Persistence. Nothing is more important than persistence.
Persistence and determination alone are all powerful. – Ray’s Motivational Record

It’s a fascinating and conflicted story, the story of how Ray Kroc made McDonalds into the empire it is. An ugly tale of victory and triumph. It’s a story of our time and an ambiguous one, at that—making it all the more a story of our times.

Ray was one of those dreamers and salesmen who was always into the next “big thing,” convinced that would be the thing that would finally help him “make it”. He was incredibly driven and persistent. In fact, persistence was really his god. The movie begins with him listening to a motivational record which said, “Persistence. Nothing is more important than persistence. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.” It ends with him quoting it as if it is his own, and it many ways it was, not in terms of creation but in terms of ownership. He believed that persistence was the all-powerful force which granted him success. And it did…but it also made him deplorable.

Along with persistence, Ray had other strengths. He was a visionary and he had a gift for business and management. When he saw the McDonalds brothers’ streamlined operation, he had seen enough other burger joints to see that they had something truly unique and marketable. He convinced them to franchise—something they had wanted to do and even tried to do in the past, but not successfully.  

Ray was really the antithesis of the McDonalds brothers. They cared about quality and family. Values Ray espoused but only because he saw them as marketable, qualities he could use, not qualities he personally really cared about. Ray said he cared about quality, but he really cared about success and money (the bottom line).   He cared about quality only insofar as it furthered the bottom line. He cared about family insofar as families brought in more revenue than the teenage market, but he didn’t care about family when it came to honoring his wife (he had an affair and left her, saying he’d “rather die than give her even one share of McDonalds stock”), or taking care of the McDonalds brothers who gave him the formula for the business in the first place. He said he cared about family, but really he cared about himself.

Ray was truly a visionary, and maybe even a prophet, but unfortunately his prophecy was more about the demise of family and Christianity in America, of which he, through McDonalds was either a driving force or simply a reflection of. He was driving through small towns in the Midwest, I believe, and he noticed that all of them had a church with a cross with a flag—signs of Americana, places where people and families gather and feel safe. These two icons, the cross and the flag “signify family and community, places where people come together to break bread. McDonald’s can be the new American church… and it ain’t just open on Sundays—it’s open 7 days a week!” He espoused the idea of expanding our sense of family and community, of helping us join together in fellowship more than just on Sundays…but really, he was talking about replacing church with commercialism. Sadly prophetic.

While Mac McDonald was jovial, optimistic and trusting, his brother Dick had major concerns about Ray. He said, “[This deal with Coke] goes against our core beliefs of family and [not following strict commerce]. … I’m just not comfortable with that kind of crass commercialism.” “A hot-head like that, you don’t know what he’s capable of.” “If they all pop up at once, how’s he going to maintain standards?” “There’s a wolf in the hen-house and we let him in…. I should have trusted my gut.”

The McDonald brothers truly felt that “It’s better to have 1 great restaurant than 50 mediocre ones.” They continued to push back on Ray’s compromises and quick advances. They weren’t against growth, but they cared about growing the right way. They cared about having a place which maintained their values and were ready to sacrifice growth and profit to ensure it. Ray, however, was strictly driven by profit. The McDonalds brothers trusted in their contract to protect them, but Ray was unscrupulous and found equally devious lawyers who showed him ways to work around the contract and force the brothers out.

He basically stole the restaurant from them…all because of the name. I say that because he could have easily created his own chain with their formula, they’d shown him all their secrets. The one thing, however, that he “knew he had to have” was the name, “McDonalds.” Ray said, about McDonalds vs. all the other burger joints he’d known: “they all lack that one thing that made McDonald’s special—the name. That glorious name—McDonald’s. Sounds like America. It could be anything you want it to be. … A guy named McDonald, he’s clearly never going to be pushed around in life.”

Ray’s mentality about their contract and his business dealings? “Contracts are like hearts—they’re meant to be broken.” “You know what I came up with? I came up with the concept of winning.” “Business is war. It’s dog eat dog; rat eat rat. If my competition was drowning, I’d walk up and put a hose in his mouth. Can you say the same?” Mac’s reply was, “No. And I wouldn’t want to.” That’s the difference between the two. Ray saw his cutthroat mentality as a virtue. Mac would sooner loose his business and even his name (since Ray stole the name McDonalds they could never use it again for business) than lose his humanity and his (real) virtue. WHO they were mattered more to the McDonalds than WHAT they were. The opposite was true for Ray.

It’s a hard movie. There’s this glorious American dream quality to the story—this guy who, at 52 had nothing to his name, really and had never had any success, suddenly launches McDonalds. That is the American dream—the idea that anyone, at any point in their life, might catapult their way into success and create something that outlasts them. And yet, there’s also this horrible reality that to do so, he was conniving and backhanded and really willing to kill a drowning man to get there. Is this the only way to achieve the American dream? Could he not have gotten there with the McDonalds brothers at his side? Not for a man who felt that persistence was the highest and most powerful virtue. I’m not saying it’s not a good virtue, but it isn’t the most important one. Jesus said the most important virtue was love, loving God and loving your fellow man. Ray knew nothing of this.

I heard someone say that the orphan (or poverty) mentality is one that says that if life is a pie chart, if someone else gets a piece, it’s one less piece for me. Therefore, you have to grab all the pieces you can—because they are in limited supply. A kingdom mentality, however, is one that says its’ great for you to have slices of the pie, because God can make more pies! The supply of pie is unlimited so I’m not threated by however many pieces you have (even if you take one of mine). I’ll just ask God for more pies. Ray had an orphan mentality. He had to grab his slices of pie no matter who he took them from, because he had no God to turn to ask for more pie.

That orphan mentality also says that you have to prove your worth. You have no confidence that you are a fully-loved son, instead, you could lose your place in the family at any moment if you don’t perform well enough. Ray was desperate to prove his worth to the world. His identity was tied up in his success, so for him, it wasn’t about business so much as it was about life and death. His very identity was on the line, dependent on his material success. The McDonalds brothers, however, operated from a son-ship mentality. They weren’t proving their worth in their business, they were loving other people through it. They didn’t have to have national success to feel worthwhile as men. They may have been trampled by Ray Kroc, but I dare say it is to them God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servants.”

As a contrast, let me just point you to the story of Joseph. His success was a result of the favor of God. He had a vision of greatness, but waited on God to bring it about. He spent time in a pit and slavery and prison, but he remained faithful to God. He didn’t fight his way to success. He didn’t abuse others to get to a place of glory. He served God and loved his fellow man. He did right by his owners and masters; he refused temptation; he served his fellow inmates—and in due time, the LORD opened up an opportunity and he became second in command over all the land. Such a different story from Ray Kroc’s.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:33

Questions for Discussion:

• Ray said he believed in the things the McDonalds brothers did, but how do you know he didn’t? How can you tell when someone is lying about their values?
• How did you feel about the McDonald brothers? How did you feel about Ray? Did those feelings change throughout the movie?
• Why do you think Ray and the McDonalds brothers couldn’t find a way to work together?
• In what ways was Ray acting contrary to the way Jesus would have done business?
• How might an orphan mentality and insecurity about his identity have affected the ruthless way Ray did business? How might a man with an identity in Christ as a fully-loved son have done things differently?

Click here to read quotes from The Founder.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of The LEGO Batman Movie.

Batman: Black. All important movies start with a black screen. And music. Dark, edgy music that makes your parents nervous.

Batman: Warner bros. Or brothers. I don’t know.

Batman: If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror and change yourself.

Joker: You’re supposed to be scared.
Pilot: Why should I be?
Joker: Because I’m going to take over the city.
Pilot: No, you’re not. Batman always stops you.

Pilot: Good gosh! You took out the bat signal? You have thought of everything.

Batman: I don’t currently have a bad guy. I’m fighting lots of bad guys. I’m fighting around.

Batman: Batman doesn’t do “ships”—relationships. … There is no “us”. You mean nothing to me. No one does.

Batman: Thank you. I’m blushing super hard under the hat.

Batman: Remember kids, if you want to be like Batman, take care of your abs.

‘Puter: What is the password?
Batman: Ironmansucks
‘Puter: Thank you.

Batman: Hey mom, hey dad, I uh…I saved the city again today. I wish you could’ve seen me.

Alfred: Don’t you think it’s time you finally faced your biggest fear?
Batman: Snakes?
Alfred: No.
Batman: Clowns?
Alfred: No…. being part of a family.
Batman: Nope. Now it’s snake-clowns because you put it there.

Richard: Bryce Wayne! He’s the greatest orphan of all time!

Richard: All I want is to be adopted so I can stop being alone.

Barbara: It’s called, “It takes a village not a Batman.”

Barbara: We don’t need an unsupervised man karate chopping bad guys.

Batman’s happiness index chart—his happiness declines as “hours without crime” increases.

Batman: Batman works alone. That’s my motto. Copyright Batman.

Batman: My secret password – you mean “AlfredtheButtler” with 2 t’s?! Ha ha ha ha.

Batman: Listen, you don’t have a family. You’re satisfied serving me, Alfred.

Richard: Does Batman live in Bruce Wayne’s basement?
Batman: No. Bruce Wayne lives in Batman’s attic.

‘Puter: Chance of failure, 110%.
Batman: Those are not great odds, ‘Puter.

Batman: How dare you tell me how to parent my kid I just met.

Batman: Don’t call me Dad.
Richard: Yes Papa.
Batman: Papa falls into the dad category.

Richard: Robin, as in the smart, frail, Midwestern bird?

Batman to Joker: I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to entrap me into a relationship.

Barbara: You can’t be a hero if you only care about yourself.

Those creatures out there are unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
Speak for yourself. You don’t know everything I’ve seen.

Richard: Your #2 needs to go #1.   … [And a few minutes later:]  Good news—our bathroom problem is solved. [i.e. He just peed his pants.]

Joker: Do you realize, [in all these years], you’ve never once said, “I hate you, Joker.”? Listen to this, “I hate you, Batman.” Now your turn.
Batman: Me too.

Joker: I am not going to be part of a one-sided relationship any longer. I’m moving out, and on the way, I’m going to blow up Gotham.

Phyllis (the scanner in the sky): Huh, you’re not a traditional bad guy, but you’re not exactly a good guy, either.

Batman: I was afraid of feeling the pain you feel when you lose someone close to you.

Batman: Ok, we are going to hit these guys so hard words are going to spontaneously materialize out of thin air.

Batman: We’re going to stick together using our heads and the most powerful tool of all, abs of steel.

Batman: If you help me save Gotham, you’ll help me save “us”.
Joker: You just said “us”.
Batman: What do you say?
Joker: You had me at “shut up.”

Batman: I’m just going to come right out and say it: I hate you, Joker.
Joker: Oh! I hate you more.
Batman: I hate you most.

Batman: Don’t call me Padre, call me – Dads.
Richard: Huh? My two dads are the same!

Batman: Do you have a knife? Because someone needs to cut the tension between us.

Phyllis: I finally saw a man who saw something wrong with the world and changed himself to fix it.
Batman: Who?
Phyllis: Superman.
Batman: What?!

Richard: Holy family photo, Batman! I love it!

Batman: All important movies end with a white screen…

I read where someone said that, “the LEGO movies shouldn’t work…but they do.” It’s true. They work. They are intelligently and relentlessly funny (although at times inappropriately so for a kid’s movie, like when Robin says, “My name’s Richard but sometimes the kids at school call me Dick” and Batman replies, “Kids can be cruel”). They also tackle some pretty deep themes. (Check out our discussion of the first LEGO movie, here, which deals with generational issues and a son trying to live up to his Dad’s standard of perfection.) The overly cynical, egotistical, narcissistic Batman was such a hit in the first movie, he gets his own feature film this time. And in it, the themes are what you might expect, vulnerability, the things that define us/identity, trying to get your parents approval, dealing with the pain in your past and running from the pain in your past, isolation, trying to do things on your own, what makes someone a good or bad guy (sometimes it’s not so clear), etc., etc., etc. I’m not sure how much your five-year-old will glean from the messages in this movie, but you just might be touched…and challenged.

As we know, Batman was shaped by seeing the death of his parents as a young boy. He becomes a very conflicted hero, a dark knight who works alone (save Alfred). LEGO plays up those themes and explores them. He says, “Batman doesn’t do ‘ships’—relationships. … There is no ‘us’. You mean nothing to me. No one does.” He tells that to his nemesis, though, the person he is arguably closest to, arguably in a relationship of sorts with. He comes in at night after saving the city, looks at pictures of his parents and talks to them, “Hey mom, hey dad, I uh…I saved the city again today. I wish you could’ve seen me.” He says he wants to be alone, but comes in every night crying out for connection, approval and love. He is lonely but defensive. He is egotistical but insecure. The things that drove him to greatness and achievement are also the very things which are keeping him from achieving it. In other words, he’s just like us.

The young orphan who becomes “Robin” ends up (through no wish of Batman’s) becoming his foster child. It’s this young, unflappable, buoyant and happy boy (think Unsinkable Molly Brown) who breaks through Batman’s defenses and helps him love again, teaches him how to be part of a team and helps him heal.

Here are 14 lessons from the movie:

1. Batman quotes a line from Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” song, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror and change yourself.” It’s always a good place to start, especially in our victim mentality culture, to realize that we have some power to change ourselves first and foremost, and to realize the power we have to impact the world.   If it seems too hard to change yourself, the good news is that we have the Holy Spirit who works IN us, who changes us and makes us more like Jesus, if we let Him.
2. In the opening scene, the Joker tells a pilot that he should be scared. “Why should I be?” the pilot wonders. “Because I’m going to take over the city.” The pilot quickly and confidently responds. “No, you’re not—Batman always stops you.” THIS is the confidence we have in Jesus. The enemy is constantly telling us we should be afraid because he’s about to do something… but we who know Jesus can respond every bit as confidently and quickly, “No you’re not. Jesus always stops you. You’re a liar and you’ve already lost.” Furthermore, “we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him” (1 John 5:14). Not only that, but we know there is no reason for fear when there is the love of God. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).
3. In a rather hilarious ongoing joke, Batman and the Joker argue about being in a relationship. The Joker is convinced he’s Batman’s nemesis, his number one bad guy. Commitment phobic Batman refuses to acknowledge their “relationship”. “Batman doesn’t do ‘ships’—relationships. … There is no ‘us’. You mean nothing to me. No one does.” “I don’t currently have a bad guy. I’m fighting lots of bad guys. I’m fighting around.” The thing is, sometimes we get our identity from who we are fighting or who we are against, rather than who we are with and for. Sometimes we let the negatives in our lives define us. It’s always better to be defined by love than by hate, by relationships than by conflict. No matter how fierce His battle with Satan, Jesus always identified Himself by his relationship to the Father, never by His fight with the enemy. Lots of people know what they are against, but not everyone knows what they are for.
4. As the Batman/Joker gag continues, the Joker later says, “Do you realize, [in all these years], you’ve never once said, ‘I hate you, Joker.’? Listen to this, ‘I hate you, Batman.’ Now your turn.” Batman, like so many men who can’t be vulnerable ducks the whole thing by saying, “Me too” instead. It’s funny (although I think plenty of parents may take some issue with the whole idea of a kid’s movie saying “I hate you”—especially making such a focal point). It draws attention to both the fact that many people have a hard time being vulnerable and saying things that are affectionate, AND the fact that sometimes hate and love are (very nearly at least) the same thing. The opposite of love is not hate; it’s apathy. It’s not caring at all. Hate’s a strong, passionate emotion and it’s hard to feel hate for someone you don’t care about in the first place. Hate is usually what you feel for someone you love.
5. The Joker gets fed up with Batman’s lack of commitment. “I am not going to be part of a one-sided relationship any longer. I’m moving out, and on the way, I’m going to blow up Gotham.” Again, let’s ignore the “moving out reference” that is a bit inappropriate for a kid’s movie, and instead let me point out that sometimes we do need to protect ourselves and move on. It’s good to believe in people. It’s good to be patient with each other’s growth. It’s also good to recognize that we can’t change anyone and to know when it’s time to leave them in God’s hands and move on. Our hearts are a gift and sometimes we are trying desperately to give them to someone who may need that gift, but doesn’t want that gift. This is basically the advice Jesus was giving the disciples when He told them, “If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” (Matthew 10:14).
6. No matter how old you get, or how successful, there is always a part of you that is searching for approval from your parents. After a day saving the city, a fully grown Batman comes home, walks over to the pictures of his dead mom and dad and says, “Hey mom, hey dad, I uh…I saved the city again today. I wish you could’ve seen me.” That is so painfully honest. The great news for Christians is that God LOVES us long before there is anything admirable or worthy in us and we never have to earn approval with Him. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
7. Robin says, “All I want is to be adopted so I can stop being alone.” He finds himself in Batman’s home, still very much alone. Having a father, a husband, a wife, a child, a nemesis… all these relationships that we think will cure our loneliness don’t necessarily cure our loneliness. There is a worse kind of loneliness than being alone, it’s feeling alone in a relationship. The cure for loneliness is, first and foremost, a relationship with Jesus.
8. Barbara Gordon tells Batman, “It’s called, ‘It takes a village not a Batman’.” We all want to be the hero, to be the sole hero, but, fortunately for us, it takes a village. God puts us in community for a reason. (Note that even God, Himself, lives in a community of three.) Few of us are humble enough to be the hero on our own without becoming narcissistic. We need to need others, simply so we don’t become impossible egomaniacs. We also need to need others so that we are forced into a community, so that we aren’t lonely.   Consider Batman—he was doing things OK on his own, but it was to his benefit that the problems became too great to fight alone. In learning to let others into the battle with him, he became much more humble, far less lonely, and much more successful. It’s for our own good that our battles are too big for us to fight on our own. “Though one can be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
9. Batman’s happiness index chart showed that his happiness declines as “hours without crime” increases. His happiness was directly proportionate to how engaged he was in a fight. On the one hand, I would say it’s not ideal when your happiness is dependent on bad things happening to others. On the other, I realize Batman’s happiness wasn’t about crime (the unfortunate effect of which is that bad things are happening to people), but the fact that he’s a warrior who needed a battle to fight. This is reality. Some people are just warriors. The trick is to get them fighting worthwhile fights. A warrior without a battle to fight just becomes combative, divisive and difficult in everyday life. Warriors need battles. They just do.
10. Poor Alfred. Batman assumes Alfred has no higher ambition and no greater joy in life than to serve him. “Listen, you don’t have a family. You’re satisfied serving me, Alfred.” Isn’t this how kids feel about their parents? Perhaps Alfred’s joy in serving Batman was partly about loving Batman, but also partly about making a difference in the world. It’s a great opportunity to discuss with kids their perception of their parents’ job and joy in life. Serving your kids may bring satisfaction, but it’s probably good for kids to see that their parents have other sources of meaning and satisfaction in life as well.
11. Perspective is everything. Robin says, “Does Batman live in Bruce Wayne’s basement?” Batman with his characteristic narcissism replies, “No. Bruce Wayne lives in Batman’s attic.” Glass half empty or half full? Perspective makes all the difference. One of my favorite illustrations about perspective is when Joseph tells his brothers, the ones who had tried to kill him, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). He sees things from the world’s perspective, his brothers wanted to kill him, but then, he also sees it from God’s perspective, how their actions were used for his good and the good of many nations. As Paul writes, we ought to have the perspective that God can work all things out for good (Romans 8:28).
12. Barbara calls out Batman on his selfishness. “You can’t be a hero if you only care about yourself.” That may seem extreme, but true acts of heroism come from a place of love for others, not a place of impressing others.
13. Phyllis (the scanner in the sky) points out the complicated mess that Batman, and most of us humans, really are. “Huh, you’re not a traditional bad guy, but you’re not exactly a good guy, either.” We so want our good guys in white and our bad guys in black, all nice and neat with clean lines. However, we know that’s not reality, and so the world loves Batman. He’s us. He’s our complicated reality of good actions, bad motives, wrong motives and good results. He’s messy, but isn’t that honest, too? Thank God for Jesus, He’s not a messy, complicated hero. He’s purely good. In every way. And yet, thank God also that he has grace and understanding for our complicated mess. “Search me and know me,” we want to say with the Psalmist. “Show me any offensive way in me” (Psalm 139:23). We have to ask Him to, because we are too messy, too complicated, and too dishonest with ourselves to see the truth unless He does.
14. Batman confesses that the reason he pushed everyone away is that “I was afraid of feeling the pain you feel when you lose someone close to you.” The way we treat others is always more about us than it is about them. Loving people love others. Hurting people hurt others. When Batman pushed Robin and Barbara and Alfred (and even the Joker) away, it had nothing to them; it had everything to do with him and his desire to avoid pain and loss. This is why Jesus had to love us, first. And it’s why we are able to love Him back. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, emphasis added). His love heals us and enables us to be loving in response.

Click here to read quotes from The LEGO Batman Movie.

There are so many beautiful things to take away from this important and feel-good movie about America’s advancement in both technology and humanity. It’s been said that a rising tide raises all boats and that’s certainly what we see here. As America’s technological tide was rising in their race to space, women and African Americans were also finding themselves in unforeseen positions of respect and importance in the space program. Or, perhaps it was because women and African Americans were allowed to rise that the space program was elevated. Chicken or the egg, really. As Dorothy put it, “Any upward movement is movement for us all.” This is the absolute beauty of God’s Kingdom, that when God pours out His blessing it’s for the good of all. He raises the tide and all ships are lifted—a principle so well-depicted in Hidden Figures.

The more we understand this principle, that God is the one who brings in the tide, and that it is God who is able to lift our ships, the more we are able to rest and trust God to work on our behalf. This was perhaps the most memorable thing to me about this movie—the way in which those three, lovely, African-American women cooperated with God in the rising of their ships.

Mary, Dorothy and Katherine were three African-American women in the NASA computer space program. They were hired as “computers,” to compute numbers long-hand as modern-day computers hadn’t yet been invented. Perhaps that in the first place was a big step of progress, but they wanted more. Mary wanted to be an engineer but felt it would be “impossible”. “I’m a Negro woman. I’m not going to entertain the impossible.” But, Karl Zelinski rightly pointed out, “Mary, I’m a polish Jew whose parents died in the concentration camp. And now I’m [in the space program]. We are living the impossible.” Just because something hasn’t been possible before, doesn’t mean it won’t be in the future.

She had some significant obstacles to overcome, however. She had to be certified to become an engineer, but the classes she needed to take to be certified were for white people only. She could have taken the advice of her husband who said, “Civil rights ain’t never civil.” His approach was defensive and combative. Mary took a more subtle approach. She went to court to defend her right to the classes and appealed to the judge’s history. There were several things in which he had been the first. (I don’t remember specifics, but let’s say firs to graduate college, etc.) He had been on the cutting edge of history in many different ways, which she artfully pointed out, appealing to his ego, really. She then gave him the “opportunity” to be on the cutting edge of “first” again.

You, of all people, should understand the importance of being first. First in your family to … First to… First to… I plan on being an engineer at NASA, but I can’t do that without taking them classes at that all-white high school, and I can’t change the color of my skin. So I have no choice but to be the first, which I can’t do without you, sir. Your honor, out of all the cases you’re going to hear today, which one will matter a hundred years from now? Which one is gonna make you the first?

Brilliant. She didn’t come in with a chip on her shoulder, she came in with a vision and an opportunity for people to join her in a moment of greatness, an opportunity to make history! It worked.

Dorothy had a manager that continued to hold her back. Dorothy kept on, faithfully and respectfully applying for management positions. It wasn’t fair, but again, she didn’t respond with entitlement or hostility. Her motto was, “You act right, you are right. That’s for certain.” She didn’t respond to the unfairness and prejudice around her in kind (as it is so tempting to do)—she found a better way.

She found out that the first non-human computer was being introduced at NASA. She was smart enough to realize that that “progress” would be a double-edged sword and that she and “her girls”, her fellow computers, wouldn’t be needed much longer if they didn’t find a new role. She started learning computer programming and took the initiative to teach and prepare the girls under her care. When NASA couldn’t get the computer to work, Dorothy fixed the problem and made herself indispensable. As a result, she not only became a manager, but (even more important to her) because of her initiative and foresight, all of her girls, rather than lose their jobs to computers, were able to work under her leadership as computer programmers.

Katherine was so particularly brilliant with numbers, she was brought out the room of computers to work with the core launch team engineers (I’m sorry—I’m not sure what that group was actually called). She was the only African American working in that group, and suffered numerous slights and injustices, perhaps most notably the bathroom. In a time when whites and blacks had separate bathrooms, there was no bathroom for her. Whenever she needed to go to the bathroom, she had leave the building (rain or shine) and walk/run a significant distance (in her required heels). She did so without complaint, without saying a word, no matter how hard it was for her (emotionally, physically and professionally).

Her boss began to get frustrated with how often she was missing from the office (and for such long periods of time). He finally exploded in frustration in front of the whole office, assuming she was goofing off and taking breaks when everyone else was working hard. It was such a painful scene. She was humiliated and called out publically in front of the very people who had been insulting her at every turn (in addition to the restroom, she had to use a separate coffee pot, had a supervisor who was threatened by her genius and subtly sabotaged her work, etc.). And on top of that, she had to discuss her need to use the restroom in front everyone.

There are a lot of ways to respond in such a situation, not many of them very good. Sweet, humble Katherine, however, replied with strength and dignity, but also with honesty and respectfulness. She told her boss the truth, that she wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom there and that she had to run, every day, to Timbuktu, basically, to use the bathroom because they wouldn’t let her use the white restroom and there wasn’t a colored restroom available in that building. Her mortification was evident, but it was also powerful. She could have basically said “f-you” (please forgive my French) “I don’t need this” and left, but she didn’t. She willed herself to endure the humiliation and speak the truth, and in the end, she was lifted up (see the verse below from 1 Peter which really exemplifies her storyline). Her boss tore down the “white” restroom sign in front of everyone saying, “No more colored restrooms. From now on, go wherever you please. Preferably closer to your desk.”—with a beautiful line about how “At NASA we all pee the same color”.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:6-10)

Katherine was restored to grace, confirmed by the boss in front of everyone, her position was even strengthened (she was able to do her work better without the loss of time and distraction, and the coffee issue was rectified as well), and through that, her position at NASA in that department was established more fully. When the computers later made her position unnecessary, Katherine again accepted the loss of her job with dignity and humility. And again, God restored her. There was a discrepancy in the numbers from the computer and John Glenn personally requested Katherine to do the numbers. He said that he would trust her judgement.

Vision, excellence, humility—these were their weapons, their tools of advancement. Such a powerful message in a day and age of entitlement and of “claiming your rights.” We are constantly told that we need to fight for ourselves, defend ourselves, push for our rights, etc. But these women show a better way. They show how we can inspire others to greater things. How our excellence can open doors for us. How when we humble ourselves, God can open doors for us. God calls us to fight with different weapons than the world uses (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). He says His ways are not our ways, they are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

So, for those of us who feel something is being withheld from or denied to us, let these amazing women be an example. We live in impossible times when we are in God’s Kingdom. He can move mountains and He is doing a new thing. He has surprising ways. Our job isn’t to push and fight and demand for ourselves, but rather to ask God how he would like us to approach the situation. Know that, always, inspiring people with vision, living with excellence and humbling ourselves before our fellow man and more importantly before our God—those three things are beautiful, powerful weapons that are always welcome in the Kingdom of God.

For those of us who are in positions of power, influence and control, let us learn from Mr. Harris’s advice. He advised the young Paul who was the insecure, threatened supervisor over Katherine that continued to thwart and suppress her progress, “You know what your job is, Paul? Find the genius among the geniuses. … Pull us all up.” Mr. Harris understood that a rising tide raises all ships. He didn’t see other’s genius as a threat, but as a blessing to all. He agreed with Mary, “Any upward movement is movement for us all.”

Questions for Discussion:

• How do you think you would have responded if you had been in each of those three women’s shoes?
• We may not have separate restrooms for races anymore, but do you think there are still injustices and prejudices in our culture?
• Have you ever suffered injustice and prejudice for anything, been overlooked for something you were qualified for? How did you respond?
• Vision, excellence and humility—these were the ways in which the women set themselves apart—how can those qualities help you achieve what you desire in your life?
• In 1 Peter 5:6-10 we are commanded to humble ourselves before God, endure hard times patiently, and wait for God to restore, confirm, strengthen and establish us. How did these women illustrate this verse? Have you ever exemplified this verse in your own life? How might you apply this verse to situations in your life currently?

Click here to read quotes from Hidden Figures.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of Hidden Figures.

Mary: 3 Black women are chasing a white police officer down a Highway in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. Ladies, that is a God-ordained miracle!

We can’t justify a space program that doesn’t put anything in space.

Mrs. Mitchell: That’s NASA for you—fast with rockets, slow with advancement.

Mary: I’m a Negro woman. I’m not going to entertain the impossible.
Karl Zelinski: Mary, I’m a polish Jew whose parents died in the concentration camp. And now I’m [in the space program]. We are living the impossible.

Mr. Harris: Because it’s never been done before, everything we do between now and then is going to matter. It’s going to matter to them and to their wives and to the whole d*** country.

Katherine: Can I ask you where the restroom is? I have no idea where your restroom is.

Mr. Harris: I’m asking you to look beyond this numbers. Look at what math that doesn’t even exist.

Mr. Harris: I don’t need another smart girl with an adding machine.

Dorothy: Don’t get me wrong, any upward movement is movement for us all.

Mary: You better settle down, Levi Jackson, in less you want this female’s mind right there in front of everyone.
Levi: Civil rights ain’t never civil.

Katherine: Yes, they let women do some stuff at NASA and it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses.

Mary, about her ogling the white astronauts: It’s equal rights. I have a right to see fine in every shade of color.

Mr. Harris: Are you a spy? Are you a Russian spy?
Katherine: No sir. I’m not Russian.
Mr. Harris: She’s not Russian.

Mary: Every time we have a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line.

Dorothy: Separate and equal are two different things.

Dorothy: You act right, you are right. That’s for certain.

Dorothy’s Son: You took that book?
Dorothy: Son, I pay taxes and taxes pay for everything in that library. You can’t take something you already paid for!

Colonel Jim Johnson: I believe I owe you an apology.
Katherine: Well, is that it?
Jim: I’m sorry.
Katherine: For what, Jim?
Jim: For underestimating you and every woman like you, though I can’t imagine there are very many.
Katherine: That’s good practice!

Mr. Harris: How the h*** do we find ourselves in second place in a two-man race?!

Mr. Harris: They’re out working us – because I refused to believe they’re just smarter.

Mr. Harris: No more colored restrooms. From now on, go wherever you please. Preferably closer to your desk. At NASA, we all pee the same color.

Mary: You, of all people, should understand the importance of being first. First in your family to … First to… First to… I plan on being an engineer at NASA, but I can’t do that without taking them classes at that all-white high school, and I can’t change the color of my skin. So I have no choice but to be the first, which I can’t do without you, sir. Your honor, out of all the cases you’re going to hear today, which one will matter a hundred years from now? Which one is gonna make you the first?

Paul: Computers don’t author reports.

Mr. Harris: Discovery is never just for the sake of discovery, but for the sake of survival. … Whoever gets there first make the rules. … Who do you want to get there first?

Paul: There’s no protocol for women attending…
Katherine: There’s no protocol for a man circling the earth either.

Mr. Harris: Who makes the rules?
Katherine: You sir. You are the boss. You just have to act like one. Sir.

Mr. Harris: You know what your job is, Paul? Find the genius among the geniuses. … Pull us all up.

Mrs. Mitchell: Dorothy, despite what you might think, I have nothing against y’all.
Dorothy: I know. I know you believe that.

Mr. Harris: Truth is, we no longer need a computer in this group. Progress is a double-edged sword.

John Glenn: Get the girl to run the numbers… The smart one… She says they’re good; I’m good to go.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of The Great Wall.

5500 miles of wall. Took 1700 years to build.

The wall protected from many dangers, some are known, some are legends.

Tovar (?): He has a right to die wherever he wants.
William: I’ve been left for dead twice. It was bad luck.
Tovar: For who?
William: The people who left me.

Tovar: I haven’t surrendered in a while.
William: It’ll come back to you.

General: We’ve spent 60 years preparing for this day.

William and Tovar: Black are foot soldiers, red are the archers. And blue… they’re all women? What the h*** do they do?

Tovar: Look over there – why isn’t he tied up?

Tovar: What god made those things?
William: None that we know.

Tovar: Think they’ll hang us now?
William: I could use the rest.

General (?): The enemies we are facing are more intelligent than those we faced 60 years ago.

Ballard: You saved the west turret – that was very diplomatic of you.
William: We weren’t being diplomatic. We were trying to stay alive.

William: We are honored to be honored.
Tovar: Is that all you’ve got?

Ballard: He should be careful with her. She’s very powerful here.
Tovar: Then it is a fair contest.

Lin: Here in this army, we fight for more than food or money…trust in each other in all ways at all times.

Lin: A man must learn to trust before he can be trusted.
William: Then you were right, we are not the same.

General: They came to remind us of what happens when greed is unchecked.

General: They led us into a trap. We underestimated their intelligence.

Tovar: I’m only saving you so I can kill you myself.

Lin: Black powder—it is a terrible weapon. It would be better if you had never seen it.

Lin: I’ve never seen [much of] the outside world, but it seems to be the greed of man is much like the tao tei.

William: You’re much braver than they think.

Tovar: I see black powder.
William: I see a man forget his friends. Black powder is not going anywhere.

Tovar: You are a thief and a liar and a killer. You cannot undo the things you have done and you will never be anything but…
William: They need us here. I’ve been a fool and I’m done with it. We’ve been fighting for nothing, for greed…. Stay and fight.

Kill the queen or we all die.

General (?): Leave and tell the world what you have seen and tell them what is coming. William: I’ll need my bow. If I’m to join you, I’ll need my bow.

Lin: I set you free.
William: And here I am.

William: So how’s life without me?
Tovar: A little slow. Well, so you’re a hero after all?
William: Seems like it.

William: The emperor gave me a choice. He told me I could take the black powder or I could take you.
Tovar: Please tell me you chose the powder? [William unlocks his shackles.] I don’t even know you anymore.

Lin: Perhaps we were both wrong. We were more similar than I thought.

I wasn’t expecting much from The Great Wall so maybe that’s the reason why I enjoyed the ride well enough. It might be forgettable in the end, but I actually came away with a whole list of great ways that the movie connected with things in my Christian faith (13, actually). When that happens, the movie becomes for me much better than it would be otherwise and much more memorable.

Synopsis:

William and Tovar are two mercenary/thieves who end up captured in China at the great wall. While the Chinese are trying to decide their fate, they are attacked by tao tei (a dinosaur-ish monster that is kind of a hybrid of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park and the zombie from World War Z). William and Tovar prove themselves in battle and find themselves enmeshed in the Chinese battle with the tao tei (who return every 60 years to feast and destroy). Tovar only wants to steal some of the “black powder” from the Chinese and go make his fortune with it. William however, changes, as the lovely Chinese general Lin challenges him about what motivates him. He begins to realize there is more to life than personal greed and gain and stays to fight.

1. Just because you’re left for dead, doesn’t mean it’s over. William talks about how he was left for dead twice, and it was bad luck… for the people who left him behind. It’s easy to look at our circumstances and feel like it’s over, but we serve a mighty God who has power over even life and death. Consider Lazarus—he, too, was left for dead. In fact, he was dead. But it still was not the end. *Are there any circumstances in your life that you feel are too far gone, but you want God to resurrect?
2. “We’ve spent 60 years preparing for this day.” The people knew the tao tei would return in 60 years, so they spent SIXTY YEARS preparing, to be ready. That’s faithfulness right there. It’s a lifetime. The Bible tells countless stories and admonitions about being prepared for what is to come. However, although we need to be watchful and on guard for attacks of the enemy (see 1 Peter 5:6-10), it is the return of the Lord we are told to prepare for (reference the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25). Be on guard for the one, be in preparation for the other. Our enemy has already been defeated, so in the end, there is no “return of the enemy” to fear. He can’t destroy us, but we can really destroy ourselves if we are unprepared and left behind when the Lord returns. Even more than that, however, we aren’t only to prepare ourselves out of fear of being left behind, but out of love and desire for the Bridegroom to find his bride beautiful. We are like a bride who spends time before the wedding losing a few pounds and growing out her hair—she wants to be at her best for big day! We prepare ourselves from a heart of love. *What have you prepared for in life? *How can you prepare for the coming of the Lord?
3. William and Tovar were looking at the army and their uniforms and saw that the black were foot soldiers, the red were archers. The blue, however, were all women, and they wondered what in the world they women did in the army. In this case, the women were a gymnastic branch, who dove off the wall with spears and were reeled back up on a bungee type system. Women can be warriors, too, but what we see here is that they fight differently. They are best when they fight, not as a man, but as a woman. In the Bible, in the story of Esther, we see the same thing. Esther fought a battle for her people, but she did so very distinctly as a woman. She was able to get before the King in a way that no man could have. In this world of feminist rights, where women want to claim equality, maybe we are missing the point a little. We are equal because we are distinctive and different. We misunderstand equality and replace it with sameness, but we lose our value when we try to become alike. Our equality is in the way we are different. *In what ways are equal and same not always the same thing? *How might women lose value by trying to be the same as men? *How might women increase their value by recognizing that their equality comes in their uniqueness?
4. William and Tovar saved the West turret and Ballard accused them of being diplomatic. They weren’t being diplomatic; they were trying to stay alive. This is the thing though, people will often misunderstand our good works. They will even accuse of us being manipulative and having ulterior motives. That’s OK. Do what’s right anyway.  Sometimes understanding only comes with time. Jesus was also misunderstood. He did what the Father wanted, regardless, and much later many people did begin to understand. *Have you ever been misunderstood? How did you respond?
5. William’s motives throughout the movie changed because people grow. He started out as a thief and a liar and a mercenary. He ended up a loyal friend who was fighting for a cause and for what was right. *Have you ever started something with bad motives (or just lesser motives) and then by the time you ended it, your motives were different and even better than you when you began?
6. Tovar had a hard time believing it when William said he wanted to stay and fight—because he knew who William had been. William didn’t worry about Tovar—sometimes we have to do what’s right no matter what it costs us. William invited Tovar to stay and fight with him, invited him to change and give his life to something that mattered, but he also realized, Tovar’s journey was his own—he had to learn the hard way. He did learn…and he did it the hard way. That’s OK—the point was, he too grew and the two friends were reunited in friendship, the better friendship of two men who were better men than they had been. People’s journey is their own and sometimes they have to learn the hard way.  *When has doing the right thing cost you? *Have you ever had to let someone learn the hard way?
7. Ballard warned that William should be cautious in his relationship with Lin because she was very powerful there. Tovar commented that it would be a “fair contest”—both were very powerful people. To change or inspire a powerful person, it often takes another person, an equal match. Lin had a profound impact on William not only because she was equal to him in many ways, but because she was different than him (reference again point #3). She fought for things she believed in, he fought for money. She was loyal, he was self-serving. She trusted others, he trusted no one. She helped save him, and he helped save the people. *Who has challenged you in your life?
8. Along with Lin, there was another very different person who had an impact on William. He was not particularly strong or powerful. In fact, he was berated for being weak and cowardly. He and William had a special connection, however, and their fates were closely intertwined. William had the wisdom to see the good in this poor man and encourage it. In the end, that man saved William’s life more than once. God says he uses the foolish things and the weak things of this world to shame the wise and the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). He himself came as a baby, to die, not a warrior to conquer and reign. We need to see the value in all created beings, even and especially those who are “weaker” than we are. We never know how our fates might be tied to theirs, or how they just might save our lives.   *Have you ever been impacted by someone who was “weaker” than you in some way? *Can you say you really see the value in all people?
9. The tao tei were a ravenous creature that the Chinese felt “came to remind us of what happens when greed is unchecked.” It’s a pretty fierce image of the horrific hunger of greed. “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). *How were the tao tei like the greed of man? *Have you ever felt that ravenous hunger for more?
10. The Chinese army prepared for the tao tei to return as they had been (i.e. the thought they would fight the same fight they’d fought before). The problem was, they underestimated the intelligence of the tao tei. They were smarter and more evolved than the Chinese expected. As Christians, we are often in danger of making the same mistakes. We underestimate our enemy and we think that because we learned from last time we are prepared for the next time. We aren’t prepared, however, when the enemy uses a new approach or tactic. We are all fortified on one side, leaving the other side wide open. Paul says it this way, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). I dare say, we are most in danger in the very areas we think we are the most secure because it is in these areas where we trust in our own defenses and not in the Lord’s strength to defend us. It is in these areas where we are blindsided and never see the danger coming. *Have you ever felt you were prepared for something and found yourself completely blindsided? *Have you ever defeated a sin in your life, only to find yourself struggling with it again later?
11. I mentioned the weak man, Peng Yong, whose fate was so closely intertwined with Williams—the Chinese army berated him for being weak. William told him, “You’re much braver than they think.” The interesting thing is, he lived up to both of their expectations of him. Until William came along, he was weak and fearful. After William began to speak life into him, however, he changed and grew. He became brave and even willingly gave his life in an act that not only saved the immediate lives of William and Lin, but also that was responsible for winning the entire war. Our tongues have the power of life and death in them. We bless and we curse people with them (see James 3). People live up (or down) to what we speak into them—so we need to be careful with our words. *In what ways do you live up (or down) to the expectations of people around you? *When you speak, do you speak life or death (encouragement or criticism) into people?
12. The Chinese had been fighting the tao tei, but no matter how many they killed, they weren’t gaining ground, they were just spinning their wheels. The only hope was to kill the queen. Without the queen, all the tao tei would die. I think our sin is this way sometimes. Sometimes we are trying to manage all our struggles, trying to kill off all these ugly parts in us that bare their teeth, but we despair because we are fighting a losing battle, spinning our wheels. It’s like playing whack-a-mole, we knock one on the head but three more spring up. Sometimes we have the wrong approach—we don’t need to go after each of our sins, we need to go after the root—our heart. When a heart is in the right place, it doesn’t want to sin. Maybe there is a root of sin that gives the enemy a right to be in our life, wreaking havoc. We need to find out what the “queen” is, what the “root” is. When we deal with that queen, it can create a domino effect in our lives and we might just find ourselves free of all sorts of things at once. (Just think about the testimony of the person who comes to Christ and is at once delivered from drugs and alcohol and bad language—those things were symptoms of a heart problem. They hadn’t been able to get clean before, but the moment their heart found Jesus, those things had no hold on them anymore.) *In your life, do you feel more like you are fighting the endless barrage of tao tei or are you looking to kill the queen?
13. The tao tei are a metaphor for the greed of man. William’s life had been one of greed until he met Lin. So in many ways, you could say William fights (and defeats) his demons literally and metaphorically in the movie. It was a battle he had to fight if it was to be won, but it was also a battle that he couldn’t fight alone. I think it’s safe to say that any time we have to fight our demons, it’s a battle we have to fight personally (no one can do it for us) but also one we cannot fight alone. *Most people either don’t want to fight, or they want to fight alone—which is more like you? How can you both show up to fight your own battle and let others join you and support you in the fight? *How can you help support others as they fight their own demons?

Click here to read quotes from The Great Wall.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of the book, The Zookeeper’s Wife.

JAN AND ANTONINA ZABINSKI WERE CHRISTIAN ZOOKEEPERS horrified by Nazi racism, who capitalized on the Nazis’ obsession with rare animals in order to save over three hundred doomed people. (p11)

In wartime Poland, when even handing a thirsty Jew a cup of water was punishable by death, their heroism stands out as all the more startling. (p11)

I studied how Nazism hoped, not only to dominate nations and ideologies, but to alter the world’s ecosystems by extinguishing some countries’ native species of plants and animals (including human beings), while going to great lengths to protect other endangered animals and habitats, and even to resurrect extinct species like the wild cow and forest bison. (p12)

Nazism’s roots in the occult. (p12)

Antonina felt convinced that…animals “long for human company, reach out for human attention,” with a yearning that’s somehow reciprocal. (p34)

The lampshade store and worship was like a magnet to so many people. Thanks to these two tiny lovely old ladies, who were extremely warmhearted, full of love and kindness, we survived this terrible time. There were like the warm light during the summer night, and people from upstairs, homeless people from other locations, from destroyed buildings, even from other streets, were gathering like moths attracted by the warmth around these two ladies. (p57)

This is how a hunted animals feels…not like a heroine, just madly driven to get home safely at any cost. (p60)

Breaking laws of failing to report lawbreakers, both acting or observing, were equally punishable offenses. (p69)

Human nature being what it is, most people didn’t wish to get involved, so few people were denounced, and fewer still denounced for not denouncing others. (p69)

Somewhere between doing and not doing, everyone’s conscience finds its own level; most Poles didn’t risk their lives for fugitives but didn’t denounce them either. (p69)

One of Frank’s key tasks was to kill all people of influence, such as teachers, priests, landowners, politicians, lawyers, and artists. Then he began rearranging huge masses of the population: over a span of five years, 860,000 Poles would be uprooted and resettled; 75,000 Germans would take over their lands; 1,300,000 Poles would be shipped to Germany as slave labor; and 330,000 would simply be shot. (p70)

Under the Third Reich, animals became noble, mythic, almost angelic—including humans, of course, but not Slavs, Gypsies, Catholics, or Jews. (p86)

Although Mengele’s subjects could be operated on without any painkillers at all, a remarkable example of Nazi zoophilia is that a leading biologist was once punished for not giving worms enough anesthesia during an experiment. (p86)

Biologist Lecomte dy Nouy argues in La dignite humain (1944): “German’s crime is the greatest crime the world has ever known because is not on the scale of History: it is on the scale of evolution.” (p92)

It was a kind of pornography, in which the brief frisson of killing outweighed the animals’ lives. (p96)

Nazi biologists believed in appearances, that anyone who strongly resembled a target species could be bred back to a pure ancestor. (p99)

How do you retain a spirit of affection and humor in a crazed, homicidal, unpredictable society? (p101)

Rationing was calculated down to the last calorie per day, with Germans receiving 2,613 calories, Poles 669 calories, and Jews only 184 calories. (p104)

Jan always shied away from praise and underplayed his bravery, saying such things as: “I don’t understand all the fuss. If any creature is in danger, you save it, human or animal.” (p113)

Unlike other occupied countries, where hiding Jews could land you in prison, in Poland harboring a Jew was punishable by immediate death to the rescuer and also to the rescuer’s family and neighbors, in a death-frenzy deemed “collective responsibility.” (p116)

War didn’t only sunder people… It could also intensify friendships and spark romances; every handshake opened a door or steered fate. (p129)

One often recognizes only in hindsight a coincidence or unlikely object that altered fate. Who would have imagined that a zealous professor’s cavalcade of pinned beetles would open the gate from the Ghetto for so many people? (p152)

Napoleon’s Grand Army dropped from 500,000 to 3,000 mainly through pestilence. Friedrich Prinzing’s Epidemics Resulting from Wars, published in 1916, tells the same tale, and also points out that more men died from lice-borne diseases in the American Civil War than on its battlefields. This led naturally to the image of virulent, lice-ridden Jews. “Antisemitism is exactly the same as delousing,” Himmler told his SS officers on April 24, 1943. “Getting rid of lice is not a question of ideology. It is a matter of cleanliness… We shall soon be deloused. We have only 20,000 lice left and then the matter is finished within the whole of Germany. (p154) *Note, the Jews acquired lice after they were rounded up and put in condensed quarters, where they were unable to attend properly to hygiene. This obvious fact seems to have escaped the reasoning of Hitler.

Most people know that 30 to 40 percent of the world’s Jews were killed during World War II, but not that 80 to 90 percent of the Orthodox community perished, among them many who had kept alive an ancient tradition of mysticism and meditation reaching back to the Old Testament world of the prophets. (p158)

All our senses feed the brain, and if it diets mainly on cruelty and suffering, how can it remain healthy? Change that diet, on purpose, train mentally to refocus the mind, and one nourishes the brain. (p159)

At the outbreak of the war, thinking to decapitate the country, the Nazis had rounded up and shot most of the Polish intelligentsia, then outlawed education and the press, a strategy that boomeranged because it not only made learning subversively appealing, it also feed the surviving intellectuals to focus their brain power on feats of resistance and sabotage. (p169)

[Janusz Korczak was a doctor who worked with orphaned children during the war. He had the children perform a play about a circus of stars] to help the trapped, terrified children accept death more serenely. Anticipating their calamity and fright when deportation day came (August 6, 1942), he joined them aboard the train bound for Treblinka, because, he said, he knew his presence would calm them—“You do not leave a sick child in the night, and you do not leave children at a time like this.” … “A miracle occurred, two hundred pure souls, condemned to death, did not weep. Not one of them ran away. None tried to hide. Like stricken swallows they clung to their teacher and mentor, to their father and brother, Janusz Korczak.” … The Poles claim Korczak as a martyr, and the Israelis revere him as one of the Thirty-Six Just Men, whose pure souls make possible the world’s salvation. According to Jewish legend, these few, through their good hearts and good deeds, keep the too-wicked world from being destroyed. For their sake alone, all of humanity is spared. The legend tells that they are ordinary people, not flawless or magical, and that most of them remain unrecognized throughout their lives, while they choose to perpetuate goodness even in the midst of inferno. (p185-186)

Drawing together a consortium of Polish Catholic and political groups, Zegota’s sole purpose was rescue, not sabotage or fighting, and, as such, it was the only organization of its kind in occupied Europe during the war, one that historians credit with saving 28,000 Jews in Warsaw. (p188)

70,000-90,000 people in Warsaw and the suburbs, or about one-twelfth of the city’s population, risked their lives to help neighbors escape. (p189)

Our Guests, who fled from the entrance of crematoriums and the thresholds of gas chambers,” [needed] more than refuge. “The desperately needed hope that a safe haven even existed, that the war’s horrors would one day end.” (p209)

Jan believed in tactics and subterfuge, and Antonina in living as joyously as possible, given the circumstance, while staying vigilant. So, on the one hand, Jan and Antonina each kept a cyanide pill with them at all times, but on the other, they encouraged humor, music, and conviviality. (p209)

Heinrich Himmler strove to be Hitler’s best and most faithful servant, would have lassoed and gift-wrapped the moon if he could. “For him, I would do anything,” he once told a friend. “Believe me, if Hitler were to say I should shoot my mother, I would do it and be proud of his confidence.” (p211)

[Antonina wondered] Why was it…that “animals can sometimes subdue their predator ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast”? (p239)

If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner…if I let it slip from my tongue, I am its prisoner. – Arthur Schopenhauer (p255)

In Antonina’s day, the evil eye, born of envy to sour and begrudge good fortune, worried many Poles, who believed a happy event invited evil and that praising a newborn cast a vicious spell. “What a beautiful baby” became so poisonous that, as antidote, the mother had to counter with: “Oh, it’s an ugly child,” and then spit in disgust. … The dehexing fell mainly to mothers, who saved offspring by forgoing shows of happiness and pride, thus sacrificing what they prized dearly for what they valued most, because the moment one loved something it became eligible for loss. (p268)

[Antonina wrote,] “If felt words like mother, wife, sister, have the power to change a bastard’s spirit and conquer his murderous instincts, maybe there’s some hope for the future of humanity after all.” (p284)

In all, around three hundred people passed through the way station of the Warsaw Zoo, en route to the rest of their nomadic lives. Jan always felt, and said publicly, that the real heroine of this saga was his wife, Antonina. “She was afraid of the possible consequences… she was terrified the Nazi’s would seek revenge against us and our young son, terrified of death, and yet she kept it to herself, and helped me [with my Underground activities] and never ever asked me to stop.” “Antonina was a housewife … she wasn’t involved in politics or war, and was timid, and yet despite that she played a major role in saving others and never once complained about the danger.” “Her confidence could disarm even the most hostile,” he told an anonymous reporter, adding that her strength stemmed from her love of animals. “It wasn’t just that she identified with them,” he explained, “but from time to time she seemed to shed her own human traits and become a panther or a hyena. Then, able to adopt their fighting instinct, she arose as a fearless defender of her kind.” (p314)

Intrigued by the personality of rescuers, Malka Drucker and Gay Block interviewed over a hundred, and found they shared certain key personality traits. Rescuers tended to be decisive, fast-thinking, risk-taking, independent, adventurous, openhearted, rebellious, and unusually flexible—able to switch plans, abandon habits, or change ingrained routines at a moment’s notice. They tended to be nonconformists, and though many rescuers held solemn principles worth dying for, they didn’t regard themselves as heroic. Typically, one would say, as Jan did: “I only did my duty—if you can save somebody’s life, it’s your duty to try.” Or: “We did it because it was the right thing to do.” (p315)

The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last of a race of living things breaths no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again. –C. William Beebe (p320)

There are many kinds of obsession, some diabolical, some fortuitous. Strolling through Bialowieza’s mass of life, one would never guess the role it played in Lutz Heck’s ambitions, the Warsaw Zoo’s fate, and the altruistic opportunism of Jan and Antonina, who capitalized on the Nazi’s obsession with prehistoric animals and a forest primeval to rescue scores of endangered neighbors and friends. (p321)

Much as Hitler publicly championed a fit, vigorous Aryan race, Goebbels had a clubfoot, Goring was obese and addicted to morphine, and Hitler himself seems to have been suffering from third-stage syphilis by the end of the war, addiction to uppers and downers, and quite possibly Parkinson’s. (p327)

The Wehrmacht commissioned an array of drugs that would increase focus, stamina, and risk-taking, while reducing pain, hunger, and fatigue. Between April and July of 1940, troops received over 35 million 3-milligram doses of the addictive and mood-altering amphetamines Pervitin and Isophan. (p327)

Out of its prewar population of 36 million, Poland lost 22 percent, more than any other country in Europe. After the war, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the State Tribunal of Israel, detailed some of Christian Poland’s ordeal, and how, in addition to the 6 million Jews killed, 3 million Catholics died, “but what is even worse, it lost especially its educated classes, youth and any elements which could in the future oppose one of the other of the two totalitarian regimes… According to the German plan, Poles were to become a people without education, slaves for the German overlords.” (p332)

Narrator: How does the story begin? With a boy, too old to be a kid, too young to be a man, and a nightmare.

Conor: Why are they trying to kill King Kong?
Mum: People don’t like what they don’t understand. They get scared.

Monster: Sometimes kingdoms get the princes they deserve. Farmers daughter sometimes die and witches sometimes need saving.

Conor: I don’t get it. Who is the good guy?
Monster: There’s not always a good [or bad] guy. Most people are somewhere in between.

Conor: Stories aren’t real though. They don’t help anything.
Monster: Stories are wild creatures, Conor O’Malley… If you let them loose, who knows what havoc they may wreak.

Apothecary: You would give up everything you believed in to save them?
Parson: If it would help, I would give up everything.
Apothecary: Then there’s nothing I can do for you.

Monster: Parson—what was he? A man of faith without faith.

Monster: Belief is important so you must be careful where you put it and in whom.

Dad, looking at the Conor’s destruction: I gotta say chap, this really is just amazingly thorough.

Monster (?): Belief is half of all healing. Belief in the cure. Belief in the future that awaits.

Monster: You waste the precious time that is given you.

Conor: I need for you to heal.
Monster: And so I shall.

Monster: There was once an invisible man who grew tired of being unseen. … If no one sees you are you really there at all?

Mum: If one day you look back and you feel bad for being so angry that you didn’t speak to me, you need to know that that was OK too. Because I know. I know everything you need to say to me.

Mum: So if you need to break things, by God you break them and I’ll be right there.

Mum: I wish I had 100 years I could give to you.

Conor: Your stories never made sense to me.
Monster: Because humans are complicated beasts. You believe comforting lies, while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary. In the end, Conor, it is not important what you think. It is only important what you do.

Monster:   Speak the truth.
Conor: That’s all?
Monster: You think it’s easy? You were willing to die rather than speak it.

Conor: You lied. You said that you could make her better, but you didn’t.
Monster: I did not come to save her. I came to save you.
Conor: Me?! My mom’s the one who needs healing.

Monster: Tell me the truth.
Conor: It will kill me if I do.
Monster: It will kill you if you don’t…. Speak the truth boy.
Conor: I want it to be OVER! …I can’t stand knowing that she’ll go. I want it to be finished. I let her go. I let her die.
Monster: That was brave, Conor. You finally said it.
Conor: Why wasn’t I punished?
Monster: You were merely wishing for an end of pain. Your own pain.

Monster: So how does the story end? It ends with a boy holding on right to his mother and by doing so he can finally let her go.

I discussed the book here, before the movie came out, focusing on the hard truth Connor has to tell—that as much as he doesn’t want to lose his mom to cancer, he also wants and end to the pain—and in that way, he does. “It doesn’t just deal with grief and loss, …it deals with shame—the shame young Connor was feeling over his conflicted feelings about his mom’s struggle with cancer.”

When I read the book, that was the thing which hit me the hardest (and the realization of how often I have struggled with those same conflicted feelings). When I saw the movie—maybe it was because I already knew what was coming, maybe it was the difference in the story-telling medium—I was particularly struck by the parables the Monster told. He told three parables and they are conflicted, complicated messes of stories where the moral of the story isn’t so obvious or even pleasant. “Sometimes kingdoms get the princes they deserve. Farmers daughter sometimes die and witches sometimes need saving.” Good people turn out to be bad; bad and unkind people turn out to be righteous (if still unlikeable). Hard stories. Unexpected stories. Just like it was unexpected that the Monster was there to heal…but the person he healed was not who Connor expected. He didn’t heal Connor’s mom; he healed Connor.

I was just at a gathering of Christian artists in which the discussion for the night was centered around this article and a statement Bono made in which he basically said that Christian art is sometimes overly simplistic and dishonest. Well, I would argue there is plenty of secular stuff out there that is no different—think Hallmark channel. (Although, to be fair, it can be argued that there is something worthwhile in showing an optimistic, idealistic, happy picture of life—maybe it’s a glimpse of Heaven to come, or a reflection of the hope that we have in Jesus… Just because it’s not difficult, heavy or hard, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily dishonest.) Anyway – my point being there aren’t a lot of writers/story-tellers (Christian or non) who really do a good job of telling the honest realities of life. This story does it beautifully. It’s raw and hard and complicated, and yet, it’s still hopeful and strong and full of love and healing.

In our discussion of honest Christian art, the example that the speaker pointed to as striking a good balance between optimism and pessimism, hopefulness and honesty, joyfulness and suffering… the Psalms. In particular, he referenced one of my favorites, Psalm 22 (see my “Quick Thoughts on a Bipolar Psalm, here). The writer wrestles with the reality of the struggles and confusion of life against the hope of the character and the nature of God and the future He promises. This is Christianity. It’s not all roses and good times and easy, miraculous endings. We, too, suffer. It’s just that, in that suffering, we have hope in a God who is good, who loves us, and who is in control.

The monster in A Monster Calls, in many ways, symbolizes God. He doesn’t behave as Connor asks him to.   He heals, but not in the way Connor expected (or wanted). He seems like a monster because he forces Connor to accept reality. (Just as we must accept reality about our OWN sins and need for a savior.) He seems like a monster because he could stop Connor’s mom from dying, and he doesn’t. (Who of us hasn’t wrestled with the same, seeing something horrible God could have stopped but didn’t?) For all his monstrousness, the Monster is also the one place of strength Connor turns to. For all his harshness, he is also incredibly tender. He gives Connor the ability and freedom to forgive himself. He comforts Connor in grief. He heals. He provides hope. (God is the same—he is unyielding stern about holiness, and unendingly tender and forgiving with our weakness. He helps us face our sin, but then gives us grace and forgiveness for it. In Him we are comforted, healed and find hope.) The movie is hard and complicated and realistic in all the right ways, but, like the Psalms, it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t wallow in pain, it faces pain to heal. It ends as the Christian story does, with healing and life and hope. Yes there is death, but there is also resurrection.

Click here to read quotes from the movie.

The movie, The Zookeeper’s Wife, will be out soon, so I rushed to read the book beforehand. (I have included a list of quotes from the book here—some are heartwarming and inspirational, others are more fact driven.) The story starts by saying, “JAN AND ANTONINA ZABINSKI WERE CHRISTIAN ZOOKEEPERS horrified by Nazi racism, who capitalized on the Nazis’ obsession with rare animals in order to save over three hundred doomed people” (p11). Interestingly, that’s really the only reference in the book about their Christian faith. The story is still amazing, although I was hoping there would be more about how their faith was behind their actions. I actually was under the opinion as I read that Jan didn’t really have a faith, while Antonina seems to have had some ties to Christianity. In either case, they did what Jesus would have asked of His followers, and they worked to save all the lives that they could, animal and human.

I have read many stories about the Nazi regime and the horrors they inflicted on people. The Zookeeper’s Wife offered a bit of a new angle for me, however, as it also emphasized the broader focus on ALL life, not just human life. As the author explains, “I studied how Nazism hoped, not only to dominate nations and ideologies, but to alter the world’s ecosystems by extinguishing some countries’ native species of plants and animals (including human beings), while going to great lengths to protect other endangered animals and habitats, and even to resurrect extinct species like the wild cow and forest bison” (p12). “Under the Third Reich, animals became noble, mythic, almost angelic—including humans, of course, but not Slavs, Gypsies, Catholics, or Jews” (p86). The disparity between the Nazi elevation of animal life and subjugation of some human lives was insane. “Although Mengele’s subjects could be operated on without any painkillers at all, a remarkable example of Nazi zoophilia is that a leading biologist was once punished for not giving worms enough anesthesia during an experiment” (p86).

The irony of it all—the irony of Hitler’s obsession with a perfect race is that, “Much as Hitler publicly championed a fit, vigorous Aryan race, Goebbels had a clubfoot, Goring was obese and addicted to morphine, and Hitler himself seems to have been suffering from third-stage syphilis by the end of the war, addiction to uppers and downers, and quite possibly Parkinson’s” (p327). Such hypocrisy. Furthermore, it seems most of the Nazi regime was addicted to drugs. “The Wehrmacht commissioned an array of drugs that would increase focus, stamina, and risk-taking, while reducing pain, hunger, and fatigue. Between April and July of 1940, troops received over 35 million 3-milligram doses of the addictive and mood-altering amphetamines Pervitin and Isophan” (p327). So much for a perfect race.

On the other hand, the drug use does make it easier for me to understand the depths of depravity that was epidemic among the Nazis. The entire army was hooked on mood-altering drugs. Furthermore, having spoken with numerous people who have done drugs during my time teaching Bible study in the jail, I can tell you that time and again people tell me that they have, without a doubt, had demonic encounters while on drugs. Drugs are an open door to the demonic, and, if the Nazi regime was anything, it was demonic. Pure evil. Not that evil can’t occur without drugs, to be sure, but I had not heard before that the Nazi’s were handing out drugs to everyone and when I read it, it was like, oh, that makes sense—yes there was sin and pride and a mob-mentality and the depravity of man at play… and also they were incited and crazed by mood-altering amphetamines.

One of the more powerful messages that the book told through multiple scenarios is that, God (or the book gives credit to fate) uses the most unusual things to work His plans. He used their zoo—its location, its structure, its reputation, its collection of animals, etc.—to save many lives. He also used the Nazis’ obsession with bioengineering. He used Jan and Antonina’s unusual skill set as zookeepers, creature lovers, care takers, studiers of animal nature… “There are many kinds of obsession, some diabolical, some fortuitous. Strolling through Bialowieza’s [a forest] mass of life, one would never guess the role it played in Lutz Heck’s ambitions, the Warsaw Zoo’s fate, and the altruistic opportunism of Jan and Antonina, who capitalized on the Nazi’s obsession with prehistoric animals and a forest primeval to rescue scores of endangered neighbors and friends” (p321).

In another unusual and specific example, two men, one Nazi and one Jew, were connected by their obsession with insect collections. Through this unusual passion and because of the excellence of the Jew’s extensive collection, many Jews were able to be smuggled out of the Ghetto—their lives saved. “One often recognizes only in hindsight a coincidence or unlikely object that altered fate. Who would have imagined that a zealous professor’s cavalcade of pinned beetles would open the gate from the Ghetto for so many people?” (p152).

It’s a story of these “coincidences” in which you can see how God can use both our passions, talents, hobbies, jobs, relationships and connections… and even our sins (or the sins of others) for good, for the saving of many lives (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20). Even while we also see that those saved lives also came in the midst of horrors. There are no easy answers for why some were saved by a beetle collection while others were killed senselessly. These miracles of grace don’t erase the horrors, but they give us hope in them.

That balance between reality and hope is a difficult one to find in any time, but all the more so times and places like Nazi occupied Poland. (See this discussion about how we struggle with that today, both in reality and in our art.) “How do you retain a spirit of affection and humor in a crazed, homicidal, unpredictable society?” (p101). This was part of the wonder of this story—the way in which the Zabinski’s did so for themselves and all who came under their roof, even their enemies. “Jan believed in tactics and subterfuge, and Antonina in living as joyously as possible, given the circumstance, while staying vigilant. So, on the one hand, Jan and Antonina each kept a cyanide pill with them at all times, but on the other, they encouraged humor, music, and conviviality” (p209). Reading their story, I was inspired, not only by their courage but also by their commitment to having and spreading joy.

Another story of beauty in the midst of horror that was told within the book is that of Janusz Korczak.

[Janusz Korczak was a doctor who worked with orphaned children during the war. He had the children perform a play about a circus of stars] to help the trapped, terrified children accept death more serenely. Anticipating their calamity and fright when deportation day came (August 6, 1942), he joined them aboard the train bound for Treblinka, because, he said, he knew his presence would calm them—“You do not leave a sick child in the night, and you do not leave children at a time like this.” … “A miracle occurred, two hundred pure souls, condemned to death, did not weep. Not one of them ran away. None tried to hide. Like stricken swallows they clung to their teacher and mentor, to their father and brother, Janusz Korczak.” … The Poles claim Korczak as a martyr, and the Israelis revere him as one of the Thirty-Six Just Men, whose pure souls make possible the world’s salvation. According to Jewish legend, these few, through their good hearts and good deeds, keep the too-wicked world from being destroyed. For their sake alone, all of humanity is spared. The legend tells that they are ordinary people, not flawless or magical, and that most of them remain unrecognized throughout their lives, while they choose to perpetuate goodness even in the midst of inferno. (p185-186)

As awful as the story is, what grace is there. Those children (I’m sorry I forget how many) faced their certain death with calm peace, with bravery, with dignity, because their teacher and mentor had helped prepare them for the day. He loved them so much he gave his life to die with them. He was Jesus for them.

The Bible promises us that in this life we will have troubles. God forbid we have to suffer such persecution as they did, but countless people in the world have. The question isn’t, How do we avoid it? But, How do we face it well? The Zookeeper’s Wife is the triumphant story of the Zabinskis primarily, but also Janusz Korczak, Irena Sendler, and many, many others who faced it so well. Oh that if our time comes we might be as faithful!

The author asked an interesting question—What makes some people more likely to be rescuers, to risk their lives for others? It’s an interesting question. Would I be willing to do what the Zabinski’s did if I was in their shoes? I pray to God I would, but I don’t know. Just because it’s interesting, I will close with her findings.

Intrigued by the personality of rescuers, Malka Drucker and Gay Block interviewed over a hundred, and found they shared certain key personality traits. Rescuers tended to be decisive, fast-thinking, risk-taking, independent, adventurous, openhearted, rebellious, and unusually flexible—able to switch plans, abandon habits, or change ingrained routines at a moment’s notice. They tended to be nonconformists, and though many rescuers held solemn principles worth dying for, they didn’t regard themselves as heroic. Typically, one would say, as Jan did: “I only did my duty—if you can save somebody’s life, it’s your duty to try.” Or: “We did it because it was the right thing to do.” (p315)

We may not all be decisive and risk-taking. We may not all be flexible and adventurous…but I pray the Lord our God makes us all so full of principle and conviction, and so full of faith in His loving power, and so full of His love for our fellow man that we would all find ourselves willing to “do our duty to try” and save a life.

Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Click here to read quotes from the book.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of Collateral Beauty.

Howard (?): What is your purpose? Why did you ever get out of bed in the morning? Why did you eat what you ate? … We are here to connect. Life is about people. Marketing is about communicating how our service will help people connect.

Howard: At the end of the day, every decision we make is because we long for love, wish we had more time, and we fear death.

Claire: This doesn’t feel right.
Simon: I know. But when something starts with a 6 year old dying, nothing is going to feel right.

Brigitte: How would you play time, death and love? He’s reaching out to the cosmos for answers and we get to be the cosmos.

Brigitte: I know people write letters to the universe all the time, but most don’t get a personal response.

Brigitte: Death is so much more vital than time. Death gives time its value.

Simon: Everyone’s dying. Brigitte: Yeah, but you’re doing it now.

Howard (?): Time, they say you heal all wounds, but they don’t say how you destroy.

Raffi: If love is the beginning and death the end, then I’m just the terrain in between.

Raffi: You wrote be because you need me.

Raffi: A day is long … I’m abundant… I’m a gift and you’re wasting it. You know, I should be the one that’s writing angry letters.

Amy: Sorry. I’m so sorry. … I’m the very fabric of life. If you can accept that, then I don’t know, maybe you get to live again.

Howard: Yeah, turns out, death is an elderly white woman.

Brigitte: You lived well… but my friend, you’re not dying well. Did you tell them you’re dying? You’re denying them… [pain, worry, yes…] and the chance to say goodbye.

ER woman to Madeleine: Just be sure to notice the collateral beauty.

Madeleine: Yell at them. Challenge them. Just engage them.

Whit: I realized I wasn’t feeling love, I had become love.

Raffi: You just wasted time. I give you a gift and you waste it.

Howard (to death): We shouldn’t hate you. We shouldn’t fear you… But for all your intellectual bull s***, she’s not here holding my hand.

Howard (to love): I did trust you and you betrayed me.

Howard: I saw you every day in her eyes…and you betrayed me. You broke my heart.
Amy: No, I’m in all of it. … I was there in her laugh but I’m also here in your pain. I’m the reason for everything. I’m the why. Don’t try to live without me, Howard. Please don’t.

Amy (?): You don’t need her permission to be her father. She’s the best thing you got happening in this world. [Fight for her.]

Raffi: Your children don’t have to come from you, they go through you.

Whit’s daughter: I can’t believe you’re going to stalk me, but uh, just so you know, tomorrow’s a half-day.

Brigitte: Nothing’s ever really dead if you look at it right.

Collateral Beauty starts with Howard talking about how life’s purpose is all about connection. “We are here to connect. Life is about people.” The movie is the story of how he lost his connection … and found it again.

When his daughter died he not only lost his connection to her, but in his pain he severed his connections with everyone. His three business partners (and friends) are concerned, not only about Howard, but about their business and come up with a plan. Sadly, the plan is really to force him out of the business, but it ends up being a healing process through which he reconnects with people.

Howard had written letters to the universe—specifically to time, love and death.   His partners found actors who agreed to play the embodiment of those three elements and have discussions with Howard. And this is where the movie was really genius. What would you communicate to someone who had just lost his child if YOU were death personified? Love personified? Time personified?

In those voices we hear the voice of God, too. God is love. He is beyond time and gives us time as a gift. He has perspective and victory over death.  

The actors don’t just stop with Howard, however. They each sort of pair up with a business partner and help them through their struggles. Brigitte, as Death, talks to Simon who is avoiding the fact that he has cancer again and helps him face his own eminent death well. Amy, as Love, helps Whit to quit seeking the romantic love he’s chasing and instead risk loving his daughter who seems not to want his love. Raffi, as Time, helps Claire have the courage to stop procrastinating and move forward in her life. (Side note—I love how Raffi gets angry with Howard for wasting time. He is “Time” and he takes it personally that Howard would waste the gift of himself… I wonder if God feels the same way?! Convicting.)

Howard says that, “At the end of the day, every decision we make is because we long for love, wish we had more time, and we fear death.” I would say the Christian has an added motivation (hopefully a primary one) of pleasing God and glorifying His name, but there is truth in what Howard says. In fact, our desire to please God has to do with our longing for God’s love, to Howard’s point. As for time—we have eternity, so for the believer, the sting of death is lifted. We only fear death for those who don’t know Christ. For ourselves, it is a blessed reunion with our Savior and with our loved ones who have gone before us.

One of the most beautiful moments in the film, for me, was when Howard was telling Love (Amy) that it betrayed him when his daughter died. Isn’t this how we are at least tempted to feel towards God when someone we love dies?   Hear Love’s response, because it’s very much the response of God. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” (Note, it’s not that Love is apologizing for allowing it to happen, so much as identifying with the terrific pain…Empathizing. I’m sorry you had to suffer that.) Howard was trying to live without Love, because it had betrayed him, so Love responds: “I’m the very fabric of life. If you can accept that, then I don’t know, maybe you get to live again.” When he accused Love of betraying him, she replies, “No, I’m in all of it. … I was there in her laugh but I’m also here in your pain. I’m the reason for everything. I’m the why. Don’t try to live without me, Howard. Please don’t.” Love, God who is Love, is here IN our pain. He is in ALL of it. He never leaves us nor forsakes us.

Are you hurting? Are you lonely? Do you feel betrayed by Love? Love has not forsaken you. Love, too, knows what it is to hurt, to suffer, to lose a child, to sacrifice, to be betrayed, to be unwanted by those it loves. There is no pain we suffer that Love (God) has not suffered. He is with us in all of it, comforting us because He understands. He is there, helping us heal so that we can risk letting Love back into our lives, because as our Creator, He knows that we cannot live without Love and connection.  

Questions for Discussion: 

• Howard said that everything we do is “because we long for love, wish we had more time, and we fear death.” Do you agree with this or not?  What would you say motivates you the most?  Is the Christian any different from the non-Christian in this regard?
• If someone asked you to be Time, Death and / or Love to a person who was grieving or who had suffered a tragedy, how would YOU respond?
• Do you think Time, Death and Love responded as the Lord would have?
• How do you think Time, Death and / or Love would talk to YOU about how YOU are living?

Click here to read quotes from Collateral Beauty.

The Oscars are just around a few days away.

Here is a list of the movies that are up for awards (in one category or another) that Shepherd Project Ministries has reviewed. EACH of these will give you a general idea of the storyline, and, more importantly, will show you ways to connect the movie to the Christian faith. Most include questions you can use to prompt discussion. They can encourage you in your own faith, as well as help you use the culture around you to bring others to discussions about faith. I hope you will read them, use them, and pass this list on to others. You never know how God might you, this list, and Hollywood to bring someone to Himself!

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (and a few more thoughts on 13 Hours)

Allied

Arrival

Deepwater Horizon

Doctor Strange

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Florence Foster Jenkins

Hidden Figures

The Jungle Book

Kubo and the Two Strings

La La Land (and a few thoughts on the ending)

Lion

Moana

Passengers

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Silence

Star Trek Beyond

Suicide Squad

Sully

Trolls

Zootopia

Also, just FYI – we have a pretty decent collection of quotes from each movie as well. (Links to the quotes are on each review/discussion.

Note, this is not a comprehensive list of movies up for awards. I chose not to see a few movies due to content. A few others I simply was not able to see due to timing.

Related Articles:

• Art and the Oscars – What makes a Film “Good Art”?
• A few thoughts about what we find entertaining
• Bible Guidelines for Christians to Consider for their Entertainment
• 10 Guidelines to Help you Navigate how Hollywood Portrays the Bible 

We had a horse once that was terrified of hogs. Not so much of a problem in the arena, perhaps, but quite a problem out on our Texas ranch. He was such a lovely horse to ride, until he came across even the scent of a wild hog. At that point, sheer terror took over and you just hoped you could survive until he got to what he felt was a safe distance…from the smell…which you couldn’t smell, so you had no warning. And God forbid you actually came across a live one!

One night, my brother shot a hog and had it strung up between two trees while he gutted and cleaned it. (Sorry, PETA peeps, I come from a family of great white hunters. Besides, hogs are good eatin’. Not to mention the fact that they are a menace to the land and are nothing short of a pestilence that reproduces at a rate that would make a rabbit proud.) I’d been out for a ride on Dorado and as we got close, he went into sheer panic mode.

Now, I don’t have any real interest in creating fear in anything, but I do have a great interest in eliminating it. And sometimes, the only way to do that is to face it. So, I spent the next hour or two helping Dorado face his mortal enemy, the hog. It took a lot of patience and slow progress. Baby steps. But eventually, he got right up to the “party” and got a good look. He even smelled it and put his nose on the barrel of entrails and walked right up to the skinned hog hanging from the trees. And then he sighed and released all that tension he’d been storing up and completely, fully relaxed. I mean, come on, when you see your mortal enemy get disemboweled right in front of you, it does something to your confidence!

THIS is what I’ve been thinking of as I’ve read Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses” (Exodus 14:30-31). The Israelites were terrified of the Egyptians. The moment they saw dust in the distance they were terrified, the Egyptians were coming after them.

It’s hard to listen to your master when you’re more afraid of your enemy.   Dorado would listen to his rider beautifully, until the threat of a hog was near. That superseded any thought of respect for or trust in his rider. The Israelites weren’t so different. They trusted God pretty well, until they sensed the Egyptians were near. Their fear of the Egyptians superseded their respect for and trust in God.

What did God do??? I doubt he took pleasure in scaring the wits out of His people by putting the Egyptians on their heels, but He wanted to set them free from that fear. They had to face it, and they had to see His deliverance from it. When they saw that there was no more army to be afraid of, because they were all dead on the shore two things happened. 1. They realized there was no more enemy to fear. 2. They also realized God was bigger than their enemies. BOTH of these facts set them free to breathe a huge sigh of relief, let out all the tension and rest in peace as they followed God into the wilderness.

So, maybe something you fear is following you, cornering you (your desperate finances, instability at home or at work, health issues, loss, failed relationships, or maybe a bully in your life, etc.)…and you’re so worried about that that you’re having a hard time trusting God. Maybe He’s just bringing you to a place where you can see your mortal enemy disemboweled in front of you, so you can be free from those fears (metaphorically speaking, of course!). Maybe God’s doing for you what He did for the Israelites, bringing you to a place where it can be said of you, “so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord.”

My sweet mother riding her favorite horse, Dorado. *Photographer unknown, my apologies.

When we deal with the question(s) of sexuality, gender, etc. facing our culture today, much of the time what we are dealing with is the feelings. How do we make people feel? How would we feel in their shoes? How can we hold to truth in a way that still feels (and is) loving? Etc. These are important without a doubt. The problem, however, is that when I’m talking with younger generations, so often that is ALL they can talk about. The feelings around the thing in question is the only reality for them.

This is probably largely in response to former generations who were so focused on the “truth” behind the matter that they completely denied or ignored the issue of feelings …or worse… But, as pendulums do, it’s now gone too far to the feelings extreme. In time people will get tired of the shifting sand of feelings and start to swing toward having a foundation of truth in the discussion, but who knows how long that will take. (A generation or so, usually.) And maybe it’s already beginning to happen.

For now, I think the challenge for us is carefully recognize where the pendulum is (the feelings side), and then to gently and respectfully enter truth into the conversation, striking a balance between the two. We need to recognize that feelings need to be heard and considered but that we also need a foundation of truth. It’s like building a house. You need a firm, solid foundation, but you also need some soft and cushy sofas and beds to rest on. It’s both/and, not either/or. Eventually things will shift on their own, but we can actually begin that process by not reacting to one or the other, but instead reaching for a balance.

And you know what I’m finding? Younger generations actually want that foundation. They actually want to know and understand other points of view. They want to know why people don’t agree with same-sex marriage, for example. Why not? It seems so obvious to them that they are genuinely curious to understand the objections. The challenge with that is to present it in a way that still acknowledges feelings and the difficulty presented in the matter to all involved. It’s not a simple answer. Things are hard because our world is broken. They may want to know, but they are also sensitive to how you say it. They’ve been taught to stand up for themselves and that their opinions have great value. This is the age where everyone has a voice, remember? So they also feel very empowered to shut yours off. Where previous generations might have respectfully listened to their elders even when they didn’t appreciate how they were being talked to, this generation probably will not. How you say a thing is as important as what you say—now more than ever.

All of that being said, I think if we are honest many of us feel a bit ill equipped to speak into the issues of sexuality and gender, etc. at times—especially when we are talking with an honest seeker of information who doesn’t come from our point of view. Why is this? I think one problem is that we too have become sympathetic to a large degree. (Just note how many churches have changed their stance towards the LGBT issue. Regardless what you think about it, the fact is, as a whole, we are changing and becoming more sympathetic.) We’ve become so sympathetic that now it’s getting hard to see—Why shouldn’t gay marriage be allowed? Shouldn’t they be allowed to be happy, too? Admittedly, there’s the little issue of the fact that the Bible isn’t for it, but why not? It’s not God’s design, but why not? Isn’t the Bible’s policy on sexuality outdated, anyway? I mean, honestly, how many Christians actually believe they should take God seriously and wait to have sex till they’re married (or live together first)?[1] We may have answers but we really don’t know how to explain them to our own satisfaction much of the time, much less to someone else’s.

I’m not going to try to answer these questions here, but I did want to point to a quote I read recently that does a great job of pointing out one reason why this issue is such a big deal. Because that’s part of the question I’m hearing, “Why does it matter?” “Why are Christians so opposed to a female child identifying as a boy?” “Why don’t they want gays to be able to marry and be happy?” etc. etc. etc.

The sexual revolution is not just about the licentious freedom to follow our impulses among consenting adults. It is a radical revisioning of what a human being is, namely: a sophisticated beast that is radically autonomous, even self-creating in a godless universe. Thus, we don’t receive or discover our moral framework. We simply will whatever morality we fancy. We will even ourselves, our identity. So, for example, children are not born boy or girl, but rather at some choose to identify as one or the other. There is no sovereign Creator God, only sovereignty over oneself and thus sexual autonomy.

The sexual dimension of the culture wars is not ultimately about “sins of the flesh” but about what it means to be human. If Christians don’t speak up on this matter, there is almost no one else who will. It is hard to speak in defense of people’s humanity when the very concept of “human” is in flux. [2]

So, he’s saying this is a big deal because it’s about the nature of man. Are we created beings or are we autonomous evolutionary beings? If we are created beings, then we need to ask what we were created for. If we are evolutionary beings, then we are simply a product of our environment and free to choose—there is no right or wrong answer. As we talk about this however, it’s sometimes helpful to explain to someone, “Here is the issue… This is why this really matters to me. If the Bible is true, then… If we are created, then… But if not, if I’m wrong, then some of this doesn’t matter as much. Of course, there are still pretty big implications for society and economy to consider as well, so I don’t want to say it doesn’t matter at all… But part of why this is such a big deal is… ” And so we talk softly and gently about our foundation but still keep in mind their feelings. We say why we believe what we believe, but also allow them the respect and dignity of being able to form their own opinions, even when they differ from ours. If we are honest, we have had plenty of changed opinions ourselves through the years, so we can trust God to change theirs if He wants to.

This also really reveals to us why the creation/evolution argument is SO critical to Christians. If there is a Creator God, then what we are is determined by HIM. We see this in our own creations. A small child comes to me with a drawing. I have no idea what it is so I ask her, “What did you draw?” And she tells me. “That’s you and me and a dog.” I can argue with her. I can say I think that it’s really a little boy and a rhinocerous and a rainbow, but my opinion isn’t the one that matters. She drew it and though it might not make sense to me and though I may not see it, she knows what it is. She drew herself, a little girl, and she drew me and a dog. My opinions otherwise are wrong on the matter because I didn’t make it.

A young friend and I were discussing the holocaust the other day and I said something about how it’s really the natural result of evolutionary thinking. She was flabbergasted when I said that. She’s been taught evolution in school and also been taught that the holocaust was wrong. Now I’m telling her the one was a natural result of the other. How can that be? Well, evolution is about survival of the fittest and natural selection. If that’s where we come from, then why shouldn’t superior nations take out lesser ones?

We really do mean well—I know we do—but sometimes we are clueless about the natural progressions of our thoughts and ideologies. For example, the same reasoning that we use to say that LBGT is acceptable (it’s the way we are made, and therefore should be accepted and embraced), is the same reasoning that will be applied to pedophiles. A gay person can’t help being attracted to the same sex, right? Well, a pedophile can’t help being attracted to a child either. What makes one OK and the other not? Don’t pedophiles deserve to be happy, too? They are people with feelings, just like we are, after all.

In some ways, I agree that we need to come up with some discussion points that aren’t centered around “the Bible says so” because not everyone agrees with the Bible. How can we hold our ground when our only ground is what the Bible says and we are in a world that doesn’t acknowledge that as a worthy foundation?   But on the other hand, it’s the root of all of these questions. It changes the argument entirely. If there is a God, then we have an authority to submit to. (If not, we are our own highest authority.) If there is a Creator, then we have a purpose and a design to discover. (If not, then we choose whatever we want to be.) If the earth was created, then everything in it has a purpose and an order. (If it happened by evolution, then who are we to object to survival of the fittest, even the forms of terrorism and genocide and abortion, etc.?)

As we try to discuss these things, we need to get to the heart of the matter—is God real? That is the lynch pin, the cornerstone. If that one thing is in place, everything else can and will come together in time. Without it, nothing will.   So, rather than trying to get other people to agree with us on the peripheral issues, we can actually start using the peripheral issues to get to the core issue. I can use a discussion about the holocaust to show a young girl why the theory of evolution can be dangerous and why the idea of a Creator God changes things. I can use LGBT issues to show how the question isn’t about feelings so much as it is about a willingness to submit to God’s authority (just as every person has to do in the area of their sexuality, gay or straight). I can use the issue of gender identification to point to the question of whether or not we are created with intention and design.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained. -Philippians 3:15-16

[1] JUST to be clear, I’m voicing what seems to be popular opinion… NOT my opinion!

[2] D.C. Innes in WORLD magazine, “Sex and the City of Man”. Quoted in: Reply All. (2016, January/February). Christianity Today, p. 13.

Click here to read Shepherd Project’s discussion of Rock Dog.

Khampa: If the enemy thinks there’s an army then they won’t invade.

Khampa: I swear, it’s like they’re a bunch of animals…can’t even think for themselves.

Khampa: Find the fire inside. Find the passion.

Radio Host: Do you have any advice?
Angus: Play your guts out. Even when your dad says “stop”, don’t stop.

Bodi: It was like the answer to the question of my life.

Bodi: I can’t help it, Dad; the music is in me. It’s in me, Dad.

Khampa: If he’d been doing his job guarding the village…
Fleet: I thought that was your job.
Khampa: Well, I wasn’t doing my job.
Fleet: I think we’ve already established that…. Bodi isn’t you. Bodi is who he is. He’s looking for his own paradise.

Khampa: Go to the city, but if you fail, you come back and you never speak of music again.

Fleet: This is your life. Make it a happy one.

Bodi: The old magic singing box… fell out of the sky.

Linnux: You know what? You morons just lost your medical and your 401k.

Linnux: You’ll be relocated to the bottom of the ocean front.

Agent: Will you quit making up lame excuses?
Angus: These are some of the best excuses I’ve ever had!

There’s a kid who grew up in the shadows of a wonderful and important father figure who did great things in the world. The father grooms his son (or daughter) with pride so that he someday might be able to take his father’s place and carry on the family legacy that he worked so hard to build. The only problem? The son has other dreams for his life and certainly other skill sets and ways of doing things. This is hard for both generations. It’s disappointing for the parent, and for the son—he is caught between the desire to please his parent and a longing to follow his own heart/calling/dreams (whatever you want to call that thing inside of him he can’t deny). The child is caught between a rock and a hard place.

Sound familiar? It’s not just the basic story line of Rock Dog, but of countless other movies that have been produced in the last decade or so (Moana, How to Train your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda…just to name a few animated ones). I suspect the recurrence of this theme is indicative of the struggle this generation of filmmakers has faced in their own lives. Is it generation x that’s creating these stories?! Makes sense, I think, as they came behind “the greatest generation”—that’s a lot to live up to.

It is hard to overcome your childhood—it just is.  A bad childhood haunts you and marks you and is something to get over and get past. A good one, however, can be challenging in other ways. It can be hard to break away. It can be hard to distinguish yourself. You can feel pressured to follow in someone’s footsteps and guilty for not wanting to…especially when those footsteps are good and noble. In some ways, it’s easier to make a break from something when you know it’s bad. (I know, that has its own struggle and baggage, so who is to say which is harder, but hear what I’m trying to say—it may be hard to break away from something bad, but at least you know you should.) When your father is your hero, when he’s done amazing things in the world, when you know his way of doing things is good and true and right, how do you walk away from that? Because walking away feels like you’re saying something negative about it. It feels (probably to both of you) that you’re saying you have a better way, or that you don’t agree or don’t honor or like his way of doing things. In truth, however, you aren’t saying that at all. You’re really only saying you feel that you are wired differently.

Maybe, too, you are also saying that you feel you can’t live up to the pressure of being who he is, so you need to go in a new direction where you won’t be compared to him, where you won’t feel that you have failed simply because you haven’t been as successful as he is. If two people are both running the 50 yard dash, you’ll have a winner and a loser. When a child breaks away from home and goes his own way, sometimes all he is saying is, “You run the 50, dad and I’m going to run the mile.” It’s not that he doesn’t want to run, it’s just that he feels that he is better suited to a different kind of race. The added bonus of which is that there is no comparison between the two of you. You can both be great runners without there being a winner and a loser.

In Rock Dog, you see this all play out. Bodi loved his dad, but wanted to be a musician instead of a guard dog. That breaking away was fraught with tension and nearly destroyed the whole village. In the end, however, Bodi did help his dad guard the village from the wolves. He had his father’s heart that loved the village and wanted to protect, but he had a very different way to do it. His music became a means of defense and protection. Father and son fought together with their own gifts and styles and defeated the enemy—each finally respecting the gifts and talents the other possessed.

One of the things I wonder, however, as I watch these movies is, how does a Christian in Bodi’s shoes do this in a way that honors God? How can a son or daughter respectfully break from their parents? How can they honor their parents while following a different course than the one their parents have dreamed for them? I’m not sure that I’ve seen it done very well in most of the movies. I don’t have the answers to this, but I know that respect and honor have to be a part of the process. I know that a child needs to recognize that they have the parents GOD gave to them, and needs to honor and respect them as such. I also know that God can move the hearts of people, so that if a child is willing to submit to his/her parents, they can trust that God will move their parent’s hearts in the right time and place. I think of Joseph who saw that God used his brother’s hate and desire to kill him to actually work good and to save lives (see Genesis 50:20). God is not limited by our parents. When we submit to them, we are submitting to God.

I’m not saying a child can never stand his ground and say “That’s not what I want to do with my life.” I am saying that there is a right way to do this and a wrong way. I’m saying that if you are willing to submit to your parents, God can work in either their hearts, or yours as He sees fit. (All of this is assuming, of course, that they aren’t asking you to violate God’s law in any way.)

That’s all fine and well for the child in the story, but what about for the parent? They have some responsibility too. Bodi’s dad, Khampa, wanted to blame Bodi for all the conflict, but the reality was, he was as much a part of the problem or more. First off, he was trying to make his son into his own image—that’s very much like idolatry. In a way, he was saying his way was the right and best way (in other words, he was god) and his son should be made into his image (an idol). The goal of a parent is not to create little people in your name and in your image. The goal of a parent is to create followers of Jesus, people in the name and image of Christ, not you. If Khampa had been more concerned with helping Bodi become who GOD created him to be (vs. who he wanted him to be), things would have gone much more smoothly. The problem here wasn’t Bodi’s pride, it was his father’s. His pride in his accomplishments, his name, his legacy, his way of doing things…and his son. Bodi’s choice to do things differently was a prick into the hot air balloon of his Khampa’s pride.

Khampa, through the help of a wise friend, realized his error and set his son free to follow his dreams, but he did it begrudgingly. He said he was free to go, but if he wasn’t successful he had to come back and be a guard dog and give up music forever. This is not the right way to set your kid free. The reality is when we are learning to walk, we stumble and fall and then we get up and try again. Not everyone succeeds in life on the first try. In fact, we learn a lot from our failures. How much better if Khapma had said something along the lines of, “I’m here for you, son. I believe in you. I want you to become who God created you to be and I’m going to help you get there. I’m proud of you for even trying and if it doesn’t work out right away, learn from your mistakes and try again. All I ask is that you be obedient to God and follow His plan for your life.”

Bodi, fortunately, didn’t carry the fear of shame with him. He was extremely optimistic (oh that we could all have that naïve optimism!) and found his sweet spot with his music and when he did, great things happened. Not only was he blessed, but he became a blessing to others, AND the wolves (his enemy) were defeated. This is how it is in our lives when we find our sweet spot, when we find the thing we were created to do and do it for God’s glory. When that happens, life changes. We are blessed. We are a blessing to others. And our enemy is defeated. Not to mention, it was a joy to his father to see Bodi operating in his giftings. Yes, it was disappointing at first when Bodi didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, but when he found his sweet spot, it brought great pride and joy to Khampa—the right kind of pride. He was proud that his son became who God created him to be (not his mini-me).

So… let me recap a few thoughts on this whole thing.

1. First off, the recurrence of the themes in this movie indicates to me that this is something that has been very near to the heart of a whole generation of people in our time.
2. When we are in Bodi’s shoes, trying to break away from our parents’ ideas about our future, there is a right and a wrong way to do it. To do it rightly we need to:
   1. Show respect, honor and humility to our parents as the authorities God gave to us to parent us.
   2. Trust that God can and will and does work through our parents—even when we don’t see things eye to eye. Pray and wait for Him to bring us into alignment.
3. Parents need to be careful not to make an idol of their children and/or to make them into their own image.
4. The job of a parent is to help their children follow Jesus and become who HE made them to be.
5. This process of a child finding his independence can destroy a village (literally or metaphorically) if it isn’t done well…and part of that is on the parent.
6. When you set your child free, don’t just wash your hands of them. Instead, do it lovingly and supportively so your child moves forward from a place of love not a need to perform for your approval.
7. When you find your sweet spot, you aren’t the only one who is blessed—all those around you are blessed as well.
8. When you find your sweet spot, it’s actually a weapon against the enemy.
9. Sometimes it takes a trusted friend and/or an outsider to help us see things clearly—both our children and ourselves.
10. It takes a village. When our parents can’t see who God made us to be, He often sends someone else to be that parental voice that encourages us in our journey (as Fleet did for Bodi). We can be upset that it’s not our parents, or we can be grateful that God sent the encouragement we needed, one way or another.

Click here to read quotes from Rock Dog.

I just saw an article about Disney’s new Beauty and the Beast due in theaters on March 17.  (As a side note: the article headline, which I reposted on Facebook, indicated Christians should boycott the movie…I wasn’t posting the link as an endorsement of the call to boycott, or an argument that we shouldn’t.  My only intent was to inform people of the facts of the article.)  Apparently…

Many families are concerned after the company says the film will feature a gay character and a love scene. 

Disney calls it the debut of their first ever “exclusively gay moment” on the big screen. 

Much of the storyline centers around LeFou, the clumsy sidekick of the film’s main antagonist Gaston. LeFou, played by actor Josh Gad, struggles with secret lust for Gaston throughout the movie.

‘It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings,” director Bill Condon told Attitude magazine. 

…

He believes adding a gay character will bring America one step closer to accepting the gay agenda, but many parents are outraged.[1] 

And another article states, “By representing same-sex attraction in this short but explicitly gay scene, the studio is sending out a message that this is normal and natural – and this is a message that will be heard in every country of the world, even countries where it’s still socially unacceptable or even illegal to be gay.[2] (This article is slightly more robust, if you choose to read one.)

I’ve read all kinds of comments back and forth about how parents felt they should respond…  I think the general concern is that parents are saying, “children see, children do.”  And they feel that Disney is intentionally pushing the LGBT agenda, knowing that what we see affects and normalizes how we feel about something.  Also, they are irritated that Disney had to taint something that was pure and innocent.  (I was wondering just how they would change the remake – they always change it, they never just simply retell it.)  Of course, there are others that think the concern is ridiculous and/or a message of hate…  that they aren’t going to “become gay” just because it’s in a movie… to which the parents are arguing that there is a difference in how things affect a 4-year old mind vs. a grownup’s mind. And one person gently pointed out that her personal choice not to see something isn’t about hate or even boycotting, but about wisdom.

I love a good healthy discussion, and appreciate when others gently challenge me to think through my decisions Biblically, but I’m afraid much of what I see on Facebook becomes unhealthy (and even unbiblical). I love that phrase, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” because it reminds us that at the end of the day we are all simply accountable to God and God alone for what we do, not what we argue on FB or who we convince to see things our way. 

I want to point out that no matter how you respond to the movie (see it, don’t see it) the enemy can twist your response into something unhealthy in your children, just as God’s love can cover and protect them, no matter what you do. So, a kid can see the movie and be affected by seeing a gay agenda on screen. That same kid could also grow up thinking his parents were hateful towards gays because they didn’t allow him/her to see it. They can misunderstand God’s plan for sexuality, or misunderstand his heart for people—because Satan twists things and is out to hurt us. Need I remind parents that Adam and Eve had a perfect Father and there was no sin…and even STILL Satan convinced them that God was holding out on them?! Imagine how much easier it is for him with our children—with sinful parents in a fallen world! But not to despair, greater is He that is in us, and His love can cover over a multitude of wrongs! The enemy is searching the earth looking for someone to devour. God is searching the earth, looking for those whose hearts are fully His that He might bless them. The question is, who will you (and your children) be found by?

No matter what you decide to do for your family in regards to this movie (and all things), PRAY! Pray for wisdom in your decisions. Pray for the wisdom to communicate your decisions well with your children. (There were many things growing up that my parents didn’t let me see or do that my friends were doing. You know what I remember? It’s not that I couldn’t do something, it’s the WHY. I remember why my parents had concerns about certain things, and that showed me their heart, their love for Jesus and righteousness, and their care for me… and it got me “on board” with their decisions so I was less likely to want to rebel.) And finally, pray for God to protect their hearts and minds from the enemy who would try to twist your decisions for your family into something ugly. Oh…one more thing…pray that God would give you grace for those who choose differently and especially for those who criticize your decisions.

Pray. Be wise. Communicate your thoughts and decisions clearly and lovingly. Try to get buy-in from your kids about those decisions. Ask God for His protection over your children/family. Be graceful to those who choose differently… and pray for them, too! And remember, whatever the enemy intends for harm God is able to use for good. So, partner with God in allowing this new Beauty and the Beast to become an instrument of good and not harm in your home.

[1] http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2017/march/why-some-parents-may-not-take-their-children-to-see-disneys-beauty-and-the-beast?cpid=:ID:-18068-:DT:-2017-03-02-15:20:52-:US:-JG1-:CN:-CP1-:PO:-GC1-:ME:-SU1-:SO:-FB1-:SP:-NW1-:PF:-TX1

[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/disney-launches-first-exclusively-gay-moment-beauty-beast/

I worked at a wonderful camp one summer that specialized in inner-city youth, Kids Across America. At that time, it was all the rage for the guys to refer to each other as “dogs”. “What’ up, dog?!” “Naw, dog.” (That’s “No, dog” for those of you who don’t read things with a southern twang.) “Come on, dog.” You get the picture. I never really thought twice about it—it was just the term of the day—so it surprised me a bit when the leadership took a strong stand against it that summer. It’s not like they were calling each other bad names, really. It was just a nickname, right? So why the offense?

I learned a lot that summer, but one lesson that really impacted me was the idea that words mean something. NAMES mean something. We may think it’s just a harmless word, but are words really all that harmless? The world was created with a word. Words are pregnant with creative power…and with destructive power. Remember James’ admonition about the power of our tongue to speak life or death, to create or destroy (chapter 3)? The power is in the tongue because the tongue speaks words.   How can we doubt their power when we read what John writes—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1)? Words were here before we were. And just as we are made in God’s image but are not God, words we speak are also a reflection of the Word, but not Him.

Words are powerful and therefore names are powerful. Names are the labels we put on people. This is why the Lord so often gives someone a new name. He wants them to be known for something new, something different, something better than they were known for before. He renames people because sometimes they need to see themselves differently. He gives people a new name so that they will know how HE sees them.

If God thinks words and names are so important, is it any surprise then, that Satan might feel the same? Is it any wonder that Satan is out to give us destructive names and to speak condemning, shaming, harmful words over us? If we just start with recognizing the power in names and the fact that both the Lord and Satan are out to name us (for better and for worse), we will likely start to notice things we missed before. Like “dog.”

As one of our amazing leaders, Rene Rochester[1] pointed out, dogs are not created in God’s image. Dogs don’t have a moral accountability. And more specifically to a huge issue in the inner-city, dogs mate anywhere and anytime with anyone, without any sense of responsibility for the offspring. This is not God’s plan for man. MAN is made in God’s image and has the ability to choose to rise above his “primal” or “animal” instincts and behave better, with character and integrity and holiness, in every area of his life, certainly including his sexuality and paternal responsibility. Calling each other dogs may seem harmless enough, but it’s low. At best, it offers no inspiration, no challenge to grow, to rise above. At worst, it gives men the freedom (and even encourages them) to think and act like dogs rather than the glorious creation in God’s image that God intended.

Sound like I’m overstating the case? Let me remind you of a few name changes in the Bible.

God changed Abram’s “high father” name to “Abraham,” “father of a multitude” (Genesis 17:5) and his wife’s name from “Sarai,” “my princess,” to “Sarah,” “mother of nations” (Genesis 17:15). We know from history that the descendants of Abraham and Sarah formed many nations, including the Jews’ and Muslims’. God changed Jacob’s “supplanter” name to “Israel,” “having power with God” (Genesis 32:28). He changed Simon’s “God has heard” name to “Peter,” “rock” (John 1:42).[2]

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Isaiah 62 speaks repeatedly of God giving us a new name.

² The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
³ You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴ You shall no more be termed Forsaken,^[a]
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,^[b]
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,^[c]
and your land Married;^[d]
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married…

And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken

God gives us names that give us hope for our future, that inspire us to believe that He will do great things in us, that challenge us to live up to his beautiful idea of us.

That being said, I am concerned with another nickname I’m hearing repeatedly in the youth of today. This one makes my skin crawl a little more than the “dog” did, because it’s profanity to start with. The girls are calling each other “bitches” (excuse my French). First off, let’s just start with the fact that it’s not really culturally acceptable to use that term in public in the first place. But let’s get beyond that. It’s a curse word, a “vulgar slur for a female” (according to Wikipedia). It’s a word girls use to hurt someone (if the speaker wants to be mean) or to denounce someone’s bad behavior (if the other person is behaving meanly). It also means griping, moaning and complaining or can be used to describe a difficult or unpleasant situation or thing. The only truly acceptable (non-offensive) use of the word is when you’re talking about female dogs, which are technically called “bitches.” It literally has no positive use, and the one neutral-ish (technical) use brings us back to the start of this article, calling people dogs…animals…instead of man and woman, made in the image of God. (Not that anyone calls someone a b**** and actually, only, means female dog…but even still, that has its problems.)

It’s bad enough that we use this kind of language against each other in our anger (that’s speaking a word curse over someone, and shouldn’t be done—it’s not how Jesus would have us talk to each other), but perhaps even more perplexing and disturbing is this trend for girls to call their friends and bff’s “b****es.” “Hey, b****es!” “What’s up, b****es?!” What madness is this?!   I know people will say it means nothing, but what happened to “Hey, ladies”?! Or “Hey, friends”? There are so many good terms we could choose from and we choose b****es?! Why??? Could it be that our enemy is trying to undermine our calling as women? That he is trying to belittle us and derail us from the idea God had when He made woman? Is it possible that the reason so many young girls are acting like b****es and being mean spirited and entitled and bullying each other is because they’ve been telling themselves that’s what they are?

What if we worked to change the language we use when we speak to each other? No doubt, many of you reading this are like me and have never used a word like that as a term of endearment. So, what can we do? In Isaiah 62, God doesn’t command the people to give themselves a new name, sometimes we can’t see ourselves better. No, HE initiates the name change. HE gives them a new name. He denounces the old names like “forsaken” and “desolate” and instead gives them new descriptors. Here are just a few of the beautiful words he uses for his people: righteous, glorious, beautiful, royal, delightful (My Delight Is in Her), Holy People, Redeemed, Sought Out, Not Forsaken.

I may not have ever called myself a b****, but I’ve worn plenty of unflattering names, some inflicted by others, others self-inflicted. Every time I read Isaiah 62, I raise my head a little. I think a little higher of myself and I feel a little more inspired to live up to God’s idea of me. Is He really delighted in me? Am I really not forsaken? Can I really be holy and righteous? Does God really see me that way and is He really making me more like that? There is power in what we say.

Perhaps it starts with seeing ourselves the way God sees us, changing the words we use when we think of ourselves. It needs to go further, however. We then need to not only pray that God helps us to see others the way He sees them, but we need to also speak that into them. We can do as God does and give people new names, better names. We can initiate that for them! What if we began to talk to others with these kinds of words and names of power, of love and tenderness and future glory? If hearing those beautiful words in Isaiah 62 makes me raise my head a little higher and act a little better, then couldn’t I expect it to have a similar effect on others if I were to speak those things over them? I can’t guarantee the effect it will have, but I do know that to do so is to live not as b****es, but to live as Christ, in the image of God, following His example.

[1] Find out more about her via google… or on this speaker’s bureau site: http://www.ccda.org/speakers. Dr. Rene Rochester.

[2] https://www.gotquestions.org/name-change.html