March 27, 2012

1. How could I not help but appreciate OCTOBER BABY. It was professionally done. The acting was high quality. The cinematography was excellent.

            If you have not heard, the main character is a young woman, who discovers that she was adopted—after her birth mother tried to abort her. Without giving away too much on the plot, the film offers struggle, realistic outcomes (not all is “happily ever after”), pain, redemption, and forgiveness.

            I appreciate the way young woman’s friends and loved ones desired to help her get to the place she needed to be. However, you sometimes have to let a person go and hope she will get there herself. People need time to process. That is real life.

            I don’t know if OCTOBER BABY is playing in a theater near you. If so, I encourage you to go.

2. I heard on a secular radio station this morning that since the year 2000, all churches in the United States have shrunk in number. This comes as no surprise. I was surprised to learn that the amount of mosques built in the United States since the year 2000 have doubled.

            Now, it is tempting to say something snarky and funny here, or to be sarcastic and ironic. I am going to take the high road, which makes what I am thinking even more difficult to contemplate.

            I wonder to what extent the growth of Islam in the United States is due to an unspoken recognition that since 9/11, those of the Islamic faith have taken a risk to be part of that religion. Muslims have been particularly marginalized in the U.S. since September 2001. The fact that they're willing to risk pain and suffering, and allow themselves to be placed in the margin, has impressed a sufficient amount of people to encourage their religion to grow here.

            I wonder how many of us in the Christian faith are willing to experience this as well. It might be fewer than I would hope. This might explain why rather than growing, all churches are shrinking in numbers.

            Humans, including we Christians, want to experience the good life. Many say that Christianity is headed for persecution in the U. S. I don’t want that, but could be this will be the only way the Kingdom will grow.

3. I love it that Roger Goodell was so tough on the New Orleans Saints. He had to be. I consider this to be the equivalent of Judge Landis' banishing from baseball nine members of the Chicago “Black” Socks, who threw the 1919 World Series.

            I also recall reading about NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s suspension of Paul Horning and Alex Karras from the National Football League for the entire 1962 season. In both of those cases, much good was done in curtailing gambling.

            I think the same will be the case with regard to offering bounties to players for putting their opponents out of football games. Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis, and defensive coordinator Greg Williams were guilty of making a grave mistake.

            Hindsight is always 20/20, but I remember watching the 2010 NFC championship game between Minnesota and New Orleans and having the distinct feeling that New Orleans was playing dirty with Brett Favre.

            I blame Williams most for this scandal. I would not have considered Goodell to have been out of line if he had suspended Williams for life. Having said all of this, I do appreciate the way Sean Payton has responded to the suspension so far.

4. The Denver Broncos are wise to sign Peyton Manning. I am not so sure that Peyton Manning selected the best team for his talents; indeed, I think San Francisco is clearly the better team. I sense that Manning intuitively realized that he is a better fit with a weaker team and a defensive minded head coach, then a stronger team and an offensive minded head coach. John Fox will leave Manning alone.  Manning will have much more input, much less friction, and much more chemistry with the Broncos. Kudos to Manning.

   As one who is fascinated by Tim Tebow, I must admit I'm looking forward to his season with the New York Jets. I think he handled his press conference extremely well yesterday. He showed the proper amount of humility, kindness, and competitive spirit. In no way did he come across as calculating or lacking integrity. I wish him the very best in New York. I heard this morning on the radio that not only is he one of the most marketable athletes in America, he is one of the most marketable people in America. Only Oprah, Princes Kate, and Adele pass him in marketability. Amazing.

5. I am happy to see the Baylor Bear girls go to the Final Four. I was disappointed slightly to see the Boys team lose so badly to Kentucky. Still, Kentucky may very well win it all and it is no disgrace to lose to such a fine collection of athletes. I am picking Baylor to win the girls tournament. In the men's Final Four, I pick Louisville in an upset over Kentucky, and Ohio State to triumph over Kansas. By this time next week, Louisville will be the National Champions.

 (With a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Learn from my experiences. I want to try to do this in the spirit of “Consumer Reports.” If I am off base, I apologize. Here is my tale:

            Last summer, we decided we needed to replace our old dishwasher–Haleigh, who had left for college. (Rim–shot, please!)

            So, Judy and I began shopping around for non-human dishwashers. We found one at Home Depot that we really liked. The salesperson said, “Why don't you apply for our Home Depot card, and then buy this dishwasher using our card. If you pay it off within the year, will not charge you interest. For people who are disciplined, it is a good way to purchase. You're basically using other people's money to make your purchases. This is how successful businesspeople operate.”

            I knew enough about business to know he was right. On a much larger scale, successful businesses use other people’s money to their advantage over an extended period of time.

            Now, understand, Judy and I try to purchase everything paying cash. There have been exceptions—our house being the most obvious one.

            I felt like this purchase could be an interesting experiment. We had the money saved up to pay for the dishwasher in cash; however, we decided to take the salesperson's advice.

            I would obtain a Home Depot card. I would purchase the dishwasher on the card. I would make regular payments on a monthly basis. I would pay each payment early so there would be no chance of a late fee.

            Why not give it a try?

            Last summer, I made my first payment two weeks early. Thereafter, I kept on a disciplined program to pay off the dishwasher before this spring.             

          Consequently, you can imagine my surprise a couple of months ago when I received a bill with a $10 late fee on it. I called the good folks at Home Depot National Headquarters, and they told me that, yes, indeed, I had made a late payment.

            Raffling through all of the bills I had in hand, I could not find a single late payment anywhere. Then the representative pointed out that I had made two payments in January.

            I tried to explain to her that I had never considered that to be a problem. In my mind, I was way ahead of the due date of the February payment.

            The Home Depot representative explained to me that when I had made that second payment in January, the billing cycle had not even ended for what was to be the February bill. Therefore, not only did they NOT count my second payment in January, they counted the payment I had made at the end of February (in my mind, I was paying early for March) as late.

            I considered asking her why Home Depot accepted my money, since it appeared they had no place to earmark it. I decided this would be inflammatory.

            I have a Discover card that I use to make purchases for my ministry at Shiloh. I pay those purchases off every month.

            I can remember once receiving a late fee, calling Discover Headquarters, finding out that I was indeed at fault, and being told that since my record was so good, they would waive the penalty in order to assure that “we can continue to maintain good customer relations.”

            Hence, I was surprised when Home Depot did not say something to the effect of, “Hey, since your credit record is so outstanding, and since we can understand why you did not understand our policy regarding billing cycle, let's just waive the $10 fee in order maintain your business.” Alas, it was not to be.

            I guess this is how Home Depot makes money on deals such as the one they offered us last summer. I immediately paid the fee, paid off the dishwasher, and closed down my account.

            One more thought: it occurred to me later that I had never heard anyone on the planet say, “Boy, Wal-Mart sure ripped me off.” Surely, somewhere there's a person who is unhappy with a transaction at Wal-Mart, although I have never heard of it.

            The attitude I have encountered at Wal-Mart is, “We want to err on the side of caution in any transaction that we have. If you're not happy, we will take the responsibility. Here is your money back.” Maybe that is why Wal-Mart is where they are today.

2. I have heard good buzz about the movie OCTOBER BABY, which is opening this Friday. It is a movie about a young woman, who discovers that she was adopted—after she had survived an abortion attempt on her life. The cast includes former television stars John Schneider and Jasmine Guy.           

            My understanding is for OCTOBER BABY to have a chance of staying in theaters, and to be shown in more theaters, this opening weekend of March 23–25 is critical.

            I like the movie trailers; I like the stories, both of the movie and of some of those who participated in it; I, for one, plan on seeing the movie this weekend.

            The actress who plays the birth mother in the movie aborted a child in real life about twenty years ago. She has found God’s healing and forgiveness, which empowered her to participate in this story.

            I would love for Shiloh to be known for its compassionate and redemptive ministry to those who have experienced abortion in their lives—male or female. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are suffering.

3. I finally got to take Judy to see the movie THE VOW last week. The story is of Leo and Paige. They were a couple that was involved in a car crash shortly after their marriage. She lost much of her short-term memory, including any remembrance of her wedding to Leo. He patiently tries to win back her love by wooing her all over again.

            The movie offered spiritual themes including a high view of marriage, commitment, and, ultimately, of forgiveness. It is based on the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. Unfortunately, my understanding is Kim's book describes much more the faith in Jesus that sustained the real-life couple.

            I wish more of the spirituality of the original story could have been conveyed in the movie; still, I appreciate the fact that Hollywood did not glorify immoral sex, and, instead, lauded love and commitment in marriage.

4. I finally got to see the movie COURAGEOUS Sunday night. We had some of my singles’ class over for pizza and a movie, and one of them brought the DVD.

            I had been putting it off, waiting for an opportunity to watch the movie with my entire family. With Haleigh off to college, that has not happened. However, when this opportunity arose, I could not resist.

            The movie was made by the folks from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. I read they filmed it for $2 million. Last I saw, it has grossed over $33 million. (Why am I not investing my retirement money in the Kendrick brothers’ movies!)

            It seems the quality of their movies improve with each new product. I know they have been accused of a “paint by the numbers” approach, but this movie is rooted in tragedy—so much for the “happily ever after” theme.

            I'm looking forward to Haleigh returning home from college and our entire family sitting down and watching it together.

5. I am pulling for Baylor to win the men’s’ and women’s’ NCAA basketball championships, but in the women’s division, I am rooting also for Elena Delle Donne. I read a great article in SI about her a month or two ago.

            She was a phenom given a scholarship by UCONN. She left in part because she missed her sister, who is blind, deaf, and suffers from autism and cerebral palsy.

            The University of Delaware campus was near her home. She joined their volleyball team and later picked back up with basketball.

            She is having an amazing year and the U of Del is in the tournament. I’ll be watching.