7.26.11 – Little Shop Of Horrors at The Muny

August 2, 2011 Leave a comment

Date: 7.26.11
Venue: The Muny (Forest Park, St. Louis)
Event: Little Shop of Horrors

I wasn’t familiar with this play before I saw it, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Sometimes when the kinda-nerdy lead guy quickly sang kinda-dark lyrics, he reminded me of Ludo. As far as the plot goes I suppose I should be aghast at the disturbing plant and the moral failure of the protagonist, but I choose to take the story as a metaphor for the old rhyme about “sin taking you farther than you want to go, keeping you longer than you want to stay, and costing you far more than you want to pay.” It shows that a wrong act is not justified by good intentions (such as Seymour being willing to kill the abusive dentist to realize his own desires, masked in an intention to save Audrey), and it shows how a wrong act can grow and turn you into someone you never expected because you have to do something worse to cover up the previous act in a vicious downward spiral until you are no longer in control. I also really suspect that the Rumor Weed from VeggieTales was inspired by Audrey II from the Little Shop of Horrors.

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Filed under culture log, non-music

7.14.11 – The Little Mermaid at The Muny

July 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Date: 7.14.11
Place: The Muny (Forest Park, St. Louis)
Event: The Little Mermaid

I’m afraid I was fairly bored by this one. It had a good production and so forth but I just couldn’t get into the story (caveat: I never saw the movie growing up, either). Ariel was a spoiled brat who thinks she wants to be a human but really is just fascinated with all their shiny stuff, and Eric is a wussy prince who falls in love with a woman he’s never seen and pretty much just hangs out on the beach or in his castle – what kind of ambition is that? Oh well, I guess the story’s not directed at 22-year-old males. I did enjoy the use of children as swaying underwater plants – nice touch!

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Random Devotional 8: Seek The Welfare Of The City

April 23, 2011 Leave a comment

Plant gardens and eat their produce

Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare. (Jeremiah 29:7 NASB)

God sent most of the Israelites into exile for awhile, essentially because they were getting ornery and needed some discipline. They didn’t want to be in Babylon, but God sent a message to them through Jeremiah to encourage them to make the most of their time there, as opposed to just moping around or waiting for a rescue. Yes, he was going to rescue them and bring them back, but for now they needed to “build houses,” “plant gardens,” and “take wives” (Jeremiah 29:5-6). Then in seventy years (v. 10) the time would be completed and he would bring them back (leading into v. 11, the most popular all-time verse of evangelical Christianity).

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Film Review: Food, Inc.

June 25, 2009 Leave a comment

Last night, I had the privilege of attending a screening of the documentary Food, Inc. I am still shaping my economic worldview, and as the film seemed to be pointing out problems in the food industry, I was interested in the attitudes the film would take towards massive food corporations, the government, and the market.

The film caters to liberal-leaning health-conscious organic types, and while I anticipated an anti-corporate government-embracing slant, I was pleasantly surprised to find a reasonable balance. I did not entirely agree with the film’s claims or position, but it generally vindicated the power of consumers in the market and the dangers of government intervention, while giving me things to consider about the capacity of corporations for abuse within our version of capitalism.

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Marriage

June 14, 2009 Leave a comment

At church today we celebrated the sixty-first wedding anniversary of two of our oldest and most-beloved members (and the only black couple in our disproportionately white suburban congregation). Five of their six children came from several states with their families to join us, and it was encouraging and inspiring to hear of God’s goodness and faithfulness throughout their lives, to hear of the kindness and love that they have shown to everyone, and to see the love of God pouring out of their very large family. One of the grandsons – now married with his own son – shared how much it meant that his grandfather had spent so much time with his children and grandchildren, even while building a successful business out of almost nothing, and how he was inspired to show the same love and devotion to his wife and son.

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A Word On The Rescue

May 3, 2009 Leave a comment

Let me tell you about the event I was a part of last weekend. I’ll step back a bit to explain the situation. About six years ago, three young guys set off for Africa with a general idea of trying to make a difference, aware of the poverty, war, and displacement but without a real plan in mind. They found a specific situation that was simply heartbreaking:

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A Grandma’s Devotional

April 12, 2009 Leave a comment

My grandma is one of my heroes. She lost two of her sons before I was even born (one shortly after birth and one as a teenager), and her husband left this earth to be with Jesus eight years ago. Yet throughout my life she has been the most tangible representation of the joy of the Lord that I have ever known. Even as her hearing fades, her heart and mind are strong, and she always has a smile on her face. (She also loves her immediate and extended family very much, and probably prays more every day than I pray in a week.)

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Devastation and Reform: Inside the Story of Job

April 8, 2009 2 Comments

I love finding the story of humanity’s depravity and redemption hiding in unlikely places. Job’s friends, in their imperfect understanding of God’s justice, assumed that his suffering must have been caused by sin. We know they were wrong because God told Satan that he had incited Him to ruin Job “without cause.” (Job 2:3)

Yet as Job and his friends discuss Job’s situation, they keep hinting at a larger picture, and I can’t help but think that this story is peeking at something more fundamental about humanity. “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent?” Eliphaz says. “Can a man be pure before his Maker?” (Job 4:7, 17) “Does God pervert justice?” Bildad asks. (Job 8:3)

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The Rescue

April 8, 2009 Leave a comment

TheRescue.InvisibleChildren.com

Click “Enter Site” and then click “Watch the video.”

Then join us by the Arch on Saturday, April 25, for an incredible night of fellowship and community for an incredible cause.

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Brilliant.

February 4, 2009 Leave a comment

If You’re more brilliant than the sun
I’d rather stare at You and lose my sight,
Than stare at all the other things
That, without You, would have no light.

Filed under poetry

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