The highly anticipated third part of the Hobbit Trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies comes out this week. This is Peter Jackson’s third installment in the story of Bilbo Baggins and his journey with his dwarfish friends to take back what is rightfully theirs. Don’t worry you can keep reading there are no spoilers, in fact this is not even going to be a review. It would be unfair to take away the fantastic “ending” of this journey. However there are some great lessons we could all learn from. Lessons Learned from the Battle of the Five Armies “Thorin. You gave a promise.” – Bilbo Baggins- the innocence of Bilbo is challenged as we are when someone goes against their word. No matter how big or small, dwarf or man, a promise is a promise. “The town is lost save the gold” – the greed of money is many times held even above that of humankind. We can look in our own lives to those business owners, churches and even in our own families. Humankind many times will worry about how much they can save rather than how many. “If more of us valued home above gold, it would be a merrier world.” – In a word where the mighty dollar represents power, it also brings pain. We forsake what is right, moral and good just to make more. If we valued the things at home, like love, family and comfort the world would be a much happier place. “If this is love, I don’t want […]

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Vision Comes From Within When you look for a movie to watch over the next couple of weeks the pickings are slim. It almost seems that family movies get buried behind movies like John Wick starring Keanu Reeves which people will go see just because it is Keanu. Then there is Ouija which no matter how you spin cannot turn out well for anyone. Buried among the weekends travesties is 23 Blast, a movie that everyone that likes inspirational true stories should see, yet many never heard of. We went to see it on opening weekend last weekend. Like many faith filled, feel good or family movies it was tucked in the back of the theater. for we walk by faith, not by sight Click To Tweet The movie itself was thoroughly enjoyable, it has a PG-13 rating due to football violence and some teen drinking. It carries a faith undertone unlike many recent faith-based movies. You are not burdened with cheesy scripts and a heavy message. The acting is actually top-notch compared to the budget. Being that the movie is based on a true story made it all the more enjoyable. Without giving away too much of the story, here is a brief synopsis. The movie is based on the true story of Travis Freeman (Mark Hapka) a high school football player that loses his eyesight his junior year. His football coach (Stephen Lang) talks him into coming back and playing for the team. Needless to say he comes back and plays and inspires […]

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Lessons from When the Game Stands Tall Teaching that there is more to life than just the game, When the Game Stands Tall is a true inspirational movie.  As like many football or even sports related movies they come with a little dose of predictability.  This is one that although that may be the case it is also thoroughly enjoyable for the whole family (rated PG). When the Game Stands Tall starts Jim Caviezel as Bob Ladouceur head coach of the De La Salle Spartans, the winning-est team in sports history.  The cast is supported by Michael Chiklis who plays assistant coach Terry Eidson. As well as Laura Dern as Bev Ladouceur the coach’s wife, and even a cameo appearance of Maurice Jones Drew as himself. “Winning a lot of games is doable, teaching kids there is more to life, that’s hard.” Throughout the story there are lessons than we could all learn and live by.  Lessons that even though they are applied to football and winning they can also apply to life, leadership and manhood. This success formula consists of-love, brotherhood, sacrifice, discipline, heart, courage, passion, honesty. Love – Several times throughout the movie is love stressed both between players and coaches.  This is displayed in their actions and where they stand up for each other both on and off the field.  The love for the game is not enough they have to love and trust one another to win.  This goes for any team or family, love needs to be the focus to be able to work together and win.  Family […]

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