Today's Devotions

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Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Why We Need the Puritans by JI Packer +

    1 Horse Racing is said to be the sport of kings. The sport of slinging mud has, however, a wider Read More
  • May 9 Devotional: Valley of Vision (Puritans) +

    Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Read More
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Audio & Video

Modern Culture vs. Religous Tradition: a movie review of Arranged

This independently produced movie centers on the friendship between an Orthodox Jewish woman, Rochel (Zoe Lister-Jones) and a devout Muslim woman, Nasira (Francis Benhamou). Both meet as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn, a multiethnic community where stereotype and prejudice are a challenge. In the children’s eyes they should be bitter enemies. In the principal’s eyes, played by Marcia Jean Kurtz, a secular Jew, they are two bright and attractive women bound by an outmoded and repressive ultraconservative and patriarchal system of arranged marriages. Both are of marriageable age. They become close friends as they struggle to conform or rebel to an arranged marriage.

ARRANGED is a film showing the tension between modern culture and religious tradition. Which will prevail—one’s beliefs and respect of family, or a marriage based on love rather than image and security? Or can they support both? See and enjoy!

Read more: Modern Culture vs. Religous Tradition: a movie review of Arranged

The Power of Forgiveness: a movie review of The Straight Story

alvin_straightAlvin's story reminds us of the importance of family relationships, the need for unconditional love, and the power of forgiveness. Alvin Straight, a 73-year old resident of Laurens, Iowa decides to visit his estranged brother Lyle in Mount Zion, Wisconsin after learning he had suffered a stroke. But Alvin had no driver's license and refused to be driven, fly, or take a bus.

Read more: The Power of Forgiveness: a movie review of The Straight Story

Overcoming Hurt: movie review of Dear Frankie

DearFrankieDear Frankie is a British film released in 2005. It is about a deaf 9-year-old boy named Frankie (Jack McElhone), his mother, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer), and her chain-smoking mother, Nell, who have all just moved to Glasgow, England. The father Frankie never knew, we soon learn, is away at sea on a ship called the Accra. Frankie writes frequently to his father and plots his Dad’s travels on a map in his room. But we soon learn that all of Frankie's letters are received and answered not by his father, but by his mother from a post-office box set up by Lizzie.

Read more: Overcoming Hurt: movie review of Dear Frankie

Alone with Ourselves: movie review of UP

This family movie adventure, UP, about an old man and young boy is another animated masterwork movie from Pixar. What can they teach each other about life? It is It begins with a friendship between two children named Carl and Ellie who discover they share the same dream of someday being explorers. They catch this dream from watching newsreels about the exploits of a daring adventurer named Charles Muntz who uses his gigantic zeppelin airship to explore a lost world in Venezuela called Paradise Falls, where he brings back the bones of fantastic creatures previously unknown to man.

Read more: Alone with Ourselves: movie review of UP

Reflections to Consider

  • Balance

    In writing about Spirit Filled Spirituality Boa discusses Walking in the Power of the Spirit, Gifts of the Spirit, and Read More
  • Soul Farmers

    Worshipping God in spirit and truth begins with a willingness to participate with God’s spirit in changing who we are. Read More
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Publications

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Music

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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Process +

      The finished diamond is one of the most beautiful and desirable gems. Read More
  • Not a Conscientious Objector +

    As we abide in him and he abides in us, we are receiving his life rather than creating our own Read More
  • Falling in Love With God +

    “falling in love with God,” as Boa’s subtitle for the facet explains. In this approach we attempt to enter into Read More
  • God's Dimension +

    We experience a great sense of the wonder, boldness, and overwhelming awe of God through our relationship with the Holy Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Praise as Warfare by Sylvia Gunter +

    Praise is adoration of God for who He is, His person, His character, His names. It is loving God because Read More
  • Followers First by Steve Tamayo, Chatham Community Church +

    What does it mean to be a Christian? Read More
  • Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation +

    What does it mean to be a disciple, to follow the disciplines necessary to serve Jesus with our whole heart? Read More
  • Cultivating joy to proclaim the gospel +

    And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15 Read More
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