King's Planet

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar by Christopher Carsey

2010-01-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

Julius Caesar is one of the best-known plays written and dramatized by William Shakespeare. This book’s historical accuracy, along with it’s Old English play-writing style and symbolisms, gives a beautiful, vivid description of the assassination of Julius Caesar and the power struggle that occurred afterwards. Every scene of this play shows Shakespeare’s mastery in storytelling and play writing. The dialogue is intelligent and convincing, leading me to give it a great recommendation for any teen or adult.

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The play begins in about 32 BC as Caesar returns from battle and the people prepare to crown him. Marcus Brutus and Cassius, the two conspirators for Caesar’s death, are jealous and do not want Caesar to become king. However, Caesar denies the crown himself and spares them the trouble, showing his humble attitude. Brutus and Cassius still believe that he is too “ambitious” and join in a band with several other senators, aiming to assassinate Caesar. The group assassinates Caesar on the “Ides of March” (March 15).

After the assassination, those loyal to Caesar mourn while the conspirators rejoice. Brutus tells Mark Antony, a dear friend of Caesar, to give the funeral speech, which he does, and his passionate speech causes the crowd to be sorrowful at Brutus and Cassius’ actions. The Roman people become mutinous, and although Mark Antony constantly honored and protected Brutus with his words, they form an army and prepare to attack the murderers. Brutus and Cassius form an army too, but Shakespeare again greatly emphasizes the cowardly murdering party as opposed to the invigorated army of Mark Antony. Although his men were apprehensive, Brutus kept a determination to defeat Antony, believing this to be the only way to keep up what he had started on the Ides of March. Both sides attacked and Mark Antony and his men prevailed over the others. The tragedy ends when Brutus commits suicide as the attacking army comes upon them.

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Throughout this story, the writer shows the character of every star. Caesar is portrayed to be humble and kind, while his friend Mark Antony is respectful to his enemies in the entire play. Cassius is the sour grape of the bunch, lacking courage and causing problems. Brutus is much like Mark Antony, respectful and humble, and during the book the reader grows to like him and Antony more than the other characters. The play also has an abundant supply of supporting characters, dramatizing their lives as much as the main characters. At the end of the book every important person on Brutus’ side commits suicide, showing their inward timorousness.

Although the rich vocabulary makes the book lively, it is helpful to have a key that explains difficult Old English terms. Without a sidebar of terms, I would have comprehended much less of the story. This also makes it a bit annoying, though, having to look at the side whenever a hard term comes up, which happens on every single page.

In conclusion, this tragedy demonstrates the suffering that results when a person lets pride, jealousy, and deceit take over his ways.

Making Life Count by Geno DiMaria

2009-12-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

Just recently I remembered this article I had written a long time ago, and the Lord impressed upon me that I should find and finish it, and post it here on King’s Planet. I should have done it much sooner, but kept forgetting about it. So without further introduction, here’s the article:

A while ago, a strange thing started happening to me: my breathing was getting constricted. It became difficult to take deep breaths. The problem lasted all the way into the next day.

My family and I prayed, but still it was a scary experience. Praise the Lord, the next day things began to get better and within the next few days I was completely back to normal.

Now, I’m pretty sure that it was just muscle cramping that restricted my taking deep breaths. But whatever it was, the Lord took it away, and for that I give Him glory!

But a thought popped into my mind during the experience: every breath we take is one closer to our grave. I know that must sound incredibly pessimistic, but let me explain. Whether we’re perfectly healthy or have a horrible disease, every breath we take is still one closer to our grave. We can’t stop it, we can’t change it.

I don’t mean to scare anyone by this but to simply remind them that life is fleeting. As Christians, we shouldn’t fear death (although fear will still try to come in). But we need to be aware that life is short and we must live our lives for God’s glory. No matter how long we live, we need to be living for the Lord. This is hard to do – believe me, I fail often. But we must remind ourselves to constantly rely on God and Him alone, when we’re happy and when we’re struggling (easier said than done).

We must devote our lives to Him. If we can do that, then no matter how long we live on this earth, it will be worth it. If we follow and seek Him, every breath will be worth it.

Another thought has come to my mind: should we really be thinking: every breath is one closer to our grave? Or should we be thinking: every breath is one closer to Heaven?

We must hope and trust in God. This is something He has shown me lately and something I struggle with: making everything I do honoring to Him. May we all strive to accomplish that.

Prince Caspian by Geno DiMaria

2009-04-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

Prince Caspian is the second installment in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ film adaptations, following its successful predecessor, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

It tells the story of a young prince named Caspian, living in the world of Narnia, who is betrayed by his uncle and forced to flee into the wilderness. During a moment of hopelessness, he blows an ancient magical horn for help. In doing so, he calls back to Narnia 2 kings and 2 queens of old, Lucy and Susan, and Edmund and Peter.

These kings and queens reigned in Narnia long ago before being called back into our world. Now 1 year has passed for them, but over 1000 years have passed for Narnia, so upon their return they find a land almost unrecognizable.

The children meet up with Caspian and together they try to fight the evil King Miraz, Caspian’s uncle, and re-take Narnia for its true King, the lion called Aslan.

Prince Caspian is a film which is a bit hard to rate. On one hand, it fails to live up to its predecessor in terms of originality and heart, while on the other hand it provides an entertaining action and special effects film with a decent story and some relatable characters (although they are much more relatable if you have seen the first Narnia film beforehand).

The visual effects are fantastic and the action scenes are fairly memorable, particularly Peter’s swordfight with Miraz. It is one of the best one-on-one sword fights I’ve ever seen.

The cinematography is also top-notch, and the acting has improved from the first film as well.

Despite all this, however, Prince Caspian did not succeed in the box office nearly so well as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But although it didn’t quite live up to its predecessor, it was a hit nonetheless. Christians are especially fond of the 'Narnia' series and its writer, C.S. Lewis, due to the stories’ Christian parallels and biblical truths.

However, I would like to point out that the Prince Caspian movie is not a Christian one. It is a secular film that has some biblical parallels, but it is certainly not a Christian film. And, really, neither was the first film.

For one, the use of “good” magic, which is also found in the books, is questionable, as the Lord clearly condemns magic and sorcery in His Word. Just because it’s a fantasy world and it’s “good” magic doesn’t make it biblically accurate. God’s rules should apply to fantasy worlds just as they do in the real world. What if they had “good” thievery and “bad” thievery? Isn’t it still thievery? To be fair, I should also mention that J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings have similar problems, most notably the use of “good” and “bad” wizards.

Along these same lines, the heavy use of pagan creatures, again found in the ‘Narnia’ book series as well as the films, is questionable. Why would C.S. Lewis, who obviously had a vivid imagination, need to turn to pagan idols as heroes for his stories? He obviously had the creativity to come up with his own types of creatures. But if you look at his life, C.S. Lewis was obsessed with pagan history and even with the occult. This was an area of fault in his life that is often over-looked.

One thing that is not in the book that is in the Prince Caspian movie, however, is feminism. The filmmakers turn the character of meek, quiet Susan into a warrior. Not only is it unbiblical, it is also unfitting to her character. It is a complete turn-around. It doesn’t feel right, and actually comes across as kind of cheesy.

Now, all this is not to necessarily condemn these stories. They certainly do contain some wonderful imagery and parallels with Scripture, and enforce many good values, such as bravery, forgiveness, and love between siblings.

It is also not to point out only the faults in C.S. Lewis’s life. He had many good traits and many wonderful Christian teachings. However, he and his work were not perfect, and we should not treat them as such and hold them up as a form of spiritual and artistic excellence that all Christian artists should strive for. He was a man, and as such, had some unbiblical ideas that were, unfortunately, evident in some of his teachings and writings.

Mostly, I intend this article as food for thought and discussion, not to start any arguments or anything of that nature. It’s a different side of looking at things that, for a long time, I was unaware of myself. But I think it’s a viewpoint from which we must examine these stories and at least acknowledge that they are not quite as perfect as we thought.

Ancient Egypt by Alexander Carsey

2009-02-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

Ancient Egyptians had what many would call a ‘so-so’ view of family values. While the nucleus of the family was strong, and women held higher positions in society than in other ancient civilizations, girls would usually marry by the age of 12. Boys would generally marry around the age of 17. When a boy became a teenager, he would start working, generally as an apprentice or a farm hand.

The Egyptians were very religious, though pagan. They had many gods who, similar to the Romans and Greeks, were thought to do different things. The most powerful god was Ra, the sun. Each season had a different meaning according to Egyptian mythology. Lots of their gods also had something to do with the Nile, Egypt’s river. They believed that, after death, people experienced 3,000 years of paradise. They also believed that people needed their earthly riches to be buried with them so they could enjoy themselves in their tomb.

Pharaoh was the center of the Egyptian government. He had the right and power to do anything during his life, and after death he was given a huge tomb laden with all sorts of riches. He wasn’t considered a normal human, but a god incarnate. Priests carried out Pharaoh’s orders, and the priests were the highest in command after Pharaoh, but Pharaoh was omnipotent politically. Egypt was considered a theocracy because their ruler, Pharaoh, was one that they considered to be a god.

Egyptians loved entertainment. Adults entertained themselves with singing, dancing, hunting, and partying. Different festivals were held to celebrate different gods and seasons. The men would hunt birds, hippopotamuses and alligators. The children played with toys and with each other. Older children would fish.

One of the reasons that Ancient Egypt eventually fell was because, as a military nation, they didn’t have enough men to raise crops and livestock, as most men were in the military, so they didn’t have a lot of resources to trade. Eventually, they became too poor, and enemy countries easily defeated them.

Of course, the true reason for Egypt’s downfall was sin. Ezekiel 29-32 predicted the fall of Egypt.

'This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
" 'I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
you great monster lying among your streams.
You say, "The Nile is mine;
I made it for myself." (Ezekiel 29:3)

It’s impossible to withstand God’s will. Egypt was a pagan nation that heard the truth, but it didn’t listen.

Ancient Egypt and modern USA don’t have too many similarities. For example, a democratic government runs America while Egypt was run as a theocracy. Egyptians buried their dead with lots of treasure, something rarely done in America. Girls in Egypt were married much younger than American girls are, and, of course, Egyptians had no electronics to entertain them.

There are also some similarities. For instance, Egyptians loved music and parties, similarly to Americans. Women were given equal rights in Egypt as they are in the US, and our family values are somewhat similar.

Bibliography:

Ancient Egyptian Entertainment Ancient Egypt's Deepest Secrets Revealed Bartlett Elementary School 2000. http://library.thinkquest.org/J002046F/entertainment.htm

Ancient Egyptian Government Thinkquest online library Original Article Written: 7/22/96.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3011/egypt3.htm

Ancient Egyptian Society and Family Life Douglas J. Brewer, Emily Teeter 1999 Cambridge University Press. http://www.fathom.com/course/21701778/index.html

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt Emuseum @ Minnesota State University.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/dailylife.html

McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. The Golden Goblet. Published in Puffin Books, 1986.

Fireproof by Geno DiMaria

2008-12-29T08:10:00.000-08:00

The makers of the successful film, Facing the Giants, released their latest movie, Fireproof, in theaters nationwide this past fall. Facing the Giants was well-received by the Christian community, for the most part, although some have complained that its quality is not very good. I'm not one of those people, although I certainly do not consider it to be a perfect film. It has some problems, but overall I found it to be an entertaining uplifting piece of work. So I was very eagerly awaiting their newest release. I went in with high hopes - and Fireproof exceeded them.

Fireproof is about a fireman named Caleb Holt who is an admirable firefighter but a lousy husband. He and his wife are on the brink of divorce and he sees no other option for them. That is, until his father gives him a book called 'The Love Dare'. It's a 40-day journey that purposes to challenge the reader to truly love their spouse. Although Caleb is reluctant at first, he takes the Dare, and it leads him down a path he didn't expect...

It's a fairly simple storyline, but the resulting film is hugely entertaining - and Biblically uplifting. Kirk Cameron does a great job in his lead role; it is evident that he had a heart for the message of the film.

There are two big action scenes, and they are very well-done. There are very few moments that remind you that you are a watching a low-budget Christian film made by a church in Georgia. The action really draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

But action is definitely not the main part of the movie - it's about relationships. And the lessons taught don't simply apply to married couples. 'The Love Dare' contains valuable wisdom that people can apply to any relationship.

The supporting cast is fairly strong, but does have a few weak moments. Erin Bethea does well as the character of Catherine, Caleb's wife. As a viewer, you really feel for the characters as the movie progresses: the filmmakers did a very good job developing them and keeping things realistic rather than formulaic, which has long been a failing of Christian films.

And the messages in the movie are not "preachy", but inserted very appropriately into the storyline. This, to me, makes them all the more powerful.

Of course, I can't fail to mention the humor - the theater was erupting with laughter on many occasions. Alex and Stephen Kendrick (who wrote the film together, with Alex going on to direct it and Stephen acting as producer) really have a talent for sprinkling appropriate humor into their films. You can see this even in their first movie, Flywheel. And Fireproof is no exception. Along with the action, the humor supports the dramatic parts of the film by helping to keep the pace rolling along nicely.

Content-wise, this is also a pleasure. There's no swearing, no crude humor. The action scenes are tense but not graphic. They're worthy of the PG rating, but certainly do not push it over the edge. The only thing I would have liked is for Catherine, Caleb's wife, to be dressed a bit more modestly in a few instances. A couple of her dresses are a bit low-cut. It's nothing gratuitous, but I personally would have preferred she be dressed more modestly in those scenes. There are also a few scenes where Caleb and his wife have very heated arguments, which often feature the two yelling loudly at each other, which may upset some viewers. Also, like Facing the Giants, there is some worldly-sounding "Christian" music present in the film.

I think it's also worth mentioning that there is a kiss in the movie, and the actors who play the main characters are not married. Kirk Cameron stated that it is his conviction that he should not kiss anyone but his real wife. So, in keeping with this conviction, the filmmakers brought in his real wife to double for Erin Bethea during the kissing scene. If you didn't know ahead of time, you would never guess that it was not Erin Bethea playing Catherine, but I thought it worth mentioning just to show how concerned those involved were with honoring God with the content of the film and their treatment of the actors. It's also a testament to Mr. Cameron's love for his wife.

Despite all the praise I am giving the film, I don't want to make you think that it is perfect - it's not. Like I said, not all of the acting is the best and it really could have used one more action scene. But its shortcomings do not hinder the film from achieving greatness. It has made more than 30 million dollars nationwide at the time of this writing and has continued to do well since its opening weekend. It is supposed to be released on DVD in January, so be sure to check out Fireproof!

The 1800's Ranch VS. the Modern Day Ranch by Alexander Carsey

2008-12-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

I recently read a book written by G.A. Henty named A Tale of the Western Plains. The book’s main character is a 19 year-old boy from England who is trying to get a taste of the lawless American west of the mid to late 1800’s. Working at a lumber mill on a cattle ranch, with miners and with pioneers, he and the reader get a pretty good picture of the plains. I personally have done work on a modern ranch, but it is quite a bit different now then it was back then. I will try to explain the differences.

For starters, a 19^th century ranch had no fences. Each ranch had it’s own unique brand they would give their cows for identification. When it was time to brand the cows, the cowboys would “round up” all of the cows they could find within the boundaries of their ranch regardless of their brand. Then they would give all the calves the same brand as their mother. All of the ranches worked together to make sure the right brands were given. Nowadays, there are fences everywhere and a ranch is merely in charge of it’s own cattle. The fences also limit the amount of cows a ranch can own.

Another difference is technology. Ranches of the old west had no gas-powered generators, beefy pickup trucks, horse trailers, ATVs or running water. When I work at our friends’ ranch, it seems we couldn’t possibly do anything without this technology. However, I’ve read in books how there were none of those things back then, and they were able to cope with that just fine.

The one thing that has and always will define ranches is the cowboy. The bold, fearless, strong and completely independent cowpuncher has been the American hero for the last 150 years. Their lives mean nothing to them so taking chances is just a way of life. Rarely do cowboys live to an old age, and they think themselves inferior to no one. We like to think of them as the American version of the English Knights, Japanese Samurai and the French Musketeers.

Recently, lots of ranches have gone out of business because the government is taking away their rights to graze cattle on federal land. It’s easier and cheaper nowadays to raise beef in feedlots. With the ranching industry fading, there are becoming fewer and fewer ranches. Cattle ranches and cowboys are more characters from books and old movies then they are real things to a lot of people. Someday, maybe soon, there probably won’t be any more ranches left and the age of the ranches, the old west and cowboys will be over. Their impact on the hearts and minds of Americans though, will last forever.

My Testimony by Lindsay Ower

2008-11-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

Geno DiMaria asked me to share my story, so here it goes.

May 5, 1992- Flagstaff Hospital, 8:00am. I was born screaming and I will probably die screaming. After about two days of my screams, the nurses decided I had colic, so they put me on soy products. When I was three days old, I went home with my adoptive parents, Bob and Carolyn Ower. My biological parents didn’t want me, so they put me up for adoption, or so I thought. After a few months with me, Carolyn decided that I didn’t have colic after all; what I had was a temper. How right she was! She took me off the soy products and when nothing happened to me, her belief (or should I say fear?) was confirmed. Bob and Carolyn Ower adopted me in November 1992.

I grew with a sister, Sarah, who was eight months older than me and also adopted. When I was 10 months old, my little brother Bobby was born. He was a surprise baby! Many people ask my mom how she managed three kids at the same time, and I sometimes wonder the same thing.

When I was old enough to understand, my parents took me aside and told me we were adopted. Sarah was fine with that explanation, but I wasn’t. I questioned whether or not my biological parents really did love me. Thoughts ran through my head. “If my parents really did love me, then why am I not living with them? Could they really love me? Because who could give up their own precious child? Does God really care?”

For years I have kept these thoughts inside. I was confused, upset, disappointed, and angry. In 1992, shortly after I was adopted, my grandparents gave me a framed adoption creed. It read,

“Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own. Never forget for a single minute, you didn’t grow up under my heart but in it.”

Growing up, I never paid much attention to those words. I have had a rough life, in the sense that every year since 2003 a loved one has died. In 2002 I accepted Jesus as my Savior. In 2004, I lost my dear cousin Jimmy who committed suicide. After that, I turned away from God. Also in 2004, while I was on a trip, my grandmother died; I never got to say goodbye. 2005 came, and my great-grandmother died, and in 2006, I had to have my first dog put down. On January 2nd, 2007, my favorite grandpa died of a sudden heart attack. I will never forget that day. I came down to practice a piano piece he had given me and I told my mom I couldn’t wait to see his face he hears it. She suddenly burst into tears and I instantly knew I would never see my grandpa again. In March that same year my great-grandpa died, and just two months ago my best friend’s dog got hit by a truck and died.

As you can see, these events were not helping my relationship with God. It didn’t help either that some of my relatives look on my adoption as a shame. I have been told several times that adopted people are trash and they always turn out bad. As if things weren’t bad enough, my leg started hurting so bad that I couldn’t walk. For four months doctors tried to figure it out but couldn’t. I went through multiple blood tests, 6 x-rays, an MRI and a CT scan. I had a TB shot, and they tried to tap my hip for fluid. After five months, I am now using a crutch to walk, and have found out I have a form of arthritis, which isn’t good news for a 16 year old.

So, to bring this story to an end, after so much emotion being built up for so long, I finally told my mom everything I was feeling. After hearing me out, she had me watch some videos on Gianna Jessen, who survived an abortion. Her mother was 7 months pregnant when she had a saline abortion. In a saline abortion, the baby swallows saline, which burns him or her alive. After being burned for 18 hours, she was born alive! How amazing is that? She was adopted and tells her story everywhere. I am so thankful my parents did not have me aborted because they couldn’t afford to have me. They loved me enough to give me a wonderful family. I realize it must have been hard for them, so I can do my part, and get along with the family God provided me with. I may never meet my biological parents, but I can be sure that did and still do LOVE me! God Bless!

My Favorite Book by Dominic DiMaria

2008-09-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

This was a grammar assignment on my favorite book. It had to be around 75 words and, including the title, it is. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this - I was actually supposed to have a favorite. But since I don't have a favorite book, I wrote this:

Alas, my favorite book, who can tell! For I have immersed myself in many a calligraphic tale! Anecdotes of the brave, the fearless, the mighty! I, for one, cannot reveal my particular fancy of story for I know not! Anon, I may know, but not now! No, now I cannot tell! Yet my conscience quakes with the thought of not knowing my own favorite pleasure of reading, but, as I have already articulated, I cannot see, nor hear, nor tell what it may be!

The Vision - A Short Film by Dominic and Geno DiMaria

2008-09-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

us4HIM Productions has recently finished production on our new short film, The Vision! The film is about Jason, who is a rebellious young teenager who wants nothing to do with his family's Christian faith and doesn't care about the Bible. He is clueless to the danger his soul is in. But upon falling asleep one night, he wakes to find himself in a strange wood: a wood where the spiritual becomes physical. He finds himself being hunted by a black figure and sees himself in various forms: one named Prisoner of Fear, one named Ha-tred, and one named Mischief, all different aspects of his character. He is then forced to make a fateful decision: serve the dark figure that hunts him, or take the only escape: accept Jesus as His Savior.

Trailer

This film was more than a year and a half in the making. God taught us so much as we faced challenge after challenge. He not only taught us a lot about filmmaking, but about how we, as brothers (it was mainly us and our other brother on set the majority of the time), should treat each other. We certainly didn't pass every test - we learned the hard way that you don't get anywhere by being impatient. But the Lord still got us through it, and taught us a ton in the process.

And He's blessed us since the finishing of the film as well. We've had nothing but positive responses from those who have seen the movie, and we know all glory goes to the Lord for that. It's our prayer that He will use the movie to work in the hearts of viewers to bring them closer to Him.

We are offering the DVD for $10, with no shipping costs*. The DVD includes the 20-minute film, audio commentary, a lengthy behind-the-scenes documentary, and trailers for our other films. If you're interested in purchasing a copy, e-mail us at us4him@hotmail.com and mention that you read about The Vision on King's Planet to recieve a copy of the film at 20% off or get a free copy of our first film, Loving the Enemy with your purchase!

Precious Treasure -- A Film in the Making, Part III by Chad Stembridge

2008-07-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Day 1.

After ending pre-production with "happy last night of pre-production," it was only appropriate that I began that Monday morning with "Happy first day of production!" We were up sometime around 5:30 AM, and were soon preparing the last of the little details. When it finally got light enough to see outside, we were in for a surprise.

It was snowing. Yes, on April 28th, it was snowing; given, it was mixed with rain and was certainly not sticking, but it was SNOWING!!! God's timing was perfect in setting our dates for production; we were to be shooting indoors that day, which meant that it could snow, stick, and accumulate inches and feet thick, without messing up our plans.

By the time we were ready to leave the house to meet with the rest of the cast and crew, the sun was shining outside. The night before, I had told two crew members staying with us to remind me that we needed to pick up a cast member on our way to the first shoot the next day. Guess what we almost forgot to do?

A half hour after we had left the house, we were still within two or three miles of home, due to forgetting to pick up that cast member, having to fill up van tires, etc. But we were finally on the road! I had made sure to print out Google directions to the place where we were going to meet everyone, but I made one mistake. I forgot to print out a second set for one of the other vehicles.

It wasn't too long before I was getting myself turned around (I have astounding, er, appalling navigational skills). Needless to say, a trip that Google said would take one hour took us two, and we arrived at our meeting place just in time to go over a few things and head off to our first shooting location.

We were shooting part of our restaurant scene, using a kitchen and dining area graciously provided by a community church in our area. It took us several hours to get everything set up and ready to role:

1. Unload the vans.
2. Begin unpacking equipment.
3. Set up lighting, tripods, and other grip equipment (like the dolly and crane).
4. Decorate the set (we had to make it look more like a restaurant).
5. Get all the props and extras in order.
6. Set the cast in their places (while we're setting up, they're rehearsing).
7. Break for lunch.
8. Prepare to begin shooting.

I was quite surprised at how fast we were able to make progress in shooting the footage we needed.

Continuity is a big part of making a film; things have to be just so or otherwise the believability and the production value goes way down. For the restaurant scene, making sure we had our continuity correct meant making sure that menus, dishes, props, extras, and food were in the same places every take. To help make it a bit easier, on this first day of shooting at the "restaurant," I had decided to only shoot the footage that we didn't need food at the main character's table for.

I wouldn't say that it made it any easier on the extras, though... Two of the mothers on the set, playing extras, had to drag out eating a plate of lasagna for around four hours. Now that is not fun. Some of the other crew members didn't mind it, though, because it meant that they got to finish off whatever the extras didn't feel like eating!

Though I had been hoping to finish up around five o'clock, we decided to continue pushing and get a scene done in the "restaurant" kitchen. After the cast and crew left that were unneeded for this scene, we set up and rolled video until around eight-thirty.

Day 2.

Our poor cast met this second day of shooting with facing having to eat lasagna at nine in the morning, and making it last until we were done. Cold lasagna... glasses of water that needed to stay at the same height... and all for the sake of continuity!

Things went very smoothly as we finished up the shots needed at the restaurant, which we were thankful for. And it's a good thing that we finished ahead of schedule with this scene, as my wonderful navigation skills kicked in once again as we drove to the main cast's house!

We decided to try to get all of our small shots out of the way at their house, which turned out to be a bit bigger deal than expected due to the fact that we had to set up lights. John Naylor, the head gaffer, did a great job of lighting the scenes that we shot, and by the end of the shooting day we had everything we needed "in the can!"

Day 3.

Amazingly, I didn't get ourselves lost on this day! We headed off from the house as early as we could to our park location, the town square in Metamora, Illinois, across the street from a courthouse where President Abraham Lincoln practiced law before being elected.

It was cold. Our main actor and actress braved the forty-degree breeze as we struggled to get decent shots, putting on their coats between takes. Though it was a hard morning and we weren't able to get some of the shots I had originally hoped to get, we made it through by God's grace!

Joined by our waiter sometime around mid-morning, we worked as quickly as we could to get his scene done, as he was to be leaving for Michigan later that afternoon and still had much to get done before then. After setting up the dolly for a tracking shot, we began working on the first shot of the waiter in the park, as he walks behind the main characters.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to get the timing down so that the shot worked. It took quite a while to get just the one shot, but once we got it, we were able to move on.

Thankful that the day warmed up, after lunch we continued shooting footage up until around four in the afternoon, when we finally wrapped up day three.

Day 4.

I thought that this day would be the easiest of them all, as we only had three scenes to shoot at our main cast's house. Two of them I thought wouldn't take very long to shoot, because they were so short and simple.... Ha!

We started out in the bedroom of the main character, setting up lights and getting the dolly put together. After that was finally done, we began shooting... take after take after take to get timing and other things right. Finishing this scene, we moved on to the next, in another bedroom.

While waiting for the "make-up department" to finish doing our actress' hair, I decided to shoot the very last shot in the film, a simple moving shot focused on one object. An hour later, I still had not gotten the footage that I wanted. Thus, we decided to go ahead and break for lunch and come back to it later.

Doing this, we were soon shooting the very last scene in the film. Even though everything went pretty smoothly with only a few takes of each shot, it was still a hard scene to shoot, not because of complexities with the scene itself, but because of the room. Imagine being in a room with three very bright, hot lights on, three or more people, and not being able to have the window open.... Needless to say, those of us working on that scene were thankful when it was done!

Onward we moved to a scene taking place in the kitchen, a scene in which our head gaffer particularly did a brilliant job with the lighting. Though it was a bit complex to set up, it was well worth it, and at almost three in the afternoon, we were ready to start rolling. One problem.

Some of the family members of the main cast teach forty-plus piano students over the course of the week in their home. As the piano was in the dining room, adjacent to the kitchen, there was a tiny bit of a problem when someone had to have a lesson... The solution? Go to the park (only a couple miles away) for a photo shoot!

Before too long, we were back in the kitchen shooting a scene that takes place in the morning. This is where the great lighting paid off: as we were shooting in the late afternoon, and the sun was going down on the opposite side of the house, we needed it to look like morning. A well-placed light did the trick, making it appear as though the sun had just risen, and casting a warm, pleasing light over the whole scene. It's amazing what a little lighting can do!

At a little after eight in the evening, I had the pleasure of saying the three words that everyone is wanting to hear after a long day (and week) of shooting: "It's a wrap!"

Though we were tired, we knew that it had been an awesome week that had been orchestrated by our Awesome God. You can be sure that we slept extra well that night!

Precious Treasure is currently in post-production, hopefully to be released on DVD in the fall of 2008. The website for the film is www.StembridgeMill.com/precioustreausure; more information, production photos, bios, etc., can be viewed there.

To God alone be the glory for the great things He has done!!!

Youth in Action Mag by Ethan Thompson

2008-06-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I should start off by introducing myself. My name is Ethan Thompson and I am currently 14 yrs old and I just finished 8th grade. Now onto a more interesting and important topic, Youth in Action Mag (YIAM). I officially started YIAM about two weeks ago. YIAM was created to encourage and tell other teens and young adults about some of their peers who are making a difference in this world. So currently I usually interview a person, get a picture of them, and get a short bio of them. Then I post it for the world to view at http://www.youthinactionmag.com/

I always love reading about my peers who are doing something for God. So I figured others would too. And that's a little about YIAM. You can check it out at:

http://www.youthinactionmag.com/

Precious Treasure -- A Film in the Making, Part II by Chad Stembridge

2008-05-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

My first dramatic short, The Journal, took about two months to make, from the original idea to the first final cut (I say first because I had to do another cut after fixing audio levels later). From the time I first had the idea for Precious Treasure to when production actually began was over three months.

Pre-production is an area of filmmaking that not too many people think about; sure, we all know that a script has to be written and things have to be pulled together. But even I didn't realize how much work goes into it until working on this film.

So how did I get the idea?

I work in a shipping department for a homeschool/educational resource center, a job that can be pretty monotonous at times. After all, it's basically packing orders the whole time: order off the cart, items counted, box chosen and taped, order packed into it, box closed, done. Multiply that by a hundred, and that's what I do on the half-days that I work there.

So I tend to think a lot while working (some people might find that a bit amazing). One day in mid-January, an idea suddenly popped into my head, about a father who takes his daughter out for a special date to teach her about purity and guarding her heart. Purity and the heart would be symbolized in the film allegorically by pendants that every person wears.

I knew that the idea would work. After getting an idea, I tend to ponder it and turn it over and over inside, thinking about it, developing it, etc. Usually, the idea will go away, or at least lose its excitement. But this one didn't; it stuck, and I knew that the Lord had given it to me.

A week or so after having the idea, I began writing the script. The first draft of it was never finished; I ended up finishing it in draft two. This first rough draft contained the general outline of much of the film, minus some of the important things added later that gave it real depth, but contained too much fact (as opposed to a strong allegory).

After finishing draft two of the script (which was 13 pages long), I put out a call for script collaborators, and the Lord gave nine people to critique it and give ideas. By the time draft three came out, it was covered in revision markings. The number of scenes had expanded, adding more dimensions and better development of the story, and boosting the page count up to 16.

With draft eight, the story line, plot, and development were set, the number of scenes solid, and the page count at 19. Further revisions continued to take place all the way up until our final production script, draft ten.

On February 2nd, I announced a cast and crew call. By the time March rolled around, the Lord had brought together thirteen crew members, and one cast member. It was exciting to watch as all sorts of awesome things happened, from crew being brought together, the provision of a computer, to equipment and props arriving.

There was only one thing missing.

At the beginning of March, I had a ton of crew members, all the equipment I needed, and script collaborators helping get the script right. But all of that is pretty worthless without any actors.

I originally wanted to shoot at the end of March, but it was looking like that wouldn't be happening. The days came and went, and what had been an exciting project had suddenly turned into a dead project. I wasn't sure if it was in fact the Lord's will that the film be made; no cast had been found (the only cast member I had had to drop out), the script was too contrived-feeling, etc. Almost no progress was made on the project in March; only one draft of the script was sent out during the whole month.

God was definitely teaching me a lesson in patience and relying on Him. I had prayed that His hand would be so obvious in the making of the film, that I wouldn't be even able to claim that it was my own film. Guess what?

He answered that prayer.

Fast forward from the end of March to April 2nd, a Wednesday. My dear friend, Geno DiMaria, and I had been talking about some alternate ideas to shoot, as he and his family would still be coming to help on the crew. I had decided sometime earlier in the week that I needed to send out an email to all the people that had signed up to help, telling them that we wouldn't be shooting Precious Treasure, but would still try to make something if they still wanted to help.

Wednesday morning, I knew that that day was the day the email needed to go out. After all, the dates for principal photography had been set at April 28th to May 3rd, and with no cast, it was looking pretty impossible. But the Lord's timing is always right.; I never even got to send the email.

Okay, now press the rewind button a couple weeks back.

A homeschool mom had been going through the local homeschool e-newsletter, copying and pasting anything that looked like it would be something interesting to do. I had an ad placed in the newsletter, but she never saw it.

That is, until she "accidently" grabbed it. Later, she said that she was looking back over what she had copied, and saw my ad, wondering how in the world it could have gotten there (Providence!). It looked interesting, though, so she didn't get rid of it.

One of her five daughters, Christy, decided to email me and see if I still needed help on the crew. This was about the middle of March, when the Lord was teaching me about relying on Him; Christy used a contact form on my website, but the email never came through. A couple weeks ago, I tested the form and found that it's completely useless.

But the Lord was working! He knew that I still had a lot to learn during that time of agonizing waiting (and I still have much to learn); He knew exactly what He was doing.

Okay, now fast-forward to April 2nd. Christy's younger sister, Hannah, suddenly had an urge to go ahead and apply for the part of the main character, a young girl named "Kelley Greene." So she did.

I was sitting at the computer at a few minutes past seven when the email came in. I couldn't believe it. Here, after waiting all that time, was the first ever cast application!

There were three things that had to be settled first, though; 1) would her father be willing to play the part of Mr. Greene? 2) Would one of her sisters be willing to play the part of the "older" Kelley? and 3) Would they be available during the week of production?

God already knew that the Miller family was the perfect fit for the project. When I got the reply back from Hannah, I knew that they would work. Before too long, we had set up a screen test, officially met, and the once-dead project had been revived by God into a very alive one!

Literally almost every single day after April 2nd was busy with getting things ready, whether it was tweaking the screenplay, working logistics out with crew, securing locations, or getting props together. The day after receiving the cast application from Hannah, the last two crew members were added to the lineup.

Locations are something that I've not really dealt with much. With my first film, we just used our house, some nearby woods, and an old cemetery. This film required a restaurant, city park, and a house with rooms decorated for girls, I don't have any sisters.

The Millers graciously opened up their own home for use, and after calling around to different restaurants, a community church in Peoria agreed to allow us the use of their kitchen and dining area, free of charge, as long as we cleaned up thoroughly.

The only problem left was the park location. We needed a good location, not too close to a road, but with plenty of scenery and a city feel to it. A simply perfect location was found, but upon contacting the City of Peoria, we found that two things stood in the way of using it: 1) We would need to attend a board meeting happening at the same time when my brother and I would be teaching a class of 1st-graders at church, and 2) we would need insurance coverage worth one million dollars.

So we had a little bit of a problem. Well, actually we didn't have any problem, 'cause the film project was in God's hands! Mrs. Miller called the city of Metamora (near Peoria), and we soon had permission to shoot at the village square, which turned out to be the perfect location.

God's hand has been so mightily and obviously at work! It was amazing to see all the complex details coming together in the weeks leading up to April 28th.

On April 26th, the DiMaria family (almost half my crew!) arrived safely from South Carolina, and the following day my head gaffer and his sister arrived from Oklahoma; all the crew members were excited and ready to make a film.

April 27th, 2008: My goodnight farewell was ended with "Happy last night of pre-production!"

To God alone be all the glory!

--chad stembridge
producer, director

P.S. A gaffer isn't someone who stands there and makes fun of everything, he's the guy that works with lighting, cables, and sound equipment.

Precious Treasure - A Film in the Making Part 1 by Chad Stembridge

2008-05-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

It seems like many young people are interested in making movies these days. Just take a look at some of the stuff on popular video sharing sites like YouTube, and you'll see plenty of examples of this. I've noticed that there seems to be plenty of interest in this area especially in the Christian and homeschool realms, and unfortunately, the wealth of things being turned out by these groups amounts to little more than cheese with Christianity mixed in.

Several years ago, I was in that group. The first "movie" that I made for a purpose was a sci-fi thriller (it was actually pretty boring) with a bit of 'Christian' sprinkled in. Two years ago, I though that I would have no problem working with Hollywood to make 'Christian' films.

But the Lord has taught me otherwise. Late in the summer of 2006, I realized that I had never truly repented and turned to Christ, and after that, my views began to change. I battled sins that had kept me chained for years, striving to grow in Christ and to mature. Part of that was realizing that 1) Hollywood is not the place to be going to to try to change the culture, and 2) discovering what exactly a "Christian film" is.

So what is a Christian film? Is it a film made by a Christian? Is it a film with good morals? Is it a film that preaches the gospel? Or is it a film that reaches out to both Christians and non-Christians alike, showing things as they are, encouraging and exhorting the Christians and waking the unbelievers up to the truth?

Of course, the definition of this will change from film to film. But for a simple, short answer, I would say that a Christian film is 1) made by Christians, 2) shows things as they are, 3) tells a story through the lens of a Biblical worldview, and 4) is unashamedly Christian.

Let's go back to the fact that there are a lot of people out there interested in making movies. Anybody can go out, buy a camera, write a script, shoot, edit the movie on inexpensive or free software, and upload it to YouTube. But what does it take to make a quality film?

I'd like to examine this question in a series of articles on the making of my second dramatic short film, Precious Treasure, which is currently in post-production. Before I get into it, however, please take this disclaimer: I am not a pro yet; I'm learning, and have a long way to go in my learning journey. Don't take my word as authority!

Cogitations on Courage - an Extended Definition by Dominic DiMaria

2008-04-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Courage, that fearless thing that roams the heart of all, just looking for an opening to show itself. Bravery undaunted by dread or trepidation.

Courage is not something that can be attained by study or knowledge, but by being called to something one is not ready for, something one does not think he can do. Being anxious is more courageous than being confident, for, if anxious, it shows a rise to a challenge.

Courage, that noble thing, that is enthroned in the soul of every man, is valiant and visionary. Not afraid of the unknown, willing to search it out. Courage is adjacent to faith, for you must have both to have meaning.

Courage is not procurable by payment either. It is only gotten by experience and inexperience of a certain situation. It must devised on the spur of the moment, for if it is not, it is confidence.

There is nothing wrong with confidence as long as there is not too much of it, but courage is not confidence. It is different, set apart, variant from regular reliance on something.

If one was called out to perform a feat such as David did when he slew Goliath, one would by no means be confident about it. One may have faith, but would have no experience to base any familiarity on. When one rises to a challenge like that, it is courage that shows through.

Courage comes from the Latin word ‘cor’ which means ‘Heart’. It was then translated into the French ‘corage’. Think about the latin for a moment; ‘cor sounds very analogous to ‘core’, the root of something. Therefore courage shows the inner bravery or intrepidity of one.

Therefore, friends, courage is not about being strong, mighty, or posh; courage is being strong inward, having faith in God that you can accomplish something with his power instead of yours. That is what true courage is.

Escape From Vietnam by Weston Smith

2008-04-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Twenty one year old Duc had just gotten of a 747 airplane in the huge Seattle Airport, remembering his hard past. He grew up in the harsh Communist country of Vietnam, his father living in a prison camp for fighting alongside the United States in the Vietnam conflict.

At the age of seventeen, Duc had saved up $800.00 dollars and secretly paid a poor fisherman to board a tiny vessel and flee to another place hoping for freedom. There were sixty-four people crowded on this small fishing boat. All that Doc brought with him was a mixture of sugar and a ripe lemon, which was very precious to him. He also brought twenty American dollars, which were sent to him cleverly disguised in a tube of toothpaste and was sent to him via a relative in Germany. His mother had cut the seam on the waistband of his old, worn out pants; folded the twenty-dollar bill; carefully slipped it in place; then sewed the seam back. This way, if any robbers tried to steel his belongings, they would not be able to find his money.

They were lost and scared at sea for nine long days. The first three days, they gratefully ate the food and water they were able to bring with them. However, over the next six days they became lost, had little food and no drinking water. They were forced to use survival skills.

They landed on a gigantic sea station, after which Duc was sent to a refugee camp on a tiny Indonesian island. The camp was a fenced-in place somewhere in the enormous jungle. They were given small portions of food and clean water, just enough to keep them alive. Some people died under these circumstances (probably of malaria). Finally, after three long, hard years, the United Nations interviewed him, and he was sent on a fairly sized boat to America. Sadly, only ten out of the sixty-four refugees who left Vietnam on the fishing boat were able to come to America with him.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie review by Geno DiMaria

2008-03-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

In the 17th Century, young Prince Alexander has been captured by an evil Pirate lord, Robert the Terrible, who wants to overthrow the King and take over the Kingdom. However, Robert is unable to find Prince Alexander's sister, Princess Eloise, who hid away on the ship when Robert boarded and took Alexander captive. Using The Seeker, a device given to Eloise by her father, The King, to call for help, the Princess unknowingly calls 3 blundering busboys from the 21st century to help her find her brother and save the Kingdom.

The basic plotline for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie is fairly simple. But with this simple plot, the minds behind VeggieTales have created a humorous, entertaining, exciting, and mostly-acceptable film.

Artistically, Pirates' 3-D Animation holds its own against the onslaught of animations thrown out by Hollywood every year. It's not by any means groundbreaking, but is well-done and, from an animation point-of-view, quite pleasant to watch. The colors are vibrant and crisp, bringing the Veggies to life on the big-screen as never before. The movement of the characters is smooth. I'd like to say the movement is realistic, but considering the subject matter, that just doesn't make any sense, because there's nothing realistic about a Cucumber wielding a sword or being chased by a Rock Monster.

The voice-work is fantastic. The characters will be familiar to frequent Veggie watchers, and have lost no uniqueness in their translation to the big-screen. The voices are funny and the real-life people behind them, namely Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, have great voice-talent and voiced multiple characters in the film, as they do in the regular episodes.

The dialogue is quick and funny. It's certainly not Shakespeare, but most of it comes off well for a Veggie movie and is often clever.

Biblically, the film is an allegory. There is not one direct reference to God that I can remember. Some have complained about this, but I personally found the allegory quite clear and obvious. If nothing else, the film is a good morality tale - for the most part. There are some things I disagree with.

For instance, two of the Pirates Who Don't do Anything have girlfriends whom they are dating, and I would prefer that a courting relationship be used in the film rather than the popular dating method. This is, of course, personal conviction, but I thought I'd share it for those who are like minded in that area. Nothing really inappropriate happens between the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything and their girlfriends, other than Mr. Lunt's girlfriend snuggling close for a picture. No kissing (at least not that I can recall) occurs or anything of that sort.

There is not really any crude humor. However, Mr. Lunt makes a couple references to using the bathroom. For instance, while searching for a restroom, he accidentally fires a cannon. After all the mayhem that results is resolved, Mr. Lunt states: "I don't have to go to the bathroom no more." There is another, similar comment made by Mr. Lunt in another part of the film.

A couple of the songs, mainly the one at the credits, I believe, are worldly sounding, although there is nothing objectionable in the lyrics, at least not that I heard. The majority of the film, though, has epic, orchestral music.

Also, families should note that, while rated G, there is some mild swashbuckling action. One girl in the theater was especially frightened by a couple scenes, one involving Rock Monsters coming to life and one involving living Cheese Curls (multitudes of them) attempting to catch and, presumably, devour Mr. Lunt. All of this is in fun but may be too intense for the younger crowd.

For more info on the film's content, please visit this link.

On a whole, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the film. I felt it moved fairly quickly and kept my attention. It knew what it was: a VeggieTales movie, and didn't try to be more.

Facing Your Fears - Part 2 by Chad Stembridge

2008-03-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Read Part I

We left off with this question: Why in the world would Moses be scared to speak to Pharaoh?

Why did Moses run away in the first place? He killed an Egyptian taskmaster. But why would the Egyptians have wanted to kill Moses just for killing a lowly Egyptian overseer? Well, the ancient historian Josephus, who compiled the history of Israel in great detail, tells a story of when Moses was very young. After Moses was found in the Nile by the Pharaoh’s daughter, Thermuthis, she adopted him as her own child. Once, when he was three years old, she took Moses to Pharaoh so that Pharaoh could see him. The historian Josephus tells it this way:

“Thermuthis, therefore, perceiving him to be so remarkable a child, adopted him for her son, having no child of her own. And when one time she had carried Moses to her father, she showed him to him, and said she thought to make him her successor, if it should please God she should have no legitimate child of her own; and said to him, ‘I have brought up a child who is of a divine form, and of a generous mind; and as I have received him from the bounty of the river, in a wonderful manner, I thought proper to adopt him for my son, and the heir of your kingdom.’ And when she had said this, she put the infant into her father’s hands; so he took him, and hugged him to his breast, and on his daughter’s account, in a pleasant way, put his diadem upon his head; but Moses threw it down to the ground, and, in a puerile mood he kicked it around and trod on it with his feet; which seemed to bring along with it an evil omen concerning the kingdom of Egypt. But when the sacred scribe saw this…he made a violent attempt to kill him; and crying out in a frightful manner, he said, ‘O king, this child is he of whom God foretold, that if we kill him we shall be in no danger; he himself affords an attestation to the prediction of the same thing, by his trampling upon your government, and treading upon your diadem. Take him, therefore, out of the way, and deliver the Egyptians from the fear they are in about him; and deprive the Hebrews of the hope they have of being encouraged by him.’ But Thermuthis prevented him, and snatched the child away.” [Josephus The Antiquities of the Jews, II.ix.7]

So we see that the Egyptians began to be afraid of Moses, because they thought that he would lead the Hebrews to destroy the Egyptians. In fact, the top Egyptians were carefully conspiring to kill Moses from the time he was little because of the evil omen. But there was one problem: they could not find any reason good enough to kill Moses. So what do you think they thought when they heard Moses had killed an Egyptian? They were probably thinking something like, “Yes! Now is our chance! All of Egypt will believe that we had to kill Moses because he was starting a revolt against us!”

The Egyptians set up guards on every road to ensure that Moses could not escape if he found out about their plot. Moses did find out about the plot, and Moses knew he needed to escape, and right away. He was a smart man, and knew the Egyptians were desperate for this chance to kill him and that they would be watching all the roads. Rather than exposing himself to danger on the roads, he simply escaped into the desert. After Moses went into the desert, he ended up with Jethro, married his daughter Zipporah, and became a shepherd. This leads us back to the burning bush.

Perhaps Moses did have a legitimate reason to be scared to go back to Egypt. However, God has just shown Moses through the three miracles he has just performed that he should trust Him. Maybe Moses’ fear of going back to Egypt was a good reason. But what about his excuse that he wasn’t a good speaker?

I’m not so sure this reason was very good. Josephus, along with other historians, tells of how Moses, before he had to leave Egypt, was a military commander. The Ethiopian kingdom to the west of Egypt decided they wanted Egypt, so they started an invasion, attacking and plundering town after town. The Egyptians realized that Moses, who they knew was extremely intelligent, was their only hope for a chance to defeat the Ethiopians. It was Moses that led the Egyptian army into Ethiopia on a counter-invasion, which made the Ethiopians withdraw from Egypt to Ethiopia, where they were defeated by the Egyptians.

So what does that have to do with Moses’ ability to speak? Well, to be a military commander, it is generally a good thing to have good speaking skills. Plus, he had received the best education possible in Egypt.

“And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.” Acts 7:22

Moses’ excuse that he couldn’t speak well held as much water as a bucket without a bottom in it.
Ironically, the exact same excuses Moses was using as reasons not to speak to Pharaoh were the exact same reasons I was using not to teach this lesson. God was calling me to face my fears, and I, like Moses, offered excuses instead of simply obeying.

After Moses started making excuses, God stopped him.

“And the Lord said unto him, ‘Who [has] made man’s mouth? Or who [makes] the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with [your] mouth, and teach [you] what [you] shall say.’ And he [Moses] said, ‘O my Lord, send, I [ask you], by the hand of him whom [you will] send.’ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, ‘Is not Aaron the Levite [your] brother? I know that he can speak well.’” Exodus 4:11-14a

Once again, God blew Moses’ excuses out of the water. If God was the one who created Moses’ mouth in the first place, couldn’t he have made it say exactly what it was supposed to, without any mistakes or “slowness of speech?” He most certainly could! Yet Moses still didn’t trust God. He basically told God that the plan to get Israel out of Egypt was good, but that he wasn’t the man for the job. He was saying that God had made a huge mistake, and in response, he lost the blessing of seeing what God could do in his own life. The responsibility that God wanted to give Moses was delegated to Aaron.

Moses probably never completely got over his fear, though he did apparently learn to trust God a little better. After all, for the next forty years, Moses was speaking to thousands (if not millions) of Israelites. Yet he was afraid to face just one man! If he had learned to face his fear when God had wanted him to, he would have been able to overcome that fear sooner, rather than later.

I’m glad I faced my fear. When I first stood up to teach that lesson, I was literally shaking. I had to hold my note pages tightly to hide the fact that they were bouncing all over the place. I was afraid that I would get myself confused and mix up my audience. But, in fact, as I let God speak to my heart and speak through me, there was no room for confusing myself.

It’s amazing what God will do when we turn around and face the fears that we’re running from. I’m not hunting for opportunities for public speaking, but at least I know that if I trust God, He will be my strength. If I deny my flesh and obey God, by doing His will, He will do the work. It’s kind of like a little kid learning to ride a bike with no training wheels. He is afraid that he will fall riding without the extra wheels. Then his dad comes and holds the bike up. The kid is still doing the peddling, but the dad is there to make sure his son doesn’t fall. The thing is, we have to be willing to get on the bike and start riding it before God will do His part.

I challenge you to face your fears in your life. Listen for God’s voice asking you to do those hard things that you might be afraid to do. Just as God is teaching me (sometimes painfully little by little) to trust fully in him and face my fears, I hope and pray that He will do the same for you.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Am I facing the fears in my life, or running from them?

• Are my fears getting in the way of God’s calling and will in my life?

• Is God asking me to face my fears? Am I responding to His calling?

Face your fears; Listen to God’s calling; respond with an open and soft heart. Take the opportunities that God gives you, and you won’t have to learn lessons the hard way like Moses.

Facing Your Fears - Part 1 by Chad Stembridge

2008-02-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

Picture this: You’re walking through a dark forest at dusk, a misty fog cooly gliding among the trees. You’re lost, and it’s getting dark. Suddenly, a twig cracks behind a tree to your right. A branch moves slightly to your left. Then, a huge furry paw silently descends onto your shoulder.
What would you do? I know what I would do—cut & run. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about bears sneaking up on us all the time; we just have to worry about what people think when we are making that speech and accidently leave out a vital sentence, what the piano teacher is thinking when you play an A# instead of G#, what your best friend will think when you decide to help your grandmother rake her yard instead of going to see a movie—or do we?

We’re all humans, and we all have fears. It’s okay to have fears; nowhere in the Bible does it condemn you for having fears. However, there comes a time when God calls each one of us to turn around and face the very fear that we’re running from. It’s just another step in drawing closer in your relationship with Christ and following him.

This post first started taking shape about a week ago when I was asked by my pastor if I could teach a lesson to a group of kids. You need to know first of all that I am very familiar with getting up in front of people and speaking—that is, scripted speaking. When I know exactly what I am supposed to say, when I’m supposed to say it, it’s not all that scary. But to me, getting up in front of people and speaking on a subject, unscripted and with no other people to help me if I stumble over my lines, it’s terrifying.

I’ve been teaching lessons for our church’s children’s church for a few months now, so that’s what I thought Pastor was asking me to do. When I teach children’s church there are twenty kids, tops. But no, he was asking me to teach for the kid’s program on Wednesday night; meaning I would be facing 50 to 60 squirming kids from Pre-K to Sixth grade, most of whom probably wouldn’t care about what I was saying anyway. Then there was the adult workers that would be sitting among the kids. What would they think if I messed up?

Well, I told Pastor that no, I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. So he sent the lesson home to my Dad. Ironically, that lesson was entitled “Facing your fears,” about when Moses refused to talk to Pharaoh himself because he was afraid of public speaking. Ouch, that hurt. I was unwilling to teach that lesson on facing fears because I was unwilling to face my own fears!

That Saturday, Dad kindly asked me why I didn’t want to teach the lesson. My excuses were that I wasn’t all that comfortable speaking in front of twenty kids, (much less sixty) that I was prone to easily confusing myself and my audience, etc., etc. Dad was very gracious to me and allowed me to make the decision whether I would teach the lesson or not.

I knew what the right thing was to do: I needed to teach that lesson. But my fleshly old sin nature was screaming at the top of it’s lungs “NO! NO! NO! You can’t do this! NO!” I just about gave in to it. But in the midst of all that yelling, I heard a still small voice in my heart quietly saying “Your will, or mine? Are you going to take up your cross and follow me or not? Are you going to deny the flesh, or deny me?” Those two voices battled together for another day before I realized that I wasn’t going to have peace until I gave in to one of the voices, and I realized that to give in to the flesh was to deny Christ and disobey Him.

So last Wednesday night I found myself in front of a surprisingly quiet group of sixty kids, teaching a lesson about facing fear while I myself was nearly shaking with fear.

In Exodus 4:10, we find Moses arguing with God about why he shouldn’t be the one to go and talk to Pharaoh. He had just offered two excuses, that the Children of Israel wouldn’t believe that God was really sending Moses to lead them out of captivity, and that they wouldn’t believe that Moses actually met with God. Then God showed Moses three miraculous signs to show His power: he turned a rod into a snake; he made Moses’ hand leprous, and healed it; then turned some water into blood. So Moses should have believed God by now, right?

“And Moses said unto the Lord ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither [before], nor since [you] hast spoken unto [your] servant: but I am of slow speech, and of a slow tongue.” Exodus 4:10
Let’s stop and think for a moment. Moses grew up in the household of Pharaoh. He was familiar with the ways and customs of the Egyptians. Why in the world would he be scared to speak to Pharaoh?

We examine this in Face Your Fears (Part II).

Skyscrapers by Christopher Carsey

2008-02-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

I do not know about you, but I have always been interested in large buildings. The sight of a mammoth hundred-floor skyscraper just fills the viewer with awe and amazement, even if it is only a photo. I admit that I have not been to Chicago or New York City in a long while, but I still remember the sight.

The history of skyscrapers begins in 1873; the Equitable Life Building in New York City was built. The building was 8 stories high, making it the tallest building until 1889, when an 82 meters tall tower in Chicago surpassed it. This was one of the first 10 story buildings.

Another milestone was passed in 1931. The famous Empire State Building in New York City, at 101 stories high and over 381 meters tall, became the highest building in the world until the World Trade Center.

Despite having only a hundred and one floors, Taipei 101, in Taiwan, is the world’s tallest finished skyscraper as of February of this year. The Burj Dubai (see below) is already higher than it, but it awaits its completion to reach this milestone.

The rest of the story depends on how you define “building”. Sometimes when people mention the word, they mean any kind of structure (not even necessarily freestanding). In that case, TV towers would count. The KVLY-TV mast in Fargo, ND completely trumps the Taipei 101 and every other finished building. Still, the Burj Dubai is scheduled to pass the mark in 2009!

Another odd proposed structures is a Space Elevator. What on earth! No, not on earth, space! The megastructure is planned to be about 38,000,000 meters tall. I guess I kind of feel like the people who criticized the Wright brothers, but this is really utter craziness!

Many proposed buildings never were built. A very disappointing example is the Illinois planned to be built in Chicago in 1956. Designer Frank Lloyd Wright (notice the last name) observed the Empire State Building, and wrote up plans for a mile-high, 528 floor skyscraper. Of course, it has been discovered that such a building could not be technically possible with the mechanics of the time.

I have given you an abbreviated version of the history of tall buildings. For more information, go to wikipedia.com and search for “tallest buildings” or “skyscrapers”. It has loads more information on the subject.

List of tallest proposed, under construction, and already built buildings-

Al Burj- Proposed 228 story, 1050 meters high building. Ground just broken. (Dubai, UAE)
Murjan Tower- Proposed 200 floor, 1,022 meters high skyscraper. (Bahrain)

Burj Dubai- 159 story building in construction in Dubai, UAE. When finished, it is projected to be 162 stories high and 818 meters.

The Chicago Spire- Proposed 150 story, 609 meters high all-residential building in Chicago. It is expected to be opened in 2011.

The Freedom Tower- Beginning construction in 2006, this building is being built on Ground Zero (the site where the World Trade Center feel). Around the tower will be verandas and several other office buildings.

The Burj Dubai as of December, 2007

Sources for this article came from - wikipedia.com, emaar.com, and several other small websites.

Regeneration by Chad Stembridge

2008-02-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Imagine if you will, that you are a medieval soldier. You have your armor on, your shield up, and your sword stretched forth as you fight in the heat of a battle. The "fog of war" is thick, allowing you to see only a few yards in any direction; only by looking for the battle standards flying above your lines can you tell where you are. The enemy is easily discernible, as they have no such flags.

A few minutes later, you turn around to see where your lines are, only to find that some of the banners are being lowered. During the next hour of battle, most of the flags are lowered in many places. The enemy senses that something is happening and starts to press harder into your army's lines, stirring up clouds of dust as they move. Soon, you cannot tell whether you are fighting the enemy or your own comrades: the battle standards are being trampled beneath the enemy’s feet.

The above scenario should sound familiar if you were ever around the modern Christian culture in America. The battle flags represent the standards given by Scripture to set us apart from the world, and the two armies symbolize the World and Christians.

Only one hundred years ago, American Christian's standards were very high and Christ was very much a part of everyday life in America. However, the elimination of prayer and scripture from public society, along with increasing evolutionary thinking, created generations of citizens that have no reason to follow moral laws. Following suit came a disease that spread the lies that moral and absolute truths are irrelevant.

This disease has spread from non-believers to Believers themselves, many of who enjoy the Christian title but live as worldly as their neighbors do. Standards set by the Scriptures have been lowered and lowered until finally the enemy is able to trample them beneath their feet as they push defeated Christians backwards. It is very difficult to tell the difference between many Christians and unbelievers; without standards we cannot tell where our comrades are and whom we are to be fighting.

Holiness used to be a constant theme of sermons and messages. We have turned away from holiness in America and have replaced it with a watered-down Christianity that makes it comfortable for those who might want to join us. We have forgotten about 1 Peter 1:15-16: "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

Christians have forgotten that salvation is not the last step in the spiritual journey. "...Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 1:16 addresses the Christian society’s problem at the root. Our thinking has become that we can just ask God to forgive us when we sin rather than preventing and repenting from sin.

It has been forgotten that when God saves us by His grace alone, He turns something dead into something living. We have been regenerated; our spiritually dead soul has been brought to life by the renewing of His Spirit in us. But since most Christians in our society have forgotten that Christianity is to be lived out in everyday life, we are losing the power of regeneration that we once felt so strongly. Most supposed Christians today would rather keep their faith to Sundays rather than live it out daily.

To be truly regenerated, one must be truly born-again: simply saying a sincere prayer does not save a person. One must fully believe that God has raised His Son from the dead, confess with his mouth that Christ is Lord, put his trust on Him, and repent of his sins. The regeneration of our society first starts with individuals coming to repentance and a saving knowledge of Christ.

The regeneration of the Christian culture must also start with individual Christians. This means that I must strive to live a holy and blameless life, I must take responsibility for my own sin, I must earnestly ask God for revival and regeneration in my heart, I must become burdened about reaching those who are lost and without Christ, and I must be willing to stand up and fight the battle in Christ's strength. I can talk about it, pray for it, and try to convince other people to move towards regeneration all I want. But it is not until I take the responsibility upon my own shoulders, taking up my cross and following Christ completely, that the regeneration of our society can happen. It does not matter what the scenario is; regeneration in religion, politics, and everyday life begins with me.

This era in history requires that no standard be lowered; we cannot afford yet another standard trampled underneath the feet of the enemy. Every one of us must be willing to help raise the battle standards once again and regenerate our dying society. Let us humbly turn our hearts toward God and ask Him to regenerate our hearts and minds so our nation may be revived.

We have the vision for our culture and society to be regenerated by the power of God; now we must focus on the complete regeneration of our own hearts before Him.

How a Bill Becomes a Law by Christopher Carsey

2008-02-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Recently my brother and I went to Phoenix for TeenPact, a program designed to educate teens in government and politics. There we learned how the State government works, along with Bills. In this article I’m going to explain how a bill becomes a law at the State level.

First, what is a bill? A bill is a piece of legislation (an act) that is written, usually a complaint about an existing law. Another piece of legislation is an amendment, written to change a part of a bill.

Every piece of legislation begins with an idea. The person who has an idea will tell a house member or senator their business. If the legislator thinks that the concept is a good one, he or she will then write the intention down on paper. Every state has different formats for their bill. For example, Mrs. Brown tells Representative Doe that she thinks all houses should have at least three refrigerators. After explaining the need for her idea, Doe decides that it is a good idea, so he writes it down.

Next, the legislator will show the bill to the house (or senate) and they assign the bill to its rightful committee (a group specialized in the area of the bill). In our example, Doe would bring the bill to the House of Representatives and they, in turn, send the bill to the “home and garden” committee.

If the committee votes no on the bill, it is dead. If the committee passes the bill, it then goes back to the house/senate and is debated. Two things can happen now. They can choose to accept the bill, and it will then travel to the opposite legislation (senate or house), or they can kill it. Back to our example, we’ll say that the committee passed the bill, and it went back to the house. After being debated over, they finally decided that it was a good bill, and that all houses should have three refrigerators. The bill travels to the senate. Representative Doe finds someone in the senate to sponsor his bill, as he can’t be there. He finds Senator Seth Smith (try saying that ten times fast!)

At the other legislation, the bill is debated over again, the same as before. If they choose no, the bill goes to the dead list. If it passes, it becomes a law, right? Not yet! It moves on to its final test, the governor. He/she has three options: Sign the bill, veto the bill (kill it), or let it sit on their desk. If they let it sit on their desk for thirty days, it becomes a law even without the governor’s signature. If he or she veto’s the bill, it has one last chance. It is tried again in the house and senate, and if a there is a 2/3-majority vote in both of them, it still becomes a law.

Senator Smith passes the bill in the senate by just two votes, so it goes to the governor. After analyzing the bill, Governor Thompson veto’s the bill. Fortunately, there was barely a 2/3-majority vote in the legislations, so the bill still becomes a law.

That pretty much explains the process. The only thing I did not write about was amendments. The bill can be amended in either legislation, or even in the committee. After being amended, it must return to the other legislation to be voted on again (this does not include the committee).

Again, I am writing about the State government. The Federal government is run a little differently. Also, some states have only 1 legislation, some have 2 but are named differently. The format that I wrote about is Arizona’s government.

At TeenPact, you have the opportunity to write your own bill and pass it through the TeenPact Legislator. Before TeenPact, I did not even know what an amendment was. I learned so much through this program, and I encourage every homeschool teen to look into it. For more information about TeenPact, go to teenpact.com.

Phone Calling by Weston Smith

2008-02-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

You would think phone calling is boring, but after a sheet of 44 calls for the “Mike Huckabee for President” campaign, I learned that it is very fun.

The campaign headquarters was nothing like what I imagined. I thought that there would be tables in straight lines, with two people at each table talking on phones and people serving the people making calls donuts. Actually, headquarters was a middle-sized room. There were tables everywhere with three people on each side making calls on landlines or cell phones. Everyone was crammed together with food, drinks and call sheets jumbled together. Every person making a phone call was talking at once, and it sounded more like a busy restaurant than anything else.

We arrived and signed in. My first thought was that our campaign manager, Bob, was about to have a heart attack because we were such a large group and they weren’t prepared for us. They quickly sent us to find more tables and unpacked more cell phones to accommodate us. Bob then gathered a few of us together to explain the phone call script so we could begin making calls.

We called people from counties all over Iowa. Most of the people we called were registered Republicans that had indicated that they were already voting for Huckabee. We were calling to make sure they hadn’t changed candidates and that they knew where their caucus location was.

The third day we made advocacy phone calls. An advocacy phone call is a call to try and convince undecided voters to vote for Mike Huckabee by giving them answers to the issues Huckabee supports and stands for. We were given a powerful script to read to them and then a chance to ask us questions. Most of the people in our group really enjoyed making these advocacy calls because they liked debating political issues with the undecided voters. I think these calls were the most boring, depressing calls because I went through three-fourths of a call sheet without getting one “Yes”. Then I handed off my advocacy call sheet to Dad and went back to the regular phone calls.

When you are making phone calls, you can never expect how the person on the other line will react. About a quarter of the people hung up on me. I don’t blame them for hanging up because they probably had recieved 20 campaign calls from different candidates. Sometimes people thanked me for calling.

Here are some examples of interesting calls I made. I called a few Democrats whose names had accidentally gotten on our call lists. One Democrat lady I called yelled, “Hillary, Hillary!” I said, “I’m sorry you aren’t voting for Mike Huckabee. Bye!” Another person said, “ I’m sick and tired of these dumb campaign calls.” I called one person who couldn’t thank me enough for calling him because he was glad to know the caucus information. One lady I called was ninety-three years old. She was very excited that I called. She lived in her own house and was still managing it. She said that she had just stopped playing golf when she was ninety years old. We talked about river trips in the Grand Canyon. Even though she couldn’t go to the caucus because she doesn’t go out at night, she said, “I’ll pray for Mike Huckabee.” I think my call blessed her because she sounded lonely and needed someone to talk to.

One funny thing that happened to me was, I was already talking on one phone when another phone rang and one of the campaign staff told me to answer it not knowing that I was already talking on another line. I did as I was told and tried to get both people to talk about the same subject. Mrs. Blanchard finally came to the rescue and took one phone from me. Mr. Moore took a picture of me while I was talking on both phones and it ended up on the news on T.V.

On the first Day we made 5,000 calls on the second day we made 7,500 calls and on the third day we made 12,500 calls.

Mr. Echols had told us before we arrived that our class would be the “backbone” of the calling campaign. When we got there we realized that our class of 21 people made up over half of the volunteers helping in the Des Moines headquarters. More volunteers showed up to help later in the week as you can tell from the call increase from day to day. Most of the people came on caucus day.

I feel that hat we were really blessed to be able to go to Iowa and experience working in a campaign headquarters. The atmosphere was really nice and the people we worked with were very kind hearted. We made some very kind friends during the time we were in Iowa. I feel we worked hard and for a great cause and God even blessed us more when Huckabee won the caucus in Iowa. If I ever get another chance to work for Huckabee, I would do it.

1st Impressions - Iowa Caucus by Willow Smith

2008-02-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

My first day volunteering for the Huckabee campaign the Iowa Caucus was exiting and exhausting. Working the headquarters was a new experience for me. I had never been to a Caucus before, much less worked as a part of any kind of political event. Thankfully Mr. Echols, my Political Science teacher, had taught me well, so I was prepared.

The ride in the bus to the Huckabee headquarters was noisy and exciting, everyone was busting with eagerness. We were finally about to test our political knowledge which we had been learning all semester. When we saw all of the Huckabee signs hanging in the windows of a 14 story brick building, we knew we had finally reached our destination. Around ten-o’clock in the morning we stepped into the “headquarters” and were immediately taken to the third floor of the building where our group signed in so that the staff could keep track of the volunteers.

I had an idea of what Caucus headquarters looked like in my head, but when I walked in to the phone calling room, it definitely was not what I expected. I had hoped everyone was going to have their own area to make phone calls; instead there were six-to-eight people crowded around tables, calling Iowa supporters. Also, I was sure that I was underdressed. I imagined that everyone was to have on suits and ties, after all we were volunteering for the hopeful “President to be”. I discovered, however, that like me, almost everyone was a volunteer, so they were also wearing casual clothes.

The first job I was assigned, was writing down caucus locations to each phone number so that citizens of various counties would know their voting locations. Finding the caucus location for each precinct was very confusing. I had worked on this job for about 2 hours when we heard enthusiastic cheering outside our window. As we looked through the glass, we were able to see the huge Huckabee Bus (or the “Huckabus” as we called it) park on the opposite side of the street. The “Huckabus” was black and had a photo of the Governor on its’ side. Ron Paul supporters protested on the sidewalk as the bus parked, and many news cameras were waiting for him to step out. Unfortunately for the media, political candidates always have a few tricks up their sleeves; Governor Huckabee must have driven around to the back of the building in a separate car and walked up the back stairs.

His arrival in the building was a definite surprise for those of us who were standing at the window waiting for him to emerge from the bus. We were very enthusiastic about seeing the Candidate we were working for on our first day. While the news channels were hounding him for interviews, he attempted to make his way around the room and shake every volunteer’s hand. As he was unsuccessfully trying to address each of my friends, he was called away to an interview just before he reached me. Fortunately, I was in the right place at the right time and as he was coming out of one of the interview rooms I was in the way, so I found myself shaking his hand and having my photograph taken with him. A couple minutes before Huckabee left, a volunteer asked him to say a few words. His speech was wonderful. It had humor, encouragement for us and it stated many of his beliefs. This address was a nice break for those of us whose ears and hands were becoming tired of campaign work.

After he had finished his speech and left, we ate a much needed lunch. The campaign provided very healthy lunches; sandwiches, a vegetable tray and chips.

After lunch I began calling on the phones. My first call was scary. I had dreaded my first call so much that I actually dialed phone numbers for a friend for a half hour. I stumbled a little as I read the phone call script. After I got over the initial shock, I had a comical time. A couple of my friends and I used each others names and made up accents when we talked. Playing around was real fun until someone picked up on an answering machine!

Mr. Echoles had warned us that normally campaign headquarters are not very respectful in the way they talk or act, so we were prepared for the worst. Fortunate for us, the Huckabee campaign was different; everyone was respectful and had a positive attitude. There wasn’t a problem or a bad word said all week. Our first day was a wonderful start for the busy week we had ahead of us.

Stories of Symbolism - Mr. Riscim by Dominic DiMaria

2008-01-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

Once there was a man named Riscim. Riscim loved to take unneeded risks and put people in the way of needless danger. One day Riscim decided that he was going to try to fly an airplane through the busiest street in all of the world...Fairwhal City. Now this was indeed a foolish idea, for he had never flown, nor even been in a plane; and to try to fly one through the busiest place on earth was utter folly. Mr. Riscim did not care, though. He was going to do it.
As the city heard of this foolishness that Riscim was planning many men tried to stop him. Mr. Angarson was the first to oppose Riscim.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing, Riscim?!” said Angarson
“Why, I plan to fly through the city of Fairwhal in an airplane.” replied Riscim.

At this simple response, Mr. Angarson got exceedingly furious and threatened to do horrible things to Mr. Riscim if he didn’t give up these foolish ideas. To these threats Mr. Riscim, just as calm as ever, replied:

“Well, seeing as how you’re so excited about this, I’ll add a little treat: I’ll fly through Fairwhal upside down, Angarson.”

Mr. Angarson became so mad at this comment that he fainted on the spot.

Next came Mr. Foolisty, encouraging the mad man to give the crazy stunt a try. He even asked if he could go up with Riscim, but just then Mr. Reasonnious Wistos, a very well respected senior citizen of Fairwhal appeared and lightly bumped Foolisty on the head with his cane. Foolisty was so unintelligent that one little bump rattled his small brain so much that he just went unconscious.

“Now, tell me, Riscim, what this plan of yours is that everyone is talking about.” said Reasonnious.

“Why, I plan to fly through Fairwhal upside down.” touted Riscim.

“Think about it for a moment, sir, what damage this could cause” said Mr. Wistos.

“I don’t see how it can be so dangerous!”

“Look into the city, Riscim. What do you see?”

“I see two tall buildings; one slightly larger than the other...I believe one is your house, Mr. Wistos.”

“What is the other building, sir?”

“Well, I believe it’s the homeless shelter.” said Riscim.

“And what, may I ask, would happen if you were to lose control of your aircraft in the city?” questioned Reasonnious Wistos.

“Why, I would probably crash into the biggest building, for I would be able to dodge the smaller ones.” said Riscim.

“Now, do you still think it is a good idea to fly an airplane through the city?”

“No, I suppose not.” said Riscim. “ Now, what will I do with the rest of my life if I can’t risk it any more?”

“Why don’t you use that ambition of yours for something useful?” asked Wistos.

“Why, I believe I’ll build a larger orphanage than the one there.”

As Riscim walked off, Mr. Reasonnious Wistos thought to himself:

“I didn’t say his ambition wasn’t crazy ambition, but at least he’s going to try something useful.”

Some tales say that Riscim succeeded in building the new orphanage. There’s a rumor that he even changed his name from Mr. Riscim to Mr. Helthi Ambishien. He thought Riscim sounded too much like the word risk. He now builds orphanages all over the world for cities that can’t afford it. As you read this story, he’s working to build the largest orphanage in the world...All because of Reason, Wisdom, and healthy Ambition.

Loving the Enemy by Writer/Director Geno DiMaria

2008-01-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Loving the Enemy is the first commercial production from us4HIM Productions. We at us4HIM feel the Lord’s leading to make truly God-honoring films, and this film is, Lord-willing, only the first of many to come.

The idea popped into my mind over a year ago, probably in September or October of 2006. It didn’t come from anything that I was reading about or studying, rather, I was simply mowing my lawn and God introduced the idea into my mind. I don’t even remember exactly how it happened.

There were many different phases the story went through, all with the theme of a wounded person being helped, usually by someone who, by the world’s standards, had every right to hate him.

I finally settled on a World War II story about two Allied Soldiers who found a wounded German and had to get him to safety, all the time being tracked by another German soldier, who was looking for his wounded friend. I wrote an entire script with this in mind. However, as my fellow crewmen and I began to look into it and learn more, we found it would simply be too expensive and difficult to make it a World War II film. So, we changed the time period, making the same storyline take place in the Civil War, with two Union Soldiers, lost in the woods after The Battle of Shiloh, finding a wounded Confederate. One of the soldiers, a Christian, wants to help him, but his fellow Northerner, a non-Christian, does not.

Despite his comrade’s feelings, the Christian attempts to save the Confederate. All the time they do not realize, however, that they are being tracked by another Confederate, who is searching for the same wounded man they are helping.

And that’s the story we ended up making. We ordered our costumes and put together props. Our location was the wood just behind our house.

We began filming in early December. We had friends visiting from another state who acted in the film and helped put together the costumes. We had 3 days in which to shoot our principal photography.

The Lord miraculously allowed us to finish within that deadline. We filmed with a Canon GL2, MiniDV Camcorder.

We had many difficulties with the choreographing of the battle scene and the visual effects that made it exciting, but the Lord came through for us on every occasion, giving us the wisdom we needed at the precise time we needed it.

We began editing the film in late 2006/early 2007, using Pinnacle Studio 10.5. By early spring, we had about half of the movie edited. But to be quite honest, our first pass at the film was not very good; the sound quality was very poor. Then, by an accident with the software, our work was erased. We were devastated. Our only option was to start over. Looking back, I believe that was the Lord’s way of saying, “This isn’t good enough. I want it to be the best it can be.”

So, we started over. We lost our footage for a second time with another software accident. Once again, we were forced to start over. By that time, we had learned much more about editing, and the movie began to come together far better than our original pass.

In the summer of 2007, we finally finished the editing. Then we encountered our newest problem: the software would not allow the film to burn. We had to upgrade our software and do more re-editing until we were finally able to finish the film and get it burned.

During this long editing process (at least for a 23-minute film), God taught us all so much. He brought the right people into our lives to help us at the right time and gave us the wisdom we needed, just when we needed it. You can see the names of the wonderful people who helped with this production during the end credits, and I am so thankful to them, all the way from the actors to those who simply encouraged us in our efforts.

When I watch the film now, I look at several shots and think, “Wow, that looks good.” Few, if any, of these good-looking shots, however, were not planned; they just “happened” to look like that.

As we got the film out to others, we were overwhelmed by the positive responses our little film was receiving. One Youth Pastor even invited us to show the film to a Youth Group less than 2 months after it was finished. The showing went extremely well and the audience genuinely enjoyed the film and expressed their enjoyment to us, which was greatly encouraging.

Although we were not accepted into the two Film Festivals we entered, the Lord still used the film to touch the lives of many people, and we pray He will continue to do so. We are encouraged by the positive reactions of audiences and continue to rely on God to help distribute this film. We are also very thankful to Christian Filmworks Magazine, which will be including Loving the Enemy in an up-coming edition, set to come out in March of 2008. They can be found online at http://www.christianfilmworksmagazine.com/. This opportunity is greatly appreciated.

We have finished a color-corrected version of the film, which is the version included on all currently-selling DVDs. For more information and updates from us4HIM Productions, and to buy the film, visit us online at http://www.us4him.com/.

We appreciate all those who encouraged us and helped us finish this production. We pray that those of you who have the opportunity to see the film would be touched not foremost by artistic quality, but by the message of the film, as many others have been. We hope it encourages you in your faith most of all, and is enjoyable to watch as well. Please pray for our company as we continue to pursue higher excellence in our storytelling with our future and current productions.

May God bless you all!

Below you can view the trailer. The quality has been lowered for use on GodTube.

Pearl Harbor by Christopher Carsey

2008-01-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

This winter my family was privileged to visit 2 of the islands of Hawaii. On the “capital” island of Oahu, there is a great history spot. In late 1941, Japanese planes bombed beautiful Pearl Harbor (an inlet on the southern side of the island), where the entire Pacific Fleet of the U.S Navy was stationed.
Geography of Hawaii

The Hawaiian Archipelago (chain of islands) covers some 1600 miles and consists of over 130 islands, large and small. The 8 largest islands are on the southeast side of them. The largest island of all, Hawaii, is home to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Mauna Kea (a 14,000 ft. high mountain). The second and third largest islands are Maui and Oahu. They are also the most populous ones. The other four are popular for surfing, plantations, and beautiful beaches. Another popular small island is Midway Island (the westernmost settlement) for the World War 2 battle fought there.
Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was named by natives because of the abundant pearls found there. When James Cook discovered the islands of Hawaii for Europe, people didn’t consider Pearl Harbor a suitable port because of shallow water and a great reef blocking the entrance. In the early 1900’s, the U.S Navy blasted away the coral to allow ships to dock. Soon, Pearl Harbor became an important place for the U.S, and became, as stated above, the base of the U.S Pacific Fleet, as well as Army bases.

Now, finally, we get to the important part. When the Japanese began invading China and islands close to it, the U.S began to prepare for battle with Japan in case it invaded. But, on the morning of December 7, 1941, the U.S was taken off guard. Early on, a radar station picked up a wave of planes coming from the north. When they told the officers, they thought that what the radar workers were seeing was a group of incoming American planes due that morning. It was really a fleet of Japanese planes bent on destroying all of the 8 battleships that were in the Pacific fleet.

They first struck at 7:55 am. The wave that attacked at the outset focused on the planes parked on Ford Island (an isle in the center of the Harbor). They found that the perfectly aligned planes were excellent targets. The next wave attacked the battleships. 7 of the 8 battleships were either sunk or severely damaged. The USS Arizona and the Utah became total losses. The only battleship escaping damage was the Pennsylvania.

I could go on for a while writing about the fates of the other ships, but I won’t write about that now. In 1944, the Pacific Fleet was as strong as before. The Japanese attacked because they thought that the Americans would give up after such a hard blow. But all the invasion did was make the U.S.A determined to fight.

Another historic moment came in 1998 when the last surviving battleship, the USS Missouri was pulled into the harbor. The Missouri was the ship on which the Japanese formally surrendered in 1945. I think it is cool to see where the war started (in Pearl Harbor) and ended (on the Missouri) in the same place.

Bibliography
pbs.org, 50states.com, “Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial: A Pictorial History” by Richard A. Wisniewski, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitor center, USS Arizona Memorial, USS Bowfin state historic spot, “Pearl Harbor Child” by Dorinda Nicholson, wikipedia.com, and other sources.

Movie Review - "Bella" by Geno D.

2008-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Jose is a cook at his brother's Mexican restaurant. Formerly a popular soccer player, a tragic accident brought his career to a sudden end. Nina is a struggling waitress at the same restaurant. After being late for work several times, she is fired by Manny, Jose's brother. In an attempt to help her, Jose learns that the reason for her being late was her unplanned pregnancy. Rather than go back to work, Jose invites Nina to spend the day with him on the streets of New York, making their way toward the beach. What unfolds explains the secrets of Jose's tragic past and shapes the futures of both Nina and her baby.

Bella has been hailed by many as a great film. It won the coveted Audience Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. I was able to see it at a nearby theater in November. I had been looking forward to the film for months and was quite excited to see it. Walking out of the theater after the show, I was a bit disappointed. However, the more I think about Bella, the more I like it. It's been more than a month since I saw it, and its messages still ring clear in my mind. There are hidden meanings strewn throughout the film that you don't even realize until after you've seen it and are pondering over the film.

The acting was superb for almost the entire movie. There were a few moments where it was, perhaps, a bit flat, but for the most part, it was excellent.

The direction was pretty good, and the cinematography was suprisingly well-done. It was shot almost entirely hand-held, probably mostly due to the film's low budget. Being a fan of the hand-held style (and being one who often uses it), I wasn't really bothered by this, except perhaps at a few points. The style can easily be over-the-top with too much movement, but this film handled the style pretty well.

The music was just okay. It didn't really add much to the story; it was more the acting that made this film emotional. Maybe this was on purpose; it feels like a real-life story the whole time, and perhaps the filmmakers felt that over-dramatic music would take away from the reality of the story.

Speaking of which, the story was great. However, the ending feels unsatisfactory at the time of viewing. I will discuss what I mean by this in my *spoilers* section at the end of this post.

The pro-life message in the film is very powerful. I saw an interview with Eduardo Verastagui, who plays Jose and also helped produce the film, and he stated that they had so far heard of 10 pro-life decisions as a result of the film. That makes this film a huge success, in my mind, even if it was poorly made (which it's not).

As I said earlier, I was a bit disappointed at first. I think this was because of my overly high expectations. After thinking over the film several times, I've found that the more that I think about it, the more I like it. The messages stay with you and don't feel fake. In fact, the whole movie feels sincere. It is quite evident taht a lot of heart went into the making of the film.

As far as theology goes, there were a couple references to God (Jose and his family are Catholic). At one point Jose is seen praying with rosary beads, and I think at least one other prayer is uttered, but it is not an overtly Christian movie, which is a bit disappointing. However, the film supports the fact that there is a God and the fact that one of His followers (Jose) treats others (most of the time) in a Godly manner. Bella does at least portray Christianity and God in a positive light.

Content-wise, there were only a few problems. Some of the dress is a bit immodest. There are no gratuitous or purposefully-revealing clothes worn; just some outfits that are more worldly and, a few times, a bit more low-cut than I would like to see. These outfits are not worn often, and when they are worn, like I said, they are not overtly provocative - just a bit less modest than I would have liked to see. There is not one cuss word. There is one scene that portrays an accident that, while not graphic, is a bit bloody and severely heart-wrenching. Younger viewers would probably be troubled by this scene. Also, the themes (abortion, etc...) are more for mature audiences.

The only other thing that bothered me a little bit was the fact that dating, while not outrightly condoned, did seem to be supported. For instance, it seems to be implied that Jose's younger brother has had several girlfriends, but it is in no way implied that his relationship with them wandered into immorality. He treats his current girlfriend with much respect and seems to be interested in seeking a marriage rather than simply "dating around."

In all, I recomment Bella. It is a sometimes-flawed but powerful and emotional real-life story that is very clean and well worth viewers' support.

*Spoilers*

The film's tagline boasts that Bella is "a love story that goes beyond romance." At first this seems deceiving, because Jose and Nina do not get married in the end (although it is implied that they may eventually). But perhaps that was the point. True love doesn't have to have anything to do with romance. True love is God's love. Jose shows Nina the love of Christ throughout the entire movie. That is the type of love we all must have.
I also want to mention the film's great pro-adoption message. In the end, Nina's baby is adopted by Jose (another act of love on his part). The film greatly respects the sanctity of life.

Welcome!

2008-01-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to the King's Planet! King's Planet is a newspaper run by Christian Home Schoolers. This blog will serve as the new database for articles submitted to the paper. We hope that these articles are enjoyable, educational, and edifying to all of you.

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