Movie Reviews

This past weekend, I helped the Timmermans move into their new house on Friday afternoon/evening and I helped an elderly couple that my dad knows move into their new apartment on Saturday morning. I also managed to fit in a couple of drive-in movies with my brother and the Korean kids that live with us.

The drive-in set started with The Dukes of Hazzard. That was a fun thrillbilly flick, exactly as advertised. There were many hijinks and even more car crashes. I had assumed that they would just be messing with Boss Hog and committing petty acts of vandalism against him or whatnot but the Dukes proceeded to commit a litany of crimes. Not to spoil things, but being chased by cops through modern-day Atlanta as a news helicopter follows you isn't so easy to explain away. In any case, the car chases were fun, the humour was southern and there was an actual plot. Excellent drive-in fare.

The second feature was The Corpse Bride by Tim Burton. In case you haven't heard, it's a cool stop-motion movie about a guy that accidentally marries a corpse. Hilarity ensues. While the K kids that were with me and my brother loved the first movie, they hated this movie and didn't understand the concepts at all. Their english is pretty good but this went right over their heads. For my part, it was exactly what I expected from Tim Burton. And since I like his stuff, I liked this movie. I thought that I would be annoyed by the fact that Johnny Depp shows up in yet another Burton film but actually, he suited the role very well and I enjoyed his performance.

As my final review, my brother and I also caught Transporter 2 at the movie theatre last week. The first Transporter was one of those B-level action movies that you watch in the hope that you luck out and it's actually good, and then you're quite surprised to find that it is good. This second movie followed the formula of the first but overly emphasized that this transporter of illegal goods actually has a heart of gold. Aw look, he loves the kid. Aw look, he's nice to the beleaguered mother. Aw look, he's risking his own life to save them.

Aside from that, the fighting was everything you wish Jackie Chan would do these days. The lead actor would repeatedly get caught fighting entire groups of bad guys and he would use equipment that he conveniantly found laying around to fight them off. There may be no purpose in using a fire hose as a weapon but it sure leads to entertaining tricks. Even so, there were two stunts that were too idiotic even for me. One involved a crashing plane and one involved a car flipping over a jump. The car thing, in particular, was so bad that I openly booed the movie at that point. The car stunts in the Dukes of Hazzrd were way better and more believeable, as far as cars go.

In the end, though, the action in this movie made up for sappy character points and a couple of Boo-urns stunts. Since I like almost every movie I see, I can't really give poor marks to any of them. I enjoyed 'em all and I got my money's worth, which is all that I ever ask.

Take It or Leave It

I was talking to somebody at my church two weeks ago and there's a program in my church that I hadn't thought too much about before: Take It or Leave It.

My church recently revamped our website (shout out to Steve!) and this section of our website comes complete with easy access to the Take or Leave forms. You can also contact the church directly, of course. It hopefully provides an easy stream to donate certain household items and to see what is currently needed.

These kinds of programs have been done in the past in many places, though sometimes it devolves into a way to trash bad clothes. This may be a little more cutting edge as far as technology goes, but the thing that impacted me wasn't the program...

It's all about the people.

This person that I was talking to related stories of recent drop-offs that he had done. One home had three children living there and none of them had beds. In another home, there were four children and they ate their meals every day on the floor because they didn't have a table. One woman was ecstatic when they arrived with an apartment-sized washer because she had never had such a "luxury" before. Many children that they have contact with didn't have anything whatsoever to bring to school with them at the beginning of September.

I've heard many stories from many sources about the homeless problem here in London, but the needs are more far-reaching even if people do provide a home for their families. I have mentioned these stories to a few people and it can come as a shock, but the gap between the Haves and the Have Nots in our city may be quite the chasm.

The web site currently states a need for ten beds. How hard would it be for me to buy a new bunk bed set at a local auction or at Wal-Mart? It's time to see some action.

Congrats, Welcome and Freaky Fish

Congratulations to the Timmermans, who sold their house last week and will be moving into the new house this coming weekend on Friday afternoon and Saturday. I'll be bringing my van and helping out on Friday night. If anyone wants to join in the fun, go ahead and contact them. (Joel, Elyse)

Welcome back, Jillian. Jillian Pierce has returned after several years in a foreign land and she is back in London again on a permanent basis. She has started her first year of nursing at Fanshawe. I know way too many around my age that are becoming nurses these days. My count's up to 5 now, I think.

As a reminder, I'm inviting guys over to my house from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm this coming Sunday for poker and pizza. Get a hold of me if'n you want to join us.

In weird news, how about this freak fish? That's a great picture.

In other news, there was a study done that suggests that people that keep their emotions in check during upsetting events tend to have poor memory of those events. There were some times growing up that I remember as being pleasant while my brother remembers them as much darker. Our temperaments used to be fairly polarised. While I am aware of my emotional state during stressful times, I usually try not to act out of emotion. My brother used to have a classic red temper. I wonder if our dispositions effected our memory fo the same events.

Google People

Does anyone else around here google for people that they know? Do you google people that you recently met?

It's odd. As a computer geek, I figure that anything on the web is fair game. However, I've met different people over the years that think it's an invasion of privacy or that it's creepy to perform a couple of basic queries. Most just find it weird that I would so such a thing. I think it's a conveniant way to find out more about a person, even if it's usually a fruitless search.

Hopefully everyone has searched for their own name at some point just to see how famous (or anonymous) they are on the web. As for me, "Jamie Grant" isn't unique enough to come up with anything near the top about me. The best bet is to search for "Jamie A. Grant", in which case I popup at #2 on Google and in three of the top 10 positions. I get similar results even with a blog search. Ah well, maybe this post will help my cause. *g*

So? Anyone?

Prophetic Misnomer?

Re: Prophetic Worship
Dan suggested that charismatic Christians, and me in particular, might use the word "prophetic" too often for ideas that may be spiritual but are not specifically prophetic. (Disclaimer: This post gets into Christian theology via examples from my personal experience. It's not intended for non-Christians and it might seem weird to non-Christians and Christians alike.)

Well now, let's discuss the meaning of the word prophetic, shall we? From what I understand, there are two general kinds of prophecies. The first is a message and the second is blessing. If we concentrate solely on the prophetic from God then the messages can be used to warn or instruct the church or the world, and blessings are meant to build up the church and speak life to the world.

Not being an educated scholar on this matter, I'm guessing that such a simple summary might be a little too simple. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So when it comes to musical worship, how can an instrument by itself and without words be used as a prophetic voice?

In stories like David's ministry to Saul, it shows that music can help alleviate oppression from Satan over another person. In today's context, that might apply to times that I'm standing on stage while someone at the altar is struggling with something. If I'm on my congas, I might beat out some warfare rhythms over that person. Alternatively, if that person is dealing with depression then I might break out something more hopeful, something to symbolize God's light starting to pierce the darkness. I suppose the first kind would be intercessory worship, while the second kind is a prophetic message to that person. (Dan's comments in my previous post about mis-use of the word prophetic would come into play here.)

At other times, the congregation may be silently praying as we wait for the Holy Spirit to move. Sometimes in situations like this, I might bust out a sudden smack-down on my drums, alerting everyone to pay attention. Prophetic message. Other times, I might gradually build up a rhythm, crescendoing over ten seconds or 10 minutes, indicating to everyone that the time to wait is over and the time to participate is beginning. That's not prophetic so much as worship leading, though it is a message.

I've heard of one person that walked through the crowd at an altar, playing a violin over people and seeing them healed as a direct result. That might be considered a prophetic message of healing, but maybe that is better considered prayer for healing.

An example of prophetic blessing through music might be times when someone on a piano plays something for a person, telling them that God thinks that they're beautiful. Or it might be a comforting tune, telling a person that God cares and that God is there for them.

So when I reflect on the various examples above and the messages that I give during worship, I think that Dan has a good point in suggesting that I applied the term "prophetic" too liberally. I do use musical worship expressions to give prophetic messages and prophetic blessings to people, and those things I would label as prophetic instrumental worship. At other times, there is a spiritual power in my worship that is certainly inspired but I should not use the term "prophetic" in describing it. Thanks, Dan.

On a more general note, we can take certain acts of worship like raising our hands and assign different meanings to the same motion. Raising our hands with our palms up might mean surrender to God, but it might also mean that we're receiving God's blessing. In the same way, similar expressions on a musical instrument can mean different things, depending on the person playing.

'Nuff said?

Fun and Fiction

I hung out with my Little Brother yesterday and we went to the Western Fair. We had a good time with various games and shows. We saw a trampoline act with a couple of guys from the Canadian Men's team, including one 16-year old who is competing in Holland next week. We caught a pig race and we finished off the evening with a tractor pull, which I had never seen before.

One of the acts that we saw was a lumberjack contest. I was cheering and booing as expected and I'm afraid that I embarassed my Little. At one point, he poked me and asked why I was being so loud. I tried to explain that cheering at an event is well and good but I don't think he agreed. Heh.

The only problem with the Western Fair is how much money is costs...and speaking of which, I remember how much money Richard spent on Tara on their first date together, when he took her to the Western Fair. Happy third anniversary, mes amis!

As a different point of interest, I've been immersed in various sci-fi novels recently. All that science that they jam into the stories is so crazy, and yet it's usually based on real-world theories and experiments. The newest author that I've started to read is Stephen Baxter. So while I'm having fun with the weirdest aspects of science, I come across articles like this that try to explain why the most far-out designs for space shuttles simply won't work and that we have to stick with the tried-and-true because it's the only thing that can work. Stupid facts, getting in the way of my fiction.

Birthdays and Other Things

Happy Birthday, Ma et Laura! We celebrated both of their birthdays at the Mandarin today. I have a couple of pictures that I will put at the end of this post.

Heads up to any guys that read this blog. I'm inviting y'all over to play poker at my house on Sunday, September 25 at 1:00 pm. We'll play with poker chips and you can bring a couple of bucks for the main pot. If we have a ten dollar pot that will be good. I'll also get some pizza and you can bring a couple of bucks for that as well, though that is not necesary. If you're a cash-strapped student, consider it a friendly and free get together.

Congratulations to Terry Arsenault. My old roomie is now an official Nerds on Site guy with his own "franchise." He has the slick red beetle and everything. With his technical expertise, his great sales experience and his drive, I'm sure that he'll do quite well.

Congratulations to the two most important women in my life:

Stealing a wish:

Prophetic Worship

I was involved in some worship this past week that God was all over. Some of the ministering worship that we did evidentally helped heal some people, and some of the warfare worship that we did was pretty powerful. For my part, the congas and percussive instruments that I was using lent themselves to stepping forward in a prophetic ministry at various times over the weekend.

God has placed an annointing on musical ministry. Even without singing and without words, instruments can be used all by themselves to allow God and the Holy Spirit to move. That may be a new concept for some people but my experience shows that a humble guitar quietly strumming or an rythmic attack on the drums can be very effective in the spiritual realm. More important than my own experience, the Bible has plenty of stories that show how this works.

One of my favourite examples involves David and Saul in the Old Testament. Did you know that Saul met David before the Goliath stuff happened in 1 Samuel 17? Indeed. In 1 Samuel 16:14-23, David was called into Saul's service because Saul was being tormented by evil spirits. Back in the day, everyone clearly understood the power of musical worship and Saul's attendants recommended David. And so regularly from that time on, David would play his harp and "the evil spirit would leave" Saul. Not to say that musical worship was a magic potion because later on in chapters 18 and 19, after the Goliath heroics, Saul tried to kill David with a spear out of jealousy while David plays his harp.

There are other stories that we could reference as well. In 1 Samuel 10, after Saul is annointed but before he becomes king, Samuel instructs him to take a trip. Saul comes across a musical band of prophets and he is changed as a result.

In 2 Kings 3:14-16, Elisha needs to ask God for advice for the king and he asks for a harpist. It says that "when the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha."

There are a couple of other stories like that, showing the power of music and praise to God. For me, I think part of it is that music has a way of hitting our hearts and our souls directly. Music doesn't need to pass through our heads and be interpreted (though it can be). It can hit us in our deepest parts, allowing God to touch us in ways that we might not understand. It can be more of a Spirit-to-spirit message. There are other explanations for the power of music, I suppose, but that one works for me.

Related Post: Prophetic Misnomer?

Return to Braeside

So I spent the long weekend at Braeside Camp as part of the worship team. I left from London mid-afternoon on Thursday with almost all of our sound equipment jammed to the roof in my van. We played for one service that evening and then I came home very late that night so that I could be at work on Friday. On Friday afternoon I returned to camp and I stayed there both Friday night and Saturday night.

The camp had free accomodations for every member of the team plus our immediate families, if our families were joining us. I shared a very nice cabin with Justin, one of our vocalists/guitarists. It had a private bathroom, fridge, microwave and the whole bit so it was quite nice even if it was a little girly as far as the decorations went. They also gave each of us tickets for free meals and free late night snacks, so I took full advantage of that. I've never been in this kind of position before so I felt very well treated.

In addition to Thursday evening, our band played Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening and Sunday morning and evening. Thanks to Al Hamilton's gear, our sound system was pounding the floors quite nicely. Not that everyone loves booming music but we had a lot of fun with it. :)

I played percussion all weekend. My hands were pretty sore at the beginning of each practice and it will take a few days for the swelling to go down completely. There was plenty of altar time for us to minister in music and plenty of free-flow worship, which I love. I also had the chance to dance and jump around before God at various points. I particularly enjoyed the fact that I was using the church's two congas since I feel like I was able to minister prophetically on the drums at certain times.

There were various prophecies and words from God during the various services, as I expected. As one example, there was an eighteen year old guy that spoke a word during the final service, after the musical worship but before the sermon. It was a long analogy/parable about someone being trapped in a room with a window. This person blocks the window to block the sun coming in, preferring to use candles and lighters until all of the artifical light sources have run out. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the sun that people are blocking out of their lives. At night, the light of the sun is still reflected into the room by the moon, which represents the Christians.

The speaker came up after the guy was done speaking and asked the guy in the projector booth to tell everyone what the speaker had told him just three minutes before. The guy in the booth said that he had changed the set of powerpoint slides at the speaker's request, which he then displayed on the screens. What was the title of the newly-chosen sermon? "The Light Source."

So fun stuff like that happened all weekend long. A bunch of people were saved, some were filled with the Holy Spirit, etc. Honestly, I can't think of a way that I would rather spend a weekend then ministering in worship for hours each day. It was the ideal weekend.

News & Links

Yep, it's finally here. R2D2's holograph, "Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." Check out this interview with the inventor of a 3D float-in-the-air computer monitor.

The Toronto Star had an interesting article today that rated the Top 5 boo-ings that have evere happened at the SkyDome. As I'm sure you're all aware, Rafael Palmeiro and the Orioles were playing there this past weekend and Rafael was batting for the first time after his (laughable) 10-day suspension for testing positive for steroids. That's a big deal because earlier in the year he vehemently denied ever using steroids when he appeared before a US Congressional hearing, wagging his finger at them in emphasis. We Canadians booed him so loudly that he put in ear plugs and then later cotton swabs as well. He looked like quite the fool in the highlight clips.

Mike has arrived in South Korea and he has a blog post about his first impressions. Of course, if he thinks that Incheon is big (population: 2.2 million) then he should check out Seoul (population: 10.8 million). Heh.

And for the record, I chose to keep my new Tablet PC after two weeks of testing. I'm away for all of this weekend at Braeside Camp, as I wrote about here. I know several people that are planning on going out there to Paris (Ontario) for the Saturday night service, so if anyone wants directions then contact me.