The Lego Church

You have probably seen this amazing site, but if not, here is a link. Pretty good recreation of a Crystal Cathedral -style church, made out of, yes, those little plastic block you remember from childhood.

Movie Review: Peretti on DVD

The Visitation is one of my favorite Frank Peretti novels; I always thought it was under-rated, more subtle than some of his other works. Anyway, it got made into a movie starring Edward Furlong and Randy Travis, and was just released on DVD.

Let's say at the outset that Christian movies have made a huge leap from the days of the church basement. Scripts, actors, budgets -- they are all better than they used to be. So the problem when reviewing a Christian movie is . . . . what do you compare it to? Not every movie has Narnia's budget or Mel Gibson's personal backing, so those are not fair comparisons.

But to the movie at hand. The Visitation compares favorably to old church movies and to low-budget independent-type films. The subtlety was lost in translation from book to film, as was some of the drama. I do not remember the specifics of the book, so I can't say how close it stuck to the original, but it the movie did seem a bit predictable, and I don't remember the book being that way.

Next up -- the Steve Taylor/Michael W Smith movie.

My Catholic Teacher

Scott Hahn is a former presbyterian who "Poped" about 15 years ago and has become a leading lay apologist for the Catholic church. I am a Catholic-friendly Protestant and find his works interesting. There are some assumptions and conclusions I can't go along with, but there are many areas of commonality that I would not have expected, as well as areas of faith and practice that speak strongly to me.

His works that I have read are: Hail, Holy Queen, about Mary, who I absolutely love; The Lamb's Supper, which ties the Mass to the Book of Revelation; and Lord Have Mercy, a work on confession.

There are about 10 more, many of which I expect to read in the next few years.

Narnia vs. Harry

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has now passed at least two of the Harry Potter movies in domestic box office, and has a good shot of edging out the third.

This bodes well for the future; we'll get some more Narnias, and maybe some others, too. We just have to support the good ones -- even if they aren't designed to be blockbusters.

Books: Hard-Boiled Christian Detective Fiction

This series is a few years old, but I just found them -- I speak of W.E. (or Wally, depending on which edition you have) Davis' Gil Beckman detective series. Beckman is a wise-cracking former cop who works security at a California amusement park, with the typical hot-and-cold relationships with the local cops whenever tragedies strike at the park. He is also a widower, so his sensitive side is never far from the surface.

The books are pretty funny, most of the violent action is off-screen, and they are a pretty quick read.

Observing Another's Grief

I just sat down and read CS Lewis' A Grief Observed -- I had not read it before, and specifically sought it out, it being about 3 months after my mother's death. I did not go through any of the doubt and questioning that Lewis did, but walking with him through his processing of joy's death did touch me.

Book Review: A New Blackstock series

I enjoy Terri Blackstock's novels -- this is the sixth I've read -- seven if you count The Heart Reader, which was publiched anonymously but was pretty bad IMHO, so I prefer not to count it as a Blackstock book.

Anyway, that brings me to Last Light: A Restoration Novel -- I guess Restoration is the series. The premise is similar to the TV series Dark Angel: all computerized/electronic items just stop working. What I like about this is that it is more of a SF setting, as opposed to their being a spiritual explanation or some bizarre electronic rapture.

The story takes place in a suburb in the South, and there is a mystery, racial tensions, disaffected teens, and some spiritual growth.

Not bad at all.

Christ The Saviour Is Born

Joyeaux Noel to all . . .

Mary

I love Mary. When I say that among some of my Protestant friends I get odd looks. We have tried so hard to not be Catholic that we flee from anything that even looks like Catholicism. Sure, the Catholics go a little too far in their veneration of Mary, but the answer is not to swing the pendulum so far the other way that we relegate her to a status somewhere below Bartholomew and Thaddeus. She is a hero of the faith, an example to be followed, and a woman worthy of the same respoect we give the other major figures of both Testaments. She appears prominently throughout the Gospels. I am not ashamed to say it. I love Mary.

LaHaye vs. Jenkins

So is the Left Behind series finally over? Did it end up at 14 books? 15? I lost count, but I have read them all, that I know.

What interests me is the end-of-the-world series that LaHaye and Jenkins are working on apart from each other. To me, it is a no-brainer that Jenkins' are so much better than LaHaye's.

Jenkins' Underground Zealot series -- Soon, Silenced, and Shadowed -- was well-written, with characters that seemed realisitc and whom I cared a little bit about. I thought the "Bad Guy" was beleivable, as well, which is not as easy as it sounds in this type of fiction.

I find LaHaye's Babylon Rising so be less realisitc, the characters and situations over-the-top, and the shadow conspiracy to be less than compelling.