Category: Movies, Books, Music

Monuments Men: Living redemptively

When FDR realized that the liberation of Europe might destroy its artistic and cultural heritage, he ordered the Army to find a way to fight the Nazis while protecting Europe's art. The elite corps given that mission were known as the Monuments Men.
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A heart like His

A review of Beth Moore's excellent book: A Heart Like His: Intimate reflections on the life of David.
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Anything: Yielding to an unsafe God

Jennie Allen's "Anything" is a challenging and engaging journal of the faith journey God took her on as she asked the questions we all ask, "Who is God and what does he want from me?"
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God in the details

There are certain qualities to life that suggest God's authorship in the same way that an artist can be identified by his unique brush strokes and choice of subject matter.
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Our bodies, our souls

What does it mean that we live out this transcendent Christian faith while trapped in very fragile, mortal and demanding bodies?
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Departures

Departures is a beautiful Japanese movie about death, grief, and the all-too-brief miracle that is life.
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Crazy Heart: A story of redemption

Crazy Heart is a film about a ruined life that is restored by friendship, forgiveness, and a second chance to get things right.

Nagging questions: MacArthur Park

For over forty years, music lovers have pondered this nagging question: Who left the cake out in the rain, and why?
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What I'm reading

I'm just starting to read Eric Metaxas' excellent new biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
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The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage is a story about sin and forgiveness, about grace, about second chances arising out of failure.
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O Holy Night

Advent devotional from the A-Team Blog.

Blue whale crooners

Some surprising changes in the songs of the blue whale.
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It is well with my soul

Nov. 22, 1873: a terrible tragedy inspires a great hymn.

Catez on Slumdog Millionaire

Catez Stevens of AllThings2All shares her thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire.
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Blind spots

Our lives are lived out in a rich cultural framework that has been created for us by the genius and hard work of countless men and women. We know this, even if we are often blind to the fact, or simply incurious about who it is we are indebted to.
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Survival instinct

Is there a God who embraces us when we cry out in the darkness, or is there just the empty echo of our own voices? Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas has found a surprising answer to that question.
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Deconstructing Woody

In a recent interview for Newsweek, Woody Allen talks about the "existential horror of being alive."
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First impressions

How often do our first impressions lead us astray?
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Book meme

I am tagged in a meme involving books I am reading.
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Juno: A review

Juno is not in any obvious way a Christian movie, except in its celebration of the miracle of life and our deep longing for a love-centered, lasting relationship with someone who sees us just as we are, and wants us anyway.
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Christmas Swing

Mike Laprarie's Big Band Christmas collection from the Virtual Victrola.

Questions of balance

What does it mean to live life in balance?
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Christmas by Jeff Rohlwing

Looking for a fine addition to your Christmas music collection?
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Michelangelo and risk-taking

God has not made us all equal, but he has given every one of us a unique set of abilities and opportunities. We get to choose whether to use those things boldly, or timidly.
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Depressed by jazz

I don't understand improvisational jazz. Or maybe the real issue is, I do.
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Discovering character in the Amazon

In 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt began an expedition down an unknown river in the heart of the Amazon that would test the character of every member of his team.
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Sinéad's Theology

Sinéad O'Connor's newest album, Theology, was inspired by her search for the real heart of God in the books of the Old Testament prophets.
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RoboChrist

Dutch film director Paul Verhoeven wants to make a movie about the "real" Jesus.
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Cat and mouse games

Consumers and media producers are involved in a continuing cat and mouse game, in which ever more complex and restrictive systems are created to protect intellectual rights, only to be broken by clever, and frustrated, consumers who want full benefit from the products they have purchased.
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The Nativity Story: Thumbs up

If you're looking for a holiday movie that knows what the holidays are all about, Catez Stevens recommends The Nativity Story.
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Johnny U

The thing about Unitas was, he played for the team. In the huddle, he always asked for ideas from the other players. He always wanted to know who needed a little help from the rest of the team. On field and off, those old Colts talk about being a family. They were there for each other, and in the long years after the glory of those days had faded, they continued to be there for each other in times of trial and hardship, as old age and the assaults of life took their toll.
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Michael, Milly and Parkinson's Disease

I suspect Michael Fox has thought a lot about God since he first received his diagnosis. Perhaps he has even wondered, as many have in his place, how a good and loving Father could allow his children to suffer so terribly.
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Passion under the stars

Flamenco is joyous music, but bittersweet — joy in the midst of a life filled with sorrow and uncertainty. Music connected to the passionate heart of God.
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What I'm reading

The books I am currently reading.
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Bob and Madonna: Uncensored

Bob the Tomato gagged; Madonna crucified. Viewer discretion advised.
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Billy Preston

Billy Preston, the electrifying R & B keyboard player, dies at age 59.
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Turn: A review

A review of Jeff Rohlwing's newest album, Turn.
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D-Day

D-Day has arrived. Head for the hills. Or head to Mike's Place.
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DaVinci Code bloopers

The DaVinci Code's art bloopers.

Third Day rocks Phoenix

Third Day concerts are joyous affairs. Everywhere arms were raised in praise. It reminded me of an old-time tent revival -- sinners all, lead singer Mac Powell invited us to lay our burdens at the foot of the cross and drink deep from the well of forgiveness in Christ.
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Handel's Messiah: Glory to God!

Handel's Messiah perfectly captures the joy and hope that is at the heart of the Christmas season.
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Handel's Messiah: A great light

Handel's Messiah perfectly captures the joy and hope that is at the heart of the Christmas season.
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Handel's Messiah: A virgin shall conceive

Handel's Messiah perfectly captures the joy and hope that is at the heart of the Christmas season.
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Handel's Messiah: A highway for our God

Handel's Messiah perfectly captures the joy and hope that is at the heart of the Christmas season.

Handel's Messiah: A brief history

Messiah is one of George Frideric Handel's greatest musical creations, and arguably the greatest piece of Christian music ever written. The Hallelujah Chorus is instantly recognizable, even by those who do not consider themselves members of the Christian faith. Messiah has become a part of our Christian cultural heritage.
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Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is Anne Rice's beautiful and meticulously researched story of the young Jesus Christ, the child who would become the Redeemer.
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Cashing in

You always knew when you saw Johnny Cash sing that he had made his way down to the church altar more than once, to kneel and weep and ask Jesus to wash him clean. That's the part of the story that Walk The Line, the new film about Johnny Cash's life, doesn't tell.
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Sara Groves: Add to the Beauty

Add to the Beauty is a wonderful collection of music about living a redeemed life, a life that isn't always pretty, but is always washed over by the miracle of God's grace.
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Dangerous wonder

What would the church of Christ look like if we actually had the faith of children?
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Here I raise my Ebenezer

The Ebenezer stone represented a fresh beginning, a reversal of course for God's people. It also said something important about God: his mercies are everlasting; his covenant is forever.
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Our technicolor heroes

Our heroes have always been actors.

Sara Groves: The Other Side of Something

Sara Grove's music is at times edgy and dissonant, like life. She puts her heart and faith out there, naked, and says, "Well, here it is. I'm trying to figure this out. Maybe in my honesty, you'll see yourself, and you'll see God at work in the two of us."
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On this Rock

God has placed among us men and women with unusual insight—artists, poets, musicians. They have the ability to lift our hearts in worship, to help us see God.

Healing Haiti

Haiti can't catch a break. This poorest of nations in the Western hemisphere has been devastated by hurricane Jeanne and needs our help.
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The longest day

How can we, who have benefited so lavishly from their sacrifices, ever adequately honor what they did to alter history, to preserve liberty, and to restore justice to a period of terrible human suffering?
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In praise of the bard

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare!

Cicadas

April Stace and Harp 46.
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Lost in Translation

Everyone wants to be found.

The Spirit of the Disciplines

To be like Jesus requires more than simply answering the question: "What would Jesus do?" It requires us to build into our daily lives the same spiritual disciplines that he relied on: prayer, meditation, fasting, etc. These are hard things, but there is a payoff: rest, an "easy yoke", and our burdens shouldered by the living God.
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Guilt and the Passion of the Christ

In this age of no-fault everything, the G-word makes us squirm.

The Call

What is God's purpose for my life? Do ordinary Christians have a "calling," or is that just for priests, prophets and pastors?

Disappointment with God

Philip Yancey tackles the crises of faith caused by a God who doesn't always do what he is supposed to do.

The Jesus I Never Knew

In an effort to separate Jesus mythology from Jesus fact, Philip Yancey examines his own preconceptions about Jesus and how they measure up against the Gospel accounts.

Knowing God

Who is God? Is he merely the author of a list of rules that no one cares to follow, a heavenly kill-joy, or... is he the God who seeks to know us?

Mere Christianity

Does the Christian faith make any sense in this post-modern era?

Matters of perception

What if there is a spiritual world beyond the reach of our perceptions?

The navigator

There's nothing quite like getting lost to make for a really bad day. It's a good thing God is in the rescue business.

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