Saturday, March 28, 2009

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Forrest Gump goes to Heaven


The day finally arrived. Forrest Gump dies and goes to Heaven.

He is at the Pearly Gates, met by St. Peter himself. However, the gates are closed,

and Forrest approaches the gatekeeper.


St. Peter said, 'Well, Forrest,

it is certainly good to see you. We have heard a lot about you. I must

tell you, though, that the place is filling up fast, and we have been administering

an entrance examination for everyone. The test is short, but you have to

pass it before you can get into Heaven.'


Forrest responds, 'It sure is

good to be here, St. Peter, sir. But nobody ever told me about any entrance

exam I sure hope that the test ain't too hard.

Life was a big enough test

as it was.'


St. Peter continued, 'Yes, I

know, Forrest, but the test is only three questions.


First:

What two days of the week

begin with the letter T?


Second:

How many seconds are there in a year?


Third:

What is God's first name?'


Forrest leaves to think the questions

over He returns the next day and sees St. Peter, who waves him up, and

says, 'Now that you have had a chance to think the questions over,

tell me your answers.'


Forrest replied, 'Well, the

first one -- which two days in the week begins with the letter 'T'?

Shucks, that one is easy. That would be Today and Tomorrow.'


The Saint's eyes opened wide and

he exclaimed, 'Forrest, that is not what I was thinking, but you do

have a point, and I guess I did not specify, so I will give you credit

for that answer. How about the next one?' asked St. Peter.


'How many seconds in a year?

Now that one is harder,' replied Forrest, 'but I thunk and thunk about

that, and I guess the only answer can be twelve.'


Astounded, St. Peter said, 'Twelve?

Twelve? Forrest, how in Heaven's name could you come up with twelve seconds

in a year?'


Forrest replied, 'Shucks, there's

got to be twelve: January 2nd, February 2nd, March 2nd... '


'Hold it,' interrupts St. Peter.

'I see where you are going with this, and I see your point,

though that was not quite what I had in mind....but I will have to give

you credit for that one, too. Let us go on with the third and final question.

Can you tell me God's first name'?


'Sure,' Forrest replied,

'it's Andy.'


'Andy?' exclaimed an exasperated

and frustrated St Peter.


'Ok, I can understand how you

came up with your answers to my first two questions, but just how in the

world did you come up with the name Andy as the first name of God?'


'Shucks, that was the easiest

one of all,' Forrest replied. 'I learnt it from the song,

ANDY WALKS WITH ME,

ANDY TALKS WITH ME,

ANDY TELLS ME I AM HIS OWN.'


St. Peter opened the Pearly Gates,

and said: 'Run, Forrest, run.'


-Thanks for this Uncle Bill

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Movie Review - Knowing

"Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of fire."

Ezekiel 1:4

Introduction:
When I first saw the trailers for Knowing, I thought, oh boy another disaster movie, when will they stop making them, but thrown into this disaster movie is a nice twist. This film has many various spiritual overtones and metaphors.

Story:
The story starts in a school, in 1959, where the teacher asks her class to write down what they think the future will look like and they will put them in a time capsule. Most of the kids draw some weird cars and robots, but one little girl draws a bunch of random numbers on a paper.

In the present day, John Koestler and his son Caleb come into contact with this paper, when the time capsule is uncovered, and John soon realizes that each number predicts every major natural or man-made disasters over the past 50 years. He soon figures out that there are three more disasters yet to come.

The rest of the story follows John and his son Caleb as the try to uncover the truth of the numbers and trying to prevent these disasters from happening. Also, there are 4 strange men that are following them around and "whispering" to Caleb and showing him visions. Who are they? What do they want?

What worked:
What made this movie work so well is that it is not just another "The Day after Tomorrow" or "Independence Day". You don't want to go into this movie looking for another natural disaster that must be avoided. You have to go into this movie, like the teacher says at the beginning of the movie, with your thinking caps on.

Throughout the movie John wrestles with the issue of "randomness" and "determinism". Is it purely random that the Earth happens to be the exact distance from the Sun that it needs to be in order for life to grow and thrive here? Or is it a sign of some sort of deeper, grander design (and if so, whose)? John personally believes that stuff just happens. When he receives this paper with all these numbers on it and discovers that they predicted all of these disasters it rattles what he believes. This film is a great discussion starter for your friends and family.

On the technical side of things everything was top notch, from the errey music to the flawless special effects and above par performance of Nicholas Cage. There is a scene with a plane crash that is super intense and will leave you grabbing your friends arm in the seat next to you.

What Didn't Work:
There are a number of questions that the film raises and I can't really talk about them without spoiling the movie, but I just wish that film answered all of the questions. Other than that, there is not really all that much that I hated about the movie. Some I suspect will find the ending utterly ridiculous or strangely comforting, depends on who you are.

Conclusion:
I like this kind of movie, where is has some great action sequences, down to earth character development and interesting ideas. This movie I believe will have some Christians up in arms for its out of world ideas, but others will look at it as an opportunity to discuss it with other people and turn others to the truths of the Bible. Some of you may be wondering why I put the Ezekiel verse at the beginning, well I guess you will just have to see the movie to find out.

3 stars out of 4

Knowing is rated PG-13 for violence and language

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Wednesday Poem

Darkness is the absence of light
Light pierces the black of night
The shadow hides from the sun
Just like the heart of everyone

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Biathlon

Have a laugh! :)