Away We Go 

[Burt (John Krasinski) & Verona (Maya Rudolph) got a stroller for some friends of theirs]

So the comment by the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is pretty telling.  What is wrong with a stroller?  The thing that these particular people in this movie bring up is our culture that is in love with our children.  In this country we have such a weird understanding of what is good for our children.  Strollers aren't bad things.  Just as much as getting into a little bit of trouble, and get dirty isn't bad. 

There is a culture in our society that says we should always put our children first, and I disagree.  I think that children are important and that we should love and care for them.  Mom and Dad come first.  The best way to love your kids is to love your spouse.  Children need to remember that Mom and Dad love each other.  That is how the children will learn how to love, is by seeing mom and dad love.  I will love my wife always before my kids, but you sure can bet that the next person I will kiss and be glad to see is our kids.  If you put the child first it begins to teach them a sense of entitlement. 

So if you are a parent stop and ask yourself do I love my spouse enough?  Or do I put my children first?  If you do, take some time today to tell them you love them, and that you are happy to be with them.  

Chronicles of Narnia:  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

[Lucy had just disturbed the peace in the house at night.  And now Peter and Susan her older brother and sister are having a conversation with the Professor, the owner of the house and their uncle.]

"Hence the weeping."  He begins using his powers of deduction strait away.  He from this point of the clip stands to be the voice of reason.  Then Peter and Susan share about the magical land that Lucy believes she has found in the upstairs wardrobe.  And he then he starts believing this story.  Why is a deeper story...but safe to say he is willing to go along with it.  He stats "what do they teach in schools these days?"  Then they bring up the idea that Edmund said they were only pretending.  He states if she is not mad, and not lying, she must be telling the truth.

This is the point of the clip, how often do we assume that we know the logic of how the world works and if you do something that is outside our imagination of what could happen than I label you a lunatic.  Granted it does seem highly unlikely that Lucy has found a magical land, but as he says logically it makes sense that she has.  How often in our world do we dismiss something that somebody says because it doesn't make sense in our head?  We are slowly, but surely moving to a society that looks at somebody who does not think like us and we think him mad.  But the question is have we thought about things logically?  People often think that Faith and Reason are opposed to each other, they are not.  It is terrible that the majority of people believe that the word faith means that you take something on no evidence.  That would be lunacy.  To believe I am a poached egg makes no sense, and there is no evidence to suggest I am one.  However to believe that I am a Christian, that Christ was real, and died on the cross and was God, are not without evidences.  

Faith is not opposed to reason, it begins on the point of this clip which is trust, and then logic.  Do you usually trust Edmund or Lucy?  Even if what Lucy is saying is fanciful, and sounds impossible you trust her.  Do you have any reason to not believe her?  Does she still have her wits about her?  It is one thing if we know that the person is "off their rocker," but if they are collected in their thoughts, then why should we disbelief their experience.  

Cool Runnings

[The Jamaican bobsled team had a bad run, and now they are trying to figure out how to do better.  The Swiss have been dominating the sport.]

"If we walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican..."  Sanka has the right idea here.  What does this scene though have to teach me, since I am not Jamaican?  It is to be proud of who you are, and where you come from.  It is to not forget who you are.  I see this so often especially in the world of academia.  We try so hard to be the best that we think we can be, but we do it by trying to mimic those that already do it well.  I am not encouraging you to stop looking to the examples of those who do it well.  With out training you will not be a great, so looking at those who are better is good.  When he look at the greats like the Swiss here we cannot forget though that we are not Swiss.  We may not be made to do bobsledding the same way.  

"The right foot is not the Swiss foot."  What is right for you in regards to training and development may not be what is right for me.  This is not to suggest moral relativity.  We have to think about what is best for me.  Some people respond well to be yelled at in training, others to more gentle prodding.  We have to remember that when we work for anything we want to be the best that we can be, and that is not what others are.  I know I have worked at a place before that was so concerned with what others were doing, and it became exhausting.  If I have to keep racing to catch up with the Jones, I forget that I am a Kovatch.  Remember that God made you perfectly who you are, and wants you to flourish as you are, not as somebody else.

Think for a minute about St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter.  God loved Andrew the best He could, because God could loved everybody exactly how they needed to be loved.  The way that Andrew was an Apostle, and a saint looked different than Peter.  The inner circle of Jesus was always Peter, James, and John.  That must have annoyed Andrew to no end, since it was Andrew who introduced Peter to Jesus.  Andrew though came to realize that God still loved him as fully as He could.  He gave Andrew exactly what he needed, which was not the same as his brother, or James or John. 

Braveheart

[the young boy, William Wallace, has recently had his father die.  His uncle, Argyle, came to adopt him, and finish raising him.]

"Playing outlawed tunes on outlawed pipes." His uncle tells him that the way that people pay respect to his father is a little unorthodox than the law of the day.  This reminds us that man made law is not always the highest authority.  We must take the time to discern what is right and good on our own, and then act on that good.  

At the end of the clip Argyle tells Wallace that first he will teach him to use his brain, and then the sword.  How often today do we see people who know how to use the sword before using the brain?  We know how to attack, but do we know if we should.  Wisdom should always come before action.  We need to train ourselves how to think, and to use reason.  Think about how moral arguments are made today, most often I hear shouting matches, and who ever is louder is the winner.  Let us take time to actually listen to the other side before we use the weapons of our words.  If we start shouting down the other side before they even speak we may lose out on something really important; a new world view, or even a friend.  Later in the movie by using his brains, rather than acting to quickly with a sword Wallace gains a great friend, and a wise adviser.  

We must think before we act.  Wisdom before violence.  Once you swing the sword the choice has been made, and the consequences must be accepted. 

Timeline

[Andre Marek (Gerard Butler) is a archaeologist who is talking with the boss's son Chris (Paul Walker) about the past v. the future.]

We are intrigued by the past.  Why do we think so often that the past doesn't matter?  Or that we are bored by history.  I think this is because history is done wrong.  Most of our history teacher had us memorize dates and battles.  What do these matter if not in the context of a story? So then we will dwell on the future, but to what avail?  Does worrying change anything about the future?  "The past is where it is at..."  It is from the past that we gain an understanding of who we are.  This is the reason that people who are adopted often struggle with issues of identity. 

The people who have a lack of curiosity about the reality in front of them are the people who are half dead in my opinion.  How can we stand next to something amazing like a 600 year old sarcophagus and not be moved?  What is their story, Chris admits at the end of the clip.  He is intrigued because how can we listen to the passions of our friends and not care?  We ask all the time about things around us without knowing about.  How often when we explain things that are new we use old things to help us describe it.  We are familiar with the past, but lots of times we missed something that was and is important.    

I understand where Marek gets frustrated with the future (technology) it is a blessing and a curse.  And I do miss that honor has become something regulated to the past.  "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" (Edmund Burke).  How many good men have done nothing?  It seems that evil has gotten the upper hand, and we have let the idea of honor slip from our hands.  It is time, to reclaim it.  Go out today and do something honorable, uphold the virtue of Chivalry.  

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

[Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) through the help of his friend Watson (Jude Law), just averted war on an industrial scale.  Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) is the man playing Chess with Holmes, his arch enemy.]

What can we learn from the discussions of Holmes and Moriarty?  They are talking about something that is rather interesting when we think about it.  Moriarty states that somewhere buried in the subconscious is an insatiable desire for conflict.  Is he correct?  I believe he is, but the question then is is it able to be held in check or not?  I believe it is.  As much as we can look around and get a sense that humanity doesn't give a hoot what happens to it, that it is spiraling out of control down the toilet you can also find its opposite.  

Anytime somebody talks about humanity being screwed up we can look to the beautiful examples of the saints (both those recognized like St. John Paul II, and those not so public).  They remind us that humanity is not a crapshoot.  We cannot forget though that evil is real, and that it is out there, and we voluntarily choose it.  It is interesting to note that we cannot say that man is without hope, yet we can say he is utterly miserable.  So is Holmes fighting in vain for the prevention of war?  No, is the simple answer.  

We are called as Holmes is doing in this clip to prevent bloodshed.  To seek the good of man, and not to be selfish and profit from the death of hundreds, thousands of lives as Moriarty wishes to do.  I am thankful for the world that Holmes lives in because when ever a great evil arises in our midst God always provides somebody to combat that evil.  When Hitler came, we have the beauty of St. Maximilian Kolbe, and St. (Edith Stein).  May we have the courage to fight against the evil that besets our world as Holmes did, as Kolbe did, and as Edith did.  

Field of Dreams

[At the end of the movie Ray (Kevin Costner) recognizes the meaning behind all the messages he received through the film.]

This is such a beautiful movie, but I always find it touching that the whole point of the movie is about reconciliation.  The first words Ray hears in the movie "If you build it, he will come"  motivate Ray to start this journey.  His journey of following signs from above about something good for his life.  He decides to ultimately do although it seems to make no sense in opposition to his father, telling his wife that his dad never did anything worry of note.  A lot of people think Ray is crazy since he is losing a lot of his crop by building a baseball field.  So all the while while Ray is building the field he is sharing with his wife and daughter about his father's hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta).  

At the culmination of the film we recognize what "if you build he will come" means.  It was his father.  Ray in this epiphany is wrong though because as Ray is realizing it was about his father.  It is not about his father, but rather his relationship with his father.  If you notice the father is already experiencing "heaven."  The reason that his father came was so that Ray could be reconciled with his father.  It is Ray that these phrases was about.  

Now that we have the synopsis this is how God treats us.  If we build a place for Him to dwell He will come.  If we go the distance, we will ease our pain.  It is about God constantly calling us back to Himself.  He loves us and wants to be reconciled with humanity, with you.  God is already experiencing the joy of heaven, but He wants you to be at peace. He loves you and desires your heart to take away the pain over how we have rejected Him.  Ray thought it was too late to be reconciled with his father, but it wasn't because the father loved him so much he went to extraordinary means to love him.  This is the same as us, it is not too late, God is waiting to embrace us once again as a son. 

Finding Forrester

[William Forrester (Sean Connery), a renowned author, has just read something that his friend Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) wrote for the sake of Jamal.  Professor Crawford (F. Murray Abraham), had it out for Jamal from the very beginning.]

In this clip, William shows that Jamal Wallace is an exceptional young man, a man with integrity.  Jamal Wallace was accused of plagiarizing, since he had written an paper where he used some of William's own writing.  William had been working with Jamal to help him become a better writer.  

When Jamal had come to the school, Professor Crawford had made an prejudice against Jamal.  He had assumed that Jamal was coming to the school on the merits of his ability to play basketball.  Over the course of the movie Crawford becomes more entrenched to his belief that Jamal cannot be this good of a writer.  How often are we like this?  We meet somebody and we think we have it all figured out.  

Notice in scene how Crawford changes color when William tells everybody that those words that he spoke are not his, but Jamal's.  Then Crawford still wants to assert control and say well Jamal Wallace still deserves a "just" decision.  It is amazing how when we get comfortable in our seats of power that we will allow no one to challenge that power.  What is it in the human condition that makes us think of ourselves as better than others, or the decider of men's fate?  Is there anything this day that God is asking you to let go of?  Is there anything that you are too comfortable with?