movie review: The Enforcer

The Enforcer is a crime drama from 1951 starring Humphrey Bogart. This is based on a true story about a group of people who called themselves "Murder Inc." They would kill someone for you for money. You didn't get caught, they didn't get caught, everyone was happy, except the dead guy.

The movie starts towards the end of a four year process of finding the head of the company. He is now arrested, with the police holding a witness, the only witness, to a murder done directly by him. He gets to testify on the following morning, but dies before the night is through, leaving the police with no evidence to prosecute.

The movie then goes through a series of flashbacks in which you find out all about the murder business that he was running and the people involved. They are trying to find something to pin on this guy, or they let him go free in the morning.

Bogart is the star as head prosecuting attorney. This is one of my favorite Bogart flics I've seen yet. Its not to the standard of Casablanca, but that is considered one of the best films of all time.

calvinism continued

I guess I am getting confused on the whole issue of God's messengers being bad things because I have seen a string on unlikely events in the area of Kara and I having children. I talked earlier about Luck, chance, and statistics and where it falls with the soverignty of God.

I have always viewed Bad things as a result of sin entering the world. I viewed Bad things as being carried out by Satan as in the book of Job. But calling these bad things God's messengers is outside of my current thought process.

Calvinism is confusing

So I am preaching out of Mark 1 and in my studies I came across this quote from John Calvin himself pertaining to this story of Jesus healing Simon's mother in law of a fever, and then healing a crowd of their diseases.

"He rebuked the fever. To a person not well acquainted with Scripture this mode of expression may appear harsh; but there were good reasons for employing it. Fevers and other diseases, famine, pestilence, and calamities of every description, are God’s heralds, by whom he executes his judgments. Now, as he is said to send such messengers by his command and pleasure, so he also restrains and recalls them whenever he pleases. The manner in which he healed them is not mentioned by Matthew and Mark: but Luke says, that it was by laying hands on each of them. Under the Law, this was a sign of reconciliation; and, therefore, it was not improperly, or unseasonably, that Christ laid hands on those whom he freed from the curse of God. It was also a solemn rite of consecration, as will afterwards be more fully explained. But I interpret Christ’s laying hands on the sick, as meaning simply, that he recommended them to the Father, and thus obtained for them grace and deliverance from their diseases."

This is hard for me to understand. It says that God is the cause of things like famine and such. I have been wrestling with this all day. any suggestions?

isaac took a spill

Isaac was running at church last night and fell down and hit his eyebrow on the cement bracing for a handrail. It was pretty bad. But since Isaac is like Wolverine, he clotted almost instantly. By the time we got him to the office for the first aid he had stopped bleeding. So he could have used sticthes, but we butterflied it and it is closed already the next morning after. He is an amazing little guy. He stayed still while we cleaned it and bandaged it.

Me speaking

So here are two pictures of me speaking. I felt like a stand up comedian because I got to hold a microphone and make people laugh. The picture on the right is not me singing a love song, the place would have cleared out! it is me telling a story Jason Raitz style. Jason is my mentor and best friend. He moved to Chicago and I miss him. He is working at Willow Creek now.

Well anyways, Kara and I had a blast, and I think that everyone else did there too. It was my first time "communicating" in over a year, I have been doing a teaching style of speaking for the last year in our ministry. Teaching and communicating are different in style and content. So I was a bit shaky, but I think it went over alright.

Saranac Youth Center Pics

so I went to speak at the Saranac Youth Center a few weeks back, as I wrote earlier in a post, and we had so much fun. Well DeAnn, who has been running the youth center just e-mailed me some pictures of the night.

This picture is of Peter. He is a senior one of the student leaders there, and he also comes to our ministry on Wednesday nights. He is being mentored by me in the area of communication. He wants to be a speaker or pastor.

Well he is involved there, and he got to introduce me to the crowd. That was cool.

will work for kung fu lessons

thought this was pretty funny.

movie review: dark victory

Wow. Kara and I just finished this movie. It was really good. It is about this rich 23 year old gal, Judith, who has a brain tumor that is causing her to have headaches and double vision and such, but she is in denial of it because she is, quote "young and untouchable" or just very much in denial.

They go to see a doctor, and the doctor takes them to a brain surgeon. The brain surgeon removes the brain tumor successfully, but finds out that it is a disease that will come back and take her life in 10 months. He and the doctor, decide to keep it a secret. So much for the modern day patient bill of rights.

Well Judith's best friend finds out about it, and she keeps it from her too. all the while, Judith is not the naive stupid young gal, she matures and is loving life, falls in love with the surgeon and he with her and life is going great, that is until she finds out about her disease by reading her folder.

She then dumps the surgeon and starts living life in a rush, trying to get all she can into it. But finds it to be empty, turns back to the doctor, they marry and move to Vermont and live in a little house. ***SPOILER WARNING*** The surgeon is making advances in finding a cure and is asked to go to New York to show some doctors there, Judith at this time is starting to go blind, which is the first sign that death is hours away.

Judith urges her husband to go, he does after fighting and second guessing her on it. She dies on her bed alone, just as she wanted. Sad, but a very, very good movie.

I Was Thinking of You

this is a couple of students from our ministry. they always amaze me with what they can do with stuff they find in their basement and a laptop.

Tony vs. Paul

this is by far the coolest video i have ever seen

funny sign

I thought this was the funniest thing i have seen in a while! Make sure to read the fine print at the bottom.

Jr. High Leaders Rock

So today we had our first Jr. High leaders meeting, and it went great! We have a groups of amazing people who are heading up the ministry. Why are they amazing, because they treat it as a ministry and not a hobby or side project. This is a great group of people who are going to take the Jr. High ministry to a level it has yet to see.

In recent years the ministry was lacking structure and leadership because there was no staff person who could pay much attention to it. Let's face it, Jr. High ministry is the most put off ministry in many churches when it comes to resources and attention. We had really dedicated volunteers who made things happen and connected with the kids in amazing ways, but as for a structure, it was missing.

I am really going to dump a majority of my time into leaders this year, Sr. High and Jr. High. We have great people in place, and I am really excited to see where God takes us this year. I don't think I have ever been this excited about ministry ever, it is a good place to be.

new guitar tuning

I have always been a fan of the open E guitar tuning that Crowder has made famous, ( E A E E B E) and, I have been known to use it an use it often. Well our youth worship team was covering a Delirious song that required the high E to be dropped to D and played open, it sounded cool.

Then Caleb dropped the B to an A and played those open together and it sounded cool. So I took it a step further and dropped the G to an F# and the Low E to a D so the tuning is from low to High D A D F# A D. It sounds really cool when you play, "The Wonderful Cross" playing the octaves on the two A strings. Sounds real cool.

You can also capo it on 2 for E, 5 for G, so it is a bit more versitile than open E tuning in which you cannot play anything in the key of D without a Capo on the 9th fret! You can try it if you want, it doesn't stress the strings at all like open E, the G usually breaks on retuning.

My New Addiction...Sokoban

so this is my addiction, a Japanese puzzle game called sokoban. You have to push all the boxes into the designated spaces, sounds easy, but it can hurt the brain on some really hard levels.

give it a try.

www.pimpernel.com/sokoban/

movie review: dial m for murder

I love Alfred Hitchcock. He is genius. One of my pet peeves is the Oscars. Who are the high and mighty that get to choose the best directors and actors and movies? It's all a bunch of politics. They don't actually pick the best talent, just the best choice politically for the year. For instance, Alfred is considered the most amazing director of all time, most innovative, most creative, and he never won best director.

Well, this is one of his more famous movies, and I loved it. A rich woman is cheating on her husband, the husband finds out and plots to kill her to take her money, because he is very accustomed to living rich, so he hires a guy to murder her ***spoiler*** so the hired guy boches up the job and gets murdered by the wife, and the husband is then in a jam! So he tries to frame his wife for murdering the man by saying that he was blackmailing her with the information of the adultery. It gets really twisty at the end, and is a great great movie. Watch it.

House Hunt Update

we got no leads, no prospects, nothing. we will wait and pray

movie review: lady in the water

So, I don't really get around to too many newer movies, but I am a M. Night Shyamalan fan so I had to rent this one. It was really weird, but if you are a fan you will like it. I really like M. Night's style. He has a way of doing movies that is different.

This movie, unlike his other flics, does not have a twist that boggles the mind. It does, however, have a really cool story line with some good acting. It is a fairy tale meets joe shmoe apartment complex kinda movie. Weird, but it works.

I am probably going to watch this flic with our Leadership team from church. The underlying message of the movie is finding your place and purpose, and fulfilling it, because if you don't the plan doesn't succeed. We will also watch this for a bible study movie night with the students too. It was a really good movie.

Dell techs rock

So I just spent an hour and a half online with a dell tech, she walked me through installing the hard drive, and all the drivers onto Kara's computer getting her back in action. Holy cow. I know people swear by macs and all, but I love Dell's service department.

24 Day 6: Nuke Being Set Off

As if Curtis' Death isn't enough. This was the very next scene. Kara cried.

24 - Curtis' Death

The most moving scene in 24 history. I cried. I loved Curtis! Why?! WHY!!!

the saddest event in tv history: 24 season premeir

I can't beleive that Jack shot Curtis!!! He was Curtis!! Loyal and devoted to his coutry, and in a moment of weakness, boom. Jack was forced to shoot Curtis in the neck. I cired.

Free-Climbing Lovers Leap

this is freaking amazing!! I thought it was a camera trick, nope. This guy climbs 400 some feet without ropes in 4 minutes!!

the cake

We had to go to Walmart to get his cake this year. Meijers had nothing new to choose from. But they did a great job on his Pooh Bear cake. The swing actually swung! Isaac thought it was cool, he said, "birthday cake!"

slam dunk

Isaac made a slam dunk!

Isaac wasted no time

As soon as we sat down, Isaac ripped right into the gifts picking the ones he wanted, putting others aside, and tearing them apart. It was cool to watch.

isaac's hair cut

We finally had a birthday party where Isaac has a hair cut! No mullets or overgrown hair. He looks so grown up with his hair cut, and button up shirt.

Isaac's new b-ball rim

Kara and I bought Isaac a basket ball rim for his birthday. When we are at church, he always runs to the gym and wants to play. Now he can play at home.

Isaac turned three

This is Isaac hugging his mama at his third birthday party. He had fun.

Isaac's new coat and hat

Isaac has a new coat and a new hat, he looks so cute in it. This picture was taken at his Nana and Papa's house as he went for a walk around the yard.

Saranac Youth Center

So tonight, a youth center in our area had a concert and pizza night. One of our students, Peter who I am mentoring to speak and communicate, is a student leader at the Saranac Youth Center, and he asked me to come out to speak at this event. It was really cool, we met a band, Three Chord Statement, and they were really good. We had fun, got to hear good music, eat pizza, and share a message with Jr and Sr High students. Great time!

Grrrrrr

So the lappy that I got my lovely wife for Christmas broke this week. It makes a real loud whirring noise, and then it gave this error, and now it won't start. I am chatting with a Dell rep now. Grrrrr.

house hunt update

Well the house that i really really really wanted that has been on the market for a year, was sold on the very weekend that we looked at it. Darn. Well the house that we were in heated bidding with the bank that wouldn't come down to where we needed it to be contacted us again and is willing to come down to Within 1K of our asking price, so we need to think about going beyond our asking price. hmmmm, what to do.

dave matthews band grey street

whenever i wonder why i'm n the ministry i just listen to this song

Thoughts On My Dad

Ten Words that Describe my Dad

10. Dedicated

9. Loving

8. Helpful

7. Giving

6. Tireless

5. Compassionate

4. Godly

3. Humble

2. Fun

1. Example

I have been thinking a lot about my dad lately. I think about him a lot as is, but lately it has been more than the usual. I had a few memories that have popped into my head:

Most Fun: Probably the most fun I have had with my dad was building the apartment in his basement that Kara and I lived in for two years. I had to finish school and keep a crummy job for the insurance, and Kara was pregnant and working. So on the weekends we built this two bedroom apartment in their basement in Fowlerville. I distinctly remember numerous times we lost the hammer we had just had our hands on (we are both really forgetful that way) and laughing so hard we cried at a stupid joke about carpet tacks and a swingset.

Most Painful: Probably the most painful memory that I share with my dad was when Elijah was born, we knew that God could do a miracle, but were not sure that he would do it. I remember a whole lot of family gathered in the waiting room, Elijah was just born with anencephaly, and we wanted Isaac to meet his brother before he passed, so I went to the waiting room to get him. My dad was there and he looked at me with expectant eyes. I remember wanting to be able to give him good news, but being unable to.

Most Inspired: The most my dad inspired me was all through life watching him love my mom. That is a rare thing to see these days, but not for me. I got to grow up watching my parents love each other, and love their God.

So all in all, I got a good deal when God gave me to my parents. Thanks Dad.

House hunt update

so we put in an offer for this beaut. it is 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. 2.5 acres 3+ stall garage, finished basement. dang its good. please pray that we get it. i want it. bad. really bad.

House hunt update

We had a big bidding war with the bank, and they did not want to come down to where we could afford it, so we walked away. I don't want to take on a house payment that we cannot afford and have to fix it up too. So we are looking at four houses Tomorrow. We shall see. I would love to be in a house by the time the baby gets here. But we shall see, I like this house we are in, and we are getting it dirt cheap, so we can save money.

The tree is gone

So today, i finally got the gusto to take our tree down. I don't think I watered it more than twice the whole Christmas season. So taking all the ornaments down was interesting. there was a pile of needles on the ground. It is currently sitting on our front porch. But the house looks great without it now. I really enjoyed the Christmas season, but when its over, its over. The tree was looking a bit weird and out of place. We still have our white lights on the windows, and our village set up, but I think that they will stay up for the next few weeks. They are not overly Christmasy, and I kinda like them. For the icicle lights on the outside, they are going down tomorrow.

movie review: northern exposure

Kara and I have been watching this series through Netflix. It is a great show. It is about a New Yorker Jewish Doctor who can't afford to go to med school, so he finds a program through the state of Alaska that will pay for his medical school in exchange for 4 years work in Alaska. He agrees. The series picks up here. Joel, the doctor, is in Anchorage, a pretty big city, but the hospital there has no room for him, so they send him to Cicely Alaska (hick ville Alaska) with a population of 216 or so. It is great to see this New Yorker Jewish Doctor and his culture collide with Podunk Alaska culture. The show is addictively funny, the characters are great, and the story lines are outrageous enough to be entertaining, but not to a point of unbelievability. Good TV series.

stupid dog

so we came home from church tonight to find our dog looking guilty. she gets locked in the kitchen, and the garbage gets put into the garage. everything from the counters has to be pushed back too. i looked around the corner, and there was an entire bag of flatbread eaten. she ate 2-3 lbs of bread while we were gone! that's a lot of bread. i hope she doesn't puke that up, it would be mesy.

movie review: High Sierra

I really liked this movie. Bogart plays a bank robber who gets pardoned by the governor of Illinois. Turns out, a rich guy in California pulls some strings to get him pardoned so he can go out to cali to do a job for him, a resort that hosts rich folk. He wants Bogart to steal their jewels out of the safe. Bogart meets two gals, a young gal from the country, innocent, sweet and falls in love with her and her family. Bogart also meets a dime a dance gal who is mixed up with the other two guys that are hired to do the job with him. He then has an internal struggle, do I go with the farm gal (who he wants to be) or do I go with the dime a dance gal (who he is now.) I love Bogart's tough guy character in this movie. He is the dude you don't mess with that strikes fear in the hearts of even the other criminals he's working with. My favorite part is when Bogart slaps this guy open handed and then back handed for insulting him, and then stares him down.

I Love Netflix!

we have had netflix for about a year now, and i love it. i can never find anything at the movie store. we can literally spend an hour and a half in there and never find anything, and honestly i am not interested in many of the new releases. there is something about many of the newer movies coming out that i just don't like. not all of them, just alot of them. they are boring and predictable. all movies have "content" you need to include if you want to hit certain audiences. as long as you know the audience that the movie is aimed at, you can predict the plot and even the jokes. it is all so boring to me. i think that is why i am liking the classic movies. when i say classic i don't mean 1980, i mean 1930 to 1949. there are some newer movies out there that i do enjoy, ones that aren't marketed to audiences, but are expressions of a directors artistic ability.

movie review: treasure of the sierra madre

i love Humphrey Bogart. This movie is a great movie about how the love of gold corrupts the soul. These guys are in Mexico. broke, homeless, jobless and they hear of how you can go prospecting in the hills for gold. they all agree that they would only take what they needed, but as the gold keeps coming in, they start to turn on each other thinking that they are out to get each other. the all famous movie line, "badges! badges! we don't need no stinking badges!" is in here but although it is not really said that way in the movie. Bogart gives an amazing performance, i loved this movie. watch it!

i rock!

isaac is going around saying, "I rock!" as he plays his guitar. he even plays with his teeth.