German Relatives

Picture of two old people sitting in Germany. Somehow, they're related to me. Charles, please explain.

UPDATE - Part 2: Paul had a friend of a friend from Germany translate this the best they could.

"A colleague forwarded this blog post to a German friend and he took the time to send back a translation. Here it is,

“Bless you, who have spent together 30 years with faithfulness and love. Who have tried to make each other happy with constantly renewed drive. The tune of two faithful hearts easily fights off all the earthly pain.”

The translator is a little unsure that he translated it correctly, but he admits that he did the best he could.

Maybe Charles will visit the site now."

UPDATE: I talked with Charles (since he's "too busy" to visit the blog) and he said it is Anton and Gertrude Benz. They came to the U.S. in 1851 arriving on a boat called St. Nicholas. The document is an anniversary card for the Benz's. I tried to translate it, but I couldn't get all of the words. However, words such as faithful and affectionate and anniversary and bless and fun and so forth makes me believe this was a joyous invitation to their anniversary where they would restate their vows. Their 30th anniversary perhaps? The anniversary was to be held in Boston on Jan 8, 1874... just over 133 years ago. Amazing.

(click on pic for larger image)

Some Things Never Change...

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."
-- John Adams

Facing the Giants (2006)

A few years ago I stumbled across a simple Christian film called Flywheel made by a Baptist church in Georgia. Despite its technical limitations, Flywheel is a wonderful and fulfilling family Christian flick.

Those same filmmakers have followed up with another gem in Christian family fare... Facing the Giants. The story involves a high-school football coach who battles six years of losing football, a car that won't run, a house that smells and a marriage in which he and his wife are unable to have any children.

When the coach turns to Jesus, things start to fall into place. He changes his approach to a very simple one... If we succeed, we praise God. If we fail, we praise God. We must give our best in all we do to honor God. This philosophy bleeds through to the players and the people around him and their fortunes begin to change.

Granted, Facing the Giants travels over familiar cinematic ground and there are not a lot of real surprises as the story unfolds. But, the journey is exceedingly satisfying. Why? Because we all want Jesus to be that obvious in our lives. We want to see such clear cut tangible results from our faith. So, when the team improves and other minor miracles occur, we’re glad, even if we're not surprised.

The writing is clever, moving and often times quite funny. The actors, all of whom are volunteers, do a very good job and the end result is a film that pulls at the heart and the spiritual strings... sure we've heard the song before, but we don't mind because it sounds so beautiful.

With Flywheel (made for $20,000) and Facing the Giants ($100,000), the folks at Sherwood Baptist Church have made films with more substance, depth, weight and emotional impact than Hollywood movies made for 100 times their cost. These guys believe that Jesus is the best screenwriter, director, editor, cinematographer, etc. and that their job is to offer the film up to him and he'll make the magic happen. And, with Facing the Giants, they've created another piece of Christian family magic.

This is one film my kids have demanded we add to our DVD library. I'm only too happy to oblige.

Unidentified (2006)

What is the real purpose behind UFOs? How does that work into a Christian fundamentalist view of the Bible and Jesus? Those are the questions asked and answered in the Christian film Unidentified. The story starts out with varying people in a small Texas town who see a UFO. Two reporters for a non-tabloid, bipartisan magazine visit the town to investigate. As it turns out, one reporter is an atheist, the other a part-time Christian.

As the story unfolds, as the experiences of the abductees are relayed and as more sightings occur, the reporters each pursue opposite sides of the story. The part-time Christian investigates to determine if the events are real and the atheist investigates to see if the UFO phenomenon is all a clever ruse used by others to make money. The story concludes with both sides being explained, but with the UFO sightings identified as a deception by demons and Satan to pull people away from Christ as the rapture approaches.

The overall concept and potential of Unidentified are exciting, unfortunately the implementation of the story plays out like a TV movie of the week. There's a lot of talking, and I mean a lot, with almost no visualization or cinematic imagery at all. Explanations are told instead of shown, which makes for an uninteresting film experience.

Plus, the effect of the film would have been far greater had it come out ten years ago, before 9/11, when shows like the X-Files and numerous Roswell, Texas books were so popular. Now, in a post-9/11 world, we're too focused on the real dramas in the war on terror to put much emotional weight into UFO sightings.

I've enjoyed the work of Rich Christiano and these filmmakers before (Time Changer), but, even though Unidentified has its heart in the right place it unfortunately it misses the mark.

And Even More Pics

And the last of the pics...

The boys playing the addictive Wii

DC "rolls" a strike.

Peter and Kristi

Matt, Paul and Andrew

My great sis, Mary.

Pete and Pete

Even More Christmas Pics

Here are a few more pics from the holidays...

Nothing gets between me and my caffeine.

KT and Sarah, who sits in a guy-cringing pose.

Laura, Gabe, Dea, KT, DC and
Sarah making Christmas cookies.

Laura, Pete and KT as "Angels"

Sarah in her "big sister's" lap