scottiblog

We watched a video last night to help fill up the time. It belongs to one of the guys. My favorite song is called “Praise You In This Storm.” Awesome stuff. I need to buy this album.

Praise You In This Storm

I was sure by now, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it’s still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
“I’m with you”
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I’ll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I’ve cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can’t find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

The Perfect Stranger:

Nikki Cominsky is a successful attorney - troubled by the fact that her life isn’t perfect. One day, a mysterious invitation shows up on her desk that reads, “You are invited to Dinner with Jesus of Nazareth.” Thinking it’s a prank, she shows up - only to find herself in the middle of a whirlwind evening of debate and revelation - with the most unforgettable man she would ever meet.

Once you get past the objection of having someone claim to be Jesus, and appearing in a story outside of the Biblical context (not a small obstacle for some) this was a pretty interesting movie. It did a great job of explaining why you can’t pay for your own sins, why you have to have the shed blood of Jesus.

I had thought that it might be just a little “too girlie” to show to the guys, but they really liked it. The ones I asked, said they would love to see it again.

I got another challenge from my online acquaintance. I debated with myself if I should even deal with him… in the end decided that I would.

Since I am a tad paranoid… And I don’t want anyone to hack this site, I decided to deal with it anonymously. So I created another blog, email account and flickr account to keep it all separate from this blog.

After showing a rather questionable movie without seeing it first, I made a promise to the guys that I would see all movies before I showed them. So now I preview everything, usually I watch the movie I plan to see on the Sabbath before I plan to show it. I show most of the movies that I get, but there are some that don’t make the cut.

Bless You, Prison is one of them that I decided not to show. But I figured I should start reviewing the “no shows” too. Along with the reason I decided not to show them.

Bless You, Prison is the story of a woman in Romania (or Czechoslovakia?) that is arrested and imprisoned for several years. It was never clear to me why she was arrested, but then, I don’t think she ever knew what the reason was. She never stood trial, she was just sent to various prisons, eventually ending up in a concentration camp building some bridge or something for the Stalinists.

The movie follows her journey of faith as she learns to lean on God during her ordeals. It was actually a good story, and in many ways had a very good message. I probably would have given this movie three paws.

The reason I decided not to show it, is that the torture scenes were just too graphic. In the first prison she is in, she is shown being beaten with rubber hoses, and being dowsed with cold water so she would stay conscious. It was just too much for me. I would be careful who I recommended this movie to, and if you’ve seen it, you may think I over reacted to those scenes. And maybe I did, but after watching it, and thinking about it, that’s the decision I made.

On Thursday, I showed The Gaither Vocal Band - Give It Away, out at the prison. It’s always a bit iffy to show a music video, because musical tastes are so subjective. But the guys seemed to like it.

I liked the video ( I love Barbershop/Gospel Quartets) but I was a little disappointed in the fact that David Phelps was no longer a member of GVB. He has an amazing voice, so I was really looking forward to hearing him.

But he’s not on this video.

His replacement was a guy named Wes Hampton. Who has a nice enough tenor voice, but he’s no Dave Phelps…

The baritone, Marshall Hall, has a really nice voice. Maybe even better than Mark Lowry’s. Sorry, Mark.

The music was good, I particularly liked the song “I Catch ‘Em, God Cleans ‘Em.” I thought there was a bit too much fluff added. Though some of it was funny. The personal interviews with Marshall Hall and Wes Hampton were good. But I don’t really need to watch the guys horsing around on a fishing boat.

I give this video three paws. It could have been better, but for what it was… it was enjoyable.

I got my CD on Tuesday. I’m really enjoying it.  I wanted to share a snippet from the last bit on the CD. It’s a spiel about gratitude called “Advice for Mr. Millionaire.” Aviad says:

I’m a Jew. And my job is to be the light to the Gentiles, and to show them how to walk with God. With His word, and truth. That’s what I’m here for.

Which put me in mind of a Scripture

For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
For he is the messenger of YHVH of hosts.
Malachi 2:7 NKJV

After listening to Aviad Cohen’s testimony, about how powerfully TPOTC effected him, I changed my mind about never showing it again. The guys have been asking to see it for a couple of months, so last week I told them we’d watch it, bring their friends.

I decided to try to put the stuff I didn’t like about the movie out of the way, and try to watch it for the good stuff that was there. Difficult, but I think I managed to only roll my eyes a couple of times when Peter kept calling Mary “Mother.”

The one thing that I have been thinking about, and seeing the Gethsemane scene made me see it for the first time…

There was a moment when Y’shua didn’t want to do it. When I saw it, it actually made me gasp.

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless , not as I will, but as You will.”
Matt 26:39 NKJV

I’ve read that before. I’ve even prayed it. But I never really saw before that there was a moment when He didn’t want to do it. I can’t begin to understand why He wanted to die for me, but I’m awfully glad He was willing to submit the Father’s will in that moment.

It’s been a rough couple of days at work. We’ve had to fly out patients three nights in a row. I can’t even remember what Sunday night’s patient was flown out for… But yesterday and today, were just kind of freak things. Stuff that makes you really stop to think if you’re ready to Meet Your Maker.

I hope you are. Because you just never know when your time is up. Have you trusted Jesus to forgive your sins and save you? If not, don’t wait. You may not have “later” to change your mind.

Eternity is a long time, and Hell is a very bad place to spend eternity.

I got a package notice for the Post Office. Yay! My CD must be here!! Or, you know… not. It was a package of Hebrew Books for my stepdad. Which on any other day would be exciting, but not when I was looking for my package. So, maybe tomorrow…

Oh, I gotta share this, I got an email confirmation of my CD order from CDBaby, it’s a hoot:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, April 20th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all
exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh…

–
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby

It makes me want to order another CD from them to see if they only have one message like that, or if it changes with each order.

It’s funny how God seems to keep the same number of guys, but they switch in and switch out.

So, there’s R. who is the only original member left.  He’s got about 10 months to go.  He’s had a rough couple of weeks.  He used to work on one of the outside work crews, but something happened (some kind of contraband was found) and since no one would admit to it (or snitch on who did it)  all the guys were punished.  R. lost his job, and got moved out of the honors dorm.  He’s trying not to be angry about it.  I keep telling him, that maybe God needed him in dorm 2 to witness to someone.

D3 had stopped coming to Bible Study about two months ago.  I’m not sure why.  The last couple of times he was there, he was very quiet. More so than usual.  And his mood seemed dark.  I don’t know what was up with him, and I never got another chance to talk to him.  He was shipped out to release closer to home.  Pray for him.

C had been in our group for about 6 weeks, and he was an interesting guy.  Young, about 25, and seemed to be on fire for God and His Word.  But he had some issues with Jesus being the “only way”  He got shipped out last week.

CJ has been coming for three weeks.  He’s an odd duck.  Young (25 or so) and has something to say about everything.  Sometimes very inappropriate stuff.  I don’t have a good feel for why he’s coming to Bible Study.  He doesn’t seem all that interested, and yet he comes, and participates.

And there’s JJ. He’s about my age.  And he’s working on his GED.  He really wants to get it before he gets out, in about 90 days or so.  He seems to be really seeking the Lord, he says he’s born again.  He’s also really enjoying the Bible Study.

I was approached by another guy who said he and his buddy will be coming, but so far they either haven’t gotten kyted out or have changed their minds.