oh great Prophet, but I assumed that when your new adventures are published some day they will rival your original book's popularity and be included with other great religious works. Therefore I was merely formatting the actual story of our fortuitous meeting in the style of the religious texts of today."

"Formatting? You were blatantly lying. Besides, I've already told you, Wilsephus, that there was nothing special about me. God simply chose me to say the things that needed saying and I did. That's hardly a skill set that you can profit by. In fact, if anything, saying the things that need saying tends to be rather detrimental to your future career. Did you know that I spent time in the dungeons?"

"Were you tortured?"

"Why do you have that gleam in your eye, Wilsephus?"

"Torture sells better."

"Yours is a sick and twisted world."

"People like to hear about suffering, oh wise master - especially the suffering of others, especially the unjust suffering of others, especially the unjust suffering of others yet to be. Why do you think you've been popular so many years?"

"You say I was popular?"

"Many people read your words, oh great one."

"Yet, they did not heed my warnings!"

"Well... nobody actually believed you. There were many priests that said your warnings were not scientifically based and the king hired many scribes to say you were full of hogwash."

"What I spoke was the truth, young one."

"No doubt. And in hindsight, I think they can all agree that your words were somewhat accurate."

"Somewhat?"

"For the most part."

"My words were from God and they were the truth."

"And you suffered for that truth?"

"Yes, Wilsephus. I suffered a great deal. Telling the truth can be inconvenient from time to time."

"Tell me about the suffering, Jeremiah... were the beatings bloody and gory? Did they use any torture devices?"

"Enough with the suffering, Wilsephus. If you wish to remain my scribe, you will tell only the truth from now on. Is that understood?"

"Truth... as I see it?"

"The Truth as it is known."

"Very well, oh wise one. I will tell the truth."

"Very good, you can start by telling everyone how we truly met."

"Yes, master."

The Further Adventures of Jeremiah the Prophet
(revised)

Chapter One
When last we saw Jeremiah the Prophet, he had just escaped the Babylonian captivity and was headed for lands unknown with a group of refugees. After wandering through the desert for many days, he came upon a camp for refugees set up by the Egyptian army. While several of the younger men were immediately pressed into service, Jeremiah was spared the harder labor and was given the job of writing correspondence to the head of the army in Memphis. As such, he was assigned the assistance of a certain Greek slave by the name of Wilsephus (the wise and wonderfu... WILSEPHUS! I'M WARNING YOU!... who was just a slave) that happened to know how to write the complex Egyptian hierogylphics...

Next time in The Further Adventures of Jeremiah the Prophet, Jeremiah and Wilsephus do battle with the priests of Kon-Sumer and their false religion.

It's A Wrap!

In addition to basketball (four games in three days) over this long Thanksgiving weekend, I somehow managed to wrap filming on 12 Step Jedi. The last scene, our only outdoor scene, was filmed Saturday morning at a breakneck speed that belied the "film it or drop it" nature of the shot. But, in the end, by Saturday noon when the scene was dropped in as the final piece of the final edit, it was quite a hilarious scene. I think it was also fitting that the final shoot included just myself and Andrew - the two people who started the project almost a year before.

And then, over the course of the remaining forty eight hours of my weekend, I struggled to figure out a way to defeat the intricate stupidities involved with computer software so that I could get the film off of my computer and into a format that people could actually view. As of midnight last night, I finally had a DVD copy of the film.

But don't rush out to the stores just yet. A)We're not selling it in stores. And B)The final edited version is not final, nor edited. I was merely creating a copy so that Chris Evans (a talented actor, as well as other things) could compose a soundtrack for the film. While Chris is working diligently on the soundtrack over the next couple of weeks, I will be tweaking the color correction and editing all of the sound so that it doesn't sound like some of it was filmed underwater, behind a wall of gravel, with actors using the accents of warbling gargling geese ;)

Which is all to say that the film actually is still on schedule for a mid-December finish, but I can say that principal photography, at least, is done!

Yay!

On A Quantum of Dark Knights

Happy Day Before The Big Gobble!

I recently saw Quantum of Solace and liked it. During the summer I saw The Dark Knight, and liked it as well. But it occurred to me, after Quantum of Solace, that the movies had a lot in common and yet were worlds apart. In the Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne continues his quest for absolution and redemption by taking it to the bad guys. And he's so successful at it that the entire city of Gotham is turned upside down and it gives rise to a battle with the Joker who might be the very epitome of evil itself and his allies. In Quantum, James Bond continues his quest for absolution and redemption by finding those responsible for the death of his first love (in Casino Royale). And he's so successful at it that he threatens to turn the entire shadow world upside down unless he is stopped, giving rise to his battle not only with a very realistic corporate type villain, but also those that have allied themselves with him. James Bond and Bruce Wayne being two sides of the same coin, and yet, I'd watch Quantum again, but I won't watch The Dark Knight again. Quantum still manages to remember that at the end of the day the hero belongs in the light, or else he shall become a shadow and a dark soul like those he fights. So far, the Dark Knight doesn't seem to want to come back into the light. Bruce Wayne likes the dark. And as a result, while Dark Knight was the better film, Quantum was far more enjoyable to watch.

Speaking of enjoyable to watch and Thanksgiving... if you're unlike me, you probably have time on your hands to sit around and watch movies this long weekend. So I thought I'd recommend a few enjoyable movies that, if you haven't seen, you should watch. Feel free to add to my list in the comments below.

For the holidays, I usually like to watch The Sound of Music again. A classic movie that is eternally upbeat and just so darn wonderful to sing along with. You can't beat this movie.

If you're looking for an action movie, I like The Great Escape. Again, its been around for a long time, but it never fails to wow an audience.

Some more recent movies that I've seen that I totally recommend, "Dan in Real Life," surprised the heck out of me for how good it turned out. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and its quite entertaining.

Some movies currently playing that you ought to check out, "Bolt" from a more-or-less true Disney/Pixar hybrid, Quantum of Solace - James Bond still learning to be James Bond, and, if you can still find it at a discount house, "Wall-E" -its worth it just for the closing credits, but the movie itself is quite fantastic.

Anyway, enjoy the holiday. I shall be finishing up my movie this weekend and working the basketball games at the Odwalla Classic (Women's tourney at USF), so I'll be back again on Monday with The Further Adventures of Jeremiah the Prophet.

On Character Assassinations and the sin of football...

Rejoice fellow citizens of the world for Thanksgiving is almost upon us and there is much to be thankful for.

To start with, tonight is the annual showing of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. The only thing I can really think of with regards to this particular special is the scene where Charlie Brown thinks he's going to finally kick that football, only to have Lucy yank it away at the last second. How much is that like real life? What are the footballs in your life that you're always trying to kick? For me, lately, its been my diet. Just when I think that ball is finally in my sights... yank, AUUUUGGGGHHHHHH! Thud! I go boom. Put in that context, human failure is actually humorous, especially in light of the fact that WE ALWAYS THINK WE'RE GOING TO KICK IT and we always end up flat on our backs. So keep that in mind these holidays when you can look around at a nation flat on its back because we all thought for sure that that football was going to stay in one place this time and we were finally going to kick it.

Tonight I'm also putting some of the final touches on my summer film. I'll be adding the credits which somehow can't possibly convey my depth of gratitude to all who participated in this project. My one hope is that all who participated had a good time doing so. Beyond that, I just hope they enjoy the final film.

But as for me, I'll be spending a lot of time (scene 4,6,7,9,12,14,17,25,and 28) getting popcorn during the premiere. Its not because those particular scenes aren't good - in most cases, they're fantastic - its more because I'll be on screen during those scenes. I'm not one of those actors who doesn't like to see himself act. On the contrary, my ego is very healthy. Its more the fact that my character is, at best, a pompous a$$, and at worst, dull as dog poop. Sometime between the concept and the creation, Harry turned out to be one of the worst character's I've ever had the displeasure of being associated with. Now, I'm not the greatest actor, but Lionel Barrymore would have turned down this roll.

So, it was with some pleasure that I realized that there were a few story problems during the final edit that could only be fixed by filming some additional material. I, naturally, assigned this new material to Harry so that I could have a chance to redeem his character and make him somewhat palatable on the screen. I wrote the scene, showed it to the director, took notes on how to best do the performance, and then filmed it. I had great anticipation of seeing the final product because I had really done my best to make the scene sell as a funny scene. Oh... it was funny all right.

Apparently, I somehow managed to transform Harry from a stick in the mud boring Jedi into a cross between Denethor (from LOTR, played excellently by John Noble) and Liberace. For a scene that I wrote and performed, I was shocked at the way it finally came out. I almost didn't recognize my own performance as the in the closet Pink Jedi. And I seriously contemplated reshooting the entire scene until I realized that it made me laugh - oh how it made me laugh. Unintentionally I had made Harry's scene the silliest thing in the entire movie. Sure, it doesn't match any other Harry scene in the film, but it was so over the top that it kind of balances him out (like Gollum's two-face scene kind of balances out all the scenes where he's just obnoxious). So Liberace Harry survives in the final film and I have, once and for all, completely assassinated this character never to be resurrected again.

Yes, there are many things to be thankful for. So keep up the good spirits, fight the winter and holiday blues, and come back again tomorrow when I compare and contrast Bond and Batman (who's going to die this week - or so I heard).

The Glorious and the Absurd

Sometimes I feel a little like a sponge - soaking up the mood of the world and then regurgitating it to everyone else. This can make you great at a party, but a bit much at a wake. Lately, we've been much more in the dark than the light and, as such, my blog's been about as much fun as a hangnail. I'm aware of it, but I've been merely writing what's been overwhelmingly on my mind at the time. I'd like to change that now. I'd like to spend some time in the sunlight. So, for the rest of the year, I shall be concentrating entirely on the glorious and the absurd.

On Friday, I was witness to an act of athletic terrorism. The Academy of Art Urban Knights, in their first preliminary season, tried to enter the gates of Basketball Valhalla on the hilltop of the University of San Francisco. The USF Dons set the dogs on them. It wasn't pretty. The Urban Knights ran around the court like they were being chased by their own tails. I think even the coaches were just hoping a mercy rule could be implemented. I've never seen a team destroy an opponent by 51 points and know that it should have been much worse. Still, the hot dog was good and the half time entertainment was a scrimmage by the kids of a youth center in Marin City - a notoriously lower class neighborhood across the bridge from San Francisco. It was good to see kids just having a good time (and thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would have been more merciful to have the Urban Knights play the kids from Marin City ;)

On Saturday, I was able to sleep in. Do you remember the days of old when we all used to be able to sleep until past noon on a Saturday? Yeah... those were good times. After that, I visited with friends and then headed over to my sister's to help celebrate my nephew's fifth birthday. There are some skills my sister and her husband have not quite perfected yet, but parenting isn't one of them. Her kids are delightful and I always enjoy spending time there (especially if Carl makes me a cup of coffee - his coffee skills are at the opposite spectrum of his acting abilities and that is indeed something to rejoice about ;) I'm trying to figure out a good time to take them to see Bolt - the newest Disney movie.

On Sunday, during the Children's sermon, our wonderful head of Christian Education - J.D. - was trying to teach the young children the importance of feeding the hungry. After explaining to them about the economics of the world (fully half of the people on the planet make less than $2 a day - which apparently is just enough to get a good toy at the dollar store ;) he then asked the kids for some advice. He said he had some money in his wallet and he needed their help to decide what he should give to the local food bank. So he pulled out a one and a five and a twenty and ended with a hundred dollar bill. Then, one by one, he asked the kids which bill he should send to the food bank. Each one answered the hundred dollar bill. But when he got to the last kid, he asked, "Why do you think I should give them the hundred dollar bill?" And the kid looked at him and replied, "Because my daddy has one just like it in his wallet." Needless to say, that brought the house down. God does indeed work in mysterious ways.

I'd like to pass on some prayer requests here as I receive them. A.J. from over at Bittersweet Life is asking for prayers for his family and for his upstart church project in downtown Kansas City. I really think this is a cool idea and I'm fairly certain that God does so as well. Still, a quick prayer for his endeavor and for his family can't hurt and might just lend them a feeling of strength and support. Also, prayers of thanksgiving for my good friend Nick Kibre and his wife Susan who are celebrating the birth of their second child and first son, Nathan Rhys Kibre. Congratulations you two (and a little extra prayer to their daughter, Winnie, who now has a little brother to protect).

That was fun. And I feel much better than evil sponge Will, so I'll probably continue in this vein until the end of the year.

Check back tomorrow when I lay out the gory details of my very first, and maybe not last, character assassination (and long overdue if I might say so). Yes, that's right, movie news - tomorrow!