You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger Muppet fan than me. As soon as my son was old enough to notice the moving colors on the TV, I pulled out my DVDs of “The Muppet Show.” Consequently, his favorite stuffed animal for the past four years has been a Fozzie Bear that he takes everywhere. On my office wall hangs a plaque of Kermit the Frog, with the quote “Life’s like a movie, write your own ending, keep believing, keep pretending” —... Read more
It’s the best and worst of times for Christian movies. I can’t remember a year when more theatrical releases and television shows were made explicitly for Christian audiences. Growing up, we had to wait until our church got the latest from Billy Graham’s studios or head to the Christian bookstore to get the new “McGee and Me.” But this year alone, we’ve already seen two Jesus movies, a live passion play on network TV, a failed biblical drama series,... Read more
It might be hard to have a coherent conversation with me about “Captain America: Civil War.” I say that not because the latest Marvel movie doesn’t have depth, skill or resonance; it’s the rare superhero movie with all of those things. Rather, I think calm discussion is going to be difficult because my typical comments to friends and family have gone along these lines: “It’s so good! There’s a scene where Ant-Man [SPOILER REDACTED] and then Spider-man [SPOILER REDACTED], and... Read more
This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary miniseries “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” This post is based on the final episode, “Miracles,” which will air on 5/8 at 9 p.m. I have a hard time with the supernatural. My wife doesn’t. One of the things I adore about her is her openness to the spiritual, and her belief that there are things we don’t understand that sometimes manifest themselves in... Read more
The following video has been making the rounds this week, but I just had the time to watch it this weekend. It’s Bono, the world-famous front man of U2, and Eugene Peterson, the translator of “The Message,” talking about the Psalms. It’s one of the most fascinating things I’ve seen all week, and well worth 20 minutes of your time. I find it interesting that Bono and Peterson are two of the most widely known Christians in the world, and... Read more
So, for regular readers, I know that my writing’s been a bit sporadic in the past few weeks. I apologize. Things at my day job have been a bit crazy as the semester winds down, which has robbed me of some writing energy in the evening, and we’re still figuring out how to best navigate two kids, two jobs and extra writing. But for the moment, things appear to be getting back to normal-ish, so I thought it might be... Read more
This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary miniseries “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” I’ll be tackling the topics of that series from a Christian perspective over the next weeks, posting on Tuesdays. This post is based on the next episode, “Evil,” which will air on 5/1 at 9 p.m. Why do we love antiheroes? Don Draper. Tony Soprano. Walter White. For several years, the most popular television shows were about... Read more
My college career was nothing like Richard Linklater’s. I didn’t attend school on a baseball scholarship or live in a rowdy dorm. I didn’t spend my weekends smoking, getting drunk, and chasing girls. I was a painfully shy introvert who went to college only about 10 miles away from where I grew up. Three days a week, I went to class and headed home (or to work). I had my first alcoholic beverage long after I turned 21, and I might have... Read more
This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary miniseries “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” I’ll be tackling the topics of that series from a Christian perspective over the next weeks, posting on Tuesdays. This post is based on the next episode, “Creation,” which will air on 4/24 at 9 p.m. Growing up in a conservative Baptist church, I was taught that evolutionists were only slightly better than satanists. Scientists who subscribed... Read more
Honestly, I don’t know that I would have picked up “Honestly” of my own accord. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I probably would have passed Daniel Fusco’s book and thought I was beyond it. The back cover promises to help you “Find Jesus in your mess” and sort through the chaos of life. I likely would have rolled my eyes and continued searching for something a little more thought-provoking. But while I’m thankful for writers who plumb spiritual depths and provoke new... Read more
Chrisicisms
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