Will You be Ready?

Recently, I was watching an American football game, but it could have been a game in any sport and in any country.

Abruptly, the coach called for one of his primary players to come out of the game and to be replaced by one of the seldom used players.

The primary player had been performing well and the situation in the game was very important because the coach’s team was about to score. Replacing the primary player made no obvious tactical sense in terms of game strategy.

The game was being broadcasted nationally and the move by the coach was so obvious that the television commentators remarked about it but had no explanation for it.

The secondary player responded well and the team scored. On the next series of plays, the coach returned the primary player to the game. After the game the coach offered no explanation for the substitution.

The player switch could have been tactical in response to something which the coach noticed about the other team. I believe that it was something else. I think it was a teaching moment.

The coach could have been telling his substitutes to not fall asleep and to be ready to act at all times. They might only be placed into the current game once or even only once in an entire season, but, when they are called upon they are expected to be ready at that moment.

The replacement player could have been daydreaming or talking to someone and not paying attention to the game.

Instead, he went into the game and executed the duties of his assigned position. If he had not been ready, the coach would have called on someone else the next time an opportunity arose.

As Mordechai said to Esther when it was her time to be called upon: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14. Italics added. Read the entire chapter with emphasis on verse 14. Mordechai’s implication is that God put Esther in the place where she needed to be in order to carry out his will. (Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)

Esther 4:1-15; 1 Samuel 3:9; Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 24:42-44; Ephesians 2:10.

Are People Afraid of the Truth?

I was walking in to my workplace when a fellow employee whom I did not know spoke to me.

"Is that a murder mystery? ... That book you are carrying."

In my hand was The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel. I planned to do some reading in the book during my lunch break from work.

As we walked, I explained that the book was a work of apologetics. It responds vigorously to the numerous modern attempts to discredit the historical accuracy of the Bible and, more specifically, its depiction of Jesus.

A strange look spread across the face of the woman. She backed away and said, "It's because of all the translations and all the edits. That's why it doesn't have any credibility." The same unsupportable, incoherent, historical fact denying, vapid popular culture, anti-intellectual charges that we hear over and over and over!

She sped up and walked quickly away, probably to escape from the crazy religious person. She never looked back. Perhaps she feared for her life.

My thought was, "Wow! You really do need to read this book." Perhaps she was afraid that she might hear something which challenged her shallow postmodernist views.
 

Film Comment: Summer of Fear

Summer of Fear, the somewhat misleading title of this 1996 made for television movie, gives the viewer no idea of what is about to happen. When you think you know what is going on, you don’t. The story does not actually produce fear in the viewer but more of an anticipation of what is about to happen, since you soon realize that something is not quite right with Simon. People expecting “blood and guts” have called it “too tame to be a thriller.” Admittedly, this is not an Oscar winning film. It is more like a film one would expect from the Lifetime Movie Network. (The film should not be confused with the more intense 1978 Wes Craven film, also titled Summer of Fear. Both films are based on the novel, Simon Says.)

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment posted this plot synopsis on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com):  “When Lucas Marshall and his family are attacked en route to their summer vacation, a passing drifter comes to their rescue. But soon after being welcomed into their home, the stranger engages the family in a treacherous game of deceit and manipulation, forcing them to realize that his encounter with them was no accident.” The film features several television actors who were once quite ubiquitous on television but who now are seldom seen.

Lucas (Gregory Harrison), a city-living middle class businessman, inherits his aunt’s summer home in a small town. While he and his family are traveling to the home for a summer of relaxation and home remodeling, they are carjacked by two thugs. The men seriously damage Lucas’ foot and ankle and he watches helplessly as they sexually molest his wife.

The only thing which prevents the men from raping the wife (Glynnis O’Connor) is the arrival of Simon (Corin Nemec), a local teenager, who chases the men away with his shotgun. The shotgun turns out to actually be just a large walking stick. Simon is a very resourceful and talented young man.

Gratefully, the family invites Simon to the summer home for a day. Soon, Simon is using their boat, fixing the malfunctioning clothes dryer, cleaning the house’s gutters, wooing the the teenaged daughter, becoming a buddy to the young pre-teen son, and, eventually, successfully seducing the mother. Simon is clearly in charge, taking over the family from the loving but ineffectual father and husband.

This is a story of deceit, guilt, psychological horror, hints of incest, anger, resentment, adultery, and a very dark, long-hidden secret seeking a resolution. It is an example of how “the sins of the fathers” can come back to haunt the children for generations to come.

Lucas ends the dangerous situation non-violently by bravely telling the truth. In the effort, he finally wins the respect of his family. He also seems to have finally come to respect himself.

Though this movie presents itself as a horror film, it ultimately is a drama about a disturbed family. Very prominent themes are personal responsibility, the destructiveness of keeping “secrets,” the generational effects of hatred and revenge, and the redemption which can come from “clearing the air.”

Walk-on-by Culture

"We live in the walk-on-by culture where if you see things, you don't get involved ... if you do, you could get stabbed, get maimed ..."  Mark Tonderai, director of the film, Hush (2009).