Go Animate!

I just came across a new website where you can make your own animated films. Goanimate.com has backgrounds, effects, and characters to choose from. The characters have very actions they can do. It's pretty cool.

This test is just what I was able to put together from the stuff that was available on the site, including "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. Hey I had to have something to work with...

Eat-Mor-Chikin

Brothers and sisters, if you don't love Chick-Fil-A...well, God will deal with you on that someday. Hat tip to the Kidologist for pointing me to this fun little video about the joys of Chick-Fil-A. I actually made a hajj to the original Chick-Fil-A store in Atlanta a few years ago. It's called "The Dwarf House" and to the dismay of the cows you can actually get a hamburger there. I'm going to Atlanta later this week, maybe we'll have to do that again.

The National Association of W Haters

I just watched the movie "Vantage Point" tonight. No, I don't have a biblical application this time around. The movie was alright. Clearly it was trying to be a 90 minute version of "24." It's about a terrorist plot that involves an assassination attempt on the President, as seen from several different points of view. The President is played by William Hurt, and he's not playing George W. Bush. So I found it really weird that at the beginning of the film we see a group of protesters, one of which is holding a sign featuring a letter W in a circle with a slash across it. Now if the President in this movie has middle name that begins with W it's certainly not made known to the audience. So what does the letter W have to do with anything here?

This could be viewed as a goof, but I'm not so sure. It seems like it may be another example of the filmmakers injecting their own political views into the background of the film. It's not uncommon. Richard Donner, who is a fine director, does it all the time. His police stations wallpapered with anti-NRA posters in the Lethal Weapon films is especially notable.

You know, on "Sesame Street," way back when I was a kid, there was a segment that featured Bert as the leader of a club called The National Association of W Lovers. Perhaps this person in the movie is really from a rival group.

Mothra Song

Remember the other day I said how I love Asian cinema? Well I couldn't resist sharing the theme song of one of my favorite Asian cinema stars...Mothra (or Mosura as he's known in his native land). You gotta love Mothra, he's got his own groupies!

Psalm 133

Last night I write a post about unity in the body of Christ. This morning God leads me to Psalm 133:1 in my morning scripture reading...

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!

God Speaks through a Kung Fu Movie

I love the cinema of the Asian world. Whether from China, Hong Kong, Japan…their animation, their giant monsters, and especially their martial arts films intrigue me. The other night I was finishing watching the movie "Fearless" staring Jet Li. I was just sitting back enjoying this beautifully photographed and skillfully choreographed martial arts epic when suddenly God snuck up on me. As a big movie fan, I love it when God brings something to my heart through a movie.

In the film, we see Li's character as a child growing up in the home of his father, a wushu master. In once scene we see the father battle with the head of another household who argue that their style of wushu is superior. Even as the boy becomes an adult these battles over who is the greatest master continue, escalating until Li's character kills another master during a battle motivated by revenge. The circle of revenge then continues, and members of Li's family are also killed.

To make a long story short, our hero goes away for many years and eventually returns with a new outlook on life. It was during a scene where he is meeting with an old friend after being away that God spoke. He says to his friend (at least according to the subtitles):

"We have to be very strong for us and for our people. The reason foreigners look down on us is because we are not united. For several years now, we surely were our own worst enemies."

Immediately my brain went to one of the things that has troubled me the most in my spiritual journey of the last year or so…the subject of the lack of unity in the body of Christ. I seem to encounter people, fellow believers, who spend way too much time looking for things to complain about concerning other churches way too often. Everything from style of worship music to how a pastor dresses to whether or not someone ended a prayer with "in Jesus name…" seems to be fair game. In all honesty, it's making me sick.

Pastor Craig Groeschel from Lifechurch.tv said well it when in one of his messages he pointed out that Christians are known more for what we are against than what we are for, and unfortunately, what we against the most is each other. We are our own worst enemies. Why do so many have no interest in the Gospel ? Why do so many look down on it? We are not united.

Groeschel preached a sermon earlier this summer called "Lord Make Us One." The whole sermon is great (check it out here), but one thing he pointed out really hit me. Every Christian needs to hear this. We need to remember that as believers we have just one enemy. It's not the church that likes their music a bit louder than you like. It's not the church where they use King James only. It's not even the church down the road that has triple your attendance. His name is Lucifer, and I'll be he likes nothing more than seeing Christians arguing with each other over the stupidest things.

"Lord Make Us One," what a great prayer. Add to that the name of the movie that in a strange way brought this all to mind for me again…"Lord Make Us Fearless."