Waterborne (2005)

Waterborne, written and directed by Ben Rekhi, is an interesting and disturbing film about the impact to society if our water supply is contaminated. The story unfolds in Los Angeles and the societal impact of such an event is told through three intertwining stories that elaborate on the potential effect such a issue would have on people during a panic situation.

One of the stories involves two twenty-something friends, Zach, played by Christopher Masterson and Bodi, portrayed by Jake Muxworthy, who struggle to get out of Los Angeles. Masterson, best known for his work on Malcolm in the Middle, is excellent as the ever-forgiving friend to Muxworthy, who continues to put them in precarious situations.

Another storyline follows the relationship between Vikram, excellently played by Ajay Naidu, who's a man of Middle Eastern descent who's fallen in love with an American blonde, played by Mageina Tovah. Their relationship is a great example of the subtlety of bigotry as Vikram must deal daily with looking similar to those responsible for 9/11, while his girlfriend must deal with the bigotry from Vikram's own family as she tries to establish a relationship with them. Vikram, who runs a convenience store with his mother, performed by Shabana Azmi, deals with the rising tensions and price gouging as the water supply grows in demand.

The final story involves Ritter and his wife and child. Ritter, who is played by veteran actor Jon Gries, best known for his work as the Uncle in Napolean Dynamite, is wonderful as the worried father pulled into his National Guard duty while his wife, played by Lindsay Price, and daughter struggle with the shortage of water and deterioration of social laws. Ritter is forced to face having to keep fellow American's from potentially contaminated water supplies by any means necessary, up to and including killing them, if necessary.

All of these stories are interesting and well honed, culminating in Vikram's convenience store as the wear and tear of days of no water have taken their toll on everyone involved.

Waterborne is disturbing not only in it's presentation, but in the questions it asks. What would happen if water was suddenly the hottest commodity? How would society react? Would you be prepared? Could your family survive? Could you protect your water and your loved ones from those who would take it by force? It makes you want to buy a little extra bottled water and canned goods every time you go grocery shopping... just in case.

Waterborne is so effective because it does not relay a heavy hand in its storytelling. And kudos for presenting all sides to the terrorist threats without being politically charged on either side. The film presents interesting and unique characters in a way that effectively propels you through their journey... a journey that is exceedingly real in today's international climate. Unless things changed dramatically, the reality is that, this will probably happen in some way in our lifetime…either this or something equally as devastating.

Lastly, the film was made for under $200,000 and shot with digital video equipment. It just goes to show you what can happen when you have talented people involved in any project. The lighting and color is exceptional and the acting is spot on. It gives an indy filmmaker such as myself, hope.

After watching Waterborne, you will not take that next drink of water, or shower, or dip into the pool for granted.

New Orleans

My sister Mary, and her husband, Steve, are in New Orleans with a group of volunteers helping to evaluate homes to see if they are salvagable. If they are, the houses are gutted from roof to floor and rebuilt from the inside out.

According to Steve's daily letters, the stench is still strong and the destruction still massive. It will take years to overcome the damage. Below are some pics from their trip so far.

Mary preparing for the day's work.

Examining a severly damaged house.

Damage is still extensive in the area.

Some of the houses cannot be saved.

Steve in front of one of the
30 or so houses they inspected.

In spite of all, love of God and
country are still strong in New Orleans.

Mary and Steve have always been selfless when it comes to helping others, from taking in foster children, to helping out at their church, to Boy Scouts to volunteering all across the nation... they are very special people.

Three Simple Questions

You know, with the DaVinci Code movie, there is going to be a lot of discussion on Jesus as man instead of Jesus as Christ. This, of course, is heresy and often based on half-facts and unique interpretations of events in order to fit the end goal.

By the way, Dan Brown, author of the DaVinci Code, is being sued for plagiarism by another author of a book called The Jesus Papers, which states Jesus survived the crucifixion and moved to France with Mary Magdalene and his daughter. I will say this about that... if Jesus' offspring are seeded throughout France, then why does everyone hate the French?

All joking aside, just like when the Dead Sea scrolls came out in the 1950s and other Jesus isn't Christ books were written in the 1970s, there will be a lot of discussion and ignorant credence given to alternative theories as to the divinity of Christ.

When discussing these alternative theories on Christ, they often omit some crucial, basic questions in their discussion.

1) What makes the Apostles so unique in following a "dead" leader?

There were many people claiming to be the Messiah around the time of Christ. There were prophets with followers throughout the region (i.e., John the Baptist). There have been a lot of people since who have claimed to be either a Son of God or Jesus Christ himself (Charles Manson, David Koresh). Yet, when those people have lost their power (Manson) or have died (Koresh), what happens to their followers? They disappear. The followers lose their way. If Koresh was really Jesus, why aren't there Koresh Churches sprouting up all over the country? Why aren't their churches of any of the hundreds of other false Messiahs located throughout the world?

The fact that the Koresh Center for How To Be Jesus Studies doesn't exist, or any of the other false Messiah religions, means that the Apostles were truly unique and completely brilliant men. After all, they are the ONLY people in the history of the world to put into place a world religion based on complete fabrications about the divinity of a mere man.

So, the question needs to be asked and answered as to what makes these 12 Apostles so different from every other follower of every other person claiming to be the Messiah in the history of man?

2) What did the Apostles have to gain by making Jesus a Christ, if he was truly just a prophet?

Humans are not that complex. We are usually driven to acquire either love, power or wealth.

In Rome, there were two accepted religions, the Roman pagan religion and the Jewish religion. That was it. The only reason the Romans put up with the Judaism is because it had been around so long. Any religion different, new and not sanctioned was considered a superstition and people were killed for following it (see Nero's persecution of the Christians).

So, under that landscape, why would 12 men, mostly uneducated, hatch a plan that would falsify the divinity of their dead leader, which thereby mandates creating a new religion, the outcome of which means ostracizing them from their current religion and making them an enemy of the state due to creating an illegal superstition?

Is this where the acquistion of love, power or wealth occurs? I think not.

It's important to remember that the Roman Catholic Church was not an institution then. It was nothing. It didn't have wealth and power and influence. It had 12 men with their families cowering in a room, hiding from sight, for fear of their lives. Besides which, there have been studies by mathematicians and statisticians that have done backward calculations on the growth of Christianity and have determined that St. Paul, for example, had followers of maybe 50 people in each city. His letters to the Corinthians was not to a large following, but a couple of families and followers.

Not in the Apostles' lifetimes, or their immediate followers' lifetimes, or their immediate followers' lifetimes would Christianity be accepted. Not until Constantine converted was Christianity an accepted faith.

So, what did the Apostles, fishermen and tax collectors and faithful Jews, have to gain from lying about Jesus?

3) Why are only the portions of the Gospel that could lead one to interpret that Christ was not divine considered valid and all of the portions that clearly state his divinity ignored and/or dismissed?

Finally, perhaps the biggest hypocrisy in most of the writings of authors undermining the divinity of Jesus is that they will often quote selected passages of the Gospels in order to prove their point.

That's like quoting selected lines from the Constitution of the United States to prove the founding fathers intended the country to be a dictatorship!

If you validate any portion of the Gospels, you validate all of the Gospels. Otherwise the argument that one line from Matthew or John is valid, but another is not, becomes ludicrous in its blatant hypocrisy.

I only hope such interviewers of those who claim Jesus was dead or married or a father or not dead, but not risen or whatever they state... I just hope the interviewers ask these three simple, yet important questions.

Because, right now, no one else seems to be.

A Mid, Mid-Life Crisis Observation

My brother Charles and I had an interesting conversation yesterday. Most people start their career lives with the goal of doing something they love. Eventually, most end up doing what they have to do, with the intent of doing what they love to do... eventually. After a certain time, when more people rely on your paycheck (wife, kids, mortgage companies, etc.), the risk of doing something different in your career is far greater and your options become much more limited.

So, to a certain extent, Charles and I are limited to doing something we don't love, spending over 1/3 of our time doing it, and now hope that we get enough hours with the family and when the job is no longer there, that we've saved enough for our retirement to be okay.

On the other side of the coin, we also know that our primary responsibility is to our family, so we don't begrudge that. And we also know that our jobs are gifts from God and we should honor that gift by doing it to the best of our ability, no matter how much passion we inherently have for it. But, on a personal, daily level, it is an odd conundrum.

In the end, it may just be life for everyone and we should just suck it up. But, Charles and I have reached that point in our life where we've slowly stopped looking for what we want to achieve and have turned our daily focus to what we have to achieve.

Gators Are National Champions

My best friend Tim, my son Gabe and I enjoyed watching the Florida Gators win their first NCAA Basketball National Championship over the historic UCLA Bruins, 73-57. I remember going to Gator games in the late 80's when they were just starting to take basketball seriously.

During the game, Tim and I made comedic references to pop culture from years passed. At one point, after a very dated comment, I said "We sound old." His response was "We're just like the Holy Family Folk Group... 20 years later and we haven't gotten any better."

Growing up going to Holy Family church, listening to the "unique" sound of their folk group in the 80's, and having heard them recently, he is exactly correct. You would have figured that after 20 years of rehearsals they would have sounded better. But, like Tim's and my humor, it's the same ol' thing over and over again.

In any event, the basketball game was exciting and fun to watch. Good to see the BBall Gators get their due.

Healing Mass

Friday evening Dea, Gabe and I (DC was at a sleep over) went to a wonderful healing mass and it was a magical experience. The church was packed and the priest, a Father Richard McLean from Ave Maria College in Naples, held the Mass. There were so many people there all with their own varying levels of illness. I felt so undeserving of healing, when I looked at the obvious struggles of the fellow church-goers around me. I was overwhelmed with a sense of humility and gratitude for my family and my faith.

As I prayed during Mass I remembered reading about how some people were healed by asking for the intercession of our late Pope, John Paul II. He had Parkinson's disease and had already reportedly healed others. So, I asked JP2 to intercede on behalf of my father, suffering from Parkinson's, my father-in-law, suffering from diabetes, for my brother, suffering from Crohns, and for myself, also suffering from Crohns. I also prayed for my wife and my friend, Kyme.

After Mass concluded they brought out the Eucharist for Adoration and Father McLean walked it slowly around each section of the church, making the sign of the cross and blessing us all. After the Adoration, each row went up to the front of the church and Father would bless us with oil. Some people were slain in the Spirit, which means they would fall back (caught by volunteers and laid gently on the floor). My son was caught off guard by this sight. He had never seen people "faint" like that in church before. The last time I had seen it in person was when I was just a few years older than my son.

In the 1970's my parents got involved in the charismatic renewal, where people were slain in the Spirit, would fall to the ground or be given the gift of Tongues. It is a shocking sight to see first hand, but memorable. In a funny side story, when I relayed the events of the healing Mass to my mom over the phone and we spoke about those charismatic renewal days... she said she was always reluctant to be slain in the Spirit because she was afraid her false teeth would fall out! I could only imagine God in Heaven saying "Her free will is afraid of what???? I can't give her the gift of the Spirit because she's afraid of her teeth? Are you kidding me????"

As Dea, Gabe and I walked up to the front of the church, Gabe's eyes were fixed on the people laying peacefully on the floor. "Dad, people fainted, Dad!" Gabe said with caution as we neared our place in line. I comforted him as we finally reached the front.

Behind us people were ready to catch us if we fell. Father McLean hugged Gabe and made him feel comfortable, asking him a lot of questions about himself. Then, he approached me. I stood quietly, emotions welling inside me of the fear and pain and emotional distress of carrying this disease... those feelings you push to the back in order to get through the day had suddenly rushed to the forefront. I kept my eyes closed and my head bowed in reverance. Father McLean put his hand under my chin and pulled my head up, directing me to look him in the eyes. His eyes were so full of sincere compassion and love, it was as if you were looking into the eyes of Jesus himself. As he blessed me and placed the oils on my forehead, the emotional dam inside of me finally broke free. I didn't fall back or faint, but I was truly moved and immediatly comforted by one of the many volunteers.

He next moved to Dea and blessed her as well. Her body jolted and tears flowed from her face. She hugged Father tightly and we then made our way back to our pew. We prayed together quietly and humbly, unworthy of any grace of mercy bestowed upon us that day. We are so imperfect, so... human in our frailties. Any gift from a present God was something He could only give to us, not something we had ever earned.

As we left the church, Dea talked about her experience. She told me that, as she approached the front of the church she was certain she wan't going to faint. "I kept saying to myself 'I'm not going to fall down, I'm not going to faint, I'm not... but when he put the oil on my forehead it wasn't as if I was pushed backwards, but as if something was pulled out of me with such a force that I couldn't help but move. And when he hugged me, it was as if I was hugging Jesus himself... the love was so strong.'"

It was a wonderful experience. As I said before, so many others in that room are more worthy of healing than Dea or I. But, the gift of healing is not something we control, only something we can ask for.

Personally, I have complete faith in the Lord's ability to heal me. Afterall, he's God. I asked Him to heal me, but above all else I asked Him that His will be done. Perhaps I'm not supposed to be healed. Or perhaps I am. I don't really know and I don't have any control over it. I just humbly prayed and asked for His decision above all else. He knows, in the grand scheme of my life, if healing me will lead me down a path He wants me to take or not. So, if it happens, it happens and I won't be surprised. If it doesn't happen, it won't and I won't be surprised. I am content with whatever decision He has made for me and my family that day.

So, am I healed? Well, I won't really know for a few months, as it will take that time for my latest infusion of Remicade to wear off. Healing or no, I have a new found peace in my life, in my heart. And that, in and of itself, is a small gift, a small miracle. Would I love to never worry about Crohn's for the rest of my life?

Absolutely.

Will I ever have to worry about Crohns again?

I'll let you know when I know.

Hosting NET Kids

This weeekend we were asked by our church, and we agreed, to host two girls who are part of a Catholic group called NET. They are between 18 - 30 and dedicated their lives for a year to go around the country and offer seminars and retreats for Middle School and High School kids. They never know where they are going to stay... like the founding Apostles of our Church, they rely on the generosity of fellow Christians to house them.

They were in town for our Confirmation class and did a wonderful job. We met Maria and Jo (short for JoAnn) after LifeTeen Mass last night and took them out to dinner. We had a great time talking to them, about their journies and about their faith. They are both wonderful kids. They will stay tonight, then hold another retreat day, then stay over again Monday night, then head off to Fort Worth, Texas.

DC and Gabe gave up their rooms and stayed on the floor in our room. We all struggled getting a good night's sleep, but it's a small sacrifice to help support two wonderful kids living their faith.