It could all start with a long thought after a suggestion from a friend, or a day, or week or month of frustration at work or hearing about an interesting opportunity at another company. And it grows and nags from there - If so, you should check in with your family, friends, and maybe trusted co-workers to get their take about whether you’re on to something. A job change is a big deal, almost like getting a new identity. Or you’re crazy and should really stay put! Bottom line – don’t light the process overnight – give yourself some time to think and consider the “facts of the case” from different angles.

2. Those First Steps –

OK – what’s next? You should get your Resume out of storage and revamped, along with buffing up your LinkedIn Profile. You may have not used the Resume much before – is it updated? What kind of personal picture is on your Profile? Avoid “candid camera” pics and use a more professional one. Make sure these tools must be a solid blend of key words and specific achievements within a compelling narrative. Typically, two pages, and sometimes three pages, is needed to properly tell the story. Also organize some sort of job search framework – focused yet flexible, to follow.

3. Stress & Strain & Fears –

OK – you’ve got your plan and some good next steps to start with. Now a big challenge will be the long stretch – not knowing how long the actual job search will take! You’ll feel that things are “bottomless” and “unclear” – there are too many moving pieces outside your control to predict and act on. Worry, tension and stress will try to wear you down. This is why it is essential that you have that supportive network and also schedule so strategic down-time to “unstring the bow” and relax. All search and no play will wear out your emotional engine sooner than later.

4. Those First Interviews (Dates) –

Finally! Some “fish” have taken your “bait” and reached out to you to schedule a first interview – with more to potentially follow! Now a different kind of pressure builds as you begin to research the company and look for any LinkedIn or other contacts you may have there. What questions should you ask? What kind of questions will they potentially ask? Should you have suggestions about the job or the company to offer? Also you begin to have “butterflies,” similar to what you felt before a first date in high school. A real temptation now is to try and be “Marvin the Mindreader” in guessing what “they” are thinking or not. Since this is impossible it only becomes another stressor in your life.

5. The Dreaded Emotional Roller-Coaster -

Again, that nagging question will arise – how long will your job search take?!? Sadly this is one of the main unpredictables in the process that makes it feel that time is both squeezing and stretching the time of a normal day. You may even have had some good interviews that looked like they would produce a job offer – and then you never heard back – ghosted! And then this may happen several times! Hopes rise, hopes fall and frustration burns – up and down swings in strong emotion. When this happens, you must take your emotions in hand and focus on taking the process a day at a time within the scope of an organized plan. Nothing feels better when the stress boils than to have a next step or two forward.

6. An Offer You Can’t Refuse? -

Finally! One or maybe a few of the companies you interviewed with have reached out with a specific job offer, and they want to bring you in to discuss! Someone likes you and wants you on their team! And the company’s rep wants to meet and discuss the offer’s details – work scope, compensation, benefits, etc. This can often be the most sensitive part of the process – navigating between the temptation to take their first offer or hold out for what you would consider to be the best deal. You may have your grocery list of “must-haves” or you may be wrung out by what may have been a long and bruising job search. There is no special catch-all trick to avoid making the wrong decision – you’re “johnny on the spot” and so must make the best call based on the situation. But in the end after going through the steps, you still must make that choice – take or not take the offer.

7. Arrival of the Great Day! –

That special day has arrived – sometimes it felt it never would! You’ve negotiated and accepted an offer, met with HR to begin the company’s specific onboarding process and gotten a start date. Now you can feel the stress and strain from the job search melting away. Time to relax and take a break? Yes – certainly! But plan on hitting the ground running on the first day of work – you want to follow through and be the person you “demonstrated” in the interview process. The company has made their choice to hire you – that’s their part. Now comes your part – to deliver the goods as a newest team member!

2. Nor is there is any leeway for believers to integrate with the surrounding world, despite attempts at applying proof-texted and personal favorite Biblical principles for their country’s politics and economics.

3. Most attempts to do so on a large scale failed, whether RCC or Reformers, with even the early “US” driving out Roger Williams and William Penn to create their own “kingdoms.”

4. This means that modern Evangelicals must cobble pieces together through proof-texting if they want to provide what they consider a Biblical model as an alternative to whatever system the surrounding culture uses.

5. The issue of Christian Nationalism is resolved if one accepts that the Church is, as the spiritual says, just passing through and not required to stop and focus on making their national government as Christian as possible.

6. Scripture does not describe or mandate a particular political or economic model, and is only descriptive of the surrounding culture.

7. Both blue and red Evangelicals should not and don’t need to put together some model they feel necessary to implement as part of being world stewards.

8. The only form of government portrayed in Scripture, including Israel, is an authoritarian monarchy – Egypt, Babylon, Persia and Rome.

9. Christians are certainly taught to have a positive influence where they live, first to our neighbors, through personal or church engagement as part of a natural outflow of spiritual blessing.

10. The US provides Christians with many political advantages and dilemmas, more than any other nation in history and based on every citizen having a personal vote.

11. How much responsibility do Christians and churches have as temporary citizens to the US nation?

12. Is there a mandate taught in Scripture that Christians must compete in the political marketplace and claim a space for God’s kingdom to have at least some values impact?

13. Must a Christian avoid any level of involvement in their country’s government, or are there possibilities at least for local level – school board, city mayor, city council?

14. Should Christians pick a political side and criticize the policies of the other side in light of their interpretation of what they think the Bible teaches on political and economic topics?

15. If a Christian should not be directly involved in politics, should they be more than spectators and find ways to influence through media, education or non-profit venues?

16. How much should Christians criticize other believers about their beliefs involving politics, economics and doctrine issues?

As Christians, we must always turn to our primary resource - God’s given Word. Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches book-end, with Protestant churches, the Church’s overall experience over the last two millennia - the RCC really involved in world politics and the second never as much as us Protestants.

From Scripture, we derive that we Christians live in a fallen world of all types of sin, and this fallenness encompasses every aspect of daily life, including relationships at all levels – from family and friendships to national governments. How then do Christians live lives of holiness in a sin-coated world with challenges to sin and compromise everywhere? Paul and Peter specifically taught a clear doctrine of respect and submission to the government at its highest level, and yet we’ve seen no godly governments, even that of the godly kings of Israel and Judah.

How does Scripture address these concerns? What additional insight can we glean from the experience of believers through thousands of years of history?

Some thoughts to get a discussion started -

1. Human government is evident throughout Scripture and one of God’s main tools for maintaining stability – law and order for each society and nation.

2. It seems that forming a city of some size with some kind of government is common and standard throughout history, and from which conflict and warfare for conquest and defense follow.

3. The most common form of government is monarchy and least common is democracy or a republic.

4. There are several accounts in the OT of God’s people being part of whatever government version runs the country they live in – Egypt, Babylon, Persia – all empires.

5. The NT occurs solely under the aegis of Rome in the Emperor version. Citizenship is the single most valuable possession and the fruit of the most stable form of government in the ancient world.

6. The American Experiment, born in the American Revolution, has become the most stable and youngest modern form of government, due in large part to input from Christians at all levels of society.

7. Some kind of Christian Nationalism has always been part of the evolution of the United States – Christians have had the space to have the greatest influence in a nation’s history since Constantine.

8. All the push among Evangelicals today to get involved in politics at all levels to influence and change our secular culture towards a more Christian configuration arose in the few years before Reagan’s election – this reflects the heavy input from top Evangelical leadership – Falwell, Colson, Dobson, Schaeffer and many other big thinkers, and reflects much of the strategy of the RCC over the millennia.

9. For all of Christian history, there has been little to no energy from the silent rank n file in the pew to getting involved in any big way in changing politics or culture.

10. There have always been Christians involved in politics and culture at all levels to some extent, whether from RCC or Protestant sectors, with some looking to create a blended single Kingdom from the Two Kingdom doctrine of Augustine to the present.

11. If a Christian believes God is leading them to get into politics, what was the thinking that led to this vision and what are the limits to involvement?

12. What are some dangers for Christians who get involved in politics, and are they critical enough to deter them from follow-through?

13. Is there a mandate in Scripture for Christians to be as involved as possible with the politics in the country in which they live?

14. How should American Christians understand and apply Paul and Peter’s teaching about government in their daily life?

15. We see from the very beginning in Genesis that God created the world within an infrastructure of law and order – people need to act in certain ways, things need to happen per a certain guidepath.

Look-For Scene: When Scrooge wakes up from his dreams to find that he still has a chance to be better, and avoid the dark fate forecasted by the final ghost. The sheer joy he feels in the brightness of Christmas morning gives such hope to anyone – and Christians know this change comes through the babe born at Christmas.

(5/5/5-15) A / Holiday Drama

2. Day of the Jackal: adapted from the Frederic Forsyth’s novel, back in the 60s and 70s that saw a flood of “airport” novels made into films, Fred Zinnemann directs a perfect example of a workman-like action movie that neatly clicks along almost like a documentary, earning five Oscar nominations. Edward Fox plays the assassin who is gunning for De Gaulle in 60s France. Disgruntled Army officers hire him as part of their plan to take out the President and take over the country. And the main part of the movie covers how the French and British law enforcement ingeniously ID and track him down – will they do so in time? The master Michel Lonsdale plays the lead French investigator with other stars doing their parts – Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, Maurice Denham and others.

Look-For Scene: When Deputy Commissioner Lebel (Lonsdale) updates his oversight committee on who the case leak was, who promptly leaves the meeting and shoots himself, and is asked how he knew which phone to tap. Lebel replies that he tapped all the phones of the team members, slightly stunning them.

(5/5/5-15) A / Spy Drama

3. The Agony and the Ecstasy: not exactly a Hwood Bible film, but has definite tones of one of the old blockbusters, particularly in using Charlton Heston (Moses, Ben Hur) to portray the amazing Michelangelo, Italian sculptor and painter. It seems almost a miracle that history has produced such people as artists, along with Shakespeare, Leonardo Di Vinci, Tolstoy and others. Directed by Brit Carol Reed from Irving Stone’s novel, the movie recounts the artist’s life at the time when he was hired to paint the Sistine Chapel with all the personal drama between two strong personalities. But the way Reed directs puts the premium on appreciation of great Art, how and why the artist created as he did, with beautiful photography of the scope of his work. What makes the film a bit clunky and soapy are the awkward side stories about Michelangelo’s other personal relationships. But definitely one of the great art films!

Look-For Scene: The best dramatic scenes are the interactions between Michelangelo and one of the most powerful Popes as the former works obsessively to complete the tasks given by the latter. “When will you make an end of it?” “When I’m done!”

(5/5/4-14) A / Bio Drama

4. Lust for Life: another beautiful Art Bio of Vincent Van Gogh with an older Kirk Douglas pulling off a creditable and positive portrayal of that great artist, directed by Vincent Minnelli, adapted from another Irving Stone novel and with Anthony Quinn, as Gauguin, winning an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. Toughest “tortured artist” movie as Van Gogh creates hundreds of paintings and drawing, selling almost nothing and dying young under sad circumstances. Because of his early life work as a pastor in his native Holland, many Christians gladly pull him into the fold, and he may well have been. Without his brother Theo’s love and support in all ways, Van Gogh could not have survived. The best kind of true artist who focused on expertly producing masterpieces instead of making money and cultivating a personality!

Look-For Scene: The best scenes are when the camera swings between his paintings and then goes afield to the same South of France Van Gogh lived in. The intense colors demand a world-class artist to capture nature’s art, as well as his portraits of his friends and neighbors – a truly diverse portfolio.

(5/5/5-15) A / Bio Drama

5. Sense and Sensibility: Austen’s work is perfect for film and TV adaptations and indeed all her works have been made several times each. This version directed by Ang Lee, the Taiwanese master, captures the story’s positive spirit of family, joy and romance, despite casting of the young women being much older than those characters in the novel. Earning seven Oscar nominations and one win for Emma Thompson’s adaptation of the book, the movie is accessible and believable as a classic story of social class, true love and heart break. Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant head the perfect English parlor tale of family travails and triumphs.

Look-For Scene: Of course, the best scene is the penultimate one where Edward Ferrars cleans up a crucial social misunderstanding that clears the way for true romance to come to the eldest common- sense daughter, Elinor. It’s a magical moment and fully satisfying after a long frustrating tale of misapplied love.

(5/5/5-15) A / Romantic Drama

6. Dr. Strangelove: by the master, Stanley Kubrick, and a black satire about Cold War politics, nominated for four Oscars and source of many comedic quotes and clips for online enjoyment. As with all Kubrick movies, the pacing, structure and production are clockwork, the multiple story lines embodied by Peter Sellers in three different characters, British Pilot, ex-Nazi Scientist and US President, are crucial parts of the same tale as a similar popular film, Fail Safe, but with broad humor and lack of seriousness. Along with Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Peter Bull, Slim Pickens and others make for a believable, tongue-in-cheek of how people once thought the world could have ended.

Look-For Scene: One of many scenes is when the B-52 pilot, Major “King” Kong (Pickens), goes through the actual contents of the survival pack each airman had available if the jet crashed in Russia, concluding that a man could have a great night in Vegas!

(5/5/5-15) A / Political Satire

7. Zulu Dawn: a little-known movie with lots of stars about a little-known period of British Empire history, before the Boer Wars and specifically against the Zulu nation led by the brutal Cetshwayo, who were in the threatening way of British expansion. Directed by Douglas Hickox with Peter O’Toole, Burt Lancaster, Simon Ward, Nigel Davenport and many others, it’s a pretty faithful account of the battle of Isandlwana- the Brit version of Custer’s Last Stand. Filmed near the actual location in South Africa, the plot is straightforward and the script has all the narrative tricks of a war movie – untrained newbies, thick-headed generals, put-upon natives, acts of personal bravery under fire. Defeat is inevitable and historically leads to the Battle of Rourke’s Draft, captured in the earlier movie, Zulu.

Look-For Scene: All throughout the movie, and at that time, the British under-estimated the Zulu and believed they would be easily defeated – a sentiment some shared in US history about the native Indians. But there comes a horrific scene when British scouts, chasing some stragglers, come across the main Zulu force of thousands and thousands of warriors, and then immediately rush back to the main force to warn them of impending doom!

(5/5/4-14) A / Epic War Drama

8. In Harm’s Way: Helmed by one of the great old school European directors, Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder), and one of the last B/W war movies, it’s a classic star-studded 1960s film with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Patrick O’Neal, Burgess Meredith and others. Set in the WW2 Pacific theater, the story in a sense is almost secondary to the actors’ performances with some soapy personal drama. It portrays the beginning of the war after Pearl Harbor and the entry of US forces into the island archipelagos in the South Pacific. It’s worth watching the good and bad choices, and the front-line and home-front dynamics, of US Navy officers heading into harm’s way!

Look-For Scene: Watch how the romance spins out between Patricia Neal and John Wayne, a soft courting by two very experienced adults, and the most positive male/female relationship in the movie. The way it’s written, both are open to new love, but not just for something new to pass the time. Interesting to find this level of connection in the middle of a war movie.

(5/5/4-14) A- / Epic War Drama

9. The Mission: a beautifully done film from the 1980s that could be used as a “recruiting film” for liberation theology, directed by Roland Joffe with screenplay by Robert Bolt, and nominated for seven Oscars. Meeting of several worlds, the story is about a new priest (Jeremy Irons) sent to an existing mission to help where he encounters a slave trader (Robert DeNiro) and eventually converts him. The pair now work together to protect their native parishioners when the Spanish and Portuguese government negotiate the transferal of that territory, regardless of the reality “on the ground”. The movie does not avoid showing the violent conflict arises between the Portuguese and the mission, and the outcome is predictable and tragic. The self-sacrifice of the priests and natives is meant to be a message for us moderns not to accept a Gospel of Progress that lead to political and economic oppression for the masses.

Look-For Scene: So many scenes, but one of the most poignant is when the Cardinal meets with the Guarani to tell them that their mission will be shut down by Spain for Portugal, due to world events far beyond their jungle. Of course, they don’t understand at all, only that they’re being forced to go back to the “dark” jungle where the demons live. The mission priests of course object and reject the Cardinal’s command, and make the decision not to comply and so face the violent response of military force of the government with their own violence – but in a just cause...

(5/5/5-15) A / Historical Drama

10. French Connection 1 & 2: Cutting-edge movies from the drug-drama 70s, directed by the master actioneer, William Friedkin, and shot in a dirty, rundown NYC about two narcotics policemen, Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider), chasing a French drug lord, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). The two must go together to complete the story. Almost perfect pacing and story scope, make both movies the standard in the now hallowed Hwood category of drug crime movies. FC1 won five Oscars and nominated for eight, and FC2 directed by John Frankenheimer, another superb actioneer, with the same cast and story line, ending in FC2, set in Marseilles, France.

Look-For Scene: A classic car chase in FC1 where Popeye chases a French assassin across Brooklyn after he attempted to shoot Popeye. Camera angles and kinetic action make the chase thrilling, making you feel like you’re right next to Popeye.

(5/5/5-15) A / Crime Drama

The first “horseman” of this new configuration is the most immediate – FEAR. A primal human emotion, we can be fearful of many things at any age – the dark closet as a child or the dark future as an adult. Losing a job unexpectedly can easily trigger it. Fortunately, life does not stop and the sun does continue to shine – day will follow day. The wise jobseeker will understand that so much of life is already out of anyone’s personal control, so the best response to emergencies is courage. And of course, a plan. The job search campaign must be the focal point and the next step in a transition is always the goal.

The second is ANXIETY. This is a specific kind of fear – one born of the future potential, or what may happen. We can be anxious about such things as having the money to pay the mortgage, medical bills, car note or college tuition. These pressures easily weigh down hearts and blanket daily life. Anxiety too can be met with specific solutions, such as a positive well-organized job search campaign. Action and movement are required to maintain a sense of momentum and effectiveness, just as endorphins from working out make challenges endurable. Actually, all types of activities can be a good cure for anxiety, but being an inactive couch potato about your job search will only prolong pernicious anxiety.

Third comes CHAOS. Most people have not been through a lot of job transitions over their career, so being dropped into a job search quickly creates a zone of chaos that needs to be organized and controlled. At this initial point, it is really useful to get guidance from career professionals, such as a resume writer, career advisor or interview coach, to provide some organization and perspective. They can help you identify and prioritize your resources. Successful jobseekers will be able to distinguish what they can influence in the process – and what they actually cannot. They will learn to nurture and allocate their energies and efforts wisely, and minimize the chaos

Finally, there lurks LAZINESS. This may surprise some, but it is as much as threat as the other three, if more devious and less obvious. It’s normal to take some time off after the initial jolt of job separation - to retreat, regroup and relax. The daily stress of going to work and putting in the long hours is gone for the foreseeable future. Old habits and defined routines can go slack and it gets harder to jump out of bed and get going. Again, this is where having a job search process is essential to restoring focus and drive. Laziness can easily derail a successful transition as quickly as the other three, but having accountability can make the needed difference.

Some quick applications:

1. Identify and understand how these 4 “horsemen” threaten your job search.
2. Organize and use a solid job search campaign with definable goals.
3. Get into accountability relationships for the transition to keep you on track with clear perspective.
4. Stay active and engaged with your family and local community, along with enjoying hobbies and regular exercise.

Remember – Many things in life are beyond anyone’s control, but some things, including the dreaded job search, can be conquered with courage, stamina, focus and persistence.

Look-For Scene: A very small scene with Harry (Brimley) watching Dixie (Buckley) from backstage, his undeclared love for her fixing him in place as she sings a long song he feels so deeply it pains him. Actually, this movie gave me great new appreciation for country music, as Amadeus did for me with Mozart.

(5/5/5-15) A / Drama Romance

2. Guarding Tess: a nice, homey movie with a bit of a sharp edge and lots of cast chemistry, esp. between Nicholas Cage as Doug Chesnic, a Secret Service agent assigned to guard the recently widowed wife of a former President, Shirley MacLaine as Tess Carlisle. Helmed by Hugh Wilson, who also has some really good audio scenes as the current President, tells a tight simple story of adapting to age and weakness from a public life. Constantly bickering, Tess, in her pain and grief, makes life pretty tough for Agent Doug and his team in the 1^st Act, as their daily routines become the center of attention.

Look-For Scene: Enjoy the series of multiple small scenes that add up in the 2^nd Act to show how Tess and Agent Doug’s relationship shift from picky widow to rules-driven agent to an almost loving Mother/Son relationship, in stark contrast to that with her own son, a real estate hustler. The happy transition makes the 3^rd Act more powerful.

(5/5/5-15) A / Dramedy

3. The Right Stuff: a groundbreaking masterpiece about the sweeping first decades of the US space program by Philip Kaufman, nominated for eight Oscars and winner of four, and adapted from an excellent book by the New Journalism master, Tom Wolfe. Hwood LOVES to adapt books (Michael Crichton, Stephen King) for big bucks. Aggregated with lots of new stars (Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Scott Glenn, etc.), the techno “history” evolves from test pilots and planes to astronauts and rockets with life-threatening risks, competitive testing, media obsession, tongue-in-cheek heroism and comic relief.

Look-For Scene: Some many to choose from! One of my favorites is when Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepherd) breaks the sound barrier, surpassing expectations, and those tracking on the ground think that the boom of the sound barrier being broken indicated that Yeager had blown up as other pilots had done before, instead of safely breaking it!

(5/5/5-15) A / Action Drama

4. Lost in America: Co-written and directed by Albert Brooks, this small comedic gem is addictive and insightful. Neurotic David Howard (Brooks) misses a key promotion at work for no good reason and decides in frustration to sell everything, drop out and make a clean break, buy an RV and set off to see America and touch Indians with his patient wife, Linda (Julie Hagerty “Airplane”). Off they go from the safety of LA on a personal and hilarious odyssey to find themselves, stopping first in Las Vegas to renew their marriage vows, AND lose almost all their financial “nest egg” through Linda’s newly triggered gambling addiction. This completely destroys their big plan and they make it to the purgatory of dusty AZ, where they experience their lostness in real America – for a bit, before surfacing again renewed.

Look-For Scene: When Brooks interviews for hopefully a high-paying job in small-town AZ, where the job coach unsurprisingly has no jobs paying six figures, but the pro-forma process must be taken seriously. Brooks is a comedic master of the ironic, tongue-in-cheek approach to the vicissitudes of life!

(5/5/5-15) A / Comedy

5. Modern Romance: another hilarious mini-masterpiece from Albert Brooks who writes, directs and stars as neurotic Robert Cole in this modern dystopian love story of a talented movie professional in single-rich LA. With an outstanding cast – Bruno Kirby, Kathryn Herrold, Bob Einstein (Brooks brother), James L. Brooks and George Kennedy, supports a classic story about a frustrated and neurotic shlub who just can’t find AND keep true love. Robert latches on to Mary (Herrold) in a push/pull relationship that runs a cringy gamut of romance and stalkerism. Brooks humor, with lots of great lines and scenes, makes the film worth watching!

Look-For Scene: For me a great scene occurs when Robert must dub the soundtrack of a movie project he is working on as part of the plot’s film within a film approach. The “inside baseball” view is hilarious as he struggles to meet the minutiae demands of professional filmmaking.

(5/5/5-15) A / Comedy

6. Once Upon a Time in the West: Sergio Leone’s best and epic “spaghetti” Western with complex and ritualistic plot and haunting soundtrack by Ennio Morricone with no Oscar activity! Cast with Henry Fonda as a sadistic villain, Charles Bronson as a nameless drifter, Jason Robards as an outlaw gang leader and Claudia Cardinale as a grieving mother and widow whose family had been killed at the beginning by Fonda for their land – a railroad baron needed it for his rail line’s infrastructure. The narrative outlines a cat-n-mouse game where the action brings all parties together through centrifugal force to a winner-take-all stand-off.

Look-For Scene: Among many, the final three-way face-off between Fonda and Bronson with Robards looking on at Cardinale’s homestead generates the most intensity with Morricone mystic soundtrack perfectly encasing the scene. Tension builds and builds, and then the final draw and shots ring out.

(5/5/5-15) A / Epic Western

7. Skyfall: Daniel Craig’s (my favorite Bond) 3^rd outing and 23^rd of all Bond movies, tight actioneer directed by Sam Mendes, and winner of 2 Oscars and nominated for 5. An old now-bent agent, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is the villain, played with a perfect blend of smarmy and sexual attacks the Service as a wounded Bond recovers after a fight with an underling in Turkey. IMO Judi Dench as M is the best of the entire series and as “mother,” becomes the full focus of Silva’s attacks in London, after a healed Bond thwarts a complex caper in Asia. The expected showdown and shootout with high-powered villains erupts at the lonely Bond family manse in Scotland as he struggles to get M out of the line of fire, but a happy ending results, despite the pain of loss.

Look-For Scene: My personal favorite is the escape from London by M after an attack on her life by Silva with Bond driving his old Aston Martin north through England to the family estate near Glencoe – one of the most beautiful locations in Scotland, quiet and majestic.

(5/5/5-15) A / Spy Action

8. Sicario: IMO the best portrayal I’ve seen of the cross-border cartel war in the SW US, with a tight script by Taylor Sheridan and direction from Denis Villeneuve (Dune). Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt and Daniel Kaluuya are fully believable as CIA, DEA and FBI agents as they drive the plot to identify and “address” a major Mexican cartel leader. The action is perfectly choreographed, the soundtrack matching the terrible perpetual battle and the guys are perfectly cast, but Blunt, a really good actor nonetheless, is miscast in her role here. She acts as sort of an “every person” to whom though things happen as if to us. This movie reflects an endless struggle, fought by rough men doing necessary violence to their country’s enemies, to paraphrase George Orwell.

Look-For Scene: when the column of big black SUVs races through the border crossing into Mexico from the US to pick up a jailed cartel leader for interrogation in the US. The pickup is easy – the threat comes during the return where the agents are stuck in a traffic jam and at the tender mercy of cars full of armed cartel soldiers. A deadly choreography of Intense action explodes and is resolved in seconds!

(5/5/5-15) A / Action

9. Fearless: an intensely emotional movie about how survivors of a jet aircraft crash come to terms with their new lives, carefully directed by Peter Weir from an adapted novel by Rafael Yglesias with great cast, 90s clothes and one Oscar nomination for Rosie Perez as a destroyed mother who lost her baby boy in the crash. The narrative follows Max Klein (Jeff Bridges), whose “miraculous” survival has shaken him to his life core and he proceeds to test whether God wants him to live or is trying to kill him. Interacting with other survivors as an “angelic” Good Samaritan who saved several people with cool-under pressure confidence – he felt the crash had made him fearless against all the previous threats – fear of flying, strawberry allergy, etc.

Look-For Scene: Carla (Perez)is paralyzed in her faith by guilt for not having protected her baby properly during the crash. So Max runs an ad hoc experiment by having her hug a baby-sized toolbox as he drives his car into a concrete wall – with the power of the impact forcing the box out of her arms and through the front windshield. She wasn’t guilty of her son’s death – nobody could have prevented the tragedy.

(5/5/5-15) A / Drama

10. Year of Living Dangerously: a stunning and provocative tale of politic, journalism, trust and truth in 1960s Indonesia, adapted from a novel and directed by Peter Weir, with an early Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and new star, Linda Hunt (deserved Oscar winner), playing a male fixer based in Jakarta. Guy Hamilton (Gibson) an Australian reporter always on the make for the next story, gets wind of a potential revolution led by Sukarno and follows dangerous clues. Billy Kwan (Hunt) introduces him to Brit Embassy worker, Jill Bryant (Weaver), who passes on secret info to Hamilton out of love for him. Billy sees himself as the puppet-master, arranging romance and world events, but who in the end is driven to making a real-life gesture, after Guy and Jill “implode”. Lives lived on the dangerous edge!

Look-For Scene: Many to choose from, but for me, the scene where a distraught Billy is trying to type out a Tolstoy quote, “What then must we do?”, to make sense of the betrayal he’s feeling because Sukarno turns out to be no different a tinpot dictator. He (she) decides to perform one last public political gesture. What adds incredibly intense poignancy to the moment is Kiri Te Kanawa’s version of “Beim Schlafengehen,” one of Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs playing in the background.

(5/5/5-15) A / Epic Drama

Look-For Scene: So many scenes to choose from, but one that highlights the sexual tensions between the main characters is when Louise Bryant comes to ask help from Eugene O’Neil to get Reed back into Russia. O’Neil helps, but not before dissecting how much Bryant was the perfect revolutionary groupie – a common type found in today’s left progressive Dem world.

(5/5/5-15) A / Historical Drama

2. Die Hard: one of the best “Christmas” movies ever and a classic action movie with Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and great support cast, directed by actioner John McTiernan. A ragtag group of “terrorists” take over an LA bank during their Christmas party, get into its main safe and steal $640M in negotiable bearer bonds. They intersect with John McClain, a NYC cop who is visiting his wife and becomes the one “cowboy” to free his wife and and decisively defeat Hans Gruber and his European criminals. One by one, McLain attrites the gang as police and FBI gather outside – totally ineffective. Instead of a Western town, this sheriff cleans up an office building, despite no shoes or shirt!

Look-For Scene: So many scenes to pick from! One would be the initial break-in by the terrorists into the mostly empty Nakatomi Building – fun to watch, great lines, pushing momentum and weirdly satisfying as the assault unfolds like clockwork.

(5/5/5-15) A / Action

3. Midnight Run: A buddy-road trip movie from Martin Brest with headliners Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin, with a great supporting cast and a nice tight plot. Nominated for one Oscar, laughs and hijinks ensue when an ex-cop/private investigator, De Niro, needs to transport mob accountant, Grodin, from New York to LA in five days to meet a bailbond deadline. And he does so using various types of transportation – jet, trail and car, despite being tailed and attacked by the mob, Dennis Farina. Numerous set piece comedy scenes really work with regular laughs out loud. The chemistry between Grodin and De Niro, seasoned with snappy dialogue and support performances, make the movie run without a hitch.

Look-For Scene: So many scenes to pick from! One takes place in a Southwest bar where Grodin and De Niro run a quick scam about identifying “counterfeit” bills to get some needed money for their trip to LA. Also any scene with Dennis Farina is a little gem.

(5/5/5-15) A / Dramedy

4. Bullitt: a bit of a convoluted plot but tightly directed by Englishman, Peter Yates, with a star cast, and nominated for two Oscars and winning for Best Film Editing. Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) and his partner are tasked by Fed prosecutor Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughan) with protecting anti-mob witness until the big trial. But hitmen kill the witness and Bullitt is held responsible. Digging deeper, Bullitt finds that the mob witness had hired a decoy so he could escape the country to Rome, leading to a shootout at SF airport and resulting in Bullitt being cleared and Chalmers being disgraced for being snookered. But it’s the flat-emotion procedural flow that hooks the viewer.

Look-For Scene: The amazing car chase between McQueen in his Mustang and the bad guys in their Dodge Charger through and around bright San Francisco hands-down is the biggest action sequence in the movie. Ground-breaking for its day – see another iconic chase scene in “The French Connection.”

(5/5/5-15) A / Action

5. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House: the perfect comedy for the dream home building set, directed by solid Hwood director, H.C. Potter, and later adapted as the hilarious “The Money Pit” with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvin Douglas and lots of character actors navigate the rigors of buying and building a new home in the booming post-WW2 economy. With the help of lawyer Douglas, ad man Grant and his wife, Loy, with their two daughters, escape a cramped Manhattan apartment for a piece of CT countryside. They buy the property, tear down the old house and begin building their own. And from this innocent beginning comes all the drama and stress of architects, contractors, engineers and workmen that ultimately results in their dream house. An absolute joy of overcoming challenges and strengthening family life and long-term friendships.

Look-For Scene: So many to pick from! One small diamond is Loy explaining the paint colors she wants the contractor to use in repainting different parts of the house – the extreme detail! And then wait for the contractor’s “interpretation” to the foreman.

(5/5/5-15) A / Comedy

6. The Dirty Dozen: one of Hwood’s classic “Dad” war movies with equal parts of combat and male bonding, directed by Robert Aldrich and manned with a great ensemble cast led by Lee Marvin. Winner of Best Sound Editing Oscar, this is a definitive movie with all masculine action and competition, and no distracting romance, will scratch the “guy flick” itch. Marvin is an Army major who is given a behind-the-lines mission but must recruit his troops from among jailed criminals, each with a different violent twist. The 2^nd act is about the intense training and bonding as they learn to work together as a unit. Finally, in the 3^rd act, the successful attack on a major German HQ takes out scores of Nazi officer targets, but with many losses among the dozen. Simple, straightforward, and satisfactory, plot!

Look-For Scene: The training sequences are fun because each character’s real character is revealed and fitted into the team as a whole. One in particular is when Marvin pushed Clint Walker (Posey) from a nice, passive guy into revealing his killer side.

(5/5/5-15) A / Action

7. Dr. Strangelove: a classic sharp satire from Stanley Kubrick, never noted as a comedian, about Cold War fears and sensibilities with a great cast and four Oscar nominations, and worthy of its status as one of the best movies ever. Coming out when doomsday films (Fail Safe, Seven Days in May) captured Hwood’s fears of apocalypse close, it manages to puncture the super serious military establishment in their attempts to address any national threats. Peter Sellers has a masterful turn in three separate roles – totally believable in each! George C. Scott and others, all tongue in cheek, make the movie a watch-again option. Sterling Hayden plays the “mad” Brigadier General Jack Ripper, commander of Burpelson AFB, who launches B-52s to retaliate and attack the Soviet Union because he believes a Communist conspiracy has poisoned America’s water supply with fluoride.

Look-For Scene: Some many to pick from! One is where Sellers tries to reason with the crazy and determined Air Force general who started everything while feeding him ammo, holed up in his office with regular Army troops trying to retake the base and the President (Sellers) to recall the bombers.

(5/5/5-15) A / Comedy

8. Predator: another high-octane guy-bonding movie (NO ROMANCE) by the action master, John McTiernan, nominated for an FX Oscar and ranked among best films of the 1980s, regularly generating sequels over the years since. A classic tale of high-tech hunter come to earth to pick off some humans – in this case, an elite squad of mercenaries, most bulging with muscles and weapons. How can a human, even Arnold, win against a giant alien? He must use MacGyver military ingenuity to defeat him after his team is eliminated one by one.

Look-For Scene: Schwarzenegger and his team slowly realized what, or who, they were up really against, after initially trying to rescue some government officials from bandits and Russians, and how they frantically try to figure out how to identify and kill their off-world enemy before it kills them.

(5/5/5-15) A / Sci-Fi

9. The Trip: a small trip movie with two well-known Brit actors and friends, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing fictional versions of themselves, and directed by Michael Winterbottom, with three other “trip” movies to Spain, Italy and Greece. Initially a limited series, the episodes were edited into a single movie and cover an assignment from newspaper, The Observer, to visit four high-end restaurants in the North of England. Concurrent to the meals, their lives continue, especially Coogan who has random hookups as he tries to figure out his long-term relationship with Mischa. Brydon is happy to tag along, the stable family man, and provides the needed comic foil for this comfortable buddy film. The landscape, the meals, the hotels and the conversation create a tasty watch.

Look-For Scene: Any of the scenes where Coogan and Brydon do their celebrity impressions, including Michael Caine and Al Pacino, in a friendly (?) competition with each other.

(5/5/5-15) A / Dramedy

10. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: maybe three best-ever fantasy movies ever and faithful enough to the source material (Tolkien), directed by NZ Peter Jackson and winner of 17 Oscars. A fine blend of an outstanding cast with ground-breaking CGI and FX, music and production values, all creating and supporting a vast saga, fully sprung from JRRT’s mind, about the persistent struggle between good and bad in a very different world from ours – and yet with similar challenges, terror and heroism. All the universal ingredients of courage, betrayal, salvation, love, evil, good and many others make each of the movies work on their own and together! The Tolkien movies IMO are better than any of those made from CSL’s Chronicles of Narnia. The natural law of Hwood must be obeyed and applied!

Look-For Scene: Almost impossible to single out a scene to note, though for me when Theoden and the Rohirrim appear outside the besieged and under-attack city, Minas Tirith. The king dramatically inspires his troops to attack the exposed flank of the armies of Mordor to turn the battle flow into clear and complete victory – high-raising stuff and glorious!

(5/5/5-15) A / Epic Fantasy

Of course, there have always been movies and shows made in cartoon, stop-action and even digital format since the start. AI promises a more realistic, soup-to-nuts approach that is closer to a regular movie - for a FAR less expensive price tag.

This means no absolute need for live actors, live production crew, sets and locations - all can be whipped up by cutting-edge computers and software in a fraction of the time. This also will means that this entire industry must adapt to survive, comparable in many ways to the arrival of Talkies. The same would follow for TV shows, commercials and other media resources.

I’m reminded of the classic line from David Lynch’s version of Dune, “the spice must flow!” For Hwood, the money must flow and no serious competition can be allowed to derail the global juggernaut. Many, many billions of dollars of income and spending are at stake! No doubt, the Legal Masters of Litigation will get involved to maintain some kind of status quo.

Anyone have a hot take on Hwood’s current high-tech dilemma?

At the same time, you want to avoid getting caught in a negative loop of overthinking, doubt and stress through unfocused worry and valid concerns.

Some common activities that many jobseekers engage in that could be a real drag on your time – a “fast food” approach with little or no “nutrition”. These are not meant to be all encompassing, but are real things that do compete for precious time.

1. Persistent doom-scrolling through conflicting advice posts and loud opinion articles about crazy hiring practices, “nightmare” search stories, shifting economic trends and dire market conditions on social media.

2. Too much dependence on job search support meetings and networking events that are long on sad anecdotes and short on real connection-making.

3. Feeling pressured into signing up for all sort of online education programs that package and sell LinkedIn strategies & tactics, self-care tools and self-promotion resources.

The Internet, especially LinkedIn, is widely populated with tens of thousands of different service providers who skillfully prepare and push their solutions to jobseekers. Some advice is helpful, but also self-evident; other advice is pure speculation and unverifiable. IMO many of these thought leaders assume the job search will be long – no quick fixes, but more of a long-term quagmire! This means they encourage jobseekers to sign up for their specific program for the foreseeable future, in addition to executing a job transition proper. So warning! These support services are not necessarily a big Plus!

My suggestion to jobseekers – hope for a short search but expect for a long haul since there is no way to control all the moving pieces. Optimize your search tools, activate a supportive network and have at least a basic, but flexible plan to follow.

To provide some better perspectives and clearer application, I’ve picked three of what I consider to be very common, but fully unrealistic expectations that jobseekers can have when they work with a professional resume writer.

1. Expecting the Resume Writer to have enough specific knowledge to write about any potential role, no matter what the industry. And if the writer can’t prove their bona fides for this aspect, the jobseeker will continue to look for writer who claims they can! In reality, this is an impossible requirement to fill – of course, no single writer can possibly have that much exposure no matter how many years in the business Instead, Resume Writers gather a “basket” of raw material provided by the client – old resumes, job descriptions or intake forms, and potentially some inside language familiarity. Resume Writers are more generalists who have worked with a wide range of job roles and do have a lot of general knowledge collected over the years, and not specialists who have worked with only one kind of position, such as nursing, teachers, HR representatives, etc.

2. Expecting the Resume Writer to have a sure-fire formula or process that will guarantee a great job with better compensation with, of course, some exertion from the jobseeker. In our day of pills, algorithms and hacks, Many expect Resume Writers have figured out how to “cheat the bank” or guess the “winning lottery number.” If someone did, they’d quickly become a billionaire! The reality is that Resume Writers just have become really good at producing compelling narratives that create a higher probability of getting more attention and callbacks than DIY or AI-cooked Resumes because generate a great blend of key words and specific achievements.

3. Expecting the Resume Writer can read hiring manager minds and guess what key words or format they’re looking for to successfully pass through ATS nets and demonstrate a perfect fit. This is a particularly strong expectation many jobseekers suffer from for the natural motive of wanting to have any kind of real edge against their competition in the job search. But the reality is that the entire search process is a calculated guess at best. Unfortunately for some, the process looks a lot more random with planning and decision-making “seat of the pants” as they throw resumes out into the blue and hope for the best.

These questions and situations IMO simply confirm that it is still best to work with a human being, even if it means investing time and money to do so. And having an organized process and positive network will help the jobseeker stay on track.

Look-For Scene: Many scenes to choose from, but the one where Henry 8 arrives at More’s home for a “surprise visit” as a friend, but really to discuss his plans for divorce from his wife and his need for Thomas’ full support. Shaw and Schofield are masterful in their delicate but steel-hard discussion about high-state matters.

(5/5/5-15) A+

2. Chinatown: a classic film noir set bright sunny Southern California in the 30s with a more modern-minded private detective, Jake Gittes read back into the world of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. Family, money, lust, corruption and murder – Hwood’s dependable mix of plot elements. Directed by the rogue and scandalous European, Roman Polanski, a stellar cast of Jack Nicholson (perfect vehicle), Fay Dunaway, John Huston and many others create a privileged murder mystery set in the exploding world of political correction, new money and real estate development,

Look-For Scene: The horrifying scene at the film’s end where the true ugly nature of the Cross family is revealed, and then that reality to be topped by horrific tragedy - darker than any previous mystery noir.

(5/5/5-15) A

3. The Ten Commandments: one of the all-time great and standard Bible movies generations of people, including myself, will list as their introduction to the cinematic Bible. DeMille’s production is not perfect, but did set the industry standard for the Hwood Bible movie category. Solid casting (Heston, Brynner, Francis, etc.), great FX and a sonorous, and partially fictional script, the movie ranges from the special birth of Moses to the edge of the Promise Land with the Almighty himself (voiced by Heston himself) being the main character. Over the decades, many people were impacted enough to convert to Christianity, highlighting a real sense in the power of multimedia in evangelism.

Look-For Scene: Out of the many ground-breaking FX scenes, Moses coming before God for the first time at the “burning bush” on Mount Sinai to receive his divine mission directly. Nothing in films before caught the immediacy and holiness of the moving moment.

(5/5/5-15) A

4. Once: a great example of a great gem of a movie created outside the Hwood empire – a great unrequited love story (a unicorn in Hwood), with a heart of music, solid newcomer acting and simple production values – a fully believable and “mundane” picture of urban Irish busker culture. Even when the plot takes unexpected turns, the actors seem like they could have stepped nameless out of a crowd and would soon return back to non-celebrity life. Winner of an Oscar for “Best Song” in 2008, the movie is worth multiple viewings.

Look-For Scene: The two budding musicians get time in a professional sound studio to record together – the gentle naturalness of the two working together with no rush or drama.

(5/5/5-15) A

5. The Party: a small gem of a comedy vehicle for Peter Sellers (Inspector Clouseau) by the wildly productive Blake Edwards. This hilarious movie would NEVER be made in our Progressive Puritan days. You’ll spot lots of TV actors, cast from the wide spectrum of sitcoms and dramas of that day, laced with 1960s TV music with typical period production values – bright lights, wild colors and obvious sets. The story is the main thing – Sellers completely “inhabits” his role as an Indian extra who screws up a big production in the first scene, but gets accidentally invited to a high-end Hwood party. There he navigates a long series of cultural gaffes, mistakes and misunderstandings, with a sweet, implausible love encounter with the recently passed Claudine Longet.

Look-For Scene: Where Sellers character needs to find a bathroom for bodily necessity and searches throughout the big 1960s mansion, and then makes a mess when he finds one – perfect physical comedy.

(5/5/5-15) A

6. Dial M for Murder: an urbane mystery by the master, Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from a play, and set in London. Wealthy Margot (Grace Kelly), wife of suave retired tennis pro, Tony (Ray Milland), is having an affair with crime writer, Mark (Robert Cummings). With a few others, a very simple cast and story, but, as always, with Hitch it’s all in the execution. Tony contracts with old classmate to kill Margot while he is out at a party. The attempt fails to murder Margot AND ends in the murderer’s death! Of course, the audience knows all the facts ahead of time, so the fun comes from the Chief Inspector (John Williams) untying all the knotty clues of the crime itself to finally arrest Tony.

Look-For Scene: When the hired killer sneaks into the apartment and ambushes Kelly – the man to overwhelm the woman, but instead the role is reversed and he is killed by her – all while Ray Milland is listening to everything on the phone in his club – classic exquisite Hitchcock tension.

(5/5/5-15) A

7. An Affair to Remember: one of the iconic Hwood romances between two mature people played by two superstars – Cary Grant (Nicky) and Deborah Kerr (Terry), and directed ably by Leo McCarey from an earlier version. Nominated for four Oscars, it won none. The story turns happy with the two committing to meet at the Empire State Building in New York and turns sad as Terry is crippled in a car accident, and prevented from making the rendezvous. But Nicky eventually reconnects with her and loves her, despite her condition. Connected with romantic songs, the pacing and plot is straight-forward, the stars a comfort to watch – an inevitable classic.

Look-For Scene: One of the best scenes I’ve seen in a romance movie! Nicky takes Terry to meet his beloved grandmother, Janou (classic English actress Cathleen Nesbit), in a brief visit to her house on Villefranche-su-mer. This extremely poignant visit sets the tone for the rest of the movie, as we see the careful, but purposeful attraction of the two to each other. The romance makes sense now, grounded in this traditional and lovely visit with the blessing of the wise old lady.

(5/5/5-15) A

8. To Catch A Thief: an immersive movie that is a change of pace for Hitchcock – an enjoyable romance with a few sharp edges that unfolds like a mystery in a beautiful Provence landscape. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly are the topliners with a solid supporting cast, gorgeous clothes and great production values. The actual crime mystery is only a plot device for a classic Hitchcock romance dance. Long gone are the days of Hitchcock et al. who produced high-end movies that didn’t condescend or preach to a popular audience.

Look-For Scene: Of all the flirty romance scenes in Hitchcock’s films, the one with Kelly and Grant driving up in the mountains for a picnic, and evading a police tail, is exquisite. Kelly takes the lead in driving and setting the pace with Grant an amused but watchful passenger.

(5/5/5-15) A

9. Heaven Can Wait: a comedy remake of the inferior “Here comes Mr. Jordan” (1941) by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry with nine Oscar nominations – and unique for Beatty both producing and directing. The luminous Julie Christie as the love interest with James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin and Dyan Cannon, the magical movie tells the tale of a star football quarterback who prematurely dies before his scheduled time and must be returned with another body (a wealthy tycoon) to balance out the universe. Miraculously, the new Beatty whips his slack, but rich body into quarterback shape, interacts with his wife and business manager, and buys his old team in order to play again. Hijinks ensue, but true love appears, a crime committed and a happy ending still assured.

Look-For Scene Mr. Jordan, his admin sidekick (Henry) and Beatty must quickly find a new body for Beatty’s character and check out various crazy choices in a humorous sequence.

(5/5/5-15) A

10. Downfall: IMO the only movie about Hitler and his fall that isn’t cartoonish and sermonic that I’ve seen, though there are many attempts. A German production with almost no recognizable actors (to Americans). Nominated for only one Oscar but no win, Bruno Ganz is the most believable Hitler, if not closest in appearance. The plot, script, pacing and photography combine to create a good glimpse into claustrophobic bunker world of Hitler’s last days with generals, staff and civilians coming and mostly going into the vortex of disappearing sanity and meaning. We’ve seen this “movie” many times since WW2 – Saddam Hussein, Mussolini, Ceausescu, Gaddafi, etc. where a regime melts away in demonic violence, death and chaos.

Look-For Scene: The surreal and strangely normal scene, completely believable, where Hitler interviews applicants for personal secretary, including Traudl Junge, a main POV character – her natural nervousness and his kindly attention.

(5/5/5-15) A

This week a highly anticipated 20-part documentary, “World War 2 with Tom Hank,” opened on The History Channel on Monday with three starter episodes and one every Monday evening following for 17 weeks. Like an aircraft carrier parking itself into San Francisco Bay, this series will attract all kinds of viewing attention, mostly good.

Buffs will automatically associate it with the landmark 26-part “World at War,” hosted by another world-class actor - Lawrence Olivier. Viewers will appreciate the upgrades in production values, as well as pundit insights and topic organization. The first was hot-fresh off the war and this second is the distilled product of another 50 years.

Definitely worth watching for the comforting, predictable and well-known story of history’s largest war so far with America’s big pal as narrator. Hanks also had a small but outstanding narrator role in Ken Burns, “The War”. My initial impression though is to not expect any surprising or revisionist revelations.

Quick extra - “Pressure,” the new WW2 movie from a play about the decision-making process for the D-Day invasion, focusing on the weather-watching. From previews, it doesn’t look anything special, except for the wildly miscasting of the hulking, bulge-eyed Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower - I guess a big favor was taken or given for that!

The Boroughs (Netflix)

From the Duffer Brothers who produced the big hit, “Stranger Things,” an adult version, contained within an eight-part series, brings together some similar angles - group of adult children, creepy labs, sci-fi monsters - all set in an oddly-named desert retirement village, The Boroughs.

Lots of B+ and A- minus stars (Bill Pullman, Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Denis O’Hare, etc.) populate this articulate plot and affecting drama. Lots of family drama and personal trauma, the good and the bad sides are quickly outlined, and the plot unwinds both predictably and unpredictably (!?!) with lots of plausibility and continuity gaps.

Definitely binge material! I’ve enjoyed mostly what I’ve seen so far and have one more episode to go. I never connected to “Stranger Things” enough to finish and may go back, but I’m not a fan of serious shows driven by kids - they either act and speak too much like adults, or they are suffused with a Hwood preciousness.

Extra! OK - finished the series and still think it’s watchable, but the 3rd act much weaker and more predictable than promise of previous 2 acts. Typical Hwood cop-out for a Happy Wrap-up. Interesting how so much of these shows and esp. series put so much emphasis on a Hwood perspective on family dynamics - reminds us watchers how much these plots rely on the lived life of so few people/writers….

Some common concerns do arise during the roller-coaster – fundamental questions that pop up and reflect how jobseekers may feel, think and act during the search. Since there is never any need to add more stress and fear to anyone’s daily emotional burden, identifying, defining and understanding them can lead to getting useful perspective about the many uncontrollables of the job search.

With answering these self-questions and new self-understanding, another good first step at the beginning of a job search is to create a flexible process with actionable steps and goals that. These guardrails should keep the jobseeker focused and on track through the emotional dents and bumps of the search. Noted though there is no single guaranteed formula for success in getting that next great position and optimal compensation. Plus there is no way to control the timeline – how long the search process will take!

So here are three important questions I’ve heard commonly asked with some answers and suggestions.

1. Am I doing the right thing or is it the right time to start a job search? With all the job search process can be, complex, frustrating and a rollercoaster, it is crucial to know and ask yourself the big question about taking the first step and to even begin thinking about new opportunities. What is your current life situation – most people look at these two aspects - are you capped out in your position and compensation level? But you must be serious, not half-committed, when you begin. Besides, asking yourself, ask your family and ask your network, and see if there is a general positive consensus to move forward.

2. Am I good enough to take a new role? Many people may remember that old Saturday Night Live skit with Al Franken, “Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy.” The hook of the self-esteem joke was his repetition of “I’m smart enough, I’m good looking enough, and doggone it, people like me.” But there is still some truth there, in terms of the job search. Self-doubt and trepidation breeds fear of the next step into your personal “unknown”, despite having a demonstrated full pack of talents and capacity. As with dating looking for one spouse, the job search goal is that one position in a company willing to take a chance on the potential you.

3. Am I starting the right first steps? This may not be an obvious fear, but it still is essential to ask whether you have a process to organize and follow that will endure the stress and strain of the unpredictable job search. Once you’ve decided to move forward with confidence, you must have the right network and toolbox (Resume, LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn Recommendations) that will help keep you on track and give the best chance for a successful and confident job transition.

So many of the fears and concerns in life are identified and resolved in the mind ahead of time before they threaten or are overcome in life. If you can win out against some mind-games and bring a clearer perspective to your job search, you can flatten out a good bit of the emotional roller-coaster. Keep in mind that you will not be in a job transition for the rest of your life, even if it feels that way. Asking and answering these straightforward questions will help fuel the momentum of a successful job search.

One common thing we see about Jesus’ ministry in all the Gospel accounts is that, day in and day out, his work was never done! Wherever he went and ministered, there was never a lack of people to teach or heal, things to say or do, there was always another place to be. Indeed, in this way, Jesus modeled incarnate on earth how the Father also was always at work – only everywhere in the world. Jesus perfectly modeled the crucial principle that it was better to give than receive.

Today, any leader in or out of the church – pastor, executive, event planner, etc. also knows what a physical and emotional drain service efforts can be. It’s standard and wise to schedule and factor in some kind of “downtime” to rest, whether a Monday after a Sunday or a month-long sabbatical every couple years. Jesus did this, when he regularly goes up to the hills wherever he is alone to pray and fellowship with the Father and charge the batteries.

In Mark’s account, as also in Matthew and Luke, all started with a restful lake crossing for Jesus and the disciples after a long day of teaching and crowd interaction. No doubt, this was common practice for Jesus’ ministry on the shores of Galilee, and criss-crossing by available boats to landing places at another place on the lake was convenient and saved time from tramping around on land.

As active fishermen, several of the disciples knew dangerous windstorms could blow in out of the blue into the bowl-like lake space and were an accepted risk to their daily fishing life. Jesus quickly settled himself in the stern for a well-earned nap – the crossing was his idea and he showed no advance knowledge of what was coming.

Gliding over the water in the lessening light, no doubt they expected a routine and smooth passing with a meal and good night’s sleep on the other side. But disaster did strike in what seemed a few moments and waves quickly began splashing into their boat, threatening Jesus and the disciples. Plus, according to Mark’s account, there were a few other boats with other followers sailing with them.

The narrative “camera angle” centered on the quietly sleeping teacher in the back of the boat. Sinking and maybe death was seconds away, but the Lord slept on in serenity. Had nature overtaken nature’s God? Could Jesus actually be so unaware? If Jesus was the Messiah – God among us, how was this “lapse” happen? If the boat sank with the disciples, Jesus, God’s son, would suffer their fate! Where was the sovereign and supervising God of Ps 121:4 and II Chron 16:9.

2.

As fast as the emergency arose, the situation was resolved even faster! A man was asleep and needed wakening and a God stood and barked a command to the storm to cease. No hesitation, just safety for all in calm water in seconds. And not only a lake for smooth sailing again, but a great and comprehensive calm! No half measures with God’s direct work.

And, as often happened in similar incidents with disciples and followers, Jesus also had a follow-up word of rebuke for the disciples’ behavior. Apparently, he was surprised and actually annoyed by the disciples’ lack of faith in the moment. Any of us today well-know that first stunned reaction to a crisis in our daily routine – surprise laced with terror.

No breaks for the disciples from Jesus – he dinged them on the most sensitive topic – their lack of faith, even with him being present. But what caused their faith gap? How was their reaction due to little faith? Surely their immediate and frantic concern about sinking and dying was valid! How did Jesus expect them to respond in simple faith to the threat? It would seem he expected them to have enough “muscle memory” to exercise their faith that God would protect them and not allow them to die. They shouldn’t have flipped out! Especially being so close to the incarnate God of the universe who had been teaching about the power words of truth and how to apply them.

Or maybe did Jesus expect the twelve disciples to use their empowered faith from their earlier assignment (Mark 3) of preaching the Gospel, casting out demons and healing the sick throughout the region. They would minister as Jesus did for a short time – part of their on-the-job training. Could they themselves have channeled God’s power to quiet the storm? Maybe they could have! We don’t know and nobody alludes to such in the NT.

But no worries – the main takeaway point is that God will always step in to answer prayers for his people in their need with great grace and generosity, and turn things around in his time! He will fill the gaps, but be prepared for him also pointing out the gap. Sanctification is education – about God and ourselves, and will only end in That Day. In the meantime, faith is the first of all the hard subjects we must learn in our life class with Jesus.

Jesus taught his disciples to trust the process and obey God’s will. Hence that interesting prayer – “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24) The disciples, and we today, live daily with this tension – believing and trusting, and still slipping between different levels of faith in different moments. They could believe in the truth of God’s goodness, even as they struggled with consistently applying in fact.

The evening ended, the boats reached the other shore and all got some well-earned sleep – Jesus had proven that God is never truly absent, even if a nap indicates otherwise. His engagement is never judged by immediate circumstances. The disciples had a new benchmark for living by faith to align with in the future with far greater challenges lay ahead!

3.

I myself regularly experience such sudden challenges and changes in life circumstances, and respond differently along a spectrum since I began this walk. Even having the riches of the complete Bible to review and apply – I have more info about God, Jesus, his work and my spiritual resources than the disciples had. But this all doesn’t guarantee a more stable and consistent walk with God. The space between me and the disciples is in fact not being that far apart! I still feel the same zing from Jesus’ question the disciples did.

Jesus teaches us throughout the Gospels to trust his process and obey God’s will, and this will cultivate the environment for growth, and from there – hope, contentment and clear worship of God. Too often though, real friction is created between the desire to obey and comply and the all-to-human lack of follow-through.

Real faith can only thrive in each of us within a godly community. The model throughout Scripture is for individuals united together in a specific community.

Some quick thoughts:

- Christians can always get better at managing expectations. As the Lord’s half-brother points out in James 4:11-15, it is best to preface every plan or decision with “If the Lord wills.” He sends challenges and blessings to perform a quality control test that provide many chances to exercise faith and practice dependence on him for everything.

- Life is fragile – it doesn’t take much to rock or sink a boat. Self-knowledge of weaknesses also promotes total dependence on God. Everyone in Christ’s church is somewhere on the spectrum of learning and applying the spiritual life skills.

- No doubt, there are many things to fear in this world. Getting rattled by people, job, health or nature will happen and can short-circuit fellowship with him. But God also always provides the opportunity to reconnect to his power and stability.

God truly is never asleep or takes a break in his constant care and oversight of his people, even if Jesus took a “nap”. He always returns your calls, never delegates and meets every need in a timely fashion!

I remember seeing this movie first when it opened in 1970 in a Daytona, FL theater with my father, who was also the first to expose me to the magic of movies, especially historical or military-themed. Another time we saw “Tora! Tora! Tora!”, sneaking our own store-bought candy into the theater. These movies were pitched at the kid-imagination level. No doubt actual WW2 veterans knew what was true and accurate, and what was the product of the director’s fevered adult imagination.

“Patton” has always been a kind of traditional favorite and stiff war movie for me, but as I grew in appreciation of the media over time, a few aspects have come to nag me. Patton is portrayed as a high-impact, but vain and narcissistic field commander with an inability to be a team player and rational person (he was a devotee of reincarnation!). The movie shows a Patton who wins battles almost by chance and constantly needs to be reined in from stupid quotes and actions – especially with his anti-Soviet stance after the war – “Let’s conquer them now since we’ve got the resources to do so!”

This was also a perfect, career-exploding role for George C. Scott who acts and speaks in no way accurate for the real Patton. He looked like Patton only in the attention to full formal dress in public. But the iconic scenes! When Patton addresses the audience/troops at the beginning, arrives at his first command, slaps the shell-shocked soldier, asks for a good-weather battle prayer – and best – his announcement of being able to pivot three divisions from east to north pointing in two days in order to relieve Bastogne.

As commander, Patton ONLY inhabits huge baroque palaces, far from the troops, and is only supportive of them when they win. One scene during a retreat, bloodied, wounded soldiers stagger past (there is A LOT of open-air marching in the movie) and Patton sits in his jeep like a thick frozen block of ice, incapable of feeling empathy. He swings between riding in a bumpy jump and clicking on marble floors in big, echo-y places.

But apart from Schaffner’s choices in picking how to portray Patton, there is the snake in the grass, Omar Bradley, who ALWAYS comes off as the real hero and best field commander – no public prima donna, but worse – a private reputation backstabber. After the initial speech by Patton, the very next scene is Bradley! Throughout “Brad” is portraited as the real, stable “soldier’s” general who was not separated from the troops, like the Vietnam War generals, but was in the trenches at all times. AND he was the sane balance for Eisenhower (always unseen like God in heaven) and Bedell Smith who always points out Patton’s flaws and keeps the campaign on the tracks to victory.

Also the battle scenes are loud, inaccurate and clumsily staged – exactly the way 12-year-olds would play it out with a big box full of plastic tanks, planes and soldiers. Only 20-some years after WW2, all the tanks, trucks and equipment are 1950s. Plus the filmmakers use only about six planes – German and US to portray air power! Clearly Schaffner’s aim was not historical engagement or accuracy.

Still the aggregate effect makes “Patton” worth watching IMO – for the acting, music and some of the scenes, despite the skewed script and clunky production values. But it is another example that no movie reputation, no matter how well-loved, are not immune to deeper review and evaluation!

1. Day of the Jackal – skillfully adapted from Fredrick Forsyth’s novel, Fred Zinnemann creates one of the best and standard assassination movies – nominated for one Oscar and winner of numerous European film awards. Set in De Gaulle’s 1960s France, the movie tightly recounts the fascinating investigation to prevent a real-life assassination of the old general by disgruntled French military officers. Perfectly paced, a real who-dun-it even as we know the who, just not the when, where and how. A young Edward Fox is perfect as the assassin who makes his plans without a misstep. How it turns out we have no clues until the last minute of the movie. One of the best caper movies ever – remade years later with Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and a young Jack Black.

Look-For Scene: When the main investigator Lebel (excellent Michel Lonsdale) updates his supervisory committee with the latest new and reveals the discovery of an insider leak who had fed crucial info to the rebels. The culprit resigns and commits suicide for his betrayal – and Lebel had identified him only after wire-tapping ALL the committee members.

(5/5/5-15) A

2. Jurassic Park – a dream come true for someone who loved dinosaurs as a kid by one of our great masters – Steven Spielberg, adapted from the novel by world-class fiction master, Michael Crichton, it is the ultimate and best done “nature gone bad” of all time. Simply amazing CGI and a star-packed cast – winner of three Oscars. There are people in danger, women in danger, kids in danger! Dinosaurs, made from finagled, mysterious DNA material, make no exemptions. Jeff Goldblum is perfect as a horndog chaos scientist and Sam Reilly the steady-eddy paleontologist. Wondrous and horrifying at the same time, the dinosaurs in their diverse multitude are miracles of technical resurrection and immediate domination – a natural evolution to a watchable, though uneven franchise.

Look-For Scene: Watch for the scenes with the Raptors – new villains in dinosaur movies, not as big as T-Rex and (in the reality of the movie) most human in their intelligence – they are the true threats because you can see or hear them coming!

(5/5/5-15) A

3. Three Days of the Condor – one of the best paranoid conspiracy movies from the crazy 1970s (The “Parallax View,” “The Conversation,” “All the President’s Men”, etc.) Starting in the late 1960s, Hwood saw and exploited this trend in American society that promoted suspicion of anything government – CIA, FBI, NSA, military and the US government itself. The irony is that most of these suspicions were closer to the truth than even the wildest movie plots. The amazing Sydney Pollack’s film is about the murder of all members of a secret CIA research unit in New York City by assassins – all except Redford’s character. The rest of the movie is about Redford staying alive with the help of a “random” woman, Fay Dunaway, long enough to “come in,” as the Agency works to find out who the guilty “rogue” organization is. But who really can he trust? Max von Sydow is perfect as the main assassin and the “cat n mouse” game takes a satisfying twist at the end. 1970s New York City itself qualifies as a character in the movie!

Look-For Scene: Redford calls his CIA contact to report in but throws off their tracking technology by using his electronic skills to rewire phone lines at a network switching center, bouncing the “call” all over the five boroughs of New York.

(5/5/5-15) A

4. The Quiet Man – another masterpiece from John Ford – an ode to his vision of Ireland with its humor, romance and quirky, funny characters, winner of two Oscars and nominated for seven. Filmed in Ireland with lots of Irish actors, it’s a kind of St. Patrick’s Day origin story – a retired American boxer returns to buy his mother’s cottage in Innisfree and immediately falls in cute-love with a beautiful woman he sees in a meadow, Mary Kate Danaher, whose hulking brother won’t approve their marriage. But Love will find a way, and by zigs and zags, the match is made and confirmed under duress. So, Sean Thornton (Wayne) is forced to challenge her brother, Red Will Danaher, to “fish or cut bait.” There are lots more “moving pieces” to track and enjoy with traditional “lucky charms” music.

Look-For Scene: The BIG BRAWL between Wayne and McLaglen of course! The whole movie leads up to and away from this set-piece fight. Both believable and unbelievable, the American wins against the Irish for the “mercenary heart” of his beloved, Mary Kate.

(5/5/5-15) A

5. Camelot: another adaptation of a Broadway play by the renowned Lerner and Loewe, and directed by fellow theater, and film, luminary, Joshua Logan – three Oscars and five nominations. The play itself was a remake of the delightful retelling of the Arthur myth by TH White with Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero and a host of outstanding supporting actors. Beautiful, memorable songs, enchanting sets and great production values – the film is better than the play. Side note – when Teddy White was the first to interview Jackie Kennedy after JFK’s assassination, she started the Kennedy Camelot myth that sharing that Jack used to listen to the Burton/Broadway record in the evenings at the White House.

Look-For Scene: During a brutal jousting scene, when Lancelot accidently kills a fellow knight, Sir Dinadan and then the pure-in-heart warrior raises his friend from the dead! Very dramatic scene!

(5/5/5-15) A

6. The Man Who Knew Too Much – another classic 1950s Hitchcock production with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day caught in a classic innocents-in-deadly trouble, caught in a foreign spy tale set initially in exotic Morocco and later in urban London – full of electric tension and unpredictable twists – nobody is who they seem! While Hitchcock’s plot details aren’t always the clearest, in the whole he masterfully creates a growing forward momentum of sudden threats and personal danger for his average-joe protagonists who witness a crime and have their only child kidnapped by bad people – one word about the plot, and they’ll know and all is lost! Stewart at his best Hitchcock standard, plus Doris Day, at her musical peak, gets to sing!

Look-For Scene: Stewart and Day follow clues from North Africa to a small chapel in London, joining a church service and surprising the bad guys – and the tension is at a breaking point – will they rescue their kidnapped son before tragedy happens?

(5/5/5-15) A

7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – by the master movie maker Ang Lee, bridging Western and Eastern film cultures, and one in the long honorable Chinese tradition of wuxia martial arts movies, and earning ten Oscar nominations and winning four. The story is simple – the execution multi-layered – a fabled sword, “Green Destiny,” is meant to be given as a gift, but is stolen in the middle and muddle of frustrated romance and the chase to recover it is on for the rest of the movie until honorable resolution. Complex relationships without a history and culture very different from the West, wuxia and samurai films are great introductions to new worlds!

Look-For Scene: The culmination duel amongst the treetops between Li Mu Bai and Jen Yu is groundbreaking! And there are many other sword fights, shot in balletic fashion with little to no gore. Special effects and body harnesses carry this actioner into magical realism – an added bonus for Christian viewers – no sex or swearing!

(5/5/5-15) A

8. Glory – one of the best Hwood Civil War movies (three Oscars and five nominations) directed by Edward Zwick, the master creator of “Thirtysomething,” the addictive hit TV show from 90s. Memorable music, clean, tight and heroic plot and almost perfect casting – Matthew Broderick, looking amazingly like original Colonel Gould, matures into the role as a believable leader of the first black Union regiment deployed in the Civil War. The real stars are Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman who represent the huge number of newly recruited and untrained black soldiers ready to fight for the Union and destroy slavery. The battle scenes were realistic and close, the training scenes believable and even “small” characters memorable with deep attention to small details.

Look-For Scene: The campfire “revival” meeting the night before the main battle is thrilling – only a granite slab could remain unmoved. Zwick portrays the fundamental Christianity that many slaves worshipped in and from which the Gospel singing tradition began.

(5/5/5-15) A+

9. Lincoln – Classic Spielberg and Hwood’s best portrayal of Lincoln with mostly right facts and details – two Oscars and 12 nominations. Worth watching solely for Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of Lincoln, as he interacts with friends, family and the general public – he even gets the 16^th’President’s shuffle-walk down! Tony Kushner’s script focuses on the “sausage-making” process for the 13^th Amendment in which Lincoln abolished slavery in the US, North and South – the legal reasoning for the bloody Civil War. Other colorful characters from history come to life and together they work with one of America’s greatest politicians, a man many of his peers initially despised, to get the main thing done – including cutting corners and pushing boundaries to achieve the greater good.

Look-For Scene: Many good scenes to pick from, but one I liked was the operations room that was monitoring the important attack on Wilmington, NC, where Lincoln blended in with his cabinet members and soldiers to illustrate their common cause.

(5/5/5-15) A+

10. The Man Who Would Be King – Adapted from a novella by Rudyard Kipling, John Huston created a wonderful adventure vehicle for outstanding performances by Sean Connery and Michael Caine, set in late 19^th century Raj India. The two soldiers of fortune travel to Kafiristan (Afghanistan), where they hope to help a local ruler build his kingdom with their military skills. Upon arrival, Connery’s Danny Dravot is mistaken by the locals for a god-king, a descendent of Alexander the Great, after he does not die from a wound. So, the two begin to rule their little kingdom, until something happens to reveal their true nature – and things go tragically “pear-shaped” for the two adventurers, and the ending is different from the beginning.

Look-For Scene: The first scene when Danny and Peaches meet Rudyard Kipling on a train, and Peaches pick-pockets the writer’s watch, only to find that the three are Freemasons – and this connection creates an immediate bond that will serve eventually to loop the story to resolution.

(5/5/5-15) A

A good friend of mine suggested I provide some specific context about who I am and how I got to where I am today. I’ll begin briefly and then add more info in later posts about different episodes and experiences. Having written and supported Resumes for jobseekers over the last 30+ years, I’ve learned how deep and wide every person’s life is! Usually we think our lives are complex aggregates – the sum of innumerable people and events. Christians, in particular, believe God is superintending all the strands of every life as they intersect or influence each other. Besides, God saving and giving new life to his people is a miracle for all time, exceeded only by the resurrection of the Son! Every Christian’s real life, as child or adult, begins at salvation.

Starting right now and looking back, I’m first and foremost, a Christian – this reality is the be-all focal point of my life – though I cannot say when I actually became a Christian, what hour and day or age. Having grown up in a Christian family with my father being a pastor and my mother a Christian, I was surrounded from the get-go with the Gospel preaching and church community. One of four siblings (brother and two sisters), we were immersed in the Bible’s Good News through hearing and then reading, including Sunday School flannel-graphs, youth groups and all the instructional programs a typical local church would have for kids. Indeed, from the start I was part of some kind of local church community at all times to the present – the chain of “connection” unbroken as the main context of my Christian life.

But for many Christians a basic important question they about which they want an answer – “At what point in time did I actually become a Christian?” For many this is as close as possible to having a kind of “certificate of authenticity”. For me, not so much – I can’t say for sure – I don’t have a specific time and place. I see myself as one who believed at a point as a child and then over time my assurance became more “solid” as I learned more about what I believed. My father did baptize me at age 13, after questioning me about my faith, in the baptismal behind the pulpit at Quinton Baptist Church, where he was sole pastor there from 1968-1973. This really is the only moment in time I can point to specifically. Somewhere FB Meyer wrote you don’t have to know when you were born to know you are alive – this gives me a category I can live with. No doubt, many find it more satisfying to have a point in time when the conversion package is opened by the Holy Spirit and the new life began – many have this level of detail, such as at a revival or camp meeting, or crusade, etc. Fortunately, God is keeping track of everything! Indeed, he knew about all his people before the world was created (Eph. 1:4).

We Americans love a great shopping deal. Deep discounts, BOGOs, close-out sales, Black Friday, Cyber Monday – retail businesses have lots of ways to hook us consumers into buying their products over others in hotly competitive markets. In fact, we can get a real satisfaction when we buy something we want for a great price. Some will impulse-buy something even if they don’t need it! Of course, free is best!

This attraction is not limited to adults. Kids learn early too. How many children on Christmas morning or at their birthday party ever complained about getting TOO MANY presents? Halloween, too – free candy! People of all ages have an innate desire for more beyond the initial expected – and better still if it is unexpected generosity.

Scripture illustrates this dynamic across God’s work in creation – his divine generosity more often than not exceeds the needs of his people as they pray. Even when they are disobedient and rebellious, he goes above and beyond in his mercy and grace in bringing them back from the brink, indeed beyond any right of expecting any breaks. The list of God’s abundant blessings is far longer than the list of disciplinary incidents.

In the OT, for instance, God saved his people, an entire nation, plus all mixed unbelieving camp followers, by opening a path through the Red Sea and leading them all through in a single night! For years, he fed them with enough food out in the middle of the desert – millions of people slowly moving from point to point. Later he eliminated a complete Assyrian army overnight to save Hezekiah and Jerusalem in a single night. He gave very old, past-bearing women their first babies. He inspired his people, and even friendly Gentiles, to happily donate more than enough treasure to create and construct both a Tabernacle and a Temple with no strain on the nation’s “economy”!

This divine generosity carries over to the NT in the incarnation of the divine Son as the human Jesus who taught, worked with, befriended, healed and walked among the crowds – the promised God-With-Us Emmanuel as God’s love in the most directly personal demonstration. The Gospels and Acts record the ministries of Jesus and the Apostles – with the astounding miracles, including healings, nature-taming, food production and dead-raising, occurring to both individuals and groups as healings. Jesus’ endless generosity and compassion are on full display – what occurred over hundreds of years in the OT compressed in short years in the NT.

Of the four Gospel accounts, our focus is primarily on Mark’s version, though John 6 does give some more context, including two named disciples whom Jesus queries, the reaction of the crowd to their miracle meal and his avoidance of any fresh attempt to make him a political king.

II.

With the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000 in Mark 6:30-44 and 8:1-10, respectively, God acts in a very natural and explosive manner to express his super-generosity. These are different in scope from Jesus’ usual way of interacting with individuals or small groups. Mark uses his “camera” to capture the large-scale scene in a hot-take manner. Nonetheless, Jesus’ ministry was still beautifully personal.

As he did for Israel in the desert, God delivers plenty of needed food to meet an immediate situation – the people are hungry after following Jesus for some days, finding themselves in the middle of nowhere. And instead of the millions in Israel’s Exodus, “only” thousands of people are involved – and, as in Exodus, only the men are counted, so there would be as many women and children tagging along with their husbands or relatives.

In these two events, the crowds, having followed Jesus far off the beaten track, they are now beyond the reach of towns with easily available resources. Seeing the people hot, dusty, tired and hungry, Jesus’ compassion quickly emerges – the people are like hungry sheep without a shepherd, milling about and looking to Jesus and the disciples to come up with a plan. So fresh and refreshing was his teaching, people freely followed Jesus for all types of reasons – the teaching, of course, but also no doubt to see what could happen next. Jesus always managed to be unpredictable in what he said and did wherever he went.

In Scripture, God often allows his people to somehow get into over-extended situations. They are painted into a corner where rescue is the only solution. And this is where God arrives with his perfect solution, which also both showcases and brings glory to himself. Only God is capable of saving people from their own actions, no matter how tight the corner. As we read about the Red Sea Crossing.

Initiated by Jesus’ compassion, a way must be found to fulfill it – a way to actually feed the people. First, he quizzes the disciples for their advice, how they could address the situation. For them, sadly, a quick check reveals not enough food or money to cover the need. Only a few small loaves and salted fish were found at hand – far too little to be of any use.

Second, Jesus has a plan and directs the disciples to organize the thousands of people into orderly rows and squares. This allows them to see the exact scope of the challenge – the numbers aren’t guesses! Mark in Chapter 6:39 notes the grass the people sat on at the time was green – an eyewitness touch of time of year and setting.

Before he begins the meal, Jesus first says grace over the coming meal. He prays to the Father and blesses the initial bits available. This is a common practice for Jesus – he publicly prayed to the Father just before raising of Lazarus in John 11. It reminds us of the continual contact line between Father and Son, and then Son and disciples, leading to the crowds, everything connected.

Now the real drama begins as Jesus starts breaking up the tiny amount of food for the disciples to start passing out among the crowds – each person with a good portion and no complaining (as in the Sinai Desert). Somehow the food multiplied in the couple of feet between Jesus’ hands the disciples baskets, so there were no gaps or lapses in the distribution. Mark’s account is matter-of-fact from the distance of time – everyone ate and the meal went off without a hitch in a short amount of time. As Athanasius pointed out, what normally happened in ordinary time over months and months– growing and harvesting wheat, catching and cleaning fish, making and baking the bread, was compressed into minutes!

Once supper was done, Jesus has the disciples gather the unused pieces of bread and fish into baskets – lots of them. This is the tell-tale part of the miracle – there was plenty of extra food to feed some more people later or for latecomers! This is what the Gospel writers focus on, while leaving the actual miraculous creation and rapid distribution part in silence. God proves he can meet the extreme need of the moment with more than enough resources! The God of extra helpings!

III.

For us today there are important takeaways from this dazzling and comforting account to apply to the ups and downs of our lives. We know that Jesus’ miracles are just as instructive and inspirational as his parables and teachings. Some thoughts:

- Jesus is always confident in every situation. Nothing rocks his boat – Jesus is unflappable and never breaks a hard sweat until the night before his day of sacrifice. The sudden prospect of feeding thousands of people in a short time did not make him fold in fear. Abiding in this Jesus means we too can keep our wits about us in our own times of stress and strain.

- Jesus’ reflexive and compassionate generosity drives the miracle meals for both crowds. Clearly, he defaulted to providing for people, whether individually or for a mixed group of true followers, the generally curious, the skeptical and even full-on opponents. Today in our divisive, fractured world, we can do good with broad generosity to those assigned as “neighbors” in or out of our community.

- Jesus pointedly works through people as his “hands and feet,” as Luther observed. He needed the disciples to actually distribute the meals to each person across the broad fields. In local churches, we each have specific roles in which to pitch in and serve – we are Jesus’ surrogates. As we see God in Jesus, people see Jesus in us. God’s love and generosity is on full display in our actions.

- Most important, Jesus is the real Bread of Life! We see him go into more detail about the take-away meaning of the mega-picnics – the original potluck – in John 6. He realized that many would and did follow him for “physical” benefits of a temporary meal as far as that went, and not for the “spiritual” blessing of eternal life. The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 understood this fundamental difference – she chose the eternal water of life, seeing past the simple physicality of well water. So, working back from the great eternal life believers receive through his death and resurrection, will Jesus not also provide for our comparably easy daily temporal needs?

For Christians, God’s inexhaustible love, compassion and generosity makes him our own “Wait, There’s More” Savior! His record throughout the Bible confirms it and we should believe and trust it to be so if we wish to obey and grow in holiness!

As a good man, Jesus could have just sacrificed himself to take away and neutralize the “operating system” of sin that is fully integrated in the world for all who repent and believe. And this in a sense would be a great miracle – clearing all debts and starting clean. No longer suffering under the killing weight of sin and separation from God is worth the Incarnation. But God did not stop with that, nor did he stop with all the good teachings and healings Jesus distributed during his ministry. Instead, he introduced the chance for a completely new life lived within a completely new world – the local church.

Believers in Christ receive the free gift of a new life now and more, eternal life later. And this is in keeping with the God of the Bible – when God blesses his people, more often than not he super-sizes the blessing in his great generosity and changes all the rules – and this is something we can always rely on. The thrill Israel felt at the foot of Mount Sinai when God explained their new national reality, the disciples felt when they found the empty tomb and the Spirit put all the pieces together for them.

The resurrection demonstrated that death into darkness did not HAVE to be the final outcome! Jesus throughout his ministry first alluded to this in the Good News and then openly prophesied about his coming suffering sacrifice. And it still happened whether the disciples connected the dots or not. As we know, God’s plans are not contingent on our sign-off or buy-in. Looking back the plan seems all so simple!

Now the new life believers are given is both easier and harder than anything they’ve experienced before in their efforts to know and please God. First, we now have God’s direct, unmediated power available to obey and follow the new path. Second, we now have more struggle, stress and strain than ever before to comply with the process of obeying. But the ultimate goal is still our happy rendition as children of God to his presence, and it’s not contingent on how well we’ve done, but what on Jesus already accomplished on that long-ago Spring weekend!

Hope all are doing well, my friends, and are able to make it to the Friday evening service at their local church to celebrate God’s salvation accomplished in time and space and the start of a new creation stretching into eternity! The Easter weekend celebration for my low-church Evangelical tribe is one of the two liturgical calendar events that we do observe each year, along with Christmas. If Christmas is the gift of Incarnation, Easter is the gift of salvation and eternal life for those who believe and trust in faith.

We see in the OT had packed out it is with high-level descriptions of God as the Heavenly King, Great Creator, Lord of the Universe, all those Jehovah descriptive names, and thankfully so! We cherish and trust in those High King promises to protect us as a people – within the contextual focus of a more organizational relationship – the Chosen People. There are certainly many individual interactions, but the OT is Phase 1 in the process of creating a separate people of true believers mysteriously bound by a common law and national experience.

With the surprise arrival of Christ in a completely different context from the OT meant that something new was coming, and indeed here. What I love to read about in the NT is the rollout of a new intimate relationship – another higher, better level of “people-ness” where God has added new categories – adoption as God’s children, clear eternal life, God’s spiritual residency, a new spiritual, instead of physical, family.

To get to this reality, as per OT teaching, blood must be shed – not by an animal, but by a man and by a perfect man – a one-time bonding of God and man in one of Scripture’s great mysteries. The crescendo builds in the NT with a new reality based on the immediate, intimate, in this time & space moment of God’s Big Work Plan on earth – immediate, granular and fully immersive. In a real way the NT is the OT on steroids.

God has come “down” from “on high” to camp out with us as another human – the second person of the Trinity living a full human being and, ultimately, with the Trinity dwelling within each believer in a spiritual mystery. This approachability is portrayed in The Chosen streaming series and countless Bible movies – and a key reason why these images are so popular to many who want to “see” Jesus in action.

But the purpose and goal of Jesus was not simply to live among us as a good teacher, perform miracles, transform lives and spread the Good News – it was to go all the way and sacrifice himself in blood and death for all sinners who believe and repent. The Gospels all record the beginning of new life in Christ and since then his people have been and are being transformed to be like him!

What we’ve come to call Good Friday was the worst part of the pathway Jesus had to complete – the plan demanded his all for all his people. And going into it he suffered a kind of psychological death before the farce of a trial and the final painful torture and death on that cross – named by many as the worst way for a human to die. And Jesus knew what was coming ahead of time and had the space to prophecy and prepare for it – if that was possible.

God freely gave himself in Christ through – the Father set the Son the set task, to cancel sin, redeem eternal souls and initiate a new life even more real than the first lives of Adam and Eve. Let us ponder these truths, and many others, on this dark good Friday, and praise God for his grace and mercy to us!