Life Direction Questions: Knowing and Finding What You Seek
What are you looking for? What are you looking at? These two vision questions can tell you almost everything you need to know about the direction and quality of your life. “What are you looking for?” tells you what you hope for in the future. “What are you looking at?” tells you how you are…
Lessons on Repentance from The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman is a classic “rags to riches” story in which a poor boy named P.T Barnum falls in love with a rich girl. Her father does not approve of the relationship because he doesn’t believe P.T. will be able to give her the life she deserves. Against her father’s wishes, they get married…
I’m Thinking of a Movie Character . . .
He is an orphan raised by his aunt and uncle. Has best friends who fall in love. Has another friend who is very tall and very hairy. Is trained by a sage with a white beard who sacrifices himself and communicates with our hero from beyond the grave. In the second film, receives help from…
How Sam-I-Am Can Transform Your Selling Skills
Within Green Eggs and Ham are lessons that any entrepreneur, salesman, or recruiter should take to heart. If you sell or promote a product, service, or opportunity, you would be wise to pay attention to Sam-I-Am. Sam-I-Am created a product that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. He knew it had the potential…
Wicked Theology
I recently saw Wicked in theaters and was impressed. The songs were great, the world was bright and colorful, and the cast had great chemistry. However, I struggle with movies that reimagine a classic villain as misunderstood rather than genuinely evil (Cruella and Maleficent gave me a similar feeling). I will not give a full…
The Telos of Fight Club
Today is the movie Fight Club’s 25th anniversary. Fight Club is a movies that I never get tired of watching. It’s perspective on masculinity, consumerism, and purpose in life challenges me think more deeply. There are many things about this film that I could write about (and probably will in the future), but today I…
Rethinking Your Narrative: Unlocking Potential
In his book Mind Your Mindset, Michael Hyatt’s main idea is that “[Many] challenges people face— in fact, nearly all of them— are essentially (1) based in the brain and (2) evident in the stories we tell ourselves about reality.” The stories we tell ourselves inform how we see the world and act within it,…
Why The Good Place’s Good Place Isn’t That Good
I really like The Good Place. It is smart, funny, and poses interesting questions about morality and the human condition. The premise of the show is that Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dies and goes to “the Good Place.” However, she soon finds out that someone made a mistake and she doesn’t belong. She then tries…
Chariots of Fire: Why Do You Run?
Last week I discussed how people are either driven by love or fear. According to John Lennon, “There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.” Today, I wanted to show how these motives are lived out. I will examine Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell from the movie Chariots of Fire. Harold Abrahams There are three…
The Kingdom of God is like a Golden Snitch
I love the Harry Potter books and movies. My wife and I watch all 8 movies every year and frequently listen to the audiobooks before going to bed. Even if HP isn’t your thing, I hope you stick with me. Jesus often taught using parables. Following in my Rabbi’s footsteps, I want to show you…
Can You Be Perfect?
With football season starting up, I thought it would be appropriate to examine two of the best football movies: Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights. In both films the head coach challenged his team with being perfect. I want to take a couple minutes and consider both of these speeches and tease out the…
The Relentless Love of Forrest Gump
My wife and I recently watched Forrest Gump. Since I had seen the film many times I was paying close attention to the relationship between Forrest and Jenny this time around. A friend of mine argues that Jenny is the worst character in movie history, and I think he makes some valid points. She led…
Boobie Miles: Misplaced Hope and Identity
Friday Night Lights is one of the best football movies ever made. It is a story about a high school football team in west Texas, the pressures and expectations to win the state championship, and the highs and lows they experience throughout the season. At the center of the team is all-star running back, Boobie…
Cool Runnings: Gold Medals and Idolatry
In order to get into the Olympic spirit, I watched Cool Runnings last weekend. If you haven’t seen it, it is a hilarious movie about the first Jamaican bobsled team. It depicts how they learn a new sport, enter a new world, and strive to compete as equals as four black men in an all…
Stages of the Christian Life as Batman Characters
As I grow in self awareness I am realizing that I often desire to play the role of hero or savior. I like to think of myself as “the good guy” or the one in the right. I like being helpful, the one people can depend on. The one who cares and whose absence is…
How Hakuna Matata Ruined My Life
“Hakuna Matata, these two words will solve all of your problems.”- Pumbaa “This is the great life, no rules, no responsibilities, and best of all, no worries.”-Timon. At the age of 25, I have come to the realization that I have unwittingly become a disciple of Timon and Pumbaa. Their life motto “Hakuna Matata” (meaning…
Pacman’s Purpose
Disclaimer- A lot of these thoughts came from the Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch”. In most video games the main character has a clear purpose. Mario rescues the princess. Donkey Kong Jr. rescues his father. Ryu is trying to win a world-wide martial arts tournament. But Pacman, if you look at it from his perspective, only…
Hoosiers and Discipleship
Hoosiers, along with being one of the greatest sports movies of all time, also presents a nice picture of discipleship. When I say discipleship I am referring to the process in which we learn to better follow Christ and grow in maturity under the guidance of a mentor with more life experience. The “discipler”/”disciple” relationship could be…
Knowledge vs Love
In 1 Corinthians 8:1 Paul says, “Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up.” An image that helps me put this verse into perspective is Spongebob Squarepants, or should I say Musclebob Buffpants. In this episode Spongebob purchases inflatable arms to impress people who lift at the beach. Spongebob is adored by everyone, but there…
Hot Rod and Israel
Underneath the ridiculousness, slapstick humor, hilarious quotes, the movie Hot Rod actually addresses some deep struggles that I believe all men have. Throughout the movie amateur stuntman Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) performs/fails ridiculous stunts with his crew. Essentially the plot is Rod doing stunts in order to raise money to fund a huge jump (15…
The Good News of “The Sandlot”
If you know me you probably know that I really enjoy movies. If you know me well you probably know that “The Sandlot” is one of my favorite movies of all time and that I can pretty much quote the entire thing. Needless to say that I was super excited that on the 700th time of…
Cultural Eulogy 