Top 10 War Movies '98-'08

I am a sucker for war movies. Whenever my wife and I see a preview for an upcoming war movie based on a true story or at least a historical setting, I pull out my wallet and say "they might as well take my $6.50 right now" (we usually try to catch a matinee). I must admit though that I have a hard time getting into "older" war movies. I've tried to watch "The Longest Day" (1962) and "A Bridge over the River Kwai" (1957) but prefer the technological advancement of today's war epics. So here is my top ten list of war movies based on true events or historical settings released in the past ten years:

1. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

2. The Great Raid (2005)

3. We Were Soldiers (2002)

4. Windtalkers (2002)

5. Black Hawk Down (2001)

6. Letters From Iwo Jima (2007)

7. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

8. Flyboys (2006)

9. Saints and Soldiers (2004)

10. The Thin Red Line (1998)

Honorable mention for "Band of Brothers," a series not a movie, but would be number one if it were and one you should own! Now, go to your nearest Blockbuster or get Netflix and enjoy all the action!

I Love Funnel Cakes

On Friday my wife and I attended the North Dakota State Fair held at the fairgrounds in Minot. It was pretty much your typical fair including carnvial rides, 4H clubs, nightly musical acts and fair food! My wife got her corn dog and I got my funnel cake. If for some reason you don't know what a funnel cake is (and if so you're missing out!), essentially it is fried dough usually topped with powdered sugar that you eat by tearing off strips. Anytime I'm at a fair or carnival I always make a point of getting one...it's my main reason for going!

Yesterday we realized that it was exactly a year ago (7/29/07) that we had loaded up the moving van and were heading from Evanston, IL to Underwood, ND. In celebration we went to the Burger Stop outside of Pick City for supper (dinner) and followed that up with an ice-cream cone at The Crab Apple. Both of these dining establishments are only open during the summer months. Pick City is near Lake Sakakawea and so their population really picks up from the end of May to the beginning of September as families visit to camp, boat and fish.

You probably heard about the "small" earthquake that hit the LA area yesterday. Both of our families still live in LA County and growing up I remember the Northridge Quake. Two friends and I were camping in one of their backyards when all of a sudden at about 5am it seemed like a train was steaming by right outside our tent. We weren't near the epicenter and didn't sustain any real damage but it was an unforgettable experience. The south has hurricanes, the midwest has tornados and the west coast has earthquakes.

Sunday I preached on Matthew 9:35-10:15 as part of our year-long series through the Gospel. The title of the sermon and main idea of this section of Matthew was "Disciples Become Disciplers." If you'd like to listen to the sermon click here.

Please pray for me in growing in wisdom for leading the church especially in how I approach those who are older and more experienced Christians with potential changes. Also pray for me in growing a love for the people of Faith Evangelical Church and Underwood. You can pray for Harmony to have wisdom in hiring someone to help out in the library.

By God's Grace, Jeff.

Top 10 John Grisham Novels

I was asked to post more top ten lists, so here's one I've been thinking about for awhile. As some of you may know, I am a huge John Grisham fan. In fact, he's pretty much the only fiction author I read these days. He has published 21 books including one non-fiction work and four non-lawyer books. Eliminating those here's my ranking of Grisham's best works:

10. The Runaway Jury
9. The King of Torts - Having worked for a mass-tort lawyer this one hits home
8. The Street Lawyer - Money is not everything
7. The Summons
6. The Brethren
5. The Broker - Makes me want to visit Italy!
4. The Partner
3. The Testament - Redemptive theme
2. The Pelican Brief - Also a very good movie with a stellar cast
1. The Firm - A classic!

Let me know what you think.

By God's Grace, Jeff

A Vegas Review

My wife and I were on vacation this past week. We flew from Bismarck to LA via Las Vegas (least expensive flight). We spent five days in the LA area visting family and friends. We attended the wedding of my wife's counsin and my wife attended a baby shower that I was able to get out of in order to spend time with my side of the family (i.e. golf with my Dad).

One of the highlights of our vacation was spending Sunday evening worshipping with the Evangelical Free Church in Redondo Beach. When my wife and I were involved in high school youth ministry growing up in the LA area, our youth group would use this church's facilities during the summer (close to the beach). Since we've been in the Free Church for the past ten years or so, we've always wanted to visit this congregation (one of the closest EFCA churches to where we grew up). We finally had the chance this past Sunday. We had a great time worshipping with them and were very encouraged by their warmth and friendliness and the message by the pastor. If you're looking for a bible-believing church with a loving community in the South Bay area, check out Redondo Beach EFCA.

After our time in LA we spent a couple days in Las Vegas (before flying back early Wednesday morning). We stayed at Excalibur and took advantage of their four pools! We also caught a Las Vegas 51s baseball game (Dodger's minor league team). The home team got pounded but we had a fun time anyway. It was a nice relaxing end to a fun-filled vacation.

By God's Grace, Jeff

County Fair Recap

Thanks for your prayers over this past weekend during our outreach at the McLean County Fair. We set up a table for the Thursday-Saturday event and passed out bottles of water and had resources available (e.g. tracts, devotionals, bibles). Attendance was down quite a bit this year, probably due to the weather (windy) and concurrent events in nearby towns. But we were still able to give away 120 water bottles. Our congregation stepped up so that I wasn't forced to man the booth the whole weekend but was actually able to finish the sermon. I had hoped for a better turn out (we have a 100 or so water bottles left) and more opportunities to interact with people but I trust that God will use this for His good purposes.

If our weekend wasn't busy enough, on Sunday afternoon we had the youth families over to our home for a BBQ and games (bocce ball and croquet). We had a great time re-connecting with them (since we haven't had regular youth events this summer). On Sunday morning I preached on Matthew 9:9-34 and the sermon was entitled "Redefining Discipleship." If you like to listen to it you can by clicking here.

Last night my wife and I watched the MLB home run derby. If you haven't heard yet about what Josh hamilton did, you're missing out! He hit a record 28 homers in the first round of the derby (the next highest was like 8). Unfortunately he wore himself out and ended up losing in the finals to Justin Morneau of the Twins. But the reason I mention this is not merely because he broke a record but because of who he is and what he's been through.

Josh Hamilton was the number one overall draft pick by Tampa Bay a number of years ago but because of his addiction to drugs didn't end up making it to the big leagues until last year with the Reds (now he's with Texas). The only reason he was even competing in the homer run derby last night was due to God's grace. His wife prayed for him all the time as he was struggling with drugs and it was a result of him coming to faith in Jesus that he was finally able to break his addiction, change his lifestyle and make it back into baseball. Just making it to the big leagues after so much time off would have been amazing but he is a very talented player who has a reak shot at winning the triple crown this year!

When they interviewed him at the end of the derby last night he gave thanks to His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, most of the time when I hear an athlete say that I cringe and await the backlash due to their lives not reflecting their claim to follow Jesus. However in Josh's case, I was glad to hear him express His faith in Jesus and I'm sure that no matter what people who heard him say that think about Christianity, they have to be amazed at the fact that Josh at least believes that the only reason he was even able to compete in the home run derby last night was because of what Christ has done in his life.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Fireworks Across the Street

There are some big fireworks shows in Bismarck and Mandan but we didn't need to drive an hour for something we could see across the street! We thought about heading to Bismarck but decided to stay home. We had another family from the church over for a night of board games and when it finally got dark (10:30pm!!!) we saw quite a fireworks show put on by some neighbors through our kitchen window. Apparently you can purchase just about any fireworks around here and set them off on July 4-5 (expect for M80's). I don't know if I've ever lived in a place where you could legally purchase and set off legit fireworks (e.g. not just sparklers). It was a fun evening and best of all we hooked another family on Settlers of Catan!!!

I thought I was going to have the whole summer off from coaching basketball but I got a call Sunday night from the head coach of the varsity team asking if I could fill in coaching the summer league team on Monday night. So last night I drove the new school "mini-bus" to Hazen (45 minutes away but in Mountain time). The team won both games and since Hazen is a larger town (about 3000) they have a Subway and so we stopped on the way home for a "real" fast-food meal. It was a good time of reconnecting with the students.

This past Sunday I preached on Matthew 8:18-9:8 and the sermon was entitled "So, You Want to be a Disciple?" If you'd like to listen to the sermon click here. Please pray for our outreach at our county fair this Thursday-Saturday as our church will be hosting a booth, giving away free bottles of water and offering free resources about "The Living Water." Right now we don't have a lot of people signed up for shifts manning the table, so please pray that God would provide so I don't have to sit there all weekend with my laptop working on the sermon while handing out water bottles. Pray also for our conversations there.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Surprising Healer - Matthew 8:1-17

This past Sunday I preached on Matthew 8:1-17 and the sermon was entitled "Surprising Healer." In this section of Matthew, Jesus heals three people that would not have been considered prime candidates for a Jewish rabbi to help. In it we see that Jesus is more concerned with God's will than man's tradition and that He not only came to physically heal those living in first century palestine but to provide spiritual healing to people from all cutures and all times; to all who repent of theirs sins and trust in Him by faith.

If you'd like to listen to the sermon you can by clicking here.

By God's Grace, Jeff