the passion of the Christ

thanks to my friend kerri and fbc for giving us tickets to go see the passion movie last night, here are some of my thoughts..

i guess growing up southern baptist we never really talked about what crucifixion really is, as was evidenced once again by the traditionals that filled the theater last night. many still dressed in their "sunday best" (do they sleep in those clothes?). the congregation looked and acted like your basic 11am sun morning crowd. the packages of kleenex being opened could be heard as soon as the opening music score started - these guys have watched too much tv - probably the same crowd that gives over their life savings to folks like benny hinn.

Ok, on to my review.
First, i would say that this movie is probably more for christians than it is a catch all evangelistic piece. and praise God for that. it is about time that those that follow Christ clue into what the sacrifice actually was. the truth of the matter is that i was relatively clueless as the next person until i joined clay street (AKA The Soul Cafe.) i am so thankful to those that had gone before us like nathan, stacy, and shannon for opening up my eyes and making it all become new and alive all over again. strangely enough, people routinely share their frustration with us (the clay street night folks) that our worship is too dark and dealing with too much of Jesus' suffering and not enough of the "feel good" type of happy Jesus stuff. well this gibson movie may be the best thing for us since our purchase of the Mackie 32 channel board. did i say something about a review????

back to the movie.
one of the things that i am most thankful for is that mel gibson is catholic - using the stations of the cross the catholics really seem to have a handle on the whole process of the suffering where most protestants, from my experience, usually want to get away from the idea of the cross and talk only about the idea that he was raised from the grave. certainly a great point, but don't leave the suffering out - i identify with that much more easily than that of raising from the dead. the other thing that catholics have on us is their respect (not deification, mind you) for mary, the mother of Jesus. most of the tear jerking moments came from their interaction and flash backs and for me it completely worked. it was a great reminder that Jesus was all man as well as all God and it made for a good escape from the violence, albeit a more emotional road at times.

the movie is mostly likely everything you hear about on tv. all the good, all the bad. both critics are somewhat correct. keep in mind that without the holy spirit, the movie just simply looks like a crazy man being killed by crazed church people. with that understanding, the anti-semitism critique is somewhat accurate as is the gratuitous violence. being a believer is different of course because you know more of the story. like i mentioned earlier, there is a lot that the movie doesn't tell about Jesus, so don't expect unbelievers to beat a path to your congregation just because they saw this movie. certainly folks will come to know Christ, but don't rely on this movie to do all of the work for you.

at the end of the movie it was clear to many of the tormenters that Jesus was who he said he was and that was what stirred me. To see God move (the earthquake, the dark sky, the temple veil ripped) even on screen, was a big deal to me. I wanted to yell the famous drew barrymore line from charlies angel's "Now that's kicking your ass!" but didn't think the ladies around me could handle any more trauma for one night. When it was over we quickly made our way out. i didn't want to stick around and listen to any folks' opinion, i wanted to process it all with my own family. Of course being that we did get free tickets, we did have to stay at the end for a few comments from the local clergy, kinda like having to take the time-share compound tour just to receive your free steak knives.

overall i think this is a great movie released at a great time. i am certainly glad i saw it and i think everyone (above the age of about 15) should see it, but i don't know that i ever want to watch it again. who knows. i am sure i'll be one of the first to purchase the dvd, i just may never open it.

a room at the inn

we had a big answer to prayer this morning when some friends of ours in houston said we could stay with them during the surgery. we actually stayed with them for the last one and it worked out perfectly. this will save us a ton of money that we will most likely need for other things. PTL.

well today is the opening day of the passion movie and looks like i have to wait til april to go see it. here in kerrville all the churches have bought out the theaters for the next several weeks. i guess not being part of any organized religious institution may at times have its drawbacks. oh well, i can still go to the ash wednesday service at the local catholic compound, i certainly am looking forward to that.

have a happy wednesday.

i am back at home finally...because the day was so nice, we decided to take a drive. here are some of the pics we shot during the day. have a great weekend.

i'm in sunny florida today where it is supposed to be warm and sunny. well, it's sunny, but not warm. oh, well. i had the opportunity to attend a hockey game last night where i was able to watch the tampa lightning win a great victory over (some other team). At the last minute i was invited to a box section with all the vittles a guy could want - i must say it is the only way to watch a sport, oh did i mention that i got to sit in a leather chair...

i'm supposed to be paying attention in this training class so i'd better cut this short before i get busted (i type too loudly, everyone is looking at me).

have a great week.

The date has been set

ok, so let me catch up. the texas children's hospital called this morning to recommend tyler for his next surgery and we set the date for march 29th. we are still unclear as to how involved this will be or how long the hospital stay will be or how to even discuss it with tyler. he knows that this is likely to happen, but up until now has always had a hope that it wouldn't be needed. pray for him that he will not stress out over this one - leave that to us.

yesterday i was informed that i have a new boss (again for the 4th time in 10 months) - bill stacy. he is currently the director of marketing for us which means that he likes to spend money. our hope is that he will allow us to spend our way back to success. i know it sounds like a republicanesque type of idea, but when it comes to technology, the biggest spender is usually the winner.

at clay street we have had an electrician there for about a week running new lines and re-wiring switches and what not. i am excited to finally have a ton of this done. of course while verifying that the new electrical does in deed work, i discovered that the sacred mirrored ball has indeed experienced some sort of abuse. with the spot light burnt out and the tiny little carabiner that holds the ball to the rotor missing, my stress level has reached an all time high (not really). i am certainly convinced that the longer you are involved in christian ministry, the longer the list of names of people you need to kill, if you could ever find the time. i guess with such little time, it would be better to spend time teaching the passion of christ instead of anything else of such a destructive nature.

what else? oh yeah. my friend jeremiah has redone his blog page and of course it looks great. it is becoming more evident each day that i am going to have to break down and learn some code so i don't have such a chump blog site anymore, but there again, so little time.

have a great week.

ad campaign for clay street

ok, so let me know what you think and yes i know, my feedback option still doesn't work, sorry. by the way, it is still being worked on so you have to endure the layout guides, they obviously won't appear in production. the logo is nathan's handiwork, i can't take credit for that.