But this was different. It was unabashedly a Christian film. And I’m glad I went.

October Baby follows the story of a young lady who has grown up unaware of her own birth story and the complicated issues surrounding her entrance to our world. Health problems stemming from her premature birth and other issues she encountered while still in the womb (no spoilers here) cause her to look for answers. The film grabs your attention from the start, pulling you through each emotion-filled moment as she discovers who she really is.

I was genuinely impressed by the raw emotion and true-to-life experiences faced by ‘Hannah’ who faces the reality of her past, a cruel rejection and the empowering freedom of forgiveness. This is a story that is relevant to our world. The themes in this film could have been taken from any one of the myriads of  heart-breaking, living, breathing, walking stories of real people in our cities today.

I laughed and ‘throat lumped’ (guys don’t cry in movies) along with everyone in the theater and found the following quote by the cathedral minister poignant and true. Apparently Hannah was worried he’d reject her too, because she was a ‘Baptist’ and he was some kind of more traditionalist Christian (perhaps Episcopalian? Maybe someone can clarify in the comments). He just smiled when she clarified her denominational position and sitting down next to her entered a dialog in which he stated:

Because we have been forgiven by God, we should forgive each other. In Christ you are forgiven, and because you are forgiven, you have the power to forgive, to choose to forgive. Let it go. Hatred is a burden you no longer need to carry. Only in forgiveness can you be free, Hannah—forgiveness that is well beyond your grasp, or mine, a forgiveness that you can’t find on a trip or even in this cathedral. But if the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed.

Leaving details to the imagination, I will say that both my wife and I found many correlations to realities near and dear to our hearts. Little pieces of the puzzle like: 1991, Jonathan, and ‘failed abortion’. It left a resonating impression in both our minds that we will not soon forget.

Every life is indeed beautiful

Go ahead. See it. And write your opinions and thoughts in the comments below.

Oh, don’t be in a hurry to jump up and leave as soon as the credits roll. Powerful back story from the actress, Shari Rigby.

Favorite Quotes from the movie October Baby:

Behold!
What a piece of junk
It’s vintage class
It’s vintage junk

This is your cousins?
What does he look like?
Not nearly as good as the car.

It’s now or never!
Come on!
Who’s that?
Sir, this is a library.

Who are you?
Bmac, his cousin.

Dude, what’s that guy’s problem, man?
It’s your beard, you look like the unibomber.

I wouldn’t go ten feet in that thing, if I were you.
She can HEAR YOU!

You should go on one of those reality shows
Nah, I don’t think so, those things are rigged I think
Tow Truck!
Sir, step away from the vehicle.

He’s the owner and the driver

Who came up with the idea to take a bean and turn it into something that tastes like a hamburger… REMOTELY!

This is literally the worst hotel I’ve ever seen
It looked better on the internet
Where? At normanbates.com?
hotelmonkey.biz

You can just go to New Orleans with everyone else and your posse.

Look, I’m leaving… don’t follow me!

Dude, her dad’s going to kill you man, he’s scary man.

I don’t need your charity, Jason.
Ya, you do.

I wasn’t hitchhiking, I was walking
Right, and that’s equally smart

The cheapest we have is 110, unless you are triple A
Oh, we are. We have all three a’s

Well, this is awkward
Ya…. definitely only one bed…

Are you asleep?
I literally just layed down
Are you ok down there?
Well, I usually prefer the king sized floor but this is all they had

Goodnight…
Goodnight…
I can feel you down there judging me
Like I’m some kind of Christian home-schooled freak or something
I have a wild side… you’ve seen me play scrabble… I’m WILD!

There’s no refund… no matter where you umm… sleep

I can’t believe you just broke in.
I didn’t break in, the door was open
It was the back door! And you PRIED it open…

My dad’s gonna kill me…
Oh… my dad’s gonna kill me…
He’s gonna kill you too!

My wife has this thing she says To be Human is to be

beautifully flawed

Life isn’t always black and white… so, hate the

crime, not the criminal…

I’m the one who took her in the back and prepped her

for the procedure…
The abortion?
Yes… the abortion

For some of the girls, I was their only friend

I didn’t see non-viable tissue… I saw the face of a

child

I’m gonna go… sleep in the ice machine or something

Hate is a burden you don’t need to carry

do you believe in bridges

I was born October 7th, 1991 at Mobile General

Hospital… I gues I came here because I thought that

meant something to you…

Oh, I’m sorry, uh, who’s this?
I uh, I have no idea… I don’t know
I’m Hannah…
Hi Hannah
I don’t know where you got your information from… I

don’t know what you’re referring to…
Perhaps Raymond down the hall can help you with your

civil dispute… I’m sorry.

You have no idea how I feel about this and you can’t

know until you have a daughter of your own

You know, if you had been here I wouldn’t have had the

audacity to drink something called … hand grenade

I don’t remember anything… nothing… not the

argument.. not the fight… not this guy… this

little shiner… oh, and look it comes with a court

date… for free… disorderly conduct

I have a criminal record Jason… I want to go home

I’m actually… a Baptist… I guess you should know that.

I need to know what your intentions are towards my daughter
I love her
You need to call her

What? A date? Like… me and you?
What about my dad?

I dressed for dinner… five times actually

 October Baby Music Playlist – iTunes is the exclusive seller of these tracks

This is a great documentary by John Piper.  I’m the 2nd individual in my entire multi-generational, “white”, Western-European descended, family to marry “inter-racially”.  I have always loved the way the Gospel of Jesus Christ tears down barriers and stone-faced ideologies, whether religious or otherwise.

John talks about the human family and adoption and race in a powerful, thought-provoking way and I hope you are as blessed as I was in watching this film.  Check out his book as well, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian.

Fairview Christian School

The school was started several years ago by Fairview Mennonite Church. The gym is a great place to host a concert of this nature, though if you’re used to seeing folks play basketball there, it can be surprising to see all the chairs filling the space usually occupied by players. Fairview Christian School will be holding the Christmas program this year as well. You can go to their website for more information.

Enjoy!

Audio Clips: 

1. Blessed Be the Day of Our Savior’s Birth

2. Christmas Offering (song from Casting Crowns)

3.  Hark the Herald Angels Sing

4. Jesus Was Born Today (Happy Birthday)

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Singing

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All students, staff and alumni singing at the end of the program.

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After the program, we drove up and spent some time at the Pagoda.

What is the Age of Accountability?

After some recent conversations, I have been re-studying the theory of “The Age of Accountability“.  I was a bit surprised to discover that it is indeed a theory; not a hard and fast Biblical doctrine.  However, it matters a lot which version of the theory you believe to be true. This is particularly true for parents and Sunday school workers. A child’s age of accountability affects how you teach children about salvation. It also determines whether or not you will be involved in child evangelism.

What Do Christians Believe Concerning the Age of Accountability?

Most Christians believe that children are not sinless. They do however enter a stage of innocence at birth which continues past a point of knowledge of sin and of evil. This means that if a child were to die at the age of one for example, that child would go to heaven regardless of their inability to make a decision for Christ. Over time however, as a child matures and becomes more aware of right and wrong (usually around age 3-7), they enter a stage of accountability before God for sins committed. At this time, a child is no longer able to enter heaven, unless they make a conscious choice to repent of sin and believe in the saving and atoning blood of Jesus Christ

Another view (held by Catholics and Mennonites) is that children are innocent for a longer period of time (around age 10-13). They believe that children are not capable of making a long term commitment to the tenets of Christianity at an age that is too young. People who hold to this belief avoid involvement in child evangelism as they feel it can do more harm than good.

Additional Resources:

During my studies I came across the following resources, which I’ve linked to for the next person who may have had some of the same questions that were stirring in my mind.

• What Is A Child’s Age Of Accountability? (a sermon followed by open discussion – Rick Leibee, Charity Christian Fellowship)
• The Nurture and Evangelism of Children (Mennonite Church, 1955 — Gameo Anabaptist Encyclopedia)
• The Age of Accountability (Well written article, Baptist theology)
• Where do I find the age of accountability in the Bible? (GotQuestions.org)
• The Age of Accountability (thorough study on the topic)
• Wikipedia Entry (Had to let the good ol’ Wikipedia weigh in on the topic. They’ve got every version from Catholic to LDS, so read discerningly)

Disclaimer: the links above are informational, but do contain a dose of opinion. Obviously our understandings and opinions must be lined up with inerrant Biblical truth to insure that we are on the right track in our understandings of this area of soteriology.

The concern that I have… is not first and foremost that we will fall into some great scandalous sin. My greatest concern for us is that our spiritual passion and zeal for Jesus Christ will be drowned in triviality. That our love for the Savior and our service for His kingdom will grow cold as we waste our lives on a million different allowable, permissable, absolutely inconsequential pursuits. And all the while, all around us there’s a spiritual battle to be fought, and there’s Gospel Truth to be gloried in, and there are souls to be won for Christ, and there are churches to be built, and there are nations to be won for Christ, and children to be discipled and hurting people all around us who are dying in their addictions…  Are we going to be Salt and Light?

Lebanon County Youth Chorus

The Lebanon County Youth Chorus is a group of young people who love to sing traditional hymns and worship music. Their music speaks to the soul and describe the wonders of God’s love for us. To learn more about the Lebanon County Youth Chorus, you can visit their website.

George Brunk’s Legacy

A friend asked me to convert an audio tape to CD for them.  It is an old sermon recording from 1951 by George R. Brunk, the Mennonite evangelist who spoke to crowds of 15,000+ people under a massive tent back in the ’50s.   You can read more about him HERE and HERE.

Anyway, I looked online and this particular message doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else even from the famed sermonindex.net, so I figured I’d make it available for anyone to listen to right here.

Religion of the Easy Road MP3 | 24MB | 47:00

Spring is here in PA at least for now.  Yesterday it was 70 degrees and sunny.  This morning I woke to the sound of birds outside my window.  Here’s a short audio clip: Birds Singing in the Morning

What a contrast to last week’s snowstorm!

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Here’s the full story.