Christmas is just a few weeks away and the Advent season is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on God's love for you through the miracle of the virgin birth.

I’ve been making some changes to this blog over the past few months, beginning with the current theme which I plan to keep for at least awhile. I’ve learned that changing themes is one thing, but adjusting CSS code, tweaking plug-ins, fixing widgets and the like needs to happen concurrently with any updates, otherwise vital statistics and other background information can be temporarily lost.

I’m not someone who likes to make a big deal about blog house keeping, but I thought I’d let you know what I’m doing so that you can keep pace with these changes.

A few weeks back I added a Friends page which currently shows just two other Christian blogs. I plan on updating that page (probably in January, long after the holiday season is over) by including additional sites that I like and think you’d be interested in as well. Not too long ago I added the Entrecard widget to this site which has brought in some fresh traffic while giving me the opportunity to connect with other Christian bloggers. When I find something that I like, I’ll be adding that blog here as well.

Last month this site quietly marked its first anniversary, a milestone that I did not miss, but chose to let slip by. Clearly, I want to honor the Lord with this blog and I give to Him all the honor, glory and praise for his work in my life and for allowing me to share His truth with you.  At first, I didn’t accept comments as I wanted to concentrate on writing and not building a dialogue, but I lifted that restriction early in the summer to allow people to share their thoughts. I appreciate everyone who has participated including those people who simply like to lurk.

The newest feature to this blog is an Archives section which I posted today. I plan on tweaking the Snazzy Archives plug-in which powers this section to make it easier to navigate, but I do like having every post I’ve ever written filed neatly on one page, kind of like a glossary or index. What is especially neat about this plug-in is that you can either collapse the links or show them with a photograph and a brief summary. I prefer the latter, but I won’t be doing that until I fix some of the related coding to suit the blog’s layout.

I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas season which can be both hectic and immensely enjoyable. Our family is picking and choosing which seasonal events we plan to attend keeping in mind that the weeks fly by quickly, but we don’t want to crowd everything else out and lose what is most important to us — Jesus came so that we might live more abundantly, He died to give us eternal life, and He rose so that we will be with Him forever.

It seems that few things escape my attention these days, for better or for worse.

Being that I derive the bulk of my work through online sources, I’m logged onto my computer more than I care to admit.  This allows me to surf the ‘net in between my projects, visiting certain news sites and other carefully chosen web pages to keep pace with what is happening in the world.

Certainly, I don’t find everything of value online, missing the occasional edifying story and learning
about it much later from other sources. A recent example of that was the release of the movie “Fireproof” a truly wonderful Christ-centered story directed by the brothers who produced “Facing the Giants” in 2006. Providence interceded to make sure that I not only learned about the movie, but that my wife and I would see it in the theater together this week.

I’ll explain how God got us to the theater later, after I share with you my review of the movie.

Never Leave Your Partner Behind

Did you know that the flame of marriage can just as easily flicker as it can burn brightly? Likely, if you’ve been married for some time, you understand how marriages have their ups and downs, going through tough times as well as sailing smoothly on placid seas with a gentle wind at the back.

Fireproof addresses those marriages where love has grown cold, the place where couples are taking each other for granted and have forgotten their first love. From the movie’s beginning, we learn that Caleb and Catherine are living in a strained relationship, seven years of a tough marriage that is about to reach the breaking point. Caleb, who is the Captain of the local fire department, lives by the motto — Never leave your partner behind — when coaching his underlings. Unfortunately, he long ago left his wife behind and his marriage is going up in flames.

The Plot

Without revealing too much about the story line, I can tell you that Caleb and Catherine reached a crisis point where she filed for divorce, shortly after he was introduced to a book, The Love Dare, which encouraged him to take a forty day journey to win back the heart of his wife. During the midst of that journey, Caleb surrendered his life to Jesus Christ, but the trials only worsened. Caleb was tested beyond what he could have imagined, finding himself questioning his own motives and wondering if he truly loved Catherine.

Aside from the plot, I was very impressed by the quality of the production. Kirk Cameron, who played Caleb, was the one notable “Hollywood” actor in the film, a devoted Christian who in younger years was in “Full House” and, later, played in three of the “Left Behind” movies. The remaining actors and actresses were mostly local folks, including congregants from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, the church where brothers and co-producers Alex and Stephen Kendrick serve as associate pastors.

The acting was of a very good quality and the story line was real, not stilted. I remarked to several people after seeing the film that I was glad that it was much more realistic than some of the Billy Graham movies I had seen years ago. In those pictures, the story line wasn’t always very strong with the usual “you need Jesus” theme overtly emphasized. True, we do need Jesus, but lives are not always outwardly changed immediately. We still go through time times, sometimes even more so after we accept the Lord.

Final Showing This Weekend?

Fireproof has had a successful run since being released on September 26th, grossing more than $31 million to date. This is extremely good especially considering that the budget for the film was just $500,000. Facing the Giants was also low budget fare — costing just $100,000 to produce. But, that movie returned 100-fold with receipts topping ten million dollars when all was said and done.

Christians from all backgrounds have been embracing Fireproof, but if you still want to see it on the big screen, then this weekend may be the last one for many movie houses. With new blockbuster hits being released, the squeeze is on and Fireproof may soon be squeezed out. Thankfully, the DVD version should come out in late January just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Simply Providential

So, how did God get my attention about Fireproof? Well, he used someone other than my wife to encourage us to see the movie. Last week, when I was enroute to California on a business trip, one of the last people to board the plane was a man who chose to sit in my row. I was occupying the aisle seat while the other two seats were empty. He took the window position and we had an empty seat between us for our four hour journey westward.

Well, I soon learned that he was a Christian and I affirmed my faith in Jesus with Him. We talked about a number of different matters before he showed me his copy of The Love Dare and explained how the book was related to the movie, Fireproof. Needless to say, when we departed in Phoenix to change planes to our final destinations I knew that Freddie was a new friend who also brought with him an important message from God: see the movie!

The Love Dare

When I mentioned how God had arranged that Freddie and I sat together, and our related conversations, my wife’s face brightened. I agreed that we should see the movie and we did so while our children were in school this past Tuesday. Hey, I may be a cheap date but it was the best opportunity for us to see the movie (matinee, no babysitter fee) and I am glad that we did.

Later, after the movie was over, my wife (Ruthie) and I departed as she went to pick up our children at school while I went to the local Christian bookstore in search of a special gift. I purchased two copies of The Love Dare and I picked up the companion marriage kit with CD which we’ll view at some point together. We’ve already started reading our respective copies of the book, starting what will hopefully be a life changing journey together.

I’m thrilled to know that Fireproof and The Love Dare have impacted the lives of so many people over the last few months and I encourage all married couples to take the time to view the movie, even to do the The Love Dare. Even if your spouse isn’t willing to read the book (or see the movie) go ahead take the dare yourself. Sometimes the heart that needs to be changed the most is our own, but only if you are bold enough to dare yourself to that first.

How about you? Have you seen Fireproof yet? Have you read The Love Dare? If so, please share your thoughts by adding your comment. I would love to get as much feedback as possible.