Book Review - "Me, Myself, & Bob" by Phil Vischer

I finished reading (a few weeks ago) an autobiography from the VeggieTales creator, Phil Vischer entitled "Me, Myself, & Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams and Talking Vegetables".

Being an avid VeggieTales fan, I was really looking forward to reading Phil's autobiography and reading the history of VeggieTales and Big Idea. This was a super easy read and thoroughly enjoyable. Whether you are interested in the evolution of the creative cutting edge animation or the evolution of your favorite animated characters or the whole enchilada, this is a great book. Further, the things that God brought Mr. Vischer through and the things that God taught him, were incredible. Mr. Vischer shares his spiritual growth in a full circle and it is incredibly profound. Not many books of this sort really "minister" to me, but this one ministered to me as well as my husband.

I highly recommend this book if you can get a hold of it.

Movie Reviews: Monster House, Fool's Gold

I am behind on my movie reviews from the past several weeks. Today's reviews are from older releases since I don't ever get to a theater and tend to always be behind on the new DVD releases too. But anyway, here are my reviews for "Monster House" and "Fool's Gold"

A few Saturdays ago we pulled out an older animated movie, "Monster House". I can honestly say this was a weird movie. Although it was animated and hopefully family-friendly, there were phrases and ideas I really didn't want handed down to my children.

This movie is about a house believed to be haunted and eats toys, children and whatever else it wants to that may aggravate it. Three children set out to kill whatever it is that is keeping it alive and get to know the owner of the house to find out that he is really a prisoner of the house. The house was built for his very robust circus wife, who was killed and buried in the house accidentally. Her spirit inhabits the house and lashes out at anyone who may seem to make fun of the house as they did her in real life. The old man admits and realizes he is a prisoner to this house and along with the three children "kills the house".

I wouldn't recommend this movie if you are protective of your children and the language or phrases they pick up. I also would not recommend the movie if you disapprove of Halloween since this movie is based on preparing for Halloween so kids won't get eaten and has the Halloween theme in it. That aside, it was just a really weird movie I didn't really care for.

A week ago or so we rented "Fool's Gold" with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. We rented it based on how much we enjoyed "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" with these same two actors. Their chemistry was fun and enjoyable. There wasn't the electricity in "Fool's Gold" as there was in "How to Lose a Guy…". Although they were becoming newly divorced and you knew they would get back together, it was still dull. This movie was hard to follow from the history as they jumped from big find to big find and you couldn't really follow why the treasure was here or there. This movie was kind of lacking in general. The plot and characters were not well developed and it wasn't a real engaging movie. There was one funny thread throughout the movie that Jeff and I got a kick out of regarding one of Ben's (McConaughey) "skills". But outside of that, the movie was kind of a dud, far-fetched and disappointing. The movie had potential but missed the boat.

Two Messages Collide Today

While I was work doing some mindless work, I was listening to the last sermon in a series, "Stormology" by Dr. Bill Lawrence of Leader Formation International and Dallas Theological Seminary. You can find this series here with podcasts and notes.

In this sermon he emphasizes the importance of a relationship with the Living Word as opposed to obedience of the Word. We traditionally see obedience as doing what the Bible the says but in doing so reduces the Living Word into dead words. We turn Jesus life into our death and miss the point of obedience. Obedience is not conforming to external demands or commands but a response to the Living Word according to the written Word. We are responding to a loving relationship with the Living Word and can only obey the written Word when the Living Word acts through us. We immerse ourselves in the Word that takes us to the Living Word. Wow, that takes some thinking to wrap one's mind around that when you are traditionally taught to obey the Bible, follow the rules, and so forth. (I am not discounting this.) But then we totally miss the relationship with Jesus that propels us to obedience out of love and hunger for both the Living Word and the written Word. Too often pastors make believers "functional legalists" where the focus is on obedience to rules over a relationship with Christ.

His earlier sermons lead up to this one where he drives home the point that storms come. They are a part of life. Are you on sand or solid rock? A transitioning point was made that there is a veil that cannot be penetrated by the Christian to reach the non-Christian. We can explain away, preach, and drone on and on, but it is the glory of God in our lives that will penetrate the veil and draw others to Christ.

This collides with a post from tallgrassworship where she is challenging her choir members to purposeful worship. When we focus on the Great Musician, the Living Word, and our Savior, God's glory goes by us (Exodus 33:22) and shines through us to fellow Christians and non-Christians. What an awesome thing!