what do you believe?
Near the climax of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, a villain shoots Indiana’s father to motivate the distressed son to enter a booby-trapped temple and retrieve the Holy Grail. “The healing power of the Grail is the only thing that can save your father now,” he said. “It’s time to ask yourself what you believe.” I deplore what the evil man did, but he was on to something: What we believe determines what we do.
all our lives
In the early 1500s, Martin Luther said faith in Jesus justifies us. But he also stated that faith should permeate all areas of our lives, including business dealings. Two and a half centuries later, a young man named John Woolman took this to heart as he opened a tailor shop. Due to his commitment to Christian love, he chose not to purchase any cotton or dye supplies that had been produced by slaves. Then he would be able to say, with a clear conscience, that he had lived according to holiness and sincerity in all his dealings (2 Corinthians 1:12).
human chameleon
Chinese performance artist Liu Bolin is known as “the invisible man” or “the human chameleon” because he blends himself into his surroundings. To do this, he covers his entire body in paint which perfectly matches his chosen backdrop. Liu has painted himself into real-life scenes which include graphitized walls, supermarket shelves, and even telephone booths.
amputate!
The film 127 Hours tells the true story of Aron Ralston, based on his memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place. In 2003 Aron’s forearm became pinned under a boulder for 5 days with no rescue in sight. Out of desperation he freed himself by cutting off his right arm with a blunt penknife. This gruesome scene in the film…
convinced
Someday I want to go skydiving. While I’m not overly fond of heights, I think there’s something incredible about jumping out of an airplane with a parachute (and an instructor soaring tandem with me!). As kids, my sister and I would jump off our second-story deck into the huge mounds of snow that covered our front yard in the dead…
vipers
Last year, Tiger Woods’ public persona unraveled as one moral failure after another rushed to light. While this sad occasion offers us another opportunity to critique the feeding frenzy of pop journalism as well as the idol status we offer our celebrities (a status they could never live up to), it also provides each of us a sober reminder. If…
