Pixar’s Finding Nemo is one of my all-time favorite movies, and my daughter absolutely loves it, so we’ve seen quite a lot of it at my house.  One of the movie’s most endearing characters is Dory, a little blue fish who desperately wants to be helpful but suffers from Short-term Memory Loss.  Basically, she forgets anything about 15 seconds after she hears it.  As you can imagine, that leads to some rather hilarious situations in a film that’s all about the main characters looking for someone.

Today, I’ve been thinking about just how Dory-like I am in my faith in Jesus.  My mind is full of big truths that I’ve learned about God, but when the time comes to practically apply them, it often seems that I might as well have forgotten them entirely.  Just today, I was talking to my wife about a situation that had me frustrated.  She very quickly pointed out that God has a reason for not doing what I wanted, and that he works everything for our good.

Of course, I knew that.  I believe that wholeheartedly.  But, in the moment, I forgot it.  I let anxiety (read: lack of faith) and frustration (read: lack of trust) get the better of me.  Because of that, the glorious truth that God works all things together for my good provided no comfort to me in a time that I really needed it.  I had my theology straight, it was just neutered.

Dory’s Short-term Memory Loss was a big hindrance to her attempts to help Marlin find his son (and keep his sanity), and mine is an equally big hindrance to the peace that I’m promised in Christ.  If you’re feeling the same way, then fight forgetfulness by taking those spiritual truths that you’ve committed to your mind and make sure they’re equally committed to your heart.  Then, give me a minute, because I had a really great closing line for this post, but I’ve completely forgotten what it was.

“One of the greatest injustices we do our young people is to ask them to be conservative. Christianity is not conservative, but revolutionary … We must teach the young to be revolutionaries, revolutionaries against the status quo.”

- Francis Schaeffer

That’s a quote that needs to be carefully understood (i.e., ‘revolutionary’ doesn’t simply mean liberal/progressive), but it’s also one that is desperately needed.  We don’t need to teach our kids the merits of conservatism (and I am, by and large, a political conservative), we need to teach them to follow Jesus, and then to see their world through the lens of the Gospel and live in light of that.  Sometimes, that may look very ‘conservative.’  Sometimes, though, it may be anything but.

HT: Tim Challies

“I realized then that sermon length is not measured in minutes; it is measured in minutes-beyond-interest.”

- T. David Gordon

HT: Doug Wilson

That’s right, the impending return of the NFL season means it’s time to get the gang together for the annual fantasy draft.  We had ours Sunday night, and here’s the lineup I’m sporting this season in our 14-team league…

Starters
QB – Matt Schaub, HOU
RB – Jonathan Stewart, CAR
RB – Brandon Jacobs, NYG
WR – Andre Johnson, HOU
WR – Percy Harvin, MIN
RB/WR – Mike Wallace, PIT
TE – Greg Olsen, CHI
K – Garrett Hartley, NO
D – Carolina

Bench
WR – Mohamed Massaquoi, CLE
WR – Roy Williams, DAL
RB – Kevin Smith, DET
QB – Jason Campbell, OAK
RB – Correll Buckhalter, DEN
TE – Jeff King, CAR
WR – Brandon LaFell, CAR

Early analysis – I’m thin at running back but really like my crop of receivers.  A preseason trade for another back isn’t out of the question, but as it is I like my chances as long as Houston’s passing game keeps up the #1 form it had last year.  What about you?  Who are you looking at as a fantasy stud this year?  Who’s going to be a bust?  Let me know in the comments about your outlook for this year.

New movies are usually released to theaters every Friday, but who’s got 10 bucks these days to drop on a movie that may well be a load of crap? Given those odds, on Friday I offer an alternative on DVD that you can rent at your local video store (or in some cases, avoid at all costs). Some will be new releases, others you may have to hunt for, but all of them are available to light up your small screen should it be a lazy Friday night.

The Warlords

Yep, it’s another Asian import for this week’s Featured Film, so those of you who are subtitle-impaired can go ahead and tune out now.  For the rest of you, Heather and I found another great gem last weekend in The Warlords, the story of three men bound together by war.  With a great cast including Jet Li (Hero), Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (Red Cliff), we were excited to check the movie out, and what we found was an engaging personal drama that was deeply moving and did not disappoint.

The film begins by introducing us to Qingyun (Li) a general in the Qing army who is the sole survivor of a battle gone horribly wrong.  In disgrace and disarray, he comes upon the camp of a bandit gang led by Erhu (Lau) and Wuyang (Kaneshiro).  After earning the men’s respect, Qingyun proposes that their camp joins the army in order to bring respect and stability for their people.  As the men embark on a long and difficult campaign, they struggle to hold fast to the oath of loyalty that they swore to one another.

Among Chinese imports of the past decade, I’d put The Warlords safely in the top half, though it’s very different in time period and tone from many of the others.  Set in the 19th century, the film is grittier in both tone and themes than movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.  The focus in battle scenes is on brutality, not grace, and the soul of the movie is the tension that war puts on the strong relationship between the three lead characters.  It’s a deeply human story, and while the action scenes are nice and well-done, those expecting an action epic might be a little let down by the time all is said and done.  This is a personal drama set against the backdrop of a war film, and thanks to great performances by the leads, a more-potent-than-expected script, and a solid overall vision from director Peter Chan, it’s a darn good one.  If you’ve been a fan of these actors and the movies they’ve brought across the Pacific in the last ten years, then you’ll likely enjoy this one too.  Unless you simply can’t tolerate subtitles, give this a rental (Netflix members, it’s also currently available for instant streaming). – ***1/2 (out of 4)

The Warlords is rated R for sequences of strong violence.

That’s the assertion of this article featured today on CNN, and having served as a youth pastor for over four years, I can attest that it’s true.  While a majority of American teens would likely identify as Christian, most of them have little to no understanding of the faith they profess.  Instead, their beliefs look more like what many have coined ‘moralistic therapeutic deism’ – a belief in a nebulous, out-there god who wants us to do the right thing and feel good about ourselves.  Call that whatever you will, but it’s not following Jesus.  The article lays the blame largely on the doorstep of parents and churches, which again is pretty accurate.  Here’s an excerpt…

Some adults don’t expect much from youth pastors. They simply want them to keep their children off drugs and away from premarital sex.

Others practice a “gospel of niceness,” where faith is simply doing good and not ruffling feathers. The Christian call to take risks, witness and sacrifice for others is muted, she says.

“If teenagers lack an articulate faith, it may be because the faith we show them is too spineless to merit much in the way of conversation,” wrote Dean, a professor of youth and church culture at Princeton Theological Seminary.

That should sting a little bit.  The church simply must do a better job of passing the Gospel to our children.  As Christian parents, this responsibility falls squarely on us – not on youth pastors, Sunday school teachers, or anybody else.  I’m feeling the weight (and wonder) of this calling with every day older my daughter gets.  Parents, give the article a read, and let’s raise a generation of Christ-followers, not moralistic therapeutic deists.

Doug Wilson has a great post examining what we require people to believe for membership in the church.  Wilson pushes back against the notion that we should require strict adherance to a confession for entry into church membership.  He gets the ball rolling with this quote…

“In all Churches a distinction is made between the terms upon which private members are admitted to membership, and the terms upon which office-bearers are admitted to their sacred trusts of teaching and ruling. A Church has no right to make anything a condition of membership which Christ has not made a condition of salvation. The Church is Christ’s fold. The sacraments are the seals of his covenant. All have a right to claim admittance who make a credible profession of the true religion; that is, who are presumptively the people of Christ.” – A.A. Hodge

Wilson then fleshes out the matter a bit.  His conclusion?

This mistake is the result of confusing the session interview with St. Peter’s interview at the Pearlies. It demands of preschoolers that they show their high school diploma as a condition for admittance into preschool. It confuses the end from the beginning, and the beginning from the end. It muddles baptism and the eschaton. It reverses the order of the Great Commission — teach them obedience to all that the Lord commanded, and then bring them in. It is theological dyslexia.

This is an issue that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about over the last several months.  As our team thinks through what membership will look like at our church plant, we want to be faithful to let the gospel take preeminence – not watering down our doctrinal convictions, but making sure that we’re not laying any requirements upon people that Scripture does not, and thus implicitly telling people, “We believe you’re a true Christian, but you can’t join our church.”  That’s a precedent that I simply can’t find in the Bible.  I’d encourage you to read Wilson’s full post and think through these things as well, especially if you’re in leadership at a local church.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

That verse is probably one of the most frequently quoted in all of Scripture.  Usually, we think of it as a motivational verse when striving toward some dream or goal.  However, I think the apostle Paul had quite a different situation in mind when the Spirit moved him to write those words, and it should be a great encouragement to anyone who feels weighed down by the circumstances of life.  Let’s back up just a couple verses…

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:11-13

Paul is in prison as he writes this.  Yet, he’s telling the Philippian church  that he is content in all situations.  He knows how to rejoice in abundance, but he also knows how to endure suffering.  How?  Because he is filled with the strength of Christ.  Paul is saying that Jesus gives us the strength we need to survive – and even rejoice – in the midst of life’s greatest difficulties.

Jesus gives us strength in all circumstances.  He is with us on the mountaintops of life, and we could never get there apart from his strength.  However, he’s also there in the valleys, walking alongside us as the Man of Sorrows and leading us onward as the conquering risen King.  As I’m working to see a church planted in Morgantown, WV, I certainly need the strength of Christ to see that high goal accomplished.  It’s something I strive after every day.  However, before Christ can strengthen me to plant a church, I need him to strengthen me to survive this workweek.  I need him to strengthen me in my discouragement before he can strengthen me for my triumphs.  Thankfully, that’s exactly what he’s promised he’ll do in Philippians 4:13.  So if you feel more like a demotivator than a motivational poster today, remember that this verse is still for you.  In fact, it’s especially for you.

On Monday, my Charlotte Bobcats made a surprising move by signing free agent big man Kwame Brown.  Why is it surprising?  In 2001, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, then the manager of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards, made Brown the first ever high-schooler drafted #1 overall.  Brown never lived up to that billing, and while he’s put together a decent journeyman’s career coming off the bench, he’s gone down as one of the greatest draft busts of all time and his name is frequently used to mock Jordan’s reputation as an executive.  Now, nine years later, Jordan has brought Brown to Charlotte.

As I was doing some reading on the signing, I came across this article by The Washington Post‘s Sally Jenkins that was written at the close of Brown’s tumultuous rookie year.  It’s a truly eye-opening piece.  As fans, we see an underperforming young player simply as a disappointing athlete.  Jenkins takes a look at the 19-year old young man who went from troubled kid to millionaire superstar overnight.  It opens a door to a world that we as sports fans rarely give much thought to – namely, who our favorite team’s players are as people.  The article’s long, but it’s very well-written, and if you’re a sports fan at all, I can’t recommend it highly enough.  After reading it, I’ll be pulling for Kwame a little bit more this year.