Avatar

Okay - so tonight I stayed up and watched Avatar.  Honestly, the movie only interested me for the special effects etc.  From all the commercials, all the "hype" and everyone that saw it, the only thing that made me curious was, the special effects.  For transparency's sake, I watched the movie on a 52" plasma screen, with digital surround sound, from a redbox DVD.  Not high-definition, but an immersive experience.  So here's my short rundown:
The presentation of the movie was definitely "epic."  I mean "epic" both in the original sense and in the sense that is commonly used today: absolutely great, and vital to our microwave culture.  I'm talking about the presentation: how the story was effectively communicated to me.  I definitely felt "immersed" in the environment - so much so, that at the point where Jake first meets the flying creatures, and Neytiri cautions him not to look them in the eye, I flinched away so as not to look the creature in the eye.  Made me feel like a noob - good job, production team.
I'm gonna skip all I can say about the presentation (which is a lot - seriously, good job production team) and move on to the story.  My brother-in-law and fellow titterer @hardincentral told me beforehand that Avatar was like Dances With Wolves meets, well I forget what he said it meets, but in all that matters the story is the same.  Hmmm, that's what he said - Dances With Wolves meets the Matrix.  I almost expected lines from either film.  So that's my yawn for the three-hour "blockbuster" feature that's supposed to change film making.  And I am afraid my initial suspicions were confirmed: great special effects, same old story.
Now let's not forget that this basic storyline is a bestseller, and for good reason.  It's the quintessential message of redemption through immersion.  Someone realizes that though their team is winning, they don't like the way the battle is being fought.  They struggle with trying to find some common ground, eventually and ultimately changing sides.  They abandon all they know for all they believe.
This is the story we all love, and more importantly it's the story we all need.  We all recognize our humanity: our greed, our selfish motivations, our pride.  We live most our lives with a quiet acceptance that these are things that we do because we are human.  But their is a Voice inside us that says, "This isn't gonna end well."  We all want to be like Jake in that instance (or John Dunbar or Neo): truly abandoning all that we have come to know and be comforted by in order to grasp what we feel and believe in our soul.  These heroes are the personifications of what we hope for in ourselves.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul." ~ Proverbs 13:2

Here is where our longings are fulfilled: in Jesus Christ.  Although He was not originally one of us, He came to us in our form, and showed us that a certain destruction was coming, and He showed us the way to be rescued and saved.  God created us in His image, but then immersed Himself in our image, so that we could see Him, and trust Him, and follow Him to our salvation.  I need this.  Not this story: this truth.  The stories are all vague reminders of what I really need.

"What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" ~ Romans 7:24-25

Just a Little Something

Okay, so I woke up this morning remembering a vivid dream.  Alright, don't worry - I don't want to bore you with my passive mental meanderings.  Don't pretend to be interested for my sake, anyway.  But I will share: I was in some sort of small boat, like a canoe or raft, barely off the shore of a small, tropical island.  I was not alone - if I put the pieces together, my wife, my son, and my two brothers and my parents were with me.  Well, they were with me at least at some point or another (since dreams are so logical).  Again, trying to put the pieces together after the fact, it seems as though I was on some mission to preach to the local peoples of this island.  When the water craft landed, there was a beautiful, albeit small, sandy beach.  And there were a number of people, probably around twenty, that were all there waiting.  So, I preached.  Not a clue what about, other than Jesus, I'm sure.  I must have stayed on the island for at least that day - and then the next day it was time to go.  That was about it.
Some things "stick out" to me about this dream: when we were in the water arriving, the island appeared to be dog-legged, to the right; the island was small, like the size of a golf course; we stayed in some sort of trailer on the island; I don't think I was the only "preacher" to visit - rather it seemed they had preachers on a regular basis;  my two brothers were with me, and my oldest brother gave some of his clothing to one of the locals; I specifically remember seeing Caleb's face, and him running for me; there was some sort of deadline regarding our time to go.
Now the question is, why am I sharing this?  I'm not sure.  I can remember a distinct feeling between what I call "bad pizza" dreams and "mystery" dreams.  I label a dream "bad pizza" if it's probably a result of some strange connection between what I ate and what I drank the previous night.  You know, images of purple crocodiles and a police officer eating ice cream.  Maybe an elephant with bright red toe nails.  But then I label a dream a "mystery" dream if I feel like there's something for me to figure out.  These dreams usually make a little more logical sense, and then there is always that strange sense of purpose on them.  I don't get these too often, but I'm familiar with them.  This dream falls into the mystery category, so I've written it down to remember, and to ponder.
The book of Jeremiah preserves the story of how God spoke to this prophet with visual clues.  God showed him the branch of an almond tree.  "Almond tree" in old Hebrew sounds similar to "watching" - much like "see" in English sounds similar to "sea."  God told him the meaning - that God was watching to see that His word was fulfilled.  It was like a riddle.  Now, I'm not saying this to establish some doctrine or teaching on how God speaks to us.  But I think it does reveal something about the nature of God.  We call Him the "God of Wonders" and talk about how much higher His thoughts are than ours.  But then, when we ask Him a question or seek Him for something, we expect that He will use third-grade English to make it clear to us.  And sometimes He does.  Sometimes, however, I think He relishes the mystery - He knows that we learn so much more when we hunt it out.  When we seek it out, we rarely forget, and that is very valuable to Him.
Maybe this dream I've had is bad pizza (or, more accurately, spaghetti).  Maybe it's more, I don't know.  Maybe I've written it down, and will never think much more of it.  But it has stirred some thoughts in me now, and brought me to God once again.  I'm thankful for that.  And as I engage it with my questions, I doubt it will be easy to forget.

Changes...

Yeah, probably like every other person on the planet, I'm planning on making some changes to my blog, and I'm planning on blogging more. A lot more. God is still challening me, molding me, shaping me and sharpening me. One of those areas He's working on me will, I think, directly affect my blogging. For now, I've got some personal notes on that which I'll keep personal. When I make time to develop them more, I may share them. Meanwhile, let this serve as notice: more to come!

*! Wow

So Karissa and I stuck to it tonight, got past being a bit too analytical, and finished our budget for October. Yes! - A few days ahead! I'm pretty psyched about it, because I'm pretty psyched about stickin' to it, and I guess it's a pretty psychy thing. I've heard Dave Ramsey talk on the radio about when people feel a swell of belief, of motivation - hope. So, in my excitement, I tucked Karissa into bed and I sat down at the computer. I enjoy using computers, particularly when it comes to numbers. It follows that I converted our pencil-written chicken scratches into beautiful configurations of LCD pixels and yes, it probably only impresses me. But here's where the *! came in.

Dave Ramsey has this personal finance software that cooks you waffles in the morning, if you can just unlock its potential. Seriously, belgian or eggo. And if you plug in your debts (my student loans) it can help you figure out how quickly you'll be debt-free, like, give you a month and a year in one of several chart formats. Simple enough you say - anyone can do that with some serious focus time and a calculator. Sure. And anyone with that kind of focus would probably not be in debt, at least not to a student-loan institution.

My favorite part about waffles, however, is the syrup or fruit that you put on top. That's the part of the Dave's software that *!-ed me tonight. On top of your interest rates and monthly payments, this program includes a box called "additional" - and forces you to think of how much more than your minimum monthly payment you want to apply towards your debt. Who even asks that question? In today's financial system it takes some audacity (or kool-aid) to think that you'd pay more than the bank asks each month. But there it is - the box for "additional."

I played with it. I viewed the charts with a zero in the box - 92 months to being debt free. That's in 2017, after Jesus returns. I tried $100.00 and shaved off a couple years. How about $400 above my monthly payments? Thirty-seven months. What if Karissa got a part-time job and we lobbed an extra $1300 per month at that debt? December 2010 baby. Next year*!*! DEBT-FREE NEXT YEAR*!*! That's motivation! Holy-mackeral that's motivation! Maybe we can find some extra income, tighten the belt a little somewhere else, and actually do this! Thanks for the strawberries and whipped cream, Dave - you made my day!

How aggressive is too aggressive? Forget about clothing and apply more towards debt? Cut the cell phone? What do you think? Lemme know in the comments!

NOTE: It has occurred to me that *! is often used to replace curse words. On this blog, *! is implemented to refer to an intense moment of "wow" as in, "Do my eyes deceive me?" or "No way - not even!" or, more pertinently, "I think I trust Dave, but can this software be telling me the truth?" Please don't curse, especially in your thoughts.

I'm living for the glory of His name - the name of Jesus Christ...

Late Night Thoughts

Family really is a blessing. I just spent a few hours sharing my in-laws with my own parents, talking over coffee, sharing stories and laughing a lot. Sometimes I'm afraid people in my generation no longer value some of the things valued by those who go before us, who have paved the ways for us and in my opinion have done a pretty good job. I strive to make my life a gesture of appreciation for those values and those people.

Common Sense

I've been reading Neil Cavuto's "Common Sense" lately - it's a frequently updated post/blog on FoxNews.com where Neil lays down his thoughts on, well, whatever. Neil is the Business section editor/manager for Fox News. I've really been enjoying his thoughts, and want to repost the most current one in light of economics today:

Regis Philbin, may we call a friend?

Someone, anyone, who can help us figure out why stocks went down, even though the Senate gave a gotta-have rescue package the thumbs up?

Please, Regis. Help!

Lifeline, any line, now!

We've run out of answers, and politicians, excuses for a package they assumed would calm the beast.

But it hasn't. It didn't.

And let me tell you something, it won't.

And here's why.

Catering to a beast just invites more beastly behavior.

And the more you cater, the more beastly the behavior.

The markets have behaved like petulant children. screaming, and stomping their selling feet every time they don't get their way.

The House rejects what amounts to a bail out, they sell off.

So the Senate scrambles to get them what they want, and they still sell off.

And everyone, everyone is scared to death!

What do they want? What have we done wrong? How can we calm them? How can we make them happy?

Well here's a newsflash, Washington, and consider this a free lifeline, no need to call a friend.

Learn a new word. A word a lot of parents know well, but apparently you forgot.

That word is "no."

No, we're not going to give in to your ridiculous tantrums.

No, we're not going to pay you off, desperately hoping you'll stop selling off.

And no, we're not going to write a check for your screw-ups, praying you don't have one of your infamous meltdowns.

Trust me, Washington, they'll not like your sudden backbone, but we, the folks who pay you, will certainly appreciate it.

Because let me tell you something: Politicians led by the nose invariably get knocked in the ass.

So quit being asses.

Wall Street's got your tune.

And sadly Main Street's got your number.

Stand up for something.

Instead of looking like you could be rolled for anything.

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Thank you, Neil, for speaking my thoughts clearer than I could.