I’ve been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we’d never see his like again because he was one of a kind.

I was wrong!

Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he’s a she.

I gotta say. I think he might be right.

What goes through your mind when you read that?

I’m ashamed to admit that the first thing that I thought was, “I guess he was surprised when he got to hell.”  What a horrible response.  A man dies without Jesus and my initial reaction is not to be sad about that, but to be glad that I’ve been proven right.  Just shows me that I’ve still got a long way to go.

As Christians, we need to leave behind the Us vs. Them mentality and adopt an Us for Them way of life.  It’s not about proving that we are right, it’s about showing Christ’s love to an unbelieving world.

Pop quiz is over.  I failed.  How’d you do?

The point is, I had a good situation. Which is why most people probably thought I was crazy for leaving in May 2006. It was a really tough decision, but one that I knew God was prompting me to make. You see, for many years now, I’ve felt like God has called me into the film industry. That’s certainly what he has gifted me for. As much as I loved working at North Point, it just wasn’t getting me any closer to that goal. So after much prayer and counsel, I took a big leap of faith and left to pursue the dream God had placed in my heart.

Skip forward a year or so. (It was an eventful year, but that’s another post.) My brother and I were making our first feature film! This was such a God thing. We wrote the script in record time. The story just fell into place. All of the locations were relatively easy to secure. Our actors and crew were wonderful. The money was divinely provided. God’s hand was all over it. It was obvious that He was pulling the strings because we couldn’t have made it happen on our own. (We’ve certainly tried enough times only to get nowhere.) We were sure God was going to do great things with this film. Visions of Sundance danced in our heads.

Flash forward till now. The movie will be 100% finished in another month or so. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It really is a wonderful film and audiences at the preview screenings have loved it. (All glory to God. Again, couldn’t have done it without Him.) However, Sundance came and went. In fact every major festival came and went. Nothing but a bunch of rejection letters. So we sent the film to a bunch of distributors. Nothing. It would seem that God has forgotten this film that He Himself brought together.

That brings me to where I’ve been for the last few weeks… a baby on the way wondering why I ever left the safety and security of North Point. I had it good there. Great salary. Superb benefits. Wonderful people to work with. Incredible opportunities. Why did I leave again?

Then I read this morning in Numbers 13-14 about the spies that Moses sent into the promised land to check things out. God had just recently delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. They had seen his miraculous works time and time again. They were in the wilderness, just days away from entering the promised land. So these spies return and tell the people that the promised land is everything that God had said it was. Flowing with milk and honey. Clusters of grapes so big, they had to be put on a pole and carried by two men. It was a good place.

But there was a catch. It was also inhabited by giants. This put the children of Israel into complain mode. “Why did we ever leave Egypt? We had it good there. Plenty of food. It was safe and secure. If we go into the promised land, we’ll be killed by the giants.” Etc. Etc. Then Caleb, one of the spies, says to the people:

“7b The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” Numbers 14:7b-9

When I read that, I knew I was acting like the Israelites (something I do a lot.) Instead of believing in the God who brought the movie together and has lead us to this point, I was longing for the days in Egypt and wishing I had never followed God to begin with. In the story, God decides not to let the current generation enter the promised land and makes them wander in the wilderness for 40 years until everyone older than 20 dies off.

In my story, I’m staying the course and trusting that God has a plan for this film - the film that He brought together. Even though we’ve got the giants of distribution ahead, we serve a big God who has proven his power and faithfulness time and time again. Who knows, maybe we’re just days away from the promised land!

Are you longing for Egypt or following God into the unknown? Have you even left Egypt yet?! What’s your God-given, God-sized dream?

Lanny is a good friend of mine and my brother. He’s been incredibly helpful and supportive of us through the years, and I’m all too happy to give him some link love. Seriously, people. Go subscribe to Lanny’s blog. He’s kicked it off with a really inspiring story of a guy named Jack.

This got me thinking about Scientology and how so many people could buy into such a crazy “religion” with it’s talk of thetans and Xenu and the Galactic Confederacy and something about volcanoes and hydrogen bombs. Then it hit me. These people aren’t buying into a religion. They’re buying into a person. They’re buying into Tom or Travolta or whichever scientologist was kind enough to stop and ask them about their day or visit them at the hospital. No one has ever heard about Xenu and thetans and said, “sign me up for that!” It’s all about the relationships.

Which brings me to the church. The Bible has some things in it that, to an outsider, are pretty crazy in their own right. Jesus raising the dead and raising from the dead. The parting of the Red Sea. Jonah surviving in a fishes belly for three days. There’s even a talking donkey in Numbers 22. A talking donkey!

Often times, the church gets caught up in defending or downplaying some of the crazier aspects of Christianity. We’ll spend all of our time trying to convince you that the Earth was created in 7 days or that dinosaurs walked with man, but the truth is that most people who come to experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ do so because of the believers in their life that took the time to express the love of Christ and care about them. It’s all about the relationships. That’s the essence of relational evangelism. Now go out there and be a Tom Cruise Christian.

What do you think? Are you trying to convince unbelievers or investing in them?

I still buy toys every once in a while, but not very often. That’s why I’m so excited to be having a son! I get to buy toys again! I’ve already started visiting Toys R Us and making a Christmas list for me… er… the baby. I actually just bought our baby’s first toys while we were out at Disneyland. Star Wars squeaky toys of course.

Toys are so great because they unlock the imagination and ignite our creativity. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that God wants us to play with toys. Don’t believe me? Just look as some of the great toys God created.

Whirly Gigs - That’s what I call them. I’m not sure what the official name is, but boy are they fun. They grow on a certain type of tree (anyone know what kind?) You throw them up in the air and they twirl to the ground like a helicopter. Coolest thing ever. Hours of fun.

Dandelions - Who hasn’t spent a lazy summer afternoon picking dandelions and making wishes before blowing all the parachutes off. Don’t tell me they were seeds. They were parachutes with little tiny soldiers on the ends

Magnolia Grenades - These are my favorites. They grow on magnolia trees and eventually fall off and cover the ground underneath. You can’t tell me that God didn’t have ten year old boys in mind when he designed these babies. They look just like grenades! Snap the end off and lob it at your brother for a world class grenade war.

What were your favorite toys?

God’s beautiful world
God’s beautiful world
I love God’s beautiful world

Hmm. There had to be more to it than that, but I can’t for the life of me remember. The point is that my mom was really good about helping us understand how nature glorifies God. I guess this has always stuck with me because I never feel closer to God than when I’m looking at his creation.

We’re in California on vacation for the next week. Today we drove from LA to San Diego and stopped in Laguna Beach. I felt really close to God there. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. This picture doesn’t adequately capture the majesty of the pacific ocean crashing against the rocks, but it does have three of the things I love the most in it. 1. My beautiful wife 2. My baby boy (just barely visible in a nice looking baby bump) 3. God’s beautiful world.

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small.
Psalm 104:24-25

What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been?

Musings of a Brave China Doll - This is my lovely wife Becca’s site. She started this a couple years back as a way of journaling our journey through infertility. If you want to see the pain of infertility, read back through the blogs. She is a wonderful writer and has been pretty transparent with her feelings on there. Now that we’re expecting our first child in November, her blog is mostly about that.

Refocus Ministry - This is my dad’s blog. I don’t know anyone as strong in his faith as my dad. God has put him through more than his fair share of trials, but he still clings to Jesus no matter what. He is an amazing man of God. You need to be reading his blog.

Train Up The Child - This is my mom’s blog about teaching biblical principles to children. She’s incredible with young children and has a lot of really cool teaching activities that she’s going to be sharing. She’s new to the whole blogging world and just now getting the hang of it. Bear with her as she figures it out. If you have young children or one on the way, you definitely want to stay tuned to her blog.

More blogroll building to come.  What blogs are you reading? Have you gotten your parents to start blogging?

My brother is the complete opposite of me. He gets an idea and is off and running. I really admire this in him. If I was pursuing the film career on my own, I wouldn’t be anywhere. He really pushes me to get things done and stop waiting for perfect. I think God puts people in our lives that compliment our weaknesses. This is certainly true with my brother. He’s been a real blessing in my life and I think we make a great team.

Who has God put in your life that is complimenting your weaknesses?