In 2004, I was making my way through the canned goods aisle at my local supermarket when I heard the opening chords of MercyMe’s hit song “I Can Only Imagine” being broadcast over the store’s sound system. I had two conflicting responses: 1) this song doesn’t belong in a grocery store, and 2) I think […]
When I heard that Meryl Streep would portray Margaret Thatcher in an upcoming film, I was immediately interested, assuming that The Iron Lady would examine the legacy of the Conservative heroine. I was wrong. In 1976, Margaret Thatcher, then the leader of the British Conservative Party, was dubbed by the Soviets “The Iron Lady” for […]
As I walked into the theater for a screening of Snowmen, the film’s publicist handed me materials and remarked that there was no sex and no explosions, “just cute kids in snow.” She was right, but that doesn’t fully explain why this movie is good. Goodness cannot be defined by what it is not. In […]
Imagine for a minute you are the mayor of a small town. Your country, which has been occupied by a foreign power for many years, has been liberated by a second foreign power. But, your liberators have decided to stay. You have traded one occupier for another. The foreign government demands your allegiance and cooperation in […]
Like many of my generation, my knowledge of Kung Fu and Shaolin priests was formed almost entirely by David Carradine’s portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine in the iconic television series “Kung Fu,” which aired 1972-1975. Caine was so cool. He made self-control look attractive. As a biracial fugitive in the American West, Caine tried to […]
Perhaps about five years ago I began to hear the word “random” with increasing frequency, usually from a teenager, and often as a one-word commentary on life’s apparent incongruities. FreeDictionary.com defines “random” as “a concept of non-order or non-coherence in a sequence of symbols or steps, such that there is no intelligible pattern or combination.” […]
Have you ever considered what might have happened if Jesus had come to earth not as God, but merely as a man, whose sole purpose was to heal suffering people from their infirmities? If so, you might be intrigued by Sympathy for Delicious. Its premise is simple: a young musician, who has lost his career […]
