There is a River

Sometimes summaries help us understand a giant thought, or groups of thoughts in a tight, compact little sentence or turn of phrase. Sometimes they do us a disservice and fail to convey what it tries to summarize.

Psalm 46 contains a phrase such as this that perhaps many of us have heard standing on its own. It's meant to stop us where we are, set things in order, and cause us to reevaluate what is truly important over all other things.

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God."

Songs and poems include it, but until recently I hadn't understood the context of which it falls. This is another instance of our need to read scripture as a whole within its immediate context and not rip individual verses out on their own.

There's a reason why the Psalmist concludes this psalm with that summary. To close, he writes, "be still and know that I am God", because earlier in the psalm he writes:

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah"

Jerusalem was the city of peace. The great city of God whose physical attributes made it a refuge for the people of Israel. With waters running through, it became the place the Israelites longed for in Babylon. This is not just a spiritual thing, but physically, the city of God breathed life into its people, trouble for its enemies. For the Psalmist, his conclusion, "be still and know that I am God", is a response to there being a river that runs through the city of God, and that he will not let her fall.

"Be Still and know that I am God" Selah. (Breathe)

For us it's a similar, yet different experience. For those of us who believe, the city of God to come, the new heavens and the new earth, are a refuge to our soul because there is a river. There is a river that flows through the city of God, and it will not fail.

It will not fail.

"Be still and know that I am God" (breathe) Because there is a city that will not fail, so be still, breathe. He is within her, and she will not fail.

There is a river.

10 Best

This post is devoted to film. It is awards season, and as an avid film lover I've decided to compile my own personal top ten list for the year in film. This list is made up of films released in the calendar year of 2006.

This is my personal list. It will include many found on other lists. It will include those nominated for academy awards. Some left off the list will receive honorable mentions purely on the strength of one particular acting performance within it. And a few twists of my own.

I'm looking for a name for this annual Phil top ten list? Any ideas?


And so we begin...


10. Children of Men - Beautifully shot. The cinematogrophy is incredible. Set in 2027 London, the human race is rendered infertile. With issues of race, the sanctity of life, and overzealous extremism, this is a haunting warning for the future.

9. Thank You For Smoking - Perhaps the funniest and wittiest film of the year. TYFS is a dark comedy about big tobacco and the M.O.D. Squad. (I'll let you find out what that means in the film) Aaron Eckhart is the king right now of dark biting comedy. Just see his performance in the film that no woman should see, In the Company of Men.

8. Letters from Iwo Jima - Eastwood impresses again. It's a brave film telling the other side of the famous story. Ken Wantanabe of "The Last Samurai" is magnificent as the Japanese commander.

7. United 93 - Many wondered if it was too soon. It wasn't for this film. Playing like a docudrama, the film about the events that took place on United flight 93 that crashed in a Pennsylvania field is the perfect "first" film about 9/11. It's worth it for everyone to see.

6. Babel - the epitome of an ensemble film. Real, scary, and haunting, this film shows us just how close we all live together.
(my pick to win Best Picture at the Oscars)

5. Half Nelson - Wow! Ryan Gosling, (The Notebook) comes out of the gates with a performance from out of nowhere. Absolutely incredible leading me to crown him, along with others more esteemed than I, the best young actor working today.

4. Borat - What can I say!? Hilarious, wrong, offensive, funny, wrong, hilarious. It's one of a kind. A film that will go down as one of the funniest of all time.

3. Casino Royale - I might catch some flack for this pick being on y list, let alone 3rd. I'm a huuuge Bond fan. The Bond genre has finally returned home. Daniel Craig portrays a darker, more human Bond in a film that is just flat better than any other Bond or Action/Spy movie made in a long, long time.

2. The Departed - DiCaprio (my favorite actor), Nicholson, Damon, Whalberg. In my opinion the best 3 actors in Hollywood now, DiCaprio, Damon, and Whalberg, light up the screen in Scorcese's return to crime drama. This is simply a fantastic flick, made by perhaps the greatest American film maker ever. Scorcese will win his first Oscar for best director, although DiCaprio will not win for best actor.

1. Pans labyrinth - This year's best film. "Pans" is the most captivating, beautiful, and moving film of the year. Described as a dark Alice in Wonderland, Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro paints his mythical story against the backdrop of 1940s Civil war Spain. This is a film that would be a great war epic, even without the magic of little Ophelia's world of the labyrinth. This film is in Spanish with English subtitles, and for the first time as I watched I saw just how incredibly beautiful the Spanish language is. Please everyone go see this film. Although not nominated for Best Picture, it is nominated for Best Foreign Film at this years Oscars.

Honorable Mentions: The Last King of Scotland, The Queen, Blood Diamond, V for Vendetta, Talladega Nights, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, For Your Consideration.

Symptoms

Recently, I've noticed how things are changing for me. Not on the outside. I don't look different, or even act different, at least I don't think I do. I am thinking differently however, and not in a deep way, nothing theological or creative, just really practical. Perhaps what I'm experiencing is my first strong case of reality.

At least the symptoms are starting to show.

In college you start to think big. You dream of what life will be like on the other side of that pending graduation day. The job, adulthood, being on your own, all the things that you get to experience the goodside of in college but still have mommy and daddy's safety net underneath. You dream.

As life moves on, you graduate and start on your way with big plans, long lists of things you will do and things you won't do, and as the days and months go by, you dream. You dream of what you'll accomplish, or how many people's lives you'll influence. You think about all those who will want to be a part of what you're doing. If you haven't already found it, you'll think about how great that person you'll fall in love will be. The fireworks and passions intensely flaring on your way to a beautiful and magical wedding day. Life is good when you dream.

Slowly, the list of things you will do and won't do change. In fact, the things you think you'll do get really few and far between, and the list of things you never thought you'd do for all kinds of reasons, that list is smaller too, but for a different reason. You've done them all.

Somewhere along the way your first bout with reality starts to take place. All those dreams and goals get smaller, or break. The formula that all your friends have followed just seems to have a missing part when you try to follow it.

My dreams are changing. I used to want to have a church with thousands of people, now I wonder if I could realistically lead a congregation of 4, made up of a wife and 2 kids. I used to dream about that perfect relationship and all the lovey dovey stuff that comes with it and the wedding and the sex. Now, honestly, I really, really like being single. I think about finances now, houses, and health insurance. Life is different, but life is still beautiful.

I used to dread the thought of thinking like this. As I contract the beautiful symptoms of reality, I find myself embracing them suprisingly. The desire of leading thousands of people is changing every single day. The hope to live a very simple, God honoring life in the city, hoping to see his kingdom come grows stronger. I don't want to be famous, I want a simple life, and not a fake simple life like Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie.

All Over the World

Things have a way of working out in the end. As a young idealistic 25 year old who's motivated by delusions of grandeur and influence, I'm realizing more and more about the cycle of life and how ultimately the cycle moves us forward.

2007 brings a lot of questions with it. Will I finish school this year? What's going to happen in Iraq? Are we going to have a draft soon? Will this be the year I find that relationship? Will the Church really make a difference in Africa? All these pressing questions both global and personal, take rent in our mind's as we wait to see the answers unfold.

I'm a person who believes in order, design, a history of stories, and a goal in which we're working towards, ultimately this world being renewed and made right again through Jesus Christ.

I've recently started studying the book of Colossians in the New Testament. Paul's tiny letter to a tiny church in Asia Minor. In the first few verses he voices his care and love for them from afar and gives them great news.

"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." Col. 1:6

Here in the states the Church is beat up. The culture that surrounds us has moved past Christianity. As an aspiring evangelical minister here in the states, often it seems as if the foothold the gospel preached on these shores has been washed away. Looking across the sea brings no comfort either as Europe, the stronghold of the reformation and Christianity has moved completely past the need for something bigger then themselves, beyond a need for God, and the grace given in his son Jesus.

Then I read Paul's words to the Colossians. From the basement of a Roman prison, he wrote praising the work in Colossae, the faith, hope, and love shown by the people there. He heralds the news that the gospel taking root in their lives is going throughout the world. "...bearing fruit and growing." Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, was so confident that the gospel would accomplish it's desired goal. It would bring harmony and justice, redemption and renewal to a broken world, and it would bear fruit. It wasn't a question for Paul. The chains of prison could not hold his zeal, they could not shake his confidence in the gospel's end game.

At times I'm tempted to doubt Paul. Sitting in a much more comfortable place than Paul I question his claim. I look at America, the waning Church. The rise of materialism and greed all under the banner of democratic capitolism, and I see the gospel slip. But as soon as that doubt comes, Paul's promise remains. The truth in the message of Jesus Christ is stronger than ever before. Paul's promise is being realized. Places like Latin America, North Africa, India, China, and Indonesia, are seeing unprecedented conversion and revival. Along the way the gospel brings with it the flags of justice, peace, hope, and physical health.

Perhaps America will follow Europe's lead into a new era in which the Church will struggle to maintain it's health. Perhaps the cycle of God's story is moving somewhere else. But Paul's words to the Colossians give hope to the Christian, and hope to the world. Though we may struggle. Though 2007 may continue to take us down a different path here in America, God is moving like never before in other parts of the world.

May we be a help to them.

God help us to further the gospel in those parts of the world, and God may your gospel still shine, please shine, here through your Church in America.

Talent Style Flair

Partly why I'm posting this video is to rub it in the face of a good friend who detests this player. And as a huge fan of Red Liverpool, It's hard for me to admire any red devil of Manchester, but I have to because although he might be an arrogant son of a gun, he's incredible and outside of Stevie G of Liverpool, my favorite player in the world to watch.

Winger for Man U. Winger for Portugal.

I give you...

Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo