Movies to Watch

Spent my evening previewing trailers over youtube. There are seven movies that will be shown from now until February that I'm excited to see.

Here they are:

1. The Pursuit of Happyness
Starring: Will Smith Based on a true story about a struggling salesman who can barely make ends meet and eventually gets evicted from his apartment. Together with his son (played by Will's real life son Jaden), he sleeps on subways and shelters by night but interns at a stock brokerage firm by day in pursuit of a better life for him and his son.






2. The Holiday
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black
Two women who live thousands of miles apart find that they have something in common: man troubles. They meet through a site called "Home Exchange" and agree to switch places and go on a holiday, Amanda (Cameron) flying to England while Iris (Kate) jetting to LA -- hoping to forget their heartaches and accidentally finding love along the way.


3. Miss Potter
Starring: Renee Zellwegger, Ewan McGregor
This is the story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness and success.


4. Thr3e
Starring: Marc Blucas
The best-selling novel by Christian fiction writer Ted Dekker is now a movie! Yay!
It's the story of an elusive psychopath murderer whose strange riddles and impossible timelines force three people into a mission to end the game before one or all of them die.

5. Catch and Release
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Juliette Lewis
A woman named Gray struggles to accept the death of her

beloved husband but soon finds out that he had been keeping

secrets she must now deal with as she rebuilds her life.

6. The Invisible
Starring: Justin Chatwin
Nick, is a high school senior with a

bright future until, in a tragic case

of mistaken identity, he is brutally

attacked by a troubled girl, Annie,

and his body is left for dead. Now in

limbo, not quite dead but invisible

to the living, his spirit can only watch

as his mother and the police search

frantically for him, unaware that he is

only hours away from truly perishing.

7. Music and Lyrics

Starring: Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant

The one that I'm looking forward to most! Hugh Grant plays

an 80's has-been who joins a reality show of musician has-beens and gets tasked to write a new song for this ala Christian Aguilera pop star. Drew plays the Hugh's plant waterer whom he discovers has a knack for creating beautiful lyrics to go with his music. Another romantic comedy must-see!

Fast Talk

It's just about that time of the year again -- a time I truly look forward to. I'm not talking about Christmas (although I do love Christmas!) or New Year's (although I love New Year's, too). I'm talking about the annual 7-day Prayer and Fasting that we as a church do every start of the year.

If we backtrack to three years ago, the word 'fast' would have only meant 'quick' to me. I've never been the type to deprive myself of food. Even when trying to lose weight, I've always resorted to physical activity but never to dieting. So when I first heard about fasting as a new Christian, I was skeptical. What on earth would not eating my meals do other than possibly giving me an ulcer?

So even if I didn't really understand what it was about, I decided to go for it. I wanted to see for myself what all the flack was about. I wanted more of God and if this was the way to have more of Him in my life and hear from Him, then I had nothing to lose.

On the second day of Fasting, I realized I hadn't just 'lost nothing,' I gained what (or Who) was priceless.

I remember singing a worship song at Galleria at lunchtime that second day and the Lord clearly told me that it was time to move on, to give up my job -- a job I enjoyed and loved. I was very fond of earrings at that time and I don't know why it was my first reaction but my automatic response was "But, Lord, if I quit my job, how will I buy all my earrings?" That exact moment, my knees buckled (that time I thought it was because I was hungry) and I lost my balance and found myself sitting on my bible. I felt led to look at the page my bible was on and when I did, the words of Isaiah 3:18-20 literally jumped right out of the pages. It said "In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and veils, the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charm.."

That was the first time I knew for sure that I had clearly heard from God.

For the first time in the two years I'd worked there, that second day of fasting, my fellow associate F found me in tears at my desk. I wanted out.

It didn't happen just yet that year and even now I feel I had delayed obeying as long as I could (not something I am proud of) but what I did realize then was that God wanted me somewhere else. At that time, I just didn't know where that somewhere was.

***

Prayer and Fasting is always a powerful time for me. I have experienced countless breakthroughs and encounters with God during and after fasting. So I'm excited. If you want to read more about fasting, check out this great book by Pastor Joey Bonifacio called The Mystery of the Empty Stomach (available at any Victory Resource Center). It explains what fasting is and what it's not and answers a lot of the questions that I usually get about fasting.