Gabe Hits His First Home Run! - Updated

After offering up his baseball performance to God, Gabe has done very well this season, batting over .500. This weekend in a District 12 tournament, our team went 3-0 in the opening weekend, including coming back from two runs in extra innings to win our final game.

Our 3-0 recorded gave us the fourth seed out of 20 or so teams and the opportunity to go head-to-head against the Palm Harbor Rays in the Quarter Finals. We ended up losing to the Rays 5-3, but the overall weekend was a great success.

The greatest part about our tourney was that everyone of the players came up big over the course of the weekend, either at bat or in the field. It was a nice time.

On a personal level, in our second game I was thrilled to see Gabe hit his first home-run over the center field fence. We were up 8-4 and Gabe had a 3-0 count. Usually I would give him the "take" sign, but I let him hit away. He hadn't had enough at-bats from the left side of the plate, so I figured the more pitches he faces, the better. Fortunately he lifted the next pitch, a high strike, out of the park. As he trotted around the bases, his face beamed with a combination of ecstasy and disbelief.

Below is a video compilation of Gabe's hits and pitches on the travel team (in light blue shirts and orange uniforms) and our Little League Team (in the dark blue shirts and also gold jerseys).

I saved the home run as the last highlight. If you watch closely, our player running home before Gabe never touches the base. Caught up in the excitement, he drops his helmet, turns around and greets Gabe.

Ahhh, Little League.

Enjoy.

Updated PS - I've been playing around with some editing SW and came up with a high-def output. I shortened it A LOT (only just over 1 minute now) and you can see it in HIGH DEF HERE or Standard Def below.




Gabe's HR Reel - Short Version on Vimeo.


For the original extended SD version, click here.

Club God Gets Festive

We’re happy to announce that Club God has been accepted into the Faith Film Festival in New York. The films will be aired on cable television in the New York area and showcased on the festival’s website.

Congrats to the Club God cast and crew for their success.

Praise God!

The $tate of the Union - Uncle Scam

I cannot find ANYONE who thinks this "Stimulus Package" is the right thing to do. Not ONE PERSON, Republican or Democrat.

Politicians... they're all crooks!


They all seem to have forgotten that they work FOR US! Lets vote EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM OUT OF OFFICE and start over!

If there was ever a time for a third party, this would be it.

Baseball Busy

I know I haven't blogged much lately. I've been swamped with Little League baseball. Fortunately our season has started off really well. We are currently 3-0. You can see our stats and progress on our team website located here:

Safety Harbor Padres

Since I've been managing I haven't been able to shoot video, but Dea has agreed to come to all of the games and video tape for me. I'll add some video highlights soon.

Sonlight Pictures - Little League

In an effort to support our Little League during these tough economic times, we've decided to have Sonlight Pictures sponsor Gabe's Little League team. Along with a name on the back of the jersey, we also get a large banner that gets hung on one of the fields.

Below is the pic of the Sonlight Pictures banner. We hope to use the banner after the season is over at whatever public events in which we participate.


We picked the Padres as our team, but it appears no one picks them, so the uniforms are late. We hope to have our jerseys soon.

We'll add pics of Gabe in full jersey as soon as they come in.

Go Padres!

Fireproof (2008)

The leaders of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia continue to lead the way for independent Christian films. Starting small with the wonderful, yet ultra-low budget flick called Flywheel and then following that up with the popular Facing the Giants, Alex and Stephen Kendrick have made another sweet, effective movie in Fireproof.

The Sherwood formula is this... pray, write, get volunteers and do the best you can with what the Lord has provided you. Every film for them is a testament to their faith.

In Fireproof, Kirk Cameron volunteered his efforts as the lead character, fire chief Caleb Holt, who finds himself in a disintegrating marriage with his wife, Catherine, played by Erin Bethea. With prayers and support from his father, Caleb engages in the 40 day Love Dare to try to repair his damaged relationship and save his marriage.

The pros and cons of Fireproof are the same as all of the other Sherwood Baptist efforts. The message is wonderful, the production earnest and the effect, overwhelmingly positive in spite of inconsistent acting performances.

The most frustrating aspect of watching new talent on screen is the inconsistency of their performances. Like in The Genius Club, the new actors can hit an emotional moment one scene and not hit a similar pinnacle the next. Unfortunately, each one of these misses pulls you from the total impact the film could have on you.

Thankfully, Cameron is able to nail his performance as Holt. This is the first Sherwood Pictures film that writer/director Alex Kendrick has not also donned the role of lead actor. Kendrick, who is so wonderfully sincere in his performances in Flywheel and Facing the Giants, stays behind the camera and gives the lead reigns to the capable Cameron.

The challenge going forward for Sherwood is that, with each success, the expectations rise. I think it would be wise for them to look to pay for quality actors in lead roles in the future as this would greatly improve the overall delivery of their divine messages.

But, who am I to criticize? Sherwood Pictures has proven nothing is impossible with the Lord. Their $25,000 Flywheel, intended to be a film for church members only, has become a critical and financial success. Facing the Giants, made for $100,000 has already taken in over $10 million and Fireproof, costing $500,000 has almost $35 million in box office revenue.

Their formula works.

My personal preference is that they would remake Flywheel. The script is magical and, with a little bit of funding, could be their best, most complete film yet. The current low-budget version works in spite of serious production issues that come with such a small budget. I'd love to see $500,000 thrown at that script.

In any event, if you liked Sherwood Pictures previous efforts, you'll get more of the same with Fireproof. And that's a good thing!

These guys have tapped into something special and uniquely their own. The ripple effect of their work with audiences and fellow filmmakers will be felt for decades to come.

Very Funny Christian Mockumentary

Over at Christianity Today I came across an article about an upcoming release of a mockumentary called Jesus People. It's made by evangelical Christians working in Hollywood making fun of themselves. You'll recognize a lot of the people. The story is about four people who start a kids dance Christian band. A Christian Spinal Tap so to speak.

The project first started out as a web series and apparently will be turned into a feature film. The web series is so very funny.

Please check it out. It's funny, funny stuff.

Below is Episode 1.

God Dreams Big

One of the things I think we most struggle with is trusting in God with those areas of our life that matter the most. A job interview, a relationship or our personal aspirations are just a few examples. We just can't seem to let go of our Free Will when it comes to the most important things in our lives. We think we have the perfect answer, the best solution, the most prepared outcome.

And we are wrong. For example...

My son has been involved in baseball since he was under two years of age. He's a gifted kid. He's an exceptional baseball player.

He would sit in my lap as a toddler and watch a three hour baseball game without fidgeting. He would ask questions about the rules and about the players. When teams scored runs I used that to help him learn how to add and we used the names of the teams to help him learn how to read.

He taught himself the basics of throwing and taught himself how to switch hit. He's turned into quite the ball player. He's been blessed to have had a great amount of success on the baseball diamond. Last year he once struck out 15 of 18 batters as a pitcher. He's been on three all-star teams and almost won a championship.

This year, between Little League Fall Ball and Spring Ball, a couple of coaches got together and formed a travel team which would play in tournaments against other advanced players. This is not Little League. This is much more difficult. The fields are bigger, all of the rules in baseball are in play (lead offs, steals, pitching from the stretch, etc.) and the competition is much harder.

My son, like the rest of the team, struggled in the beginning. The pitchers threw harder and threw curve balls. The bases were farther apart and the throws harder to make. As a pitcher there was so much more to think about... it was real baseball and it was tough.

After a few months my son's pitching adapted, but he struggled a lot at the plate.

My son's biggest problem is fear. When hitting he has always struggled with remaining relaxed and focused. He puts the pressure of the current situation and his past failings on his shoulders before ever stepping into the batters box. A recipe for failure.

But why does he struggle? Because in the batters box he's reacting, not dictating. He's having to adjust quickly instead of following his plan.

He's not in control.

Over the course of the season he's moved lower and lower in the batting order as his performance at the plate continued to slide. During a double-header last Saturday he continued to struggle, going only 1 - 4 on a misplayed fly ball. None of his hits were solid.

He had no confidence and we were running out of ways to approach correcting it.

After the second game was over we headed over to the Little League fields for our Little League team practice. For this last weekend, our travel team and our Little League schedules overlapped. Yes, my son was completely exhausted, but I told him he needed to be a leader on our team and show the new Little League players about commitment. He showed up and worked as hard as he could.

As we approached the end of practice each of the kids took some swings at the plate. A tired Gabe surprised us all by smacking the ball around the field from both sides of the plate with amazing consistency and power. At one point he almost hit a home run.

On the drive home I asked him what the difference was between our morning double-header and our Little League practice. He said at practice he was so tired he couldn't think. He just hit.

That inspired me. And we came up with a new plan.

I told him that he needs to offer his at-bats up to God. He has to let the Lord's will be done instead of trying to succeed on his own. He needed to let the Lord guide him. I told him to rely on the gifts God had given him and let his faith replace his fear.

Sunday morning the travel team started playing in the finals of the tourney. Two wins and our team would win the championship for our level.

The first at-bat, my son hit the ball really hard, but directly to the third baseman and was thrown out at first base. I was happy, though. It was the best contact he had made in months. Afterwards he smiled from the dugout and gave me a thumbs up.

His second at-bat he stepped into the batters box with men on second and third. The pressure was on.

In one of Saturday's games he had stepped up to the plate with bases loaded and struck out. I was afraid he would take the pressure of that and previous other failures and allow it to overwhelm him again.

Fortunately, God had bigger plans.

Before entering the batters box I could see him close his eyes and take a deep breath. He relaxed and focused on the pitcher. A few moments later the pitcher threw an inside fastball and my son quickly swung. The ball exploded off the bat. All of the parents in the stands reacted with immediate hoops and hollers. The left fielder quickly turned and chased after the ball as it hit the ground and bounced against the fence. Two runs scored and Gabe raced into third base for a triple.

The third base coach patted him on the helmet and my son's face beamed with a smile that spread from ear-to-ear. In between innings he motioned for me to come over to the dugout. He said "I was so relaxed! I just asked the Lord to let his Will be done and just focused on the ball!"

And focus he did.

In those two games on Sunday my son batted 4 - 6 with two triples, a double and a single with three RBIs. And, best of all, his travel team won the championship.

In God's usual sense of humor, I didn't get a chance to video tape any of the hits. I had to keep the scorebook instead. After video taping four months of failures I couldn't capture his success on video. God can be funny that way.

After the game the team headed up to a local restaurant to celebrate. We were all so proud of our players for their efforts and improvements. The manager of the team thought that my son, for his age and weight, could not have hit that ball to left field any farther.

I knew that we were playing on very large fields... fields substantially larger than our Little League fields. I asked them how far they thought he hit the ball. They guessed at somewhere between 250 - 275 feet. To put that in perspective, our Little League fields are 200 ft.

He had hit a monster shot.

On the drive home my son and I discussed the day. He talked about praying, relying on the Lord's Will and trusting in him.

I asked my son, "what did you hope would have been the best thing you could have done today in the batters box?" He thought about it for a minute and replied, "One really good hit. That's all. A single. Just not striking out." "Me too," I agreed.

I smiled and realized that if we had relied on the narrow focus of our Will, the most we had hoped for was a single. When we put our goals in God's hands, with his Will, my son was able to achieve things far greater than we could have imagined.

It was a good lesson for my son. A reaffirmation of his faith.

God's dreams for us will take us places far more gratifying and rewarding than anything we could ever imagine on our own.

And that's a good lesson for us all.

Five Years Ago... The Box Premieres

Five years ago this week we held the premiere of our DV feature The Box at the Clearwater Cinema Cafe. The place was packed and my nerves were frayed. From shooting to editing and re-editing I had seen the end product over 100 times... but this was the first time so many people, important people in my life, were going to partake of our little cinematic experiment.

I could scarcely watch.

It was a big event for me. I had finally completed a feature film... something I had set as a goal a decade earlier. The film definitely has the scars of being an ultra low-budget flick, but it was competent and entertaining, within its own limitations. It got very positive reviews, festival play and allowed me to feel like I was finally achieving dreams I had imagined as a child.

It took a lot of people to make The Box a reality. First, I was very fortunate to have Kyme help out as Producer and single-handedly will the project to completion. She had more contacts in more places than anyone I've ever known. She was indispensable.

One of the best parts of the experience was getting to work with a the very talented cast. Samantha Grahn (Lou), John Hill (JJ), Mike Rembis (Steve) and Dan Doyle (Dante). Plus, I got to work with Brian Shea and John Snell for the first time, both of whom ended up in Club God.

I also believe it was this film that sparked the acting bug in my daughter, who has since starred in Purgatory, USA and is attending a performing arts high school. She will be far more talented than I could ever conceive being. She is a natural. I am so proud of her work.

The premiere was also the event that started the Tompkin brothers quoting lines from the film back to me every time I see them. Over and over and over again. Even to this day they greet me with the line "every drop." Funny how something conjured up in my head over a year before the premiere would make such an impact and last to this day.

I can hardly believe five years has passed already. Part of me thinks that I should have accomplished more by now and the other part of me is amazed we've been able to create Sonlight Pictures and complete Club God and Purgatory, USA within the first year of existence.

The premiere night of The Box was a special night for so many professional and personal reasons. The best of which is that I got to spend that night with my family... brothers, sisters, wife, children and my parents. There is nothing more important to me than my family.

So many things have changed since then. All for the better.

I can't imagine what the next five years will bring.

Does Obama Realize He's President?

Obama knows he won the Presidential Election. He even said so last week. "I won."

He knows he took the oath of office... twice (because they misspoke the first time).

He knows he's moved into a nice, spiffy new house painted white.

But, does he realize that he's no longer on the campaign trail and that he's actually President of the United States?

I don't think so.

Obama's reaction to the aversion of his vision of a stimulus/socialist package is a prime example of someone who doesn't know what it means to be President.

A President does not consider inviting opposing party members to a meeting equates to bipartisan support. As one Fox News analyst put it, since all of the House Republicans and 11 Democrats voted in opposition to the proposal, the only thing bipartisan is a vote AGAINST the stimulus package.

A President does not publicly call out a citizen of the country (Rush Limbaugh) and vocal critic and tell all Republicans to stop listening to him. He should be above that. He's actually intimidated by Rush Limbaugh? The President is intimidated by a talk show host? Really??? Apparently so, because now the Dems want to push the Fairness Doctrine... I'll get into that in a later entry.

A President isn't supposed to tell the American people that if you don't do what he wants it may cause us to fall into a hole we can never pull ourselves out from. How egocentric!

Look man, you're supposed to first voice your vision, then engage in a little politics, gather support from the people and then make your case.We elected you, Hussein, you should know we're willing to listen to your ideas.

But if they stink, we'll tell you it reeks. That's called Freedom of Speech. You can look it up!

Obama's reaction since ascending to the pinnacle of his very short-lived political career smacks of one thing... arrogance.

Let me give you a word of advice from one of these citizens of which you are to represent... humble yourself. You're not the smartest man on the planet. Or the country. Or in my own circle of friends.

You have a VERY important job that takes many great ideas, not just the ones you sketched out on a cafe napkin while on the campaign trail. There are a LOT of great ideas in this country that are founded on the basic freedoms of this country, including the free market.

Obama's arrogance assumes that we will do what he says and that he has the right to control what we do.

Here's a bulletin for you, Mr. President... YOU WORK FOR ME!

I, along with 300 million average citizens out here, have some ideas about your mighty government. Most of us think it's bloated, self-important, vacuous of truly new ideas and NOT representing the people of this nation. Making that pile of stench in Washington, DC even larger is not a solution!

The fact that you said that the government is the only way we can get out of this scares me a bit. When has the government (other than nation defense and infrastructure) actually solved ANYthing????

Look, Mr. O, I hope you succeed. I really do! You're my President!

But for God's sake, can you start acting like one? It's embarrassing.

America the Lost

There was a time in our country, about two generations ago, where there was a universal understanding that it was our responsibility to sacrifice, if necessary, so that the next generation would have a better life than our own.

For years I've been bemoaning on this blog about the increasing lack of understanding for the need of sacrifice. We've lost that. We've moved from "short term pain for long term gain" to a sense of entitlement.

We have lost our soul as a country. We have lost our identity.

Once, we were the hardest workers. The smartest minds. The land of great and real opportunity. The place where we were promised life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.

We have now turned into the land of outsources workers, imported minds and a land of growing and expected entitlement. We have twisted the pursuit of happiness into a guaranteed, albeit lower, quality of life.

Worst of all, we, for the first time, have turned into a country where we are willing to sacrifice the quality of the future generations for the comforts of our own.

Case and point, the ominous "stimulus package."

First, you could easily argue that it's 1% stimulus and 99% other government spending, but be that as it may, the reality is this. To spend $900 billion, we have to do two things... we need to print more money and we need people to loan us the money.

Problem 1: The primary countries providing our loans are China and Russia.

Read that again. China and Russia.

China, the communist country which has mandated a family has one child and has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Russia, which is quickly returning to its Stalinist past with fewer freedoms and growing governmental control over their people. They are not democracies. They do not share our values. For the past century they have been our enemies.

Now, however, thanks to our own selfishness, these two countries, figuratively and literally, OWN US!

Problem 2: In these rough economic times, if China and Russia stop buying our money, then we'll have to borrow against ourselves. Which will raise inflation and/or interest rates. Which means, in very quick order a $900 billion debt turns into a $2 trillion debt.

We are basically taking out a massive national loan with a variable interest rate. That's the SAME approach that got us in the economic mess IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Sadly, these two problems are not the biggest issue at hand. No, the worst of it is this... we have become so selfish, so adverse to sacrifice, that we are willing to borrow our children, grand children and great-grand children's future. We are willing take out of their mouths, their wallets, and their quality of life to prop up our own padded lifestyle.

America the Great is quickly turning into America the Lost.

What will America look like when Russia and China demand we pay them back? What influence will that afford them in our policies, in our trade agreements, in our ability to defend ourselves?

What will America look like when our government is unable to provide quality anything to our great grandchildren because they're still paying down the debt we gave them so we could keep our two cars, our large homes, our 400 channels of cable, our broadband internet, our meals out, etc.?

Fortunately, I will not be around to see it.

When America falls or is morphed into something unrecognizable, it will not be by some great military attack. Instead, like the Grand Canyon, it will be because of the slow and steady erosion of morals and principles to the bedrock of this nation.

America will die from within because our generation, soon to be known as the Selfish Generation, was the first to think of themselves before their children.

PUSA - Ep 5 Almost Done

After a break recovering from burnout, we're back into finishing up PUSA Episode 5. We've added some screenshots over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Old Pics

Thanks to Lise Staley, one of my many relatives, she posted some pics from my grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary from back in 1971.

You can see all of the pics here, but here are some of the highlights...


It's nice to have a few more pics of me from my childhood... there are so few.

Thanks Lise!

An Inconvenient Debt

This is a little disturbing.

The Commercial NBC Doesn't Want You To See

NBC would not allow this following pro-life commercial made by CatholicVote.com to be seen during the Superbowl. It's not offensive, it's uplifting.

Oh, wait, it's pro-life.

What has this country come to when something promoting life becomes a bad thing? The world is officially upside down.

Here's the commercial. Check it out.

SISS Vol 3 Available

For those collectors of all books rare, pick up your limited copy of Surviving in Safety Harbor, Volume 3 which covers from June to December of 2006.

Mom, I'll have your copy when you return on Monday.

I Thought We Were Passed This...

No matter what your political affiliation, the election of Barack Obama was a massively historic event. It showed the racial maturity of our nation.

A nation that had once enslaved blacks and denied them their constitutional rights for 100 years has, within just over 40 years of Martin Luther King, Jr., elected a black man as President of the United States.

And it's about time.

Perhaps such an event would allow the long term racial healing process to come to a conclusion. Perhaps we could now move beyond race as a divider and, instead, look at it as secondary to our role as common citizens of this wonderful country.

Such a wonderful opportunity for healing, for unity, for growth as a country.

Then why o' why would Obama's economic adviser Robert Reich state that funds of the government should exclude "white construction workers?"

Why make such a statement? Why bring race back into the conversation?

Why????

Aren't white construction workers taxpayers? Aren't they ponying up their portion of the Democratic socialist "stimulus" package?

Are you saying, Mr. Reich, that some American taxpayers are unworthy of government assistance purely because of their race?

Really?

And you work for who?

Reverse discrimination is still discrimination. Reverse disenfranchismentment is still disenfranchisement. Reverse bigotry is still bigotry. Reverse racism is still racism.

Perhaps our nation hasn't matured, but simply changed the direction of its ignorance.

The Power of Editing

A recent scientific study has proven that artful film editing can have a potent effect on your brain. In a study by NYU neuroscientists, they studied the effect of different editing styles on your brain through MRI, fMRI and ISC analysis.

The subjects were shown various editing styles (Hitchcock Presents Bang! You're Dead, The Good The Bad and the Ugly, Curb Your Enthusiasm and unstructured reality footage).

It turns out Hitchcock's cinematic editing style had, by far, the most impact on the brain, effecting 65% of the neocortex.

It just goes to show you that good editing really does work.

In reaction to the study, a filmmaker recut Toy Story 2 to match the Dark Knight editing style and made a brilliant alternate version of the Toy Story 2 film.

Check it out. Regular def below. High def here.

Faith as Culture

American Christians have gotten lazy. Lazy about their faith.

This country was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs and generations of Christians have followed suit. The problem now is that we've allowed our faith to become our culture.

Why is this a problem?

Cultures change. Faith should not.

An American bishop recently said Catholics should stop treating their faith as a family tradition and, instead, treat it as a belief system. The same could be said for all of the other Christian denominations.

The cultural revolution in the 60's is a prime example of how quickly our societal beliefs can change. The sexual revolution has led to a dramatic increase in unwanted pregnancies, divorce, single parenthood, broken homes, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and a massive influx of fatherless prisoners in our penal system.

Our faith's beliefs should remain solid, etched in hard stone, immovable, at the core of our very being.

When we allow Christianity to become our culture, it is up for grabs, to be pulled and pushed and swayed and redefined by whoever is in power.

Our faith should remain founded on eternal truths defined by the Creator that never change, no matter the political party, the economic situation or whatever perverse cravings whet the appetites of the day.

We need to reclaim Christianity as our faith and leave the cultural changes where they belong, in the public square and out of our churches.

I'm tired...

I'm tired of arrogance fueled by ignorance.

I'm tired of self-righteousness stoked by insecurity.

I'm tired of the self-serving masquerading as the self-less.

I'm tired of the ill-informed demanding changes from the well-informed.

I'm tired of hypocrisy and stupidity and lunacy.

I'm tired... of being tired.