Growing up in the church you learn the dangers of movies. People curse
and swear. They have sex without consequences and sometimes even commit murder. I still have family that describe movies as "filth" and won't set foot in a movie theatre unless it's in a different city (or Country) and they won't be recognized. So growing up as a child of the church, I saw things in two ways: Christian and Non-Christian.

Christian music was good, Non-christian music was full of sin. It was a general rule applied to almost any situation. But as I grew up my parents began to change. We moved around quite a bit and when we finally settled it was in Hong Kong. No danger of getting recognized there. We risked a movie. Now let me back up a minute and lead up to this...

The first movie I ever saw was "Lady and the Tramp". I remember my
dad driving us into Buffalo to see it. Sitting in a big theatre watching dogs falling in love eating spaghetti.


The next movie we saw was "An American Tail". And I remember my dad telling me, as the opening credits rolled by, that this movie was produced by "Steven Spielberg" and that was a big deal. This was my first hint that my dad may have seen more movies than he'd let on. Now my father was a Pentecostal minister in the 80's. And if you're a Pentecostal minister in the 80's you just don't go to movies. I don't know if it was said or unsaid, but it was definitely understood. And yet, if my dad saw the opportunity to take us to a family movie with a good story, we went. A good story. Now that's the idea that changed everything. I remember him saying it more than once. It was the rule. So many times I can remember sitting on the couch during a particularly intense scene. My brother and I completely enthralled while my mom gets more and more nervous about what they may or may not show. And when she finally boils over the movie is paused and my dad would insist that there is a good story underneath it. And more often than not, the story was more than good. It was great.

I remember watching "Sleeping Beauty" with my dad when I was really young and him sitting be down after and saying: "That was just a story, just a fairy tale... but there's truth in it. The gifts that he gets at the end, the sword of truth and the shield of righteousness, those are real gifts. And God has given them to us." Every time I see that movie now I tear up at that part because I think of my dad. Introducing me to the armour of God at the end of a Disney movie. And God has burned an image on my spirit, that when I hear or read about the Sword of Truth I see the perfect blade, shining white, that Prince Philip holds aloft in his small cell. The shield hung around his arm, and the arrows turning into flowers. A beautiful story.

When I was nine years old I saw "Hook" in a theatre in Hong Kong. Another Spielberg movie. I saw it five times. And so I discovered movies. Stories played out like real life. Peter Pan actually flying. Luke and Darth Vader crossing lightsabers at the edge of the abyss. Superman saving a kid's life in NIAGARA FALLS! And my dad would always point out the Jesus in the movies. I remember him showing me Karate Kid. There is a moment in the movie when Daniel gets overrun by the Cobra Cai on their motorcycles and falls of his bike and down the side of a mountain. He is battered and bruised and he takes his frustrations out on his bike. He curses at it, and kicks it, and throws it in the trash. The next morning we find that Mr. Miagi has taken the bike out of the garbage, polished it up, and leaned it against Daniel's door. And I still remember my dad leaning over and saying:

"That's just like Jesus. He takes our broken things, pulls them out of the
trash, fixes them up, and gives them back better than new." Jesus in the movies. God's love on the big screen. This was news to me. I was absolutely in love with movies. I remember my parents going to the Philippines for a visit and my brother and I taking the baby-sitter to the video store and convincing her that we were allowed to watch all these
crazy movies. I don't remember which ones we got but it was nothing too bad. It was like "Lethal Weapon" and stuff. My parents have always been good about violence, and the odd swear word, but if there was sex and f-shots the movie was going off. We walked out of "The Bodyguard" as soon as masturbation was referenced. I remember just watching it again for the first time recently and bracing myself for the big "masturbation" scene. I almost missed it was so small, but my parents didn't take chances on sex stuff. And for that I'm grateful.

In 1998 I did a big thing. I took a year off movies. I didn't watch a single movie for the entire calendar year of 1999. Talk about a New Years resolution. Now, for those of you who don't watch a lot of movies let me put it in perspective. It would be like being a Blue Jay fan and taking
1992 off watching the Blue Jays. 1999 is, hands down, the single best
year in movies so far in the time I've been alive.

"The Matrix", "Magnolia", "The Sixth Sense" "The Green Mile", "Star Wars: Episode One" (which was a big deal until we actually watched the movie). The list goes on and on. And I kept my eyes shut. I would leave the party if we watched a movie. I would go home when everyone else went to the theatre. And the whole year I kept a journal. And I read A LOT. And I'm glad I did it because it introduced me to reading, something I couldn't live without. I read The Lord of the Rings for the first time that year. And exactly one year, to the day, after I watched my last movie (a miserable "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" not that I'm proud of it) I sat down with my girlfriend to watch "Life is Beautiful". And that's the night I realized God has His fingerprints on everything. And if you spend time with God, just talking to him, you'll start to recognize it everywhere. A father's love and final sacrifice. The eternal theme that drives the film "Life is Beautiful".

A film like "Pulp Fiction" that literally preaches redemption. A film about forgiveness and mercy. Second chances. Salvation.



And God's love. Robert DeNiro climbs a mountain with his weapons
bundled in a great heap hanging from a rope tied to his heal. He climbs, through rain and mud, up and up to earn a penance for his crimes. But before he reaches the top, a priest with forgiveness cuts the rope. Oskar Schindler holding his golden ring, crying. "This could have bought one more." And so God's fingerprints are visible in our stories

Because we are a creation. And God made us all so intricately. And
he loves us with a fierce love. More than we can imagine rolling all our
loves into one. And when we tell stories of life and living God's love is
shown. As God's greatness is shown in the heavens and earth, so it is shown in the works of his creation. Imagine this. A father, passing by his sons room, overhears him plucking away at an old guitar. And he is singing his own song. Now the father stops and listens, full of wonder, because it's his son. And if he wrote it his father wants to hear it. How much more is God interested in our creations. He has blessed us with so many gifts. And whatever it is, when we use it God sees it.

Watch for a good story. And look for God's fingerprints on it. They
are always there. God's love over top of everything. Art is a person
reacting to the world. A persons response. It's a contribution.
Jesus told stories. He told stories because it's how people retain
the most information. Make it personal. The Bible is full of stories.
Examples. It's a way we can live something we can't live otherwise.
Watching life. So listen to peoples stories. They are always being told.
When I watch movies now I always look for the story. Though there may
be good things and bad things that happen... if the story is honest it's
worth it. Because when a story is honest you can see God's fingerprints.
And you feel his presence as strong as if you were on your knees in prayer. And God shows me his love. And his love breaks my heart. Because there will never be a way for me to earn this love. I can never pay back my debt. My life has been bought with so great a price. And it astonishes me that He would call us children. Adopted by his great love and mercy. And us, as redeemed creation, it is in our building blocks to tell that story. For all time we have had a notion of true love. Unconditional love. A theme of selfless sacrifice. Laying your life down for a friend. And I believe that this is a theme that we ache for because we are a created bride. We were made to be with our true love and no one can separate us from our Love. And the gates of hell will not prevail
against us.

So, someday when I'm a father, I'll sit down with my kids and watch a
movie. And if things get a little tense I'll say: "This has a good story... and we don't want to miss it. Because if you're looking, and you're careful, you might be able to see God's fingerprint on it. And it can be the most beautiful thing in the world to see.