Matt's Musings

For more than a year, the entire focus of the NBA has been on the summer of 2010. More specifically, the focus has been on where LeBron James will hang his hat. Since he was in high school, James has been a mega force in the world of professional basketball. When he was drafted straight after high school, James was viewed as the savior for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, seven years later, James has brought the Cavs a certain level of success but a title has eluded them. Now he's at a crossroads. James is the marquee free agent this summer. And in a year packed with high-profile players looking to bounce around the league like chess pieces for hire, the balance of the entire professional league could shift. And few in the media have forgotten that. There was an added degree of tension to these NBA playoffs and when, predictably, James' team fell short of the NBA title, the speculation about his future leapt into overdrive. Many saw the Boston Celtics game six win over the C...

Great discussion last night as we looked at an interesting Christian film in "Joshua." Here is a summary of my notes and thoughts on this film. Joshua (2002) This is a film that leaves me torn because of the way it presents the Gospel. The film, based on a novel by retired Catholic priest Joseph F. Girzone, is centered on a mysterious stranger named Joshua (Tony Goldwyn) who comes to the sleepy little town of Auburn. The way he carries himself begins to have a positive effect on people, and soon it becomes clear Joshua is no ordinary man. By the end of the film he has delivered the heart of the Gospel message in a beautiful way and revealed to all that he is, in fact, Jesus returned in human form to present the Gospel to us again. I understand intellectually why Girzone told the story this way. It is very clear that the church, and by that I mean the church worldwide, has trouble conveying the heart of the Gospel message in a way that moves and convicts people. Certain denomi...

Here is a look at tonight's worksheet as we look at the film "Joshua." Title: “Joshua” (2002). Starring: Tony Goldwyn, F. Murray Abraham, and Kurt Fuller Synopsis: This is the only “Christian” film on the list. Released in 2002, the film is based on a novel written by Joseph F. Gizzone, a Catholic Priest. The film centers on a mysterious stranger, Joshua (Goldwyn), who comes to the small town of Auburn and begins changing lives through his positive example. This serves as inspiration for junior priest Father Pat (Fuller), and as an omen of bad tidings for the more cynical senior priest, Father Tardone (Abraham). Joshua begins rallying the town folk to become a community, inspiring many to join him in rebuilding a church destroyed in a winter storm. He also starts performing miracles, and many in the town begin to suspect he is more than a man, including Father Pat. Father Tardone, however, believes Joshua is establishing himself as a false prophet and gathers other local ...

The theme of today's message was friendship. One of the big ideas in the message and something I have been thinking about this week getting ready for this topic is the idea of how we develop and maintain relationships in the 21st Century. Today's world is driven by technology. It's never been easier to communicate, faster to communicate, and communication has never been less personal. You can't develop a real relationship through Twitter or via text message. People don't even use whole words when texting these days, let alone complete sentences. Sure, it makes communication faster and easier. Sometimes that's great. When you need to send a quick, simple message fast, texting is a great tool. But too often, it feels like people are trying to build whole relationships through these mediums. In the old days, people relied of face to face meetings, letters, and telephone calls. Each requires a certain amount of depth and genuine human contact — though you could deba...

For the first time this year I had a chance to attend all of the Highlands Flag Football camp. In previous years, work commitments prevented me from being a part of the camp. But having heard so much about it, I was looking forward to seeing this year's camp. I wasn't disappointed. Burnt to a crisp, but not disappointed. For three days, tons of kids and tons of volunteers gathered on the fields at Sherwood Park. There was plenty of drills and times to learn football skills, but just as important were the life lessons learned during the three days. One of the things I like best about sports is its power to teach you the skills you need to relate to others in our daily lives. This year's flag football camp offered the same. Each day campers and coaches emphasized another aspect of sportsmanship — moving from kindness, to teamwork, to leadership. Those skills help you succeed on the field, but they're also critical for succeeding on the field of life. One of the reasons I ...

I thought today I would look at the differences between a successful movie and one that missed the mark. This month we've had two action-comedy releases that dealt with a secret agent's romance with a "normal" girl and how his double life caused mayhem for the both of them. One was the flatline Katherine Heigl-Ashton Kutcher trainwreck "Killers," the other the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz film "Knight and Day." Both films have similar plots and aimed to accomplish similar things through the film, but only one really works. And there is a simple reason for that — story, character, and execution. First to story: There were huge plot holes in "Killers" and, because other elements didn't work, it really showed. It was easy to figure out where the story was going, but impossible to figure out why. It was also tough to care about where it was going or why it was going there. "Knight and Day" also boasts a somewhat predictable story. Ho...

Just when it looked like the summer movies were about to fade into oblivion, a pair of unlikely releases debuted to offer a glimmer of hope. Here's a look at new releases. Jonah Hex Starring: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, and John Malkovich Quick Take: This isn't one of the releases that offers a ray of hope. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, this is a film that presents an interesting combination of genres. Set in post Civil War times, the film feels like a hybrid of a western and a comic book film. Brolin stars as Jonah Hex, a confederate officer whose bout of conscience leads him to turn his unit into the Union Army when his commanding officer, General Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich) starts targeting civilians. Turnbull's son was killed in the process, and he blamed Hex, exacting revenge by killing Hex's wife and son and leaving him for Dead. Hex survives but brings a little bit of Hell back with him. His only real companion is a prostitute named Lilah (Fox) whose go...