"God doesn't care who you were. He only cares who you are." - Cowboys & Aliens

I went to the movies today.  Going to the movies is one of my most favorite things to do in the world.  I was reading Wild at Heart by John Eldredge a few years back.  His theory was that God speaks to us most in whatever mode are most passionate about.  That could be nature, athletics, music, etc…  Well I am very passionate about movies and that is where he really speaks to me.  To be honest he speaks to me all the time because I have learned to listen, but I feel his presence most when I either watch movies or listen to sermons from Joel Osteen or Steve Madsen.  So I was watching a movie today, Cowboys and Aliens.  I love going to movies, did I say that already?  I estimate I’ve probably seen over 15,000 in my lifetime.  But please don’t ask me how many fiction books I’ve read.  I think you can count them on both hands and 20% of those were written by Alexander Dumas. (bonus points if you can guess the titles). I don’t think I have the patience to sit through a fiction book.  Maybe its because of my ADD.  (Jennifer is not a great fiction reader eith…Look a butterfly….”   Non-fiction is another story.  I love reading non-fiction, self-help books.  That is what greatly assisted me in getting out of the mire of a few years ago.  Oh yeah, God spoke to me through those too, because for a couple of years ago I was passionate about the non-fiction “Christian” books reading several. I was also quite hooked on calling 1800 prayer type of lines.  You can’t get enough prayer when you are in crisis mode.  Well it worked obviously because look at where I am now…praise God. 

OK…so back to the movie.  Since I have seen so many movies I am quite selective on what I see.  This drives Jennifer crazy sometimes.  I will check the reviews first.  Rotten Tomatoes is great but you have to take them with a grain of salt. Rotten Tomatoes takes a slew of reviews and gives them an average rating.   My cut-off line is usually 80% or higher for Rottentomatoes.com.  Although I will occasionally make an exception like I did today.  Then I will check the director and/or writer and see if I liked their previous body of work.  Finally I’ll go with the actor.  Most good/great actors usually are selective with their body of work.  The exception goes to English Actors.  I’ve seen Michael Caine star in some pretty bad films.  I asked my friend Gordon about this one time.  Gordon was a very cockney director that worked with me at Saudi Aramco.  He believed that English Actors believe people should go to the films for the actor, while Americans believe you should go to the film for the story.  Another interesting difference between English actors and American actors are the female leads.  How many older American actresses do you see?  By older I mean in their 60-80ish age range.  Conversely, I believe you see many older English actresses still active.  Dame Judi Dench, the Redgrave sisters while they were still alive are examples of this off the top of my head.  Yet, I can’t really think of a lot of household American actresses that have appeared in their twilight years.  Feel free to post if you have exceptions.  Actors in large part have giant egos.  That is why they probably got into the business in the first place.  They want to be remembered on celluloid for their best moments.  That’s why many of them go into seclusion when they age.  Ronald Reagan comes to mind.  I remember when he gave his farewell address announcing he had Alzheimer’s and would be signing off forever.  I think he lived another 10 years but there was not one image of him released after that.  So the public will always remember the 1980’s era Reagan in his prime as far as public perception.  That is his legacy. 

Wow, did I go off on a tangent there. Silly ADD.    Back to Cowboys and Aliens.  It only got a 44% from Rotten Tomatoes, but since I like Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, I made the exception and Im glad I did.  There was one character in the film that I loved.  He was the old preacher.  What a wonderful character this guy was played brilliantly by Clancy Brown (He was the bad guy in Bad Boys and Highlander amongst many others).  But he was great in this.  I love when Christians are played on the silver screen in a positive manner since it doesn’t happen very often.  There was one line in the film that really struck home with me.  It could have been in the Bible but instead here it was on the Silver Screen.  The line was “God doesn’t care who you were, he only cares who you are.”  That is the story of redemption in a simple yet beautiful manner.  All truth is God’s truth.  So if its truth, even if it is from a movie, it is God’s voice.  God can speak to us through whatever medium as long as its truth.  Movies are great for this.  I know of two different circumstances where people came to know Christ after seeing the Exorcist.  That was not a Christian movie but Truth flowed through it.  My favorite “Truth” in movies comes from my friend Mike Leahy.  Mike is a good Christian guy producing films in Los Angeles.  We both went to Evangel University (not at the same time) together.  He was producing Hellraiser 4.  Mike is a Christian, he hired a Christian Director for the film.  So they actually made a “Christian” movie under the guise of that guy with spikes in his head.  I think that is awesome.  The enemy has been using the media to distract people since the advent of film.  It’s about time Christians try to reclaim some of that influence.  That is what originally drove me to film industry in the first place.  So after seeing this Cowboys and Aliens movie, even though it wasn’t perfect.  God spoke to me through that one line.  I believe my time for making a difference in this medium is coming.  I just have to be patient and wait for God’s perfect timing.  For now, my calling is to be with Jennifer and raise our beautiful young daughter.  It’s a pretty great ride in the mean time.