I never got to hear Corrie ten Boom in person but I’ve heard many of her stories. When I saw this devotional, I quickly grabbed it up to read. True to my expectations, Corrie used stories from her life to inspire us to live the Christian life. No matter how dark the situation, we can hold on to God and find something to be grateful for. Sometimes, these things are surprising, like having flies in the room. What could possibly be good about that? Well, you’ll need to read God is my Hiding Place for yourself.
These devotions are quick reads (only two or three pages) will definitely leave you with the thought, “If she can get through that, I can get through this!”
I’ll admit it. I was raised in a predominantly white community.
No, 100% white; however, my parents did their best to teach us about other races and cultures. We had people of all races come through our home over the course of my life; from exchange students to troubled teens to school kids coming out to visit a dairy farm. I have nieces and nephews from every culture, but Asian.
But that doesn’t mean I understand the issues people of color face every day of their life. However, we were taught to look at all people the same, just as Jesus does.
APPALLED
I have watched many a movie about civil rights. And I am always appalled at the treatment of others. It never made any sense to me. Moving to the south 40 years ago, opened my eyes again towards the attitudes of white folk. I am glad to say, that things have improved over the last 40 years.
But that doesn’t mean that racism is no more. I fear, it will always be around because people are not basically good. We are all sinners by birth. And until God changes us from the inside out, there will be hatred and racism, and bullying.
Go Figure
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So my son suggested to me I needed to watch this movie, Hidden Figures. Now, I’m sure that most of us are familiar with Allen Shepherd, John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Shepherd. And when we watch movies about going to space, we see there is a room full of men with computers.
The truth is we seldom learn about the people doing the “real work”; all those behind the scenes. Not to diminish the bravery of our astronauts and the intelligence of the engineers, but there were many others involved in these ventures. And a lot of them were women.
Yeah, who knew that women
and people of color
can add, subtract, and do figures. 😉
I never knew or even thought about this fact. Going back to the 1950’s and early 60’s, those younger than myself tend to not realize that computers were a brand new thing. I have heard that we went to the moon with a computer no stronger than the first game console that came out while I was a kid.
So, Who Was Doing the Figures?
None, other than a room full of women of color; all jammed into a room in a building a half-mile away. They called these women “computers”. Watching the treatment of these women brings tears to my eyes. The movie is expressly about three women who worked for NASA.
1. Katherine Goble Johnson who did the calculating for the room full of engineers; checking their work and such.
2. Mary Jackson – an engineer who fought the system to even get her engineering degree completed because the courses needed were not offered in “colored” schools.
3. Dorothy Vaughn – Supervisor of the ‘computers’ and later computer lab supervisor.
Big Steps for Mankind
We are familiar with Neil Armstrong’s statement when he stepped on the moon, “One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.” I’d like to suggest a few smaller steps I noticed in this movie. Steps made toward better treatment of people of color.
Spoiler Alert – Stop here if you don’t want tto see the movie first
Step One
Katherine was a child prodigy mathematician given the opportunity to acquire schooling and end up at NASA. She was the first woman (and women of color) requested to come over to the engineers’ group to check their math. The men in this room would not share the same coffee maker with her. She was required to wear a dress and heels, and only pearls, which she could not afford. Restrooms at that time were still designated for whites and “coloreds”. So in her dress and heels, she would ‘run’ to the west building (half-mile away) any time she needed to use the restroom.
When asked where she disappeared to every day, she gave a blunt answer about all that she was dealing with because of the color of her skin. In the Movie, Al Harrison is a composite of three men. But as the script went Mr. Harrison removed the “colored” coffee pot. and took everyone down to the restrooms and pulled down the designating signs.
“From now on, here at NASA, we all pee the same color.”
He may not have been that concerned about civil rights but more about efficiency and beating the Russians into space. But all the same, this was a “step for equal rights”.
Step Two
Mary Jackson was waiting to be promoted to engineer. But no one told her that extra required courses had been added to the requirements. Unfortunately, these courses were not offered at the black colleges. They did offer them as a night class at the local high school… a segregated high school. Mary would not be stopped she went al the way to court to get permission to take her classes.
She did her homework, too; learning all about the judge she was to stand before. She celebrated all the firsts that he had accomplished, then shared how she was the first in her family to go to college. But now, her dream to graduate was being thwarted because she was not allowed in the building where the course was taught.
“only the night courses”, the judge allowed.
But this was a brave and huge step toward equality.
Step Three
Dorothy Vaughn supervised all the women in the room of “computers”. She had been suprervising them for over a year without a promotion or increase of pay. She kept asking about this until she learned that the new IBM was arriving. Funny, but all those male engineers could not figure out how to run the thing. She stayed after hours reading the manuals until she had the thing running. Then she taught all her lady computers how to program the IBM.
What a surprise one day when they came in to ask her why she was in the computer room. She was running numbers and they were right! After the orbit of the moon, the NASA computer women were “no longer needed”, but Dorothy was ready to step into the job of computer supervisor. When they asked her to take the job, she would not leave her girls behind. Every one of them went with her to the computer room.
Another step for Women of Color!
There was one more great statement coming from John Glenn as he prepared for his flight around the earth that I loved,
“Let’s get the girl to check the numbers”
I celebrate that we have made great strides against racism and for equality over the past 60 years; from opportunities in education to sports and all the way to the White House. We can be proud of the strides we have made, but let’s not stop here. Let’s find our way to equality for all.
We can all find small ways to make a big difference for people of color.
“The Straight Story” starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, and Harry Dean Stanton was trending lately so we decided to watch it, too. We were glad we did!
It was based on a true story of two brothers who had been estranged for over ten years. Now getting up in years, they lived over 300 miles apart. Until the day one of them had a stroke. The story is about the second brother trying to get to his brother to make amends while he still had a chance.
No longer able to drive, Alvin Straight travels the 260 miles on his lawnmower, pulling a trailer. Along the way, he meets and converses with many people. These meetings, in my book, were God-ordained as he shares wisdom with them about family and other things.
Other than an exciting ride down a hill with no breaks, there is not a lot of excitement in the film but there are many lessons each of us can take to heart.
Some Wisdom from the Movie
You can break one stick but bundle them together and they are unbreakable. That bundle is family.
The worst part of getting old is remembering when you were young.
On Getting Old: Learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. Let the little stuff go.
A brother is a brother.
In Conclusion
Go find this one and watch it together as a family. I think you might learn something.
In looking for some hope in our scary world, I’ve been watching movies and reading books based on true stories. I’ll tell you I have shed more tears, both of sorrow and joy, on this journey hearing the stories of others.
Recently, my husband and I have ventured on The Dove Channel. As you might expect, it is a Christian based channel with stories of hope and love and JESUS. This week we watched Rev. Roger Minassian’s amazing story of perseverance and love in a movie called Streets of Hope.
“at the age of 53 left the security of his pastorate to step outside his comfort zone to do the truly amazing. Knowing nothing about gang youth, he took to the streets and transformed our city, ravaged by gang violence, by taking hundreds of gang kids off of our streets. It is also the story of Santos Delgado, a gang member, who at age 16 had no future and little hope. He knew his future was either prison or death. His girlfriend was pregnant. He had to make life-changing decisions. This film is about taking risks, embracing change, overcoming the impossible, and finding hope.”
I found myself hoping against hope with every decision Santos made. I felt the frustration of Rev. Roger Minassian as time after time kids went back to the gangs, sometimes ending in death.
Perseverance was the key. Rev Roger Minassian had to remind himself over and over that God placed him there for a purpose. Imagine how he must have felt at times, wanting to give up, but remembering that if he could reach even one kid it would be worth it all. I was thrilled to see that indeed, he reached way more than 1 kid.
Streets of Hope Recommendation
Streets of Hope is a keeper. Find it on Amazon, Vudu, and YouTube. Check out the trailer below.
What happens when you decide to watch only true story movies?
You’re emotions get all flummoxed.
I told my husband that I wanted to watch some movies based on true stories. Wow! He did some searching and we were on our way to a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I’ll try to give a little overview.
Who doesn’t love Mr. Rogers? And, of course, we love everything Tom Hanks has done. Sometimes you wonder if the person you see on TV is the same in person. IF you know Tom Hanks. you know he does his homework when he does a real-life movie. And “Neighborhood” was no different.
You might watch this and say, “This really wasn’t about Mr. Rogers.” It’s true. Rogers wasn’t the main character; the reporter was. But this movie showed the effect Mr. Rogers has on everyone he met. When you were in his presence, he was totally focused on you. One Hundred Percent.
Lessons Learned: I’d like people to say this about me.
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Tom Hanks stars in this Clint Eastwood movie. I actually remember when this pilot landed a disabled jet on the Hudson River. It was a pretty scary event as it came not long after the 911 event. New Yorkers felt a bit uneasy when a plane is flying out from its normal paths.
We often don’t realize the effect it has on someone (and their family) to be thrown into the limelight basically for just doing their job. The side we didn’t see was all the investigating going on in the background. While we were praising Mr. Sully for saving all the lives on his plane, the FAA was trying to blame him for not returning to the airport. It kind of opens your eyes to a lot.
Eastwood is another one that does his homework before making a movie. I appreciate that. He has done several of this caliber lately. Some have said that the movie was lackluster, but I will remind you that life is often lackluster. I like how it showed us the “other side” of fame.
Lessons Learned? Hmmm. Don’t fly… anywhere? haha. Or maybe make sure you have everything in order every time you leave home. OR Things are not always as they seem.
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Even living as a “Bum” he actually did pretty well for himself. He moved here and there meeting people, establishing friendships.
But ultimately, he wanted to go to the wild of Alaska, so he would pick up and move on. He finally, made it to the remote parts of Alaska crossing the frozen Tundra: ALONE.
Lessons Learned: True happiness only comes when it is shared.
Here’s one for the dog lovers. In the adventure film Togo, a team of sled dogs races across Alaska to deliver much-needed medicine. The film is inspired by a true event that took place in 1925.
It might sound familiar because there was a Disney movie made years earlier called “Balto”. Here is the true story: A relay of 20 sled dog teams then traveled a distance of 674 miles from Nenana to Nome. Leonhard Seppala and his sled dog team led by Togo traveled 340 miles roundtrip to pick up the serum and start bringing it back, eventually handing it off to Charlie Olson’s team. One of his dogs was named Balto.
Lessons Learned: You don’t always get the reward you deserve. Don’t sweat it. It’s teamwork that counts.
Your Turn: Legacy Link Up
Any good lessons learned for leaving a legacy? Any good movies that teach values or lead to good discussions?
I have never been a fan of scary movies or movies about beliefs different from my own. But I do believe that things can be learned from nearly anything. My parents always took the opportunity to discuss movies together with us. We would talk about differences in beliefs. The Bible often became our favorite reference when it came to deciding if Hollywood had the story right. This taught us discernment throughout life. We learned to not always take things at face value.
So, I decided to try to do the same for you and offer some help on how to discuss “family movies” with your family. November 2nd is the traditional Mexican celebration of The Day of the Dead. Let’s talk about the 2017 Disney release of Coco.
Coco Movie Synopsis
This film tells of a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who dreamed of becoming a famous musician like his long-dead idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. He attempted to visit the idol’s funeral and play the de la Cruz heritage guitar on his tombstone.Unfortunately, his actions even took him to a place called Land of the Dead, where the dead are. Poor again, there he will meet with his ancestors who forbid the presence of music in the middle of their family.
I was hesitant to watch the movie because of the premise. But I did watch it. Once I got past the going to the Land of the Dead and skeletons and such, I found many valuable lessons that can be learned. I felt plenty of emotions from sadness to joy. Overall, the movie was enjoyable. And I did like the theme of the importance of family.
Sadly, Disney Pixar promotes a lot of “other” religions in their recent films for families. This is dangerous because these ideas and beliefs can find their way into what are children believe as truth. This is an underhanded way that society promotes its “tolerance” world values.
On the other hand, if we use these movies as tools to teach our children, it can be a very good thing. It’s important to have enough openness to listen and learn. When we discuss our beliefs in contrast to the movie, we can teach the truths of our own faith.
Some Questions to Inspire Discussion
The Afterlife
Talk about your ancestors. Who they were/ What they did.
Discuss Jesus’ resurrection/ The rapture/second coming/ Lazarus
The Day of the Dead
Should we build a shrine to our ancestors? Can dead people come back to life and talk with us.
Discuss Jesus’ Parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31)
Is it ok to have memorials?
Discuss Joshua building a memorial after crossing the Jordan. (Joshua 3 & 4) How is this memorial different than building a shrine.
Forgiveness/Unforgiveness
Who was unforgiving in the story of Coco?
What kind of problems did it cause in the family?
Discuss these problems and how they could be resolved.
Are there problems in our own life caused by unforgiveness?
Discuss the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. (Matthew 18:21-35)
Other points on the movie
If you would like other pros and cons about the movie, Focus on the Family has a terrific blog called Plugged-in where you can get a Biblical worldview of movies and other media being offered to our children.
Hope this is helpful. If you would like to see more of these, please comment below.
I just finished watching a movie, The Same Kind of Different as Me. I had to come to tell you about it immediately while my heart was still moved. This movie is based on the true story of an international art dealer who cheated on his wife. His wife forgave him but for penance, she required him to come with her and serve at a local homeless shelter. She dreams of an angry homeless man that is very wise. Low and behold he showed up at the shelter. Deborah tells her husband to befriend him. It took time and several tries but he finally makes friends with him and the story begins. I don’t want to spoil the story so I will stop there.
I will say that the homeless man taught me two things I hope to not forget:
We are all homeless, just looking for the way Home. Everyone has a past we are not proud of and we are homeless because this world is not our home. We need to look beyond what we see (race, status, education) and realize that God is the only way home. We are all the same kind of different and we need to come together to help each other make it home.
Some people need to have the “hell” loved out of them. Sometimes, we must look deep, really deep to find the good in people. But it is there. We can’t give up on them. Keep loving them until they find the God that loves them.
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At the time of this writing, rent it for $2.99. However, Sign up for a trial month on Amazon Video membership for only $3
Same Kind of Different is based on the book written by the actual people that experienced this God Story. It has some great actors like Jon Voight, Greg Kinnear, and Renne’ Zellweger. You will also love a beautiful song by Brad Paisley, Stubborn Angels.
Brad Paisley’s Stubborn Angel
True Story Told by Those who Experienced it.
If you are more of a book reader than a moviegoer, you can pick the book up in hardcover, softcover, Kindle, audiobook or CD MP3. There’s is even a children’s version to help you teach your children about kindness.
As we approach Mother’s Day, I thought I’d give an extra bonus movie review. I’m always reminded of this old movie that my daughter and I found while homeschooling. We were learning about immigration at the time and came across this wonderful black & white movie based on the book, Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes. {affilitate}
The story of Kathryn’s recollection of her life growing up being immigrants to America from Norway. She recalls all the ups and downs and financial struggles of being in a new land.
I Remember Mama – movie plot
Loosely based on Kathryn Forbes’ book -Mama’s Bank Account-, this film actually contains richer detail and more intricate characterizations. In turn-of-the-century San Francisco, young Katrina Hansen chronicles episodes of life with her extended family, who combine traditional Norwegian values with “modern” American ways. So successful that it became a popular radio show, and then a TV sitcom, both with Barbara Bel Geddes and Irene Dunne from the film.
It’s a wonderful movie for Mother’s Day because their mother was the rock in the family. You will also meet their quirky aunts and benevolent uncle. A heartwarming story.
Another Review
In the format of a story, aspiring writer Katrin Hanson recollects her life growing up in the early twentieth century San Francisco with her Norwegian immigrant family: her siblings Nels, Christine and Dagmar; and her Papa and Mama named Lars and Martha. Mama is the practical one in the family. One of the family’s rituals is doing the household financial accounts every Saturday night.
Using the money brought home by Papa and what is kept in their petty cash tin, Mama would allocate it to the weekly bills.
“It’s good – we do not have to go to the bank” is what Mama would say if they had enough money. Luckily, they never had to go to the bank as dipping into their bank account was the worst thing they could have done.
Beyond her practicality, Mama is truthful and compassionate and will do anything for those she loves. This not only includes her husband and children but also her “scary” Uncle Chris & her trio of sisters. – All four of whom can be difficult to love much of the time. – And their poor boarder, Mr. Hyde, who provides more to the family in his readings than any financial compensation ever could. But Katrin and her siblings learn of a lie told by Mama, all in the name of protecting them.
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I’ve been feverishly watching Christmas movies this month. And yet, I didn’t watch a single new Christmas movie. Unless you count watching Die Hard with Bruce Willis a Christmas movie. I did sit down and watch that with my son this year. And you’re right; it has nothing to do with Christmas other than it happens at a Christmas party.
We have over 40 Christmas movies in our possession and I was content to watch the ones we had. I didn’t even check out Hallmark Movie Channel and see the line-up of new movies they had. Not a single one. I really wasn’t much into a romance kind of mood this year. When I look at my list here, I see that I was more in a military mood. Though some did have a romance in the story.
Anyway, I watched the oldies (like Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and thought maybe you are looking for something different to watch yourself. Everyone else has offered to traditional and popular ones, so here are a few to choose from that are still around to rent and purchase. Continue reading →
“Breathe” is an inspiring true story. After being paralyzed by polio at age 28, Robin Cavendish refuses to be immobile and with his loyal wife, Diana, becomes an advocate for the severely disabled. “Breathe” is the feature-film directing debut of actor Andy Serkis.
I love to see how others have made their way through trials. And this movie fast became a great biography. Celebrating the lives of ones who made a huge difference for the severely disabled. So many good takeaways from the movie. The first being, “Don’t sell yourself short. Your life isn’t useless.” And then especially the loyalty and commitment of his wife and other friends. We can all learn something from this life.
Deeply Touching
“Breathe” deeply touched my heart by the determination of Robin and Diana to never give up. Even though things seemed hopeless or they had no one backing them, they moved forward and made things happen. In the end, they helped countless severely disabled people have a fulfilling life instead of one of depression with no hope.
This movie also gently spoke of allowing terminally ill patients the privilege of dying on their own terms but not only that but also that a change of venue can bring an amazing change of view on one’s viewpoint of life for the severely disabled. Each life has value and should be treated that way. It isn’t right to put people away from view in a hospital ward just because they are severely handicapped. We should be doing whatever we can to make life better for them.
In the end, Robin chose to end his life because his body could not take any more from artificial breathing. But he lived a fulfilling life for twenty years. His son got to know him and love him. He was able to die gracefully with his family nearby without a traumatic ending.
I was spellbound by this movie, cheering at times and crying at other times. Beautifully done.
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