Star Wars Dream

A Star Wars dream is the pinnacle of dreams to remember in my book. Here is my dream from last night as best I can remember.

Obi-Wan is on board the Death Star and is somewhat friendly but cautious about the leadership. At some point, he realizes that Tarkin isn't just a politician but is evil and they fight and Obi-wan runs.

Now he is trying to escape the station. He has a group of friends including Han Solo and some other faces I recognized but can't remember. They are hanging out in the cafeteria dressed as Imperial officers.

Obi-wan sneaks through the Death Star and enters an office area and sneaks through the cubicles (these are like you'd see in any modern-day office). He will need a distraction to escape and communicates with his friends to be ready.

I (or my avatar in the dream) am following behind him, crouching through the cubicles.

He encounters a small teaching pod where the teacher is showing something incorrect (related to Christmas and different names for the holiday) so he corrects her and talks with the kids. Another teacher recognizes him after a while due to the security bulletins, so we must move on.

Cut to the distraction. Han Solo and friends are having a firefight in the cafeteria. Everyone is bouncing around shooting lasers and using the metal food trays to block the blaster fire. They are remarkably effective but every time they are hit it makes a loud clanging noise.

Cut to myself outside the movie watching it with some people. I remark that that they should make the Stormtrooper armor out of the trays, and could you imagine being inside that and being hit. It would be effective but extremely noisy. The people I'm laughing about this with are my Uncle Drake and then my dad.

Cut back to the movie. Obi-wan passes by the cafeteria observing the firefight and moves into the gift shop where there are 3 children looking around. I remember that these children had been cast and people were doubting their acting ability. They seem fine. After a brief time, they break into song and dance. It’s not a horrible routine.

We move on, and there's another room and now others are singing and we're in a full blown Star Wars musical and it's just awful. They ruined a movie that started off great.

Then I woke up and went over all this in my head multiple times before going back to sleep so I could remember it and share it with you.

Courageous

I've been a big fan of the Sherwood brothers movies ever since I stumbled across the movie "Facing the Giants" on DVD several years ago. I think I may have even blogged about it back then. And I recommend it to everyone  I have a chance to. Since then I have seen their other movies "Flywheel" and "Fireproof" and own the DVDs for FtG and FP (but not FW). I was very excited a couple years ago when I learned about their next movie framed in a police story and focusing on fatherhood. Well this weekend the day finally came and the movie "Courageous" was on my radar to see with the whole family. I ended up just taking the boys since Kathryne had other things to do today, but I plan on taking her to see it soon.

The movie centers around a group of men several of whom are police officers and face danger daily. Another who comes into their group struggles with the more mundane issue of just trying to feed his family. All of them face issues of how to be a good father. So many of the themes and situations hit home. As a father I struggle with all kinds of thoughts about what I'm doing right and wrong. How badly am I going to screw up my kids through my actions or inaction? Am I disconnected from my kids? What I am passing on to them?

The movie itself has some big changes from their previous films. It has the same gospel messages and may still feel a bit "preachy" to non-Christians. But the production values, acting, and story are all greatly improved. There was nothing in the production of this movie that you could look at an think it's not a standard Hollywood production (at least to my untrained, consumerish eye). But the drastic departure comes in the general tone of the movie. There is some serious tragedy going on here. It's an emotional roller coaster. I cried just about every other scene. There was the standard humorous banter between characters that we've seen in their previous films. But from the very start, there are no punches pulled. And there is no miraculous happy ending here. Just a lot of real life that is messy for all involved. I hate to say it, but I was really ready for this movie to be over. Not because it was bad or too long, but because I was emotionally exhausted. It is over 2 hours long and was emotionally draining.

It was also very challenging. Challenging to not be mediocre or "good enough". As a father. As a man. As a Christian. If you are a father you need to see this movie. If you have a father, you need to see this movie. If your father let you down and negatively impacted your life you really need to see this movie. Take your family. Take your friends. Support this high-quality Christian entertainment by going to the theater in the first week (or two). That is the critical time for the industry to judge the popularity of a movie. Let's help this one stick around for a while.

A couple caveats. I took Sean and Joshua. Sean was fine, but Joshua was a bit scared/bored/overwhelmed in many scenes. You be the judge of your children's readiness for this film. Also, it is PG-13 for some of these reasons and there is some violence and drug related content that the police deal with. The worst part about the PG-13 rating is the trailers and other promotions before the movie. The are a bit harsher than a G or PG rating would have warranted. But there wasn't anything that was so out of line that I wanted to leave or hide from little eyes and ears.

The movie website has the opening scene available for you to watch, but please head out to the theater soon.

Movie Website: http://www.courageousthemovie.com/
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1630036/
Plugged-in Review: http://www.pluggedin.com/movies/intheaters/courageous.aspx
Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/courageous/

Video of the year

I don't usually like to post just links to videos, but this is truly hilarious and being the big Star Wars fan I am i figured this would be appropriate. Plus i really needed some laughs today and this provided them.

"Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)" http://vimeo.com/2809991

Kid Stuff

Last week we watched both National Treasure movies with the kids. They really liked all the historical folklore (mixed in w/ real history). They've been looking at the 1 dollar bill and examining it's features and we've looked up the Latin phrases for their meanings. We saw the first one earlier in the week and at the end of the second one this weekend Joshua came to a vivid realization. He heard one of the character mention Gates's name and he shouted excitedly "That's Gates, the same one from the National Treasure movie." This was at the end when they were in the sunken city. He'd gone the whole movie w/out realizing that it was the sequel with the same people.

And today he is on the floor w/ the block from the Jenga game making a hidden temple and playing National Treasure. He's already found the treasure which consisted of a lego droid, lego helmet, and a lightsaber.

Now i think the temple is collapsing.

A couple weeks ago, Sean and Joshua combined the board games Settlers of Catan, Cities and Knights, and Risk into one mega-game. I called home and Sean said they were playing this game and i thought it was some new computer game they had downloaded. But they had combined all the games and made up new rules (Sean did the rule making apparently) and had epic battles.

A couple weeks later now the game is finally getting put away as we prepare for our trip to Columbia, TN.

Sean's finishing up this week in third grade. It's pretty much just parties for the remaining days.

And i've been home sick this week (but i'm not a kid so i won't write about that).

Change

[This was written last week on a flight back to Seattle from DC]

48 minutes out of Seattle. I just finished watching the Hillary Swank movie “Freedom Writers” on the 4 inch screen in the airline seat. I ended up in “Economy Plus” seating which has about 5 inches more leg room and it is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I’m in the middle seat and I’m not sitting between 2 sweet little old ladies.

The movie was one of those about disadvantaged kids is a school where racial tensions are high, the teachers are just trying to make it though the day and the students are trying to make it to 18 without being shot. Ms. G. is a brand new teacher assigned to freshman and sophomore English classes. While the general theme reminded me of many other movies over the years (“Dangerous Minds”, “Stand and Deliver”, “Coach Carter”, and the dancing one with Antonio Banderas), it was still a very touching and entertaining movie. The theme was change. The students had to decide that they wanted to change their lives in the face of great odds and little encouragement from anyone other than Ms. G.

Change is hard. Sometimes change is forced on us such as with those in the Holocaust that the movie centers on. Many that survive the change come out stronger and as heroes to others as in the case of the lady (Ms. Gies?) who hid Anne Franke’s family. They are just ordinary people who inspire others to be more than what they are. The kids in the movie had a choice. They could be who they were and just accept their place in life, or they could make a change and be more and do more and possibly do more than just survive, they could thrive. These kind of changes are never easy and even unwelcome, but when we make the choice for change we open ourselves up to the possibilities of life. Another movie in this vein is “The Pursuit of Happyness” with Will Smith. I watched it recently and saw bits on the plane. If you haven’t seen it, you really must. Chris Gardner decides to be more than he is even though life keeps beating him down. The change from a life of woe to a life worth living is difficult, but it may not be the hardest choice to make.

Perhaps even more difficult is the choice to move from a life of comfort and mediocrity to a life this is spectacular. In my WASP, middle class lifestyle, I make choices every day, but these choices are often made for what is habitual and comfortable and familiar. I wear the same clothes, listen to the same music, do the same leisure activities, work at the same job, pray the same prayers, act in the same manner towards everyone around me. Everything is fine. Life is good. I’m well fed (too well). Well clothed. Well housed. Well loved and needed. I have no dreams or aspirations that I need to fulfill or at least none that I’m willing to devote the effort to pursuing. My life is all around a good one with ups and downs. I pay homage to God as the provider, but really it is me who brings home the bacon. At least that’s how I tend to see it. I don’t pray for provision of my daily bread because I’ve never had to go without (except for the 5+ hours on this plane because I didn’t have time to get something in the airport before boarding).

And yet I think of Ephesians 3:20-21 (which I will actually type in since I’m disconnected from the internet and http://www.biblegateway.com) “Now to Him who is able to do more, than all we ask or even imagine according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Is a normal, comfortable life what God has in store for me. Or is there so much more that I could be tapping into. So much more power. So much more strength. So much more heart. So much more soul. So much more relationship, with both God and man. The problem is there is nothing external to push me towards change. Life is not saying “Change or die!” In fact, I’m sure Satan wants nothing more than for me to live a comfortable life, only partially dependent on God. Satan doesn’t necessarily need all of me whereas God does. All Satan needs is for me to be lukewarm. God on the other hand is a consuming fire that will overtake my whole being. If I will just let him. Is this kind of change harder? I wouldn’t dare compare my conundrum with the trials of the Holocaust or the inner city kids who face gunshots and drugs or the starving children in the third world. And yet, each of us is put in our lives by the hand of the Creator and it is a life we must choose to live.

To be continued...

As we know it

Well it's a big week. On the job front, tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm getting an offer from a company in Austin, and Wednesday I have a phone interview with a company that makes games for mobile devices.

Sunday I get to lead worship again at church (always love doing that) and we have another Open House that afternoon. Top that off with the start of the new 24 season and you have the makings of a great day. It will be even better if lots of people come to see the house. Oh, and that's also Joshua's 4th birthday. He's been waiting for that for a long time.

Funny thing, I rarely watch football but I caught the 4th quarter of the Seahawks crazy win over the Cowboys. That was the most exciting quarter of football I've watched in a long time, maybe ever. I used to be a huge Cowboy fan and may be again shortly after our move to Texas, but for now I'm with the Seahawks. In addition I watched some of the Eagle/Giants game on Sunday (after just watching the same teams in the movie "Invincible"). I also watched a lot of the Florida/Ohio State game tonight. I think Kathryne's getting scared that I'm going to start watching sports all the time.

The boys won the wrestling match tonight. They ganged up on me. Sean finished a version of "Gulliver's Travels" that he got for Christmas. He's really tearing through those books now. We're sending off an application for a Christian school in Austin for next year. There's already a waiting list so we're hoping he can get in.

Enough rambling for tonight.