The Dream is Really Awesome

I will preface my review of Inception with this, Christopher Nolan is my favorite director and I have been looking forward to this movie for a while.  That said, I will try and be unbiased in my thoughts.  But of course, I will do that imperfectly.

I first saw Momento (Director Christopher Nolan‘s first feature film) in eighth grade.  I had heard the buzz surrounding the film, and thought I would check it out.  This was about the time in my life when I was learning that a “good” movie wasn’t just a big budget blockbuster with tons of special effects, but a film that made  you think about life, one that takes its characters on a journey of redemption or at least uses them to make a comment about our world.  I remember sitting, watching the film with my parents, completely absorbed in the story, how it was being told, all of it.  Each of his succeeding films has been a similar experience for me.  And each of Nolan’s films has transported me back to that same wonder, no matter how different the films are.

Inception is no different.  I went and saw it at midnight Thursday night (Friday morning, depending on how you like to look at things).  My expectations were very high because of all the hype, both self and media created.  Then it began.  I found myself completely involved in the story, wondering where it was going, and at each turn I was surprised at the doors of possibilities it would open, even until the final shot (if you have not seen it, I won’t ruin it for you).

In every aspect of the film, Nolan exhibits his tight, yet unique storytelling.  The editing, the music, the performances, the visual effects, all of it transports you into his story of a world where dreams can be shared.  I could try and summarize the plot, but I think Roger Ebert said it best:

“The story can either be told in a few sentences, or not told at all. Here is a movie immune to spoilers: If you knew how it ended, that would tell you nothing unless you knew how it got there. And telling you how it got there would produce bafflement.”

In a summer of terrible movies and unoriginal ideas, Inception is the golden ticket.  It has everything a good movie should, and more.  And we are not talking about big budget blockbuster good movie, although it has all the visual effects and action you could ask for.  It also has heart, and something to say about the world.  What exactly that is, Nolan leaves wide open for interpretation.

Is it a perfect film?  No.  There are of course loopholes, as there always are in any movie that has a plot as complicated as Inception‘s, but Nolan does a great job of making the journey of the characters always at the center of the story, as is his custom.  He of course uses the characters to exposit a lot of the information as the film goes a long, but these explanations never derail the plot, and never allow the viewer to lose focus of the objective.  I do wish that Nolan would learn someday to slow the pace, give the story some pause, and the audience a chance to catch their breath (this is also my only complaint about his biggest success, The Dark Knight), but alas there is an end to this story, and Nolan is determined to get you there.  That is the only negative thing I have to say about it.

I do want to talk a bit about Marion Cotillard‘s performance.  Nolan’s films tend to under utilize the female characters.  They serve their purpose in the story, but the meatier roles are left to the men.  Coltillard breaks that mold in my opinion.  I cannot comment much on the nature of her character, for fear of spoiling the film, except to say that she was able to make me love and hate, fear and sympathize with her character all at the same time.  Definitely the standout in the film to me, and with a cast that has Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Caine (to name a few) that is saying something.

I am eager to see Inception again.  Nolan’s films are always deeper, more thought provoking to me on a second watch, when the wonder has faded and the dissection of, “what did he really mean by that?” can begin.

L O S T — A Great Story

I have a confession.  If you know me you won’t be surprised by this at all.  I loved LOST.  I talked about it, analyzed it, thought up theories, read other people’s theories online, and am one of those Christians who drew spiritual parallels out of every episode.  It was a great TV show.  I have had about a month and a half now to really think on the finale, and the whole series, and I am going to offer up my thoughts on it.

In the end LOST surprised me.  It surprised me, and I don’t really know why.  I should have seen it coming.  The show that introduced us to the rag tag castaways, all with crazy issues, all thrown together on a crazy island, ended up not being about the crazy island after all, but about the community those people created to survive and thrive the crazy.

All season long people were speculating about answers, and twists, and asking themselves, “how are the writers going to tie this up with no lose ends?”  They didn’t.  They didn’t have to.  They just said, “thanks for speculating, but you missed the point of the show, here it is, its about these people helping each other be better people.”  Looking at the whole show through that lens really excites me.

So what?  Its only a TV show.

But isn’t it great when entertainment challenges you, makes you think about life in a different way?

Obviously I am not going to end up on some deserted island where there are polar bears, crazy “others”, and Evangeline Lilly (although this scenario is sounding pretty cool).  But, what I take away from my years as a LOST fan is this: life is crazy, everything may or may not get wrapped up neatly, you may have questions that never get answered, but in the end, none of that is going to matter, because life isn’t about answers or lose ends, its about the people you are around.

When our stories end, what will matter?  It is hard to think about that in the day to day routine of life, but if we don’t, we may end up missing what is really important.

I am glad that I watched LOST, it was entertaining, made me think about spiritual things, and in the end, challenged me to remember what life should be about, only the things that are eternal.

Life On Pause

Alas, it has been two months since my last entry, and to my loyal followers (my mom….aw who am I kidding, I dont think she even reads this) I apologize.

“What have I been up to?”, you ask.  Besides relocating to Dallas, and joining the ranks of the jobless looking for work, I have been idling.  My brother-in-law aptly put it this way, “your life is on snooze.”  (To be fair, we were joking about how I have become a fan of sleeping in and hitting the snooze button on my alarm)

I feel as if I have been in a hibernation of sorts.  The only people I have regular interaction with are my sister and brother-in-law, who I have moved in with for the time being.  It has been really great living with them.  We have our fun, but they have jobs during the day, and I can only look at monster.com or career builder so long before all the jobs start to run together in my mind.  ”Smart, hard working, 3 to 5 years of experience….move on….”  Besides weddings on the weekends, my social muscles are a bit underused.

This should be a good time to work on disciplines like working out, eating right, etc… but thus far I have lacked the motivation.  The other day I realized something, motivation just doesn’t come out of thin air.  If I have a desire for my life to look a certain way, there really is not time like the present to start moving in that direction.  Sure I may not have a job, or live in the city that I want to live in, but I can start eating the way I want/should, being active the way I want/should, and start to organize my life and start habits that will only help me when I start to work.  Just because I am in a period of transition does not mean life is on pause.  (Although having the ability to pause, fast forward, and rewind, like the movie Click, does sound appealing)

One of those disciplines I want is writing and reading.  I have been reading Crime and Punishment for like 2 months now.  No, I am not that slow of a reader (although I am slower than most people).  I just keep watching TV or a movies instead of picking up a book.  Reading is more rewarding, TV is easier.  So this week, I am going to come up with some sort of goal sheet or covenant with myself.  Something like only watching x-amount of TV a week, and reading x-amount, and blogging x-amount.  With goals for the week, I might feel like I am working toward something, maybe I will start to feel like life is moving again, like I hit the play button on my magic remote.

Hopefully that means I will be checking in here more.  The more I think about things, the more I like to write them down.  It helps me work out my thoughts.

Wish me luck.

Life is not a Dart Board…

This last year I have felt pretty capricious with my future plans.   I think I change what I want/am going to do/be  every few months.  It has probably been really hard for my family and friends to keep up, much less actually believe what I say.

When I tell people about my plans they usually fall into two camps.  Camp one is always really encouraging and tells me to go for it.  Now, whether or not they actually feel like I will, they never say, but they often say things like, “why not?” or  ”just try it, if you don’t like it, you can do something else.”  They are people who believe life has to be taken by the horns, and leave-no-stone-unturned kind of people.

In the other camp are the skeptics.  They tell me to be patient and see what the Lord has for me.  They ask me all sorts of questions like whys and hows, which are important to hash out, but when the answers are all digested, they still look at me suspiciously, as if I am going to make a decision that will derail my life forever.  Then they say things like “well if its what you want to do,” and “we will see”.

I need both kinds of people in my life.

The kind of people I don’t need are the people telling  me that, if I don’t have direction or clarity of what God’s will in my life is, then I should be more patient.  Now, I am all about patience, and I think that there are definitely situations where one needs to wait on God’s timing, but I would also say that we should not try to over-spiritualize every decision we make.  What I mean by that is that I think the will of God has more day to day implications than they do in my broad life plan.  If I am following Jesus in my attitude and my love for the people I am around, and my concern for things that concerned him, than the big decisions I make, like what occupation I should pursue, or where I should live, should not matter really at all, and so I should not feel so much pressure in making them.  If I am trying to align my heart with God’s, then my heart will lead me where His heart is.

I feel like the wait and see people think that the will of God is a dart board, and if I miss the bulls eye I will have to settle for less points in the game of life.  I just don’t believe that is true, and I refuse to live my life that way.

I can sit around and wait for some clarity that may never come, or I can get up and do something, anything and just find what fits.  I have been waiting for clarity it feels like my whole college career.  Since graduating in December, I have stayed in the town that I went to college in, working at a coffee shop, trying to figure out what is next.  The longer I have been here, the more stagnant and bleak life feels.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the people here, I like my job, and I enjoy life, but I feel I am at a stalemate.  This is not what my life will look like forever, and I need to move on.  I need to start walking.  So maybe I have not felt any clear direction because, by golly, I am not walking anywhere.  Besides, its not where I end up thats important, its who I am (my character) and what kingdom I am building (God’s or the worlds).

If anything the clarity I do have is “not here”.  As in not in this town that has been good to me, where I have built good friendships, but that I have felt myself ready to vacate for the last several months.    So I will leave, not to throw my darts but to start a new page of my journey, one that I already know will end in redemption and celebration.

Donald Miller’s blog post is much more eloquent at articulating some of my views on life.  I promise I was already thinking these things before I read this blog and that I am not one of those people who just takes someone else’s thoughts as my own.  Its a good read though, I would recommend checking it out.

Noah’s Ark

This article from the Christian Science Monitor about the discovery, again, of Noah’s Ark most accurately expresses my own thoughts on the subject.  Especially this part:

If this is Noah’s ark, it’s not likely to drastically alter the perspectives of theists or atheists, says Eire. Fundamentalists would remain committed to a literal interpretation of the Bible while non-believers would continue to demand more evidence. Christians believe out of faith, not evidence, says Dr. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research.

“It would not prove anything to me,” says Morris. “My faith is not in Noah’s ark. But it would be an obvious physical confirmation based on what I believe.”

Not only am I skeptical about the findings, but also the motivation behind the findings.  People out to prove Christianity by finding artifacts from Bible stories, I feel, are wasting their time.  Now I know that might get me in trouble, but hear me out.  There is no way to prove anything to anyone who doesn’t want to believe.  I mean I could believe that we didn’t walk on the moon, or that George Washington didn’t exist, and no matter what you do or show me, I can hold firmly to that.  I think thats why its called faith.  Like it or not, its about trusting, not physical evidence.

Or is it?

Again, I am going to get on my soapbox.  What if the Christian community stopped trying to prove the stories of the Bible, from the past, and started trying to prove WE are who we say we are, filled with the Holy Spirit, children of the God whose Kingdom is forever and whose banner is love?

Yes, I think that evidence is important to some people, maybe those who think more scientifically, but finding an old wooden ship on a mountain isn’t going to prove anything to people who are not looking for God or the Truth.  People who have not experienced God or his love in the present are not going to care if it is proved that he has worked in the past.

I know that I am making sweeping generalizations and that there are exceptions and that God can work in all things, but I know that the Church should be less focused on proving our faith and more focused on living it out for the world to see.  I think that would be more compelling evidence.

Book Review: Tangible Kingdom

Tangible Kingdom

So last night I finally finished a book that I have been reading for about a month and half now.  It isn’t that the book is particularly long or that I am a slow reader (although I might be on the slow side), it is because the book is packed full of practical application and requires much thought.  The book is Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter with some help from Matt Smay.

It is the story of how Halter went from being disillusioned with the modern church to feeling like he is truly apart of spreading the Kingdom of God.  It really doesn’t matter where you stand theologically, this book is pretty dead on, both in how the Church has lost its way and  in how it should start to head back on mission.

I know I spent a few years feeling very cynical towards Christians and the Church, and although those years are behind me (with relapses every now and then) and I have become a member of the a church that I love, I still often feel like I am not living my life like Jesus, and I am not advancing the Kingdom, and I feel lost as to where to start or what that should look like.  In this book, Halter, while not claiming to have a monopoly on the idea of what the church should look like exactly, makes pretty good arguments and points toward a route that churches can (and probably should) follow.  The hardest point to swallow, which doesn’t make it any less true, is that the modern church is more about serving its members than advancing the kingdom.  This was really convicting to me.

I have definitely been a religious consumer and not necessarily a Jesus follower, in the strictest sense, most of my life.  And most often when I get cynical or annoyed, there I things I can do about it myself, but I often want someone else to lead the way.  I felt really challenged to stop looking for the church to provide the things that its not really supposed to provide.  Most of the things I am looking for should come from following Jesus, and being apart of a community of believers is apart of that, but also living out my faith in the world, and advancing the Kingdom, making it tangible to those who do not know it, is a big part of it as well.  You can’t have one without the other.

Things I really like:

Halter refers to non-believers as sojourners.  Its as if once you belong to God you always have, so he strays away from there being a defining salvation moment, and its more of a process of following Jesus.  Everyone is at their own pace.  I really like that.

The book is really practical.  I can’t say that enough.  He tells tons of stories and gives great examples and challenges.  He doesn’t pretend to know it all and doesn’t expect everything to work for everyone.

Things I wasn’t a fan of:

Most of his stories had to do with himself.  Its good to see a man doing a good job of living the Kingdom out, but sometimes I felt like he was patting himself on the back, especially the last section, where he describes a day in the life of himself.

I didn’t like the questions at the end of each chapter, but that is probably a picky, personal preference.

Recommendation:

Check it out.  No matter where you are in your spiritual life I think it is applicable and encouraging.  Who knows, it might just be the challenge you need to grow deeper in your faith.

New Words

What if I worked on having a better vocabulary?

I know that might seem a bit ridiculous, but I like to write, and I think expanding my limited vocabulary would be wise, not to mention fun.

My friend was studying for the GRE a while back and had these fancy notecards, 500 of them, all with crazy vocabulary words on them.  She read my what if blog post and decided she would keep studying those words, for fun.  I asked her to pick me up a pack too.  What if right….

So you will be seeing me trying to put my new words into action, hopefully they will not seem too aberrant (deviating from what is normal or expected, one day 499 to go).

What If…?

So I read this blog post by Donald Miller today and it has really got me thinking.  Miller is an author, so he believes strongly in the powers of narrative.  I did a post on him on my old blog where he talked about morality as a narrative.  His thoughts make a lot of sense.  I don’t often think of my life as a story in which I am the main character.  If anything I often find myself playing a supporting character in someone else’s big story.  Not that I think life should be all self-centered, big story developements.

I think you will get what I am saying in a second.

Miller, on his post, asks the “what if?” question that he says writers form their stories around.  He says that only by asking “what if?” can we truly dream.  I am not a dreamer.  I am a planner.  I have dreams, but they are more like idealistic views of what I want life to look like with practical steps of how to get there.  They don’t really add up ever, so I don’t put much weight behind them.

Donald Miller dares you to ask those what if questions to yourself.

What if you asked yourself a series of these questions? What if you got out a yellow pad and wrote down a few story turns that you could engage? What if you ran a marathon? What if you renewed your marriage vows? What if you quit your job? What if you brought home a puppy today? What if you and your family adopted a child?

The question is used to motivate action in your life.

To be honest I am scared to ask myself questions like that.  I think its because I am so scared of making mistakes in life that I am often paralyzed from doing anything at all.  I am afraid of making some wrong turns and ending up in a place of discomfort.  But, why should that stop me?  Being a believer does not mean that I am not allowed to make mistakes.  It means I should follow Jesus, and when I mess up, own it, thank God for His grace, learn a lesson, and move on.  It does not mean I should sit back and hope that a path will be lit in front of me.

Now there obviously are some what if questions that one should not ask themselves.  I am reading Crime and Punishment right now, so the first that comes to mind is, “What if I killed for what I wanted/needed?”  I think we should go the more productive route and ask things that we are in control of that could be good and/or hard, but not immoral or illegal.

Here are some of mine

What if I teach English in Spain?

What if I move to a city I like without knowing anyone?

Ha…I could only come with two right now.  Those are dreams I have that I am really nervous about acting on.  I can’t even think creatively enough to look beyond those.  But I will, and you should too.  So, come on…What If…?

Anne Rice is second

If you are like me, you have seen the big billboards or the people in the t-shirts advertising this website, iamsecond.com, and thought, I should check it out sometime, but never have.  Most of the billboards are athletes, like Colt McCoy.  No offense to Colt, but I have heard his story in the media time and again, so I never get motivated enough to check out the website.  I even have friends who are involved with iamsecond, I knew what the purpose was, but somehow I still managed to avoid the website.

Today was the first time I was intrigued enough to actually open my web browser, type in the address and watch one of the videos.  A tennis tournament was on in the background at my sister’s house as we were getting our Easter feast together.  In the commercial break I happened to glance at the TV when Anne Rice appeared, and then below her was the web address I have seen so often, iamsecond.com.  I had heard that Anne Rice had become a believer in the last few years, but I did not really know her story.  A well known author of a vampire novels and known atheist becomes a believer.  Thats a story that I want to hear.

Anne Rice

I found her story to be compelling and relatable.  I know, especially in the academic world, that faith and education seem to be in contrast.  Her analysis of her own books and how they relate to her story was so interesting.  I would love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with her, she seems wise.

As someone who often struggles with faith, theology, and how it all works in the world, I took some of what Rice said to heart.

“I surrendered the theological and sociological questions.  I surrendered the doubts.  Imperfectly and contrite, I went back.”

“I think it’s a mistake to ask of yourself to always emotionally understand, I think there are moments that you don’t, but once you’ve embraced God and embraced Christ on the cross, your surrender is total.”

Anne Rice

So if you, like me, were hesitant to check out the website, thinking it would be a bunch of sports starts eager to project a positive, Christian-role-model, image, I promise there are some more interesting stories hiding there.  It might be worth your while to check them out.  Maybe you will find yourself challenged in your believe as you listen to how other people have come to have faith in Christ.

In the flesh

John Polkinghorne

Today I read a great interview with John Polkinghorne.  He is a brilliant physicist, turned Anglican priest, who has some interesting thoughts about the nature of science and religion.  It is a good read, but the thing he said that I really walked away with was this:

There are certainly people who are very much open to spiritual reality but who want it in a slightly ethereal form. One of the things that is attractive to me is — as I believe William Temple put it — that Christianity is the most material of the world’s religions. It’s concerned with the word made flesh; it’s concerned with embodiment, as in the resurrection of the body. Of course, it’s concerned with spiritual reality, but it wants to hold the two together. That absolutely rings bells with me. I don’t think that human beings are destined to be, so to speak, apprentices of angels. I don’t think our destiny is to get rid of this encumbrance of the fleshly body and just float off into some sort of spiritual atmosphere. I think we are embodied beings.

John Polkinghorne

I think that is an astute analysis of one of the major differences Christianity has with other religions.  I think it is also something we as believers forget.  Our faith is about marrying the two realms.  Its about God bringing his Kingdom to earth and us being apart of the action.  So yes there is a heavenly, spiritual Kingdom.  But our faith is about making it manifest in the world.  We cannot get to caught up in the things that take away from that goal, the things that are not essential to the Gospel and the advancing of God’s Kingdom.

I recently have been struggling a lot with feeling obese with theology and anorexic with character and action.  Let me explain.  I have grown up in church and feel like I have a pretty good grasp on theology and doctrine and those things.  But I think I am slowly realizing that none of that matters if I am not being Jesus to the world.  The things me and friends sit around and discuss mean nothing if we are not going out into the world and caring for those who Jesus cared for.

I need to be willing to let go of my pet theologies or preconceived notions if they are not essential to the Gospel.  Following Jesus and advancing His Kingdom, bringing it out of the theoretical and into the tangible (to borrow a phrase from the book I am reading, Tangible Kingdom), should be central to my life.  Stripping away all else is going to be painful, scary, and confusing.  But if I hold firm to the truth of the Gospel, that I am apart of broken world that God is redeeming (or fixing) and making new, while looking for ways to be apart of fleshing that out, I can have faith that this journey will lead me into that Kingdom as well.