Evan Almighty

Cover of Evan Almighty (Widescreen Edition)

A couple of weeks ago I watched the film Evan Almighty again. A couple of things stood out to me.

Those moments throughout that suggest that God has a sense of humour are spot on. Christianity’s a relationship with a perfect Person, so it makes sense that he’s a funny guy.

Evan knew that God had spoken to him, but it still needed faith. Christianity isn’t blind faith in spite of the overwhelming evidence that disproves it, we Christians know that what we believe is true!

The conversation about God giving opportunities rather than fuzzy feelings is genius. If you ask God for patience does he magically make you patient, or give you opportunities to become more patient?

Of course Evan was laughed at, he looked and sounded like a madman! There’s no wonder that the prophets in the Old Testament, Jesus’ disciples and the early church, and Christians ever since have been ridiculed for what they believe, because of course it flies in the face of what the world believes! Sex only for marriage? How foolish!

It’s all about God’s grace. Every single individual in the movie has the chance to pause for a moment and think, ‘Perhaps Evan’s story is true,’ but no-one did. Evan’s desperate cries to the people who would be drowned to ‘get on the ark!’ because of one man’s sin is emotional, but the cry from Acts 4:12 is exactly the same: ‘there is salvation in no-one else!’ To actively choose to ignore that warning and head into eternity without Jesus as Saviour is to drink judgment upon oneself when the offer of a free ride is available.

Christianity isn’t a chick flick

Cover of Gladiator (Widescreen Edition)

My favourite film ever has to be Gladiator. Wonderful. A brief summary:

• We’re introduced to the best ever man at everything, mainly fighting.
• Everything goes wrong and suddenly everyone in the world is against him.
• He fixes his eyes on the goal and takes every necessary risk, making every necessary sacrifice to get there.
• He kills the bad guys and ends up saving the day, and ends up marrying the most beautiful woman ever.

Ok, perhaps the whole marrying bit doesn’t happen in Gladiator, but I think you’ll be able to spot from the above that the storyline is pretty much identical to every James Bond film, the Bourne series, Lord of the Rings, Taken, Indiana Jones, Superman, Spider Man…actually, every single MAN film is exactly the same when it comes down to it.

And every chick flick’s the same:

• We’re introduced to a cute girl with a better life than any girl you know (although perhaps with some quirky characteristic).
• She meets a guy who really, really annoys her.
• Some funny stuff happens, normally involving water at some stage, which keeps forcing them together.
• It turns out that they both really like each other, so they live happily ever after.

Now compare this to the way we tend to talk about Christianity:

• We’re introduced to Adam and Eve, who lived a lovely life in the Garden, but they ate that fruit.
• Man keeps disobeying God’s rules, and now we’re in real trouble.
• Jesus came to us because he really loves us and will do anything to be in a personal relationship with us.
• We simply believe, and will be with him forever.

True, yes? And like a chick flick, yes? No wonder almost every church around the world is over-populated with women!

How’s about we start talking about Christianity more like this:

• God is infinitely powerful.
• Satan messed everything up to the point that man rebelled as well.
• God went on a mission and ended up dying to save the world.
• He came back to life and through that conquered sin and death, and welcomes us to join him on his adventure!

Maybe that sounds more appealing to men. Just a thought.

The Princess Bride plus Monopoly

So, one of the best films ever created has been combined with one of the best board games ever created, and the result is a satisfying combination of greatness. Oh yes.

Video competition

You may know me, or you may not. You may like me, or you may not. You may or may not know my mate Steve Nelson…

Anyway, he made a video for a competition here, and the more comments he gets the more likely he is to win…so please, please go and comment!

The website address is http://www.joshharris.com/2010/01/film_4_stephen_nelson.php, and it only takes a minute to write ‘I like it’.

Please vote for him by clicking here and leaving a comment

Avatar

This made me laugh: Avatar vs. Pocahontas. Enjoy!

Memories

Here’s the deal. I came back from visiting my parents and attending a wedding this weekend, and have been looking at the photos – I had an absolutely wonderful time. Thanks for asking.

While we were there, I watched a hilarious film that my brother made of our latest family holiday to Paris – and again I was reminded of what an amazing time we had!

So here’s my thinking: every time I look at photos, I remember how amazing a time I had – I honestly can’t remember looking at a photo of a day trip, or a holiday, and thinking, ‘man, was that the most awful week of my life?’

Here’s my new rule: take a camera out everywhere with you, and you guarantee good times! At the very least, you guarantee to take a bunch of photos that you can show off to your friends and pretend like you had a good time. And then everyone’s happy.

Take my advice and start making memories today!

Get Smart

I saw Get Smart last night with my wife. We laughed a lot. The movie was actually made better by the fact that, in an empty cinema, we’d been put next to two teenage boys, high on orangeade, who kept on going to the toilet during the film.

The fact is that at every moment that was reasonably funny these two burst into fits of laughter, then proceeded to repeat that moment to each other, chuckling as they did so. Laughter is contagious – it could have been annoying but you somehow cannot be annoyed at two boys innocently laughing at something funny!

Here’s my point (actually there are two points):

One Go and see Get Smart. It’s great fun. If you don’t believe me then check out the free scene you can download through iTunes – it’s no way the funniest moment in the film but is a good laugh anyway.

Two Let’s all learn together to laugh at ourselves and each other in a way that doesn’t just take the mick! Those kids had a great night out, and so did we, because we all laughed together! LAUGH MORE!