the tindog coffeehouse

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Previously:
The story behind ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

While I don’t have a son, I do have two young daughters, and any father of young kids can instantly relate to the lyrics of the song below, “Follow Me” by Remedy Drive. There are times when kids ask deep and complicated questions that are difficult to answer, but more often than not, they just want to spend time with their daddy.

I try to be the best father I can for my kids, and as the song says, I don’t want to let them down. In the end, I hope I will have done enough and set the right example for my kids to follow. But more importantly, I pray that they’ll keep running toward “this hope that I can’t see”, Jesus Christ.

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I had my doubts about the movie adaptation of Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz after reading unChristian author Gabe Lyons’ review of the screenplay. After seeing this teaser trailer, though, I’m doubting no more.

It looks amazing.

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About a week ago, we finally got around to seeing the animated movie How To Train Your Dragon. It’s a great movie, and the kids loved it. Of course, when it first came out, I couldn’t help but to joke that it looked nothing like the book, that book being Donald Miller’s To Own A Dragon.

Interestingly, though, I think there might be some thematic similarities between the two.

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I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.

After that I liked jazz music.

Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.

I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.

– Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

Author Donald Miller has announced on his blog that the movie adaptation of Blue Like Jazz has been put on hold indefinitely. Believe it or not, I’m really sad to hear it.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post reacting to a review of the screenplay. I felt that the review (by unChristian author Gabe Lyons) made the movie sound like an attack on conservative Christians, and I wasn’t at all happy about that. The post even caught the attention of Steve Taylor, who co-wrote the screenplay and was the movie’s producer.

Judging by my earlier statements, you’d think I would be thrilled to hear that the movie has been shelved, but that’s the furthest from the truth. In reality, I would love to see the movie be produced, albeit without the kind of liberal agenda Lyons portends. Could that be done? Could you write a screenplay about a young Christian coming of age at an extremely liberal school like Reed College without causing conservatives “necessary affliction” (as Lyons puts it)? I’m sure you can, although Miller and Taylor may disagree.

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I finally got around to watching Man on Fire. In the movie, Denzel Washington plays a bodyguard named Creasy who pursues the kidnappers of a little girl named Pita (played by Dakota Fanning). In the end, Pita is rescued unharmed and returned to her mother but only after Creasy willingly surrenders his life in exchange for hers.

Christian blogger Jon Acuff has written about how the movie is a perfect metaphor for how Jesus willingly gave His life as a ransom for us:

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