Cultivating the Christian Imagination

Choice overload is a real thing! Marketers tell us that giving a customer too many choices can paralyze them. The wise business will find a way to creatively limit the choices available. Ever been to In-N-Out? They have three combos. Netflix and Amazon Prime...you have paralyzed us! Who hasn't wasted an entire evening looking for something good to watch? And ask my wife, I don't like wasting time. I often resort to Rotten Tomatoes to see how the critics liked a film or show, but the critics can overvalue the ground-breaking, progressive, bleak, soul-crushing stories. Sometimes we need to watch those, but I don't always want to...and they usually aren't appropriate for families. FOUR THINGS

STEP ONE: If you are cast in the ensemble, don’t worry: your director has something personal against you. So just navigate yourself to the front of the group numbers, with your “good side” facing out. STEP TWO: Always be ready to shower your director with compliments; if you can’t think of anything positive, don’t forget…you’re an actor. STEP THREE: When the director isn’t looking, give plenty of notes to your fellow actors on how they can perform better. Even if the director doesn’t know it, he needs your expertise. STEP FOUR: Use every moment to perfect your craft. If a novice actor asks you to help her with lines or choreography, decline, as your time is too valuable…unless the director i

The year is 2045 in Columbus, OH. The world has moved forward technologically, but in other ways...miles backward. Remember Back to the Future Part II? "These days," our hero Wade Watts tells us, "reality is a bummer. Everyone's looking for a way to escape,..." One solution is the Oasis: a virtual reality (VR) world that allows you to be wherever you want, whoever you want, and do whatever you want. Salvation! Right? Oh, and even better, the late designer of the Oasis, Halliday, has hidden a secret inside the VR world. And the first to find it will be rich and powerful! Everyone else is jumping in...should we enter this 2 hour and 20 minute, 175 million Spielberg-saturated nostalgic film? Le

That bubble is terrifying, alien, and probably destroyed my husband...so, I'm going in! But should you? I've rallied some guides for you. Warning: partial spoilers ahead. >>WHAT IS IT ABOUT? An alien substance hits earth creating a bubble-like zone (referred to as "The Shimmer") that transforms whatever it touches. Lena (Natalie Portman), along with a group of scientists, ventures into the mysterious bubble to discover what happened to her husband. Watch the trailer. The film is rated R. >>WHERE TO FIND IT? It's on Redbox right now. You can also rent it on Amazon. >>WHAT DO OTHERS SAY? GENERAL CRITICS Rotten Tomatoes: Critics -- 88%; Audience -- 66%. Critics consensus: "Annihilation backs u

My uncle is a remarkable artist. His paintings live in a number of our extended family homes. As a child I remember walking into my grandfather’s office and staring at the large oil painting of Jesus suffering on the cross. My uncle designed it so Jesus looked right into your eyes. This is one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of the term “Christian art.” What do you think of? Maybe Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper or Thomas Kinkade’s Cobblestone Bridge. Or maybe the wall decor in Hobby Lobby that always seems to be 50% to 90% off! I know the term brings to mind different things to different people. But what is Christian art? As an artist who is a Christian, this question i

Editor's Note: This is the second post in a series on John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, "Before There Was George Lucas or J.R.R. Tolkien - There was John Bunyan." Read the first post here. I remember we used to only have three sources for the evening news: ABC, CBS, or NBC. Contrast that with our present day. There is One News Now, MSNBC, CNN, and a plethora of outlets where one can “catch the latest.” And that is not to mention the multitude of news apps accessible on our digital devices. The news media constantly bombards us by a barrage of bad news consisting of the latest human misery, death, destruction, governmental scandal, or natural disaster. And it all comes at a harried and hurrie