A Day Full of C.S. Lewis

I FINALLY went to see Prince Caspian tonight with my sister, and I absolutely loved it. I went in with low expectations since a lot of friends had told me it was "alright," and "slow in the beginning," but I was totally misguided! I liked it much better than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I give it an 8.5 out of 10. The writing and special effects were never cheesy, the fight scenes were wonderfully choreographed, and Regina Spektor was a nice surprise at the end! It's also great to see the actors and actresses develop. I feel that they were much more believable in this film.

Anyway, before I took my little trip to the cinema, I spent the day pouring through C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. Although I had heard most of it before, and already believe pretty much all of its claims, it had me rethinking some basic principles in a different light that brought me to a deeper understanding of them. It has definitely brought valuable illumination.

Here is one of the passages I found myself meditating on for a while:

"...free will is what made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata - of creatures that worked like machines - would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free. Of course, God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk."

The Heavenly Man

I just finished reading a book that was recommended to me called "The Heavenly Man," which is about one of the first Chinese underground church leaders who goes by the name of Brother Yun, and I must say that as a result my faith has grown immensely.

I've been a Christian and have grown up around the church since I was very young, and I've read and heard some incredible testimonies, but no other testimony has caused my faith to grow as much as Brother Yun's.

When China became a Communist country in 1949, all missionaries were deported, churches were forced to close, and thousands of Chinese pastors were sent to prison. Although the situation for the Christian church seemed hopeless, God reached and raised unsaved men to become leaders, such as Brother Yun, through dreams and visions, and protected them with countless miracles, enabling them to continue to spread the gospel throughout China. In 1950, there was an estimated 1 million Protestant believers in China. Today, there are an estimated 100 million, although this statistic is probably short of reality since so many practice in secret.

In his book, Yun shares stories about the imprisonments, persecution, and gut-wrenching torture he endured from the Chinese government, but he also shares about how God's grace and mercy carried him through it all. He also gives incredible insight on the state of the Chinese church and the rest of the world, as well as what he feels God's purpose is through all of the suffering that still continues on to this day.

I highly recommend it to anyone, especially those interested in missions. Also, here is a link to the organization he works with. 

Movie Reviews

I've been watching some films and I thought I'd blog my thoughts on them.

The Atonement: Super depressing... but a great film. Props to the director of photography; every shot was absolutely STUNNING. It definitely should have won more Academy Awards than it did. The soundtrack was fabulous as well, especially how they incorporated the typewriting sounds.

Across the Universe: It was... entertaining. I actually liked some of the new song versions better than the actual originals. (Blasphemous?) I definitely think it was over-rated, but I still liked it. I think.

Indiana Jones: As a true Cuban would say, "TREMENDO PAQUETE!" Although any TRUE Indy fan, as I consider myself to be, should expect it to be over the top, I think it was probably a little bit TOO ridiculous for my taste. The writing and acting were typical of an Indy film, but the plot was too much for me. Overall it was entertaining, and I will probably see it again if my friends go watch it, but I liked the older ones better. I DID enjoy Shia, though! : )

I Laugh At Myself

Over the last few days I've realized that I laugh at myself when I do stupid things.

For example, a few days ago I was warming up something in the microwave, and it blew up. It took forever to clean, but I was laughing at myself the whole time.

Also, I went to my best friend's house today so we could scrapbook together, and when I got home my gigantic bag of supplies ripped and my stuff was all over the floor of my drive way. Instead of getting annoyed and kicking my tire, I started cracking up.

My point is, I'm glad I can laugh at myself. It is SUCH a great way to live.

Ladies Retreat 2008

I had an AWESOME time at the women's retreat this weekend, and I rediscovered one of my favorite verses.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
-Ecclesiastes 3:11

The theme was "To Everything There is a Season," taken from Ecclesiastes 3. What a great reminder that even our dry seasons have a purpose, and thankfully they won't last forever!

It was also wicked awesome spending time with my girlfriends. It's been a while since we had last gotten together. : )

Weekly Colbert: Classic Emmy's Moment

I donated my body to Medicine...

While I was still alive! And I'm never doing it again. I got paid $250 to go to the UM School of Medicine to be a Standard Patient for the second year competency exams. NOT FUN.

The first half of the day wasn't too bad. They gave me a case to memorize, and then seven or eight students interviewed me to try and diagnose me correctly. My case? I was an anemic 35 year old running a computer business from my home.... with SEVEN children. I got quite a few interesting reactions, haha!

Then the second part of the day were the physical exams, and let me tell you, if I have to have another cardiac, pulmonary, or abdominal exam again anytime soon, I'm going to hurt someone. I didn't even know about this part when I agreed to it! In two days I had 46 physical exams done to me. I'm just glad it's over...

Well, to be honest, I guess I am exaggerating a bit. It wasn't SO bad. I just got deathly bored by the end of the day. It's not easy being poked and prodded from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon by a bunch of nervous book worms.

Oh, the things a college kid will do to pay their rent. : /

Colbert Clip Tuesday

I know I posted a clip yesterday, but he ended the show in sheer BRILLIANCE last night. I was laughing so loud my dad came to see what all the raucous was about. (The walls in my house are surprisingly thin.)

In the 305!

I got home safely, weeeee!

It was a smooth drive home..... Aside from almost getting side swiped twice, and not to mention some guy who was at a complete stop on the highway (?) cut me off while I was doing 80. But for a 5 hour ride I guess that's not TOO bad.

Anyway, I have so many thoughts to blog, but I have a tremendous headache at the moment, I have to get up at 5AM, and Colbert is on in a couple minutes. Speaking of Colbert, I'll leave a clip since this post is so weak.

Homeward Bound!

So after packing and cleaning for about 7 hours today, I am ready for the drive home... In my friend's dad's Mercedes Benz... Let's pray that I drive safely, huh? :X It's a little nerve-racking, but I'm sure I'll be fine. There shouldn't be much traffic, and I like driving anyway. Also, my parents didn't have to come pick me up with all my stuff, which avoids a hassle and saves money.

Speaking of saving money, I've gotten two text messages in the last few days about a gas strike tomorrow. It claims that the government will lose 60 billion dollars if we don't buy gas... Really, people? Where's the logic in this? People will fill up their tanks the day before or after to prepare or compensate for a day without filling their tanks, which means the oil industry will be getting their money either way...

A more logical thing to do would be to propose riding bikes, walking, or using public transportation, and my guess is that most people are NOT willing to do so, especially now in the summer heat. And for the record, it's not even "Uncle Sam" that is making money off of gas prices, it's the oil companies. (However, it can be argued that some big wigs in our government are heavily involved in the oil industry, namely our Commander-in-Chief.)

But my point is, if you want to do something intelligent, do so intelligently.