Minesweeper: The Movie

Stardust

Just came home from the local AMC after seeing what very well might be the best movie I've ever seen. I don't want to be too dramatic (that and I tend to have a very bad memory, so I think "the very best movie I've ever seen" changes rather frequently), but I really do give Stardust my highest recommendation.

For any of you who have ever read John Eldridge (Wild at Heart, Captivating, Epic, The Journey of Desire, . . .) you'll know what I mean when I say that movie belongs in his books. Actually I'd say that this movie is the quintessential story (aside from the real story of God's romancing us back to himself) illustrating Eldridge's thoughts.

With humor reminiscent of The Princess Bride, this epic, magical, and truly romantic fairy tale really stirred my heart.

The Christian Web

A couple days ago the Metro, one of Boston's free daily newspapers, printed an article about GodTube.com--a "safe" alternative to youtube.com, the popular video sharing site. My initial reaction--derision--matched most other reader's, but I decided to actually visit the site. The first video I found was by the Sons of Korah. Take a look:



I've since found many, many more that I don't care for (try the evangelism channel). I have mixed emotions about these new breed of sites for the evangelical conservative Christian sub-culture. I'm okay with them insofar as they are a place to have open conversations about faith or to encourage believers. But, in truth, they seem more like a new monasticism--complete self removal from the world and its people. Now I am personally very drawn to the idea of monasticism, but it's undeniable that Jesus never intended us to stop engaging the world around us. He infiltrated "places of sin" and helped rescue and redeem those places without feeling the need to retreat to where it would be safe. His believers need a place to help encourage each other, but that encouragement should serve to further propel us back into darkness.

Trusting God

I love the days when God just really leaves no doubt how much he love us. Yesterday was one of those days.

I suppose I should start at the beginning. A week ago I was sitting at school and had a thought--we should probably move. Now this wasn't a new thought, but it really just struck me. So I called Jen up and asked her if she wanted to give 30 days notice to our landlord (since it was the 31st of July). She said "sure," so I made the call. One of our good friends told me a couple days later, "Taylor, a spontaneous action like that sure seems out of character for you"--I'm glad I can keep him guessing.

Well, of course we started an eager search for a new place in Quincy. Our primary criteria for our new place was either (1) near Germantown (the roughest neighborhood in Quincy--demographically categorized as "struggling urban diversity") or (2) near someone else on our team (walking distance so we can start living out this idea of doing life together in Christian community). (Other criteria included minimum 2 bedrooms--for when you come visit us--and a separate dining room since eating together is central to Christian community). Since we had a bit of a time crunch we decided we should decide on a place by the end of the weekend. Criagslist provided many leads, but most wouldn't quite work for one reason or another.

Coming up to Sunday we had a couple "it'd be alright" places, but nothing we loved, but we had two final apartments to see Sunday afternoon. For some strange reason I was never worried about finding a place--I had no doubt that God wanted us to move according to his above criteria (his vision) and so he'd certainly reserve the place he wanted us at (his provision). As my friend said above, this is not normal behavior for me--I tend to stress and worry about things far less life changing than this. Well, I take that back, this sort of trust is actually becoming increasingly more normal. What a joy to recognize God's hand in continually transforming me into the sort of person he wants me to be.

Well, we go to our first Sunday appointment and I knew from the moment I saw the staircase leading up to the apartment that this was our place. Seeing the rest merely confirmed that (as did seeing the radiant smile on Jen's face). We did go to the other appointment since Meghan has told us how horrible it is to have people stand her up, but as soon as we walked out that door we found some shade and filled out the applications for the first place. As it turns out, our new landlords are amazing people (you could call them people of peace) and they live about a block away from our new place. I'm eager to cultivate a friendship with them and the people in the neighborhood they know. Meghan and Taylor are also about a block away (as are the beach and the subway), so we really couldn't ask for anything more perfect. God has truly made good on his promise (and early too).

All praise to our Lord and Father forever, for his goodness is astounding and infinite.

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An interesting bit of trivia. We'll now be living on Botolph St. St. Botolph is the patron saint of travelers, and a town Lincolnshire is named after him--Boston (a corruption of "Botolph's Town"). I bet you can guess which English city Boston, MA was named after. Details here.