Photo courtesy of Sherwood Pictures Ministry, Inc. from the movie "Courageous"
My heart was simply thrilled when I saw “Courageous,” the new blockbuster Christian feature film that chronicles the lives of five men and their challenge to be courageous. Though this movie centers on men, the women and children in their lives learn just what courageous should look like by witnessing their husbands and fathers. Watching “Courageous” made me think of the seven qualities of a strong believer in 2 Peter 1 and how modeling may be our strongest weapon in helping our children achieve for themselves virtue, the first quality in the list.
The definition of virtue in 2 Peter 1:5 is “courage, fortitude, resolution” and many people, including youths, lack this. Though some are born with virtue, others aren’t, so this is something we must teach or cultivate in our children so they will stand firm on God’s word. They need virtue in our day where everything seems relative, children are largely indifferent and social media helps develop and destroy trends and friends with lightening speed. Read the rest at EEW Magazine.
Courageous father Nathan meets Derrick, a boy interested in his daughter Jade
What Do You Think? Wednesday
I don’t know who concerns me more, wishy washy or people pleasing people. Or maybe my concern lies more with exaggerators and hasty and hesitant folks. Or maybe I can’t make up my mind which concerns me more because none of these groups seems to be able to make up their minds to stick with an honorable decision and to be okay with that. In most instances, they lack virtue, a quality that is sorely missing in society at large and seems particularly challenging for youths.
When I was young I took modern dance and gymnastics and gave them up for Saturday morning cartoons and a body a little more chunky than the average body type. I refused to take piano lessons though my grandfather practically begged me and said he would pay for the lessons. I quit the high school newspaper staff after a conflict with the teacher. Don’t get me wrong: I was in the National Honor Society, senior class secretary and president of a teen leadership group. I stuck to some things, but I wish I had the courage, fortitude, resolution, all biblical definitions of virtue, to finish some of those things that I quit. Now that I’m older, instead of trying to be in everything, I seek to have virtue concerning what really matters, particularly my faith and family. This is the message of Courageous, the new box office hit movie that presents what I believe to be holistic Christians seeking to fully live out their faith. Though the central focus is on five men striving to be the best fathers, and, by extension for some, husbands they can be, this movie challenges all to step up and be more than “good enough,” as main character Adam Mitchell referred to his role as father. With humor injected throughout the heartfelt (even some heartbreaking) scenes, this drama causes visceral reactions.
“It made us cry; it made us laugh; it made us cling to our neighbor’s hand; it made us want more, more of the movie and also more as a man to become a better father, not just good enough,” says Musings reader and one of my mentees, Kamil Pitts, referring to her and her husband, Gary. “We wanted to be more not just for our own kids but for our fatherless and motherless youth around us. What would happen if we all just took action as mothers and fathers, doing what we are called to do—not just the basics but our very best? I’m ready for a resolution.”
If you haven’t seen Courageous yet, I encourage you to do so. Also, all you women ready like Kamil for a resolution to be a strong biblical woman, I challenge you to join me in reading “The Resolution for Women,” by Priscilla Shirer. You can even go to her blog to participate in the online book club, too. When you see the movie and read the book, please let me know what you think.
Courageous, the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, opened last weekend in theaters across the country and Canada. Go to the Courageous website for more information.
Mine was a word weekend, filled with messages from movies, conversations with friends, dreams I got to meditate on long without interruption from alarms, electronic and human. And these words soothed and stretched me, made me contemplate my life, what it is and what I want it to be. Words have the power to do that.
The filling started Friday in a packed theater for the power-packed movie Courageous, the new feature film by the Kendricks brothers. I’ll give more of a review of that on Wednesday, but this film challenged my faith and made me want to make the most use of how I fill space with words. Perhaps with a more raw approach so did Higher Ground, the film based on the memoir by Carolyn Briggs that I saw on Saturday.
Vera Farmiga in Higher Ground, picture from the New York Times
Higher Ground detailed the coming to Christian faith story of Corinne, a woman who meditated on words, created images with them, wrote songs, felt alive and free with them. It was others who tried to control her with words and the Word, the Bible itself. When we don’t know for ourselves the freedom found in the Word, bondage is a guarantee. With the Word at our disposal, we, like Corinne, search for something more, something better and turn out bound and empty, discovering what we had was exactly what we needed. When our faith is true, the Word, Jesus Himself, has penetrated our being and given us all we need. Though I love words, I recognize they have no writing power for good and no effect on me for bad when I am filled with the Word and subject to Him.
My One Thousand Gifts List
#251-260
Sitting in the big chair and feeding Justus a banana
My husband’s diligence in getting the car towed and repaired
Christen’s gratitude for me reading to her and her having more gratitude
Justus’ language explosion
Tabitha calling to ask if we needed her to pick up something for us from Target
The labor cost being the lowest at the mechanic we chose (and this was the mechanic Tabitha told us about unsolicited and the only one we could get in contact with)
Not paying as much as initially anticipated to get the car out of the impound lot
Listening to, advising and praying for a friend in distress
Nicole’s heartfelt note about her view of me as a wife, mother, minister and friend (Proverbs 12:17)
My hubby speaking sweet desires to me
Next week I join a panel of married women to answer questions of women who’ve been through a six week marriage class. Some of their questions are typical of those struggling to overcome strong black womanhood, such as one wanting to know if she was wrong to disregard her husband’s budget commands or another asking how she can serve her husband with a good attitude when she’s upset with him. There are no easy answers for those entrenched in a marital power struggle. But the standard answer comes from 1 Peter 3:1-6, the crux of the verses revealing that our behavior, not our words, should be used to influence our husband to believe, and therefore do, the right thing. Our actions, not our nagging, will be our best advocate.
To be a biblical wife takes some resolve, and resolve is also what our husbands and the fathers in our lives need to be the men God has called them to be. This is the premise of Courageous, a new movie by Sherwood Pictures, the same company who brought you Fireproof, the movie that started a marriage revolution with its accompanying book The Love Dare. Like Fireproof challenged married couples, Courageous will challenge men to resolve to be the best fathers and husbands that they can be. Though the movie is geared toward men, Courageous will have collateral materials for men and women, including the book by Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer, The Resolution for Women. Shirer has even begun a seven-week countdown to the September release of the movie and her book with The Resolution Revolution Project. She is challenging women to embrace the 13 resolutions for women included in her book through weekly discussions of them on her blog. Together the resolutions cover all aspects of our lives as women, like being a champion of biblical femininity, being defined by the word of God and being content. Check out the movie trailer and Shirer’s blog and let me know what you think. Courageous may be a movie you women can see with your spouses and let the movie do the talking for you.
