Pride and Prejudice

I watched the movie "Crash" with my husband yesterday morning. It is interesting to me how prejudices reach across every line and how everybody has them. This movie showed in an unflinchingly profound way how deep they run. Every country, culture, and creed is touched by prejudices, wars are started because of them, and whole races of people are becoming endangered because prejudices dictates so much of how we interact with one another. It made me think a lot about my own heart. What could I change? What prejudices have I developed under the guise of self-preservation? I will tell you if you are easily offended by language, and you do not have a DVD player with a language filter, you may want to refrain from watching this movie. I personally want my teenage daughters to watch it with me (editing out a couple brief scenes) because the way the topic is presented, poignantly and without a cheesy resolution. The movie touches on some nerves I think we need reminded are still there.
On another note about prejudices, we have a new Valero store that has opened in our town by people of Middle Eastern descent. Yesterday, I went inside while my husband and kids waited outside because the machine was not taking my debit card. When I went in there was some cultural music emanating loudly from the computer on the counter, and an older man shouted in a foreign language at the teenage boy who promptly cut it off. The man behind the counter told me to come back in and pay after I had pumped my gas. When I went back in my husband went with me to get a cup of coffee. The men did not even know I was there. I was the one making the transaction, and the clerk would only speak to my husband, "How are you today SIR?" (his emphasis not mine!) I was slightly offended. I understand it is a cultural thing, however, there is a part of me that realizes as a woman I would be expected to blend into the standards of their culture if I lived there, and I feel like they should do the same in this culture. Is that a prejudice? I've got a long way to go!

T13 Edition #5 - Thirteen Movies for a Deserted Island

If I were to be dropped on a deserted island, and the only thing I could have is my personal DVD player (equipped with several extra battery packs – okay suspend disbelief for a minute would ya?) and only 13 movies, here is what I would take:

1. The Passion of the Christ - when I need to remember Jesus’s sacrifice

2. Little Women - when I need to remember the value of family

3. Facing the Giants - when I need encouragement to “keep going”

4. Spiderman - when I feel like climbing a wall – or a palm tree – whatever!

5. Return to Me - when I lose heart

6. The Titanic - when I feel like I’m sinking in a cold world

7. Tuck Everlasting - when I faint at the thought of growing old

8. Oliver! – when I feel like nobody loves me

9. Cheaper by the Dozen – old version - when I think I have too many kids!

10. The Astronaut Farmer - when I need to remember how to dream (Okay – I know it is not on DVD yet

11. The Prestige – when I am bored and need to stretch my brain a bit

12. Gone With the Wind – when frankly my dear I don’t give a – oh yeah this is a family friendly blog!

13. The Sound of Music OR Fiddler on the Roof – when I feel like singing!

This list could have a few variables on any given day – but this seems to be a good mixed list of movies I’ve seen recently and ones that I’ve loved for a long time.

Wonders of God’s Creation

We have found this incredible video series that has captivated our entire family. It is called The Wonders of God's Creation. We rented them through our Netflix membership. (Which by the way celebrated the shipment of their billionth DVD shipment this weekend!) The videos are by Moody Institute of Science and take an incredible look at the wonders of God's creation. There are six videos in the series, the first of which captured us with the Milky Way and the solar system. Yesterday we watched the second one which is about planet earth. It was incredible. Travis and I were watching and one by one the children wandered in to join us and got drawn in. It had our whole family talking about things like atmosphere, space exploration, what it takes to sustain life, etc. and all of our curiosity was ignited as we watched – so much that we had to repeatedly pause the DVD to ask our resident science expert (a/k/a Daddy) questions. You can't learn things like this in a textbook.