Holy Priests (Leviticus 21)

Bible Summary:

God commands Moses to tell Aaronite priests to be holy and not to take part in a relative’s funeral, except for immediate family, not to shave their heads or trim their beards during mourning. The High Priest is also not allowed to defile God’s sacred Tent by visiting the house of a dead person, even if it is his mother or father.

The priests may marry virgins, but not divorcées or earlier prostitutes. If a priest’s daughter becomes a prostitute, she must be burned to death for the disgrace. And, no descendant of Aaron with any physical defects may present the food offering.

My Thoughts:

Specific Laws: The Laws of Moses are becoming more and more specific. This is a natural response: something happens a few times, the issue gets raised to a higher-up, they do not want to deal with it any longer, so they set up a rule so lower-level management can handle the situation in the future. Each repetition gets finer and finer.

Do not commit murder commandment: I do not understood the circular logic of some of the Laws of Moses. How could a priest’s daughter be put to death for becoming a prostitute if the sixth commandment says not to commit murder? Who is allowed to execute the deed without going against this commandment and being subject to the same law and outcome?

Soul Surfer

Soul Surfer is an inspirational film based on the true story about Bethany Hamilton, the girl in Hawaii who lost her arm in a shark attack in 2003. The story shows her come back to competitive surfing and includes a youth mission to Thailand to help after the devastation of the 2004 tsunami.  The film has very realistic surfing footage and stars Anna Sophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood, Ross Thomas, and Chris Brochu. Be sure to watch the special features after the movie as well.  Bethany’s story is amazing.  She even did all the professional surfing in the movie.

Oriental Dreamworks films beginning 2016

Dreamworks has agreed to a joint venture with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group giving Dreamworks Animation more access to the growing Chinese movie appetite as shown by their $100 million ticket sales for Kung Fu Panda 2 last year. Relative Media and Legendary Entertainment are also moving into China. Learn more in the Dreamworks Animation heads to China story at Reuters.

Roman officer’s great faith in Jesus (Matthew 8: 5-13)

Bible Summary:

A Roman officer meets Jesus on the way into Capernaum and begs him to help his terribly sick servant in bad at home. Jesus agrees to go see him, but the officer asks him to give the order from there and his servant will get well. Jesus tells his followers he has never found anyone in Israel with such faith and that many will come to the feast in heaven but others will be thrown into darkness crying and gnashing their teeth. He tells the officer what he believes will be done and the servant is healed that very moment.

My Thoughts:

Faith: Very few today have the same faith as the Roman officer. Many are just going through the motions at church and in life. We talk about God, pray to God, but do we truly believe in Him? Maybe we should and perhaps the outcome will be the same.

Whitney Houston 1963-2012

Whitney was an amazing person. She had such a beautiful voice and was lucky enough to become famous and be recorded so we can remember her forever in song and film. The irony of her life was her hit the Greatest Love of All. It talks about the “beauty we possess inside”, “at least I live as I believe”, and “find your strength in love.” But, Whitney did not have the strength to say no to drugs and alcohol, to stay away from abusive people, and to see the beauty she possessed inside.

I am sure she is in God’s loving arms now for the inspiration she left us in her music. God bless you Whitney.

Greatest Love of All

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfilled my needs
A lonely place to be
And so I learned to depend on me

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadow
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone’s shadow
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I’ll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can’t take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

And if by chance, that special place
That you’ve been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love.

– Whitney Houston

See Greatest Love of All Video on YouTube.