Beneath The Dirty Hood

So they fold better when you button 'em?

How To Pack A Suitcase For Vacation

Some movies that may make you rethink your life

The Crux Project lists 10 Films That Ask The Right Questions:

Think about the movies that stay with you, those that elicit multiple viewings—even occasionally cult followings. It's not the images that infect you as much as it is the difficult ethical and philosophical conundrums that go unanswered. In trying to wrestle with these problems yourself, you find that you are changing, pushing your mind into unexplored territory. The Passion, while laudable in many respects, simply missed the boat in this regard; it opted to portray instead of probe.

And so rather than subject yourself to another ineffectual dose of Mel Gibson's didactic blockbuster, why not watch something that truly has the potential to reorient your life. Here are ten films that not only pose more questions than answers but choose to do so in the areas that matter most. What do I mean? Watch them and be changed.

That's great, but while talking about The Passion not changing or reorienting lives, the story gives Barna stats that when translated into people, look like this (Barna says 67 million Americans saw the movie before it was out on DVD, so this is conservative):

• 10.5 million said their religious beliefs were affected by
  The Passion
• 6.5 million said they changed their religious beliefs. 
• 6,700 made a profession of faith as a result of the movie.

Hopefully, the 10 Films That Ask The Right Questions will be as effective in missing the boat.

One of 16 million

Dad would've been in that massive invasion of Japan if Truman hadn't dropped the bomb in August, 1945.  I read the other day that Japan figured we only had one and that was why they didn't surrender at first.  Thus, Nagasaki. 

Dad was an engineer in the Pacific.  He didn't tell stories about the war.  I know more about what J. D. Wetterling did than about what Dad did, and I've never met or talked to J.D. 

This little glass paperweight sat on my grandparent's desk in the spare bedroom.  In my mind (no one ever said), Goldia cut out a picture of her son in uniform to fit the paperweight.  She kept it on her desk when he went off to war in 1942, and it stayed there when he got back and got married and had kids.  It's one of my memories of their house when I was a kid.

It's on my desk, now.

I wish I could have gone here with him.

Now, it's personal

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law — Proverbs 29:18

Blessed means happy and there probably wasn’t much happiness in those old days because there wasn’t much law-keeping.  They did way better when they had prophets and kings who listened to God and led the people, but the people still cast off restraint.  It was so pathetic that God said they were worse than the ungodly people He had kicked out.  So he kicked His own people out, too.  He was consistent. 

Happy is he who keeps the law, if only he would (or could).  But he won’t (and can't).  Apparently that was the whole point of the law; you have to keep it but can’t—NOW what are you gonna do?  And if you truly realized your predicament, you’d embrace the cure.  Failure is guaranteed and is supposed to drive me to Jesus Christ to be made right with God.  If I expect any credit or acceptance with God based on me doing the right thing, then He says I’ve put myself back under a law system and I’m obligated to keep the whole thing perfectly. 

So, I’m made right with God by believing what God has done for me thru Jesus Christ.  And now my living is to be done the same way—by believing what God is NOW doing for me thru Jesus Christ.   My revelation now is within me, not on cold stone tablets.  Always leading me consistent with the law, and with all His revelation in the whole Bible, but never by pointing me to the law.  He says, walk with Me, follow Me, keep in step with Me, don’t grieve Me.  It’s personal.  One-on-one.  Constant.  If I would only listen, and not ignore and neglect and cast off the restraint of His revelation.

We may love as Jonathan, and follow as Ruth, but until we know we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, we will not be free enough from our own interests to take up His — (Hungry Heart #5/29)

Little things

"All beginnings are more or less obscure in appearance, but none were ever more obscure than those of Christianity."  (A. B. Bruce)

"The longer the preparation, the deeper the work. The deeper the root, the firmer the plant when once it springs above the ground. I do not believe that any deep work of God takes root without long preparation somewhere."  (Hungry Heart #5/26)

The Long Leaf Pine can live for 350–500 years.  “It’s known for it’s strength, weight and rot resistance.”  Here’s a forest of them.

But the first 3–15 years there’s pretty much no visible growth.  It doesn’t even look like a tree; it looks like a spiky grass bush on the ground.  During that time a deep taproot is growing that the tree will live from for the rest of its life.  When grass fires sweep thru, destroying other trees, this tree survives, and continues to grow its roots.  “It can remain in a suppressed state for long periods if a suitable growth gap is unavailable.”

But when the “suitable growth gap” comes, look out!  The Long Leaf Pine suddenly shoots up “rapidly, to above ground fire height.”  And now it’s ready for long, strong living. 

Long Leaf forests need fire to thrive over more normal hardwood trees.  The fire wipes out the hardwoods, leaving the made-to-grow-thru-fire Long Leaf. 

(tree info here)

Just the Half-Price Books visit got it close to perfect

This week’s Christian Carnival magazine is out at Technogypsy.  Mark Daniels describes a perfect day, but realizes:

I take no credit for the wonderful day that has come to me. I don't feel that I deserve it. I have no sense of personal pride for the life that I enjoy. It is pure gift. And I know that in a world in which bad things do happen, not all my days will be like this.

If you ever think you're hot stuff

Look!

"Dizzy with self-love"

Peggy Noonan is bummed-out by how the 14 filibuster-busting Senators were proclaiming “their excellence” on TV and puts politicians in their place:

People who charge into burning towers are heroic; nuns who work with the poorest of the poor are self-denying; people who volunteer their time to help our world and receive nothing in return but the knowledge they are doing good are in public service. Politicians are in politics. They are less self-denying than self-aggrandizing. They are given fame, respect, the best health care in the world; they pass laws governing your life and receive a million perks including a good salary, and someone else--faceless taxpayers, "the folks back home"--gets to pay for the whole thing. This isn't public service, it's more like public command. It's not terrible--democracies need people who commit politics; they have a place and a role to play--but it's not saintly, either.

"Extreme citizenship"

Last Saturday I wrote on a going away card:

There was a big difference between the Dominican Republic and that fountain at Promenade on Providence, but really not, because of the one God with one big purpose who inhabits everything.  He’ll be inhabiting these next few weeks and the years after that, too. 

On 9/11 when he was 16, he watched TV and said, I wanna do something about that.  There was an inner, moral should that grew inside him.  He not only wanted to do something about that, he wanted to lead others in doing something about that.  It’s the same compulsion expressed by this wife:

three-quarters of those on regular active duty would re-enlist or extend their commissions tomorrow if asked. Why? Not for money, security, or even for the global war on terror. The reason for their service is the service itself. The poll called it "patriotism."

This week, my 19 year-old friend arrived here.

of us.