Samson, Delilah, Blade Runner, and 'interesting' connections within my brain

I know this may seem an odd string of thoughts, but please bear with me. :) Last night i was watching the season premier for Terminator: SCC (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and a few things stuck in my mind. The first was the background theme. Then there was the point where Agent Ellison was confronted by Chromartie, but was spared. Then lastly the spot at the end where Cameron was sitting in the chapel in front of the Crucifix. I've done some digging since last night (not very exhaustive due to time, etc.) and have found out that the shows 'theme song', and script was loosely based off of recording of Brice Springsteen's performance of a song called 'Samson and Delilah / If I had my way'. (Read Josh Friedman's blog entry about it here.) I was actually able to catch some of the lyrics of the new rendition of the song while watching the show and the references to the relationships within the show. It just struck me that a man of God such as Samson was brought low because of a temptation in his own life. I will not be specific here, but i drew some parallels of Samson (Judges 16) and my own life. Obviously I am no where near as strong, or influential, as he was. I was just comparing my own walk with the Lord and some of the struggles i go through. Early on in the episode Agent Ellison was the last man standing on an FBI SWAT-like botched raid. He was standing near the pool, trying to reload and get ready for what was coming when Chromartie confronts him. Anyone who knows anything about the Terminator series knows that Agent Ellison is dead where he stands, but no. As Agent Ellison readies himself for the inevitable killing blow Chromartie doesn't deliver. Instead he steps around Agent Ellison and walks off. This left Ellison to contemplate a lot of things. This character is already working through his own faith (he is a Christian in how he is portrayed within the series), but the events within the show really has him working things out. I like this character because it is a lot like how each of us will have to work through in our lives and our own walk with Christ. One of the last scenes has Agent Ellison standing outside a scene of a confrontation between Sarah, John, Cameron, and some 'bad guys' from last season - when Chromartie shows up. Agent Ellison tells Chromartie, "I will never lead you to them. If that's why you left me alive you might as well kill me now." The Terminator just replies, "We'll see." The last thing that struck me while i was watching the show (over the course of a couple of hours due to various obligations - thus i am not so sure how cohesive these really are - LOL) was when Cameron enters a street front chapel like place and you can tell that she (or would it be better to refer to her as it?) is taking in the Crucifix on the back wall. Fast forward, as i don't want to give too much away, near the end of the show Sarah comes into the room. At one point Cameron asks, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" Sarah replies something along the lines of, "with what I've seen I have my doubts". Isn't it interesting how we will use any excuse of what we experience in life to cause doubt to creep in. At one point Cameron comments, "I am not programed for faith", and yet we (human beings) are. If it's in Christ, or some other god, or science, or global warming, or evolution, or whatever. When we come to the end of our own reason and we can't explain something we believe in we rely on faith. All of this, and especially the question "Do you believe in the resurrection?", got me to thinking about not just Christ's resurrection... but my own as well. My death was not on a cross, but we are called to die to ourselves and this world and be raised in Christ. But what happens when we stumble and fall flat on our faces? Ultimately we will not be raised, or resurrected, until that final day. When we are finally able to shrug off the trappings of this world and fully immerse ourselves in the next. Lately I am seeing signs of arthritis in my hands. The pointers on both hands are twisting slightly and they have begun to ache. It looks almost like the robots from "Blade Runner", or at least it makes me think of them. How they fought to prolong their life, to try and figure out the meaning of their lives. In the end they had no hope of a resurrection - but glory to God i (we) do! \o/ Verse for today: 1 Thessalonians 4 : 13-18, ESV But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, [4] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Concerns about the term "Christian Samurai"

Recently a fellow Christian who also refers to himself as a 'Christian Samurai', brought to my attention an article from "The Berean Call" titled "Samurai Christians". In it they expresses "concerns" regarding Christians trying to be seen as 'samurai'.

Mainly they raise three points:

1) PANTHEISM AND REINCARNATION.

2) RITUAL SUICIDE

3) CHILD MOLESTATION

I would like to put forth my own reply, for what it's worth.

Item 1 - As Christians there is an obvious answer to this concern. When I refer to myself as a Christian that means I believe in the Bible, and the Bible is very clear. "“You shall have no other gods before [or besides] me." (Exodus 20:3, esv) This is the #1 of the Ten Commandments. As a Christian I believe that there is but one God in heaven, and that 'the heavens' is not God. As a Christian I also believe that there is only the resurection of the dead to stand before God on the final day, there are no 'extra turns'. "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment..." (Hebrew 9:27, esv). As Christians we cannot be 'double minded' - just as a house divided cannot stand, nor can a man be double-minded (or divided of mind) and still be able to serve God.

Item 2 - I am not God, therefor it is not up to me to determine when I am no longer of use to my Lord. There are a lot of Christian teachings concerning suicide and I don't think I need to beat this horse. No where (that I can find) in the Bible is suicide condoned, and therefor - where my desire to be like a samurai, and the ways of the samurai may contradict the teachings of the Bible, I must conform my thoughts, beliefs, and actions to the Bible.

Item 3 - This is just plain sick in my mind. First and foremost as Christians we are to submit to the rulers that God has established over us (so long as the very same do not 'encourage' us to contradict or go against God). The laws of the United States, and most (if not all) of the world agrees. This is strictly forbiden and there are consequences for such actions.

I consider myself a "samurai Christian", but I am a Christian in the service to the Lord Jesus Christ first, above everything else. I have read Paul Nowak's book "The Way of the Christian Samurai", and I can find no mention of his support for the items listed as "concerns" (my term) mentioned in the aformentioned article. He is quite clear, and I agree, that what we are trying to espouse are the areas of the samurai that can show us ways of being more sincere, more dedicated, more 'single minded' if you will, Christian.

The enemy of our souls is crafty. It is not beyond him to insert strings of Truth wihin his web of lies and disception. This is true of anything we can encounter here on Earth.

I will wrap this up with two quotes from scripture:

1 Thesselonians 5:12-24, esv (emphasis mine)

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, [3] encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

&

Philippians 4:4-9, esv (emphasis mine)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

So, in essence, I consider myself "Kurisuchan" (クリスチャン侍), or a samurai who has the mind of a Christian - or the mind of Christ. Just as I do not feel that any one person, or denomination, has it all perfect in their pursuit of Christ, I know there are things that the samurai of old may have done that I will NOT do. But that does not mean that there are things that they did, that were not praise worthy and worthy of being emulated.

My how the time flies!

Well, after a lot of planning (mostly by my beloved), I took the family down to Disney World for a vacation. With limited time, because I am trying to catch up on so much here are a few quick points...

1) Pay close attention to the times of all parades in each of the parks. I don't care how (not) crowded it is, these always draw crowds - and they make it very hard to move around. On the flip side... the wait times on most rides drops WAY off! ;-)

2) I highly encourage everyone to plan, plan, plan. Even though we had to rearrange our plans, knowing which rides were maybe a little scary (especially for DS2 - my Aspergers, or Aspie) was very helpful. Also knowing what rides might be closed. Also, unless you abszolutely have to... don't go to the sit down resteraunts all the time. A lot of the 'counter services' had about 75% of what the sit downs did, for a pretty good bargin. Also, my beloved and I split most of our meals. We saved a LOT of money this way.

3) One of our friends had warned me about the pin trading thing (as he and his family went about 18 months ago), but I was not fully prepared for what it was all about. For the most part I kept my kids away from this 'experience', but one can hold back the tide only so long. :) One day we all went to the Indiana Jones "Stunt Spectacular", but for some reason this freaked out my little darling, so being the dutiful father I am, I took her with me to wait outside until the show was over. She was crying so hard (and this was only five minutes into the show), that I walked over to a nearby vending area (these are all over the park BTW) to just try and distract her. Well, she saw the Princess 'starter' lanyard and four pins, so I bought it for her (I also bought her a 'Belle' pin because she is her favorite princess - and she had a Princess breakfast with her the day before). Well, DS1 kind of caught on and he asked for one too. He was a little more genaric in his choices, opting for one that showed all four of the theme parks, and a pin of his favorite ride - The "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror". (I later bought him one for "Expidition Everest" because we rode that together - twice). Finally I caught some interest in it, but my desires were a little more specific. I wanted a "Tron Pin". Unfortunately, we travelled to Disney about 6 weeks too late. :*( That has not stopped me though... As soon as I got home I went to eBay and sought out what might be available. Since then I have purchased this beauty -->

What can I say... I am a geek. I also bought a pin lanyard, not to display pins on (although the Tron one might find it's way), but to use for my ID badge at work.

4) Make sure you try and see it all, or at the very least know that it may be impossible to see it all - slow down, enjoy what you can. It really is an amazing place. The details they put into everything. The building exteriors. The decorations that adorn the wait lines for the various rides... we deliberately went during a 'non-peak' week, and there is a (very) small part of me that regrets that we did not have longer waits for some of the rides. I am one who likes to look and read things, but there just wasn't enough time.

5) There is something at Disney for pretty much everyone. From the Dumbo ride, to a Carousel, to live shows, to interactive features (the Laugh Floor was great!), to roller coasters, to just scenery. And they do a great job of keeping it clean. I saw families with little babies and toddlers having a great time, and I even rode a bus with three elderly people (a husband and wife, and a mother of one of the two) - they were all there having a good time.

6) If God so provides (the only reason we went this year was because it looked like I was going to be deployed, and my beloved really wanted to make sure she had a trip to remember for the kids - in case I was not at home), I would love to take the family back down. I'd really like to take just a time for just me and my beloved (probably when the kids are grown). It is very expensive (although there are some great deals to be had so shop around), and there are a lot of better ways to use the resources God has provided... but it was a highly memorable journey.


And in other news...


I was able to catch about half of this weeks Heroes episode. Hiro suprised me... I have had nightmares (as a kid) about what he did to 'Kensei'... I still like the Hiro charecter... but what he did disturbed me.

I am about 75% of the way through last weeks 'The Unit' episode and I must say... I am liking Bob (aka "Cool Breeze") more and more as this show goes on. I am interested in seeing how he deals with his troubles. Although the Chaplin (CPT Lantz) has only made two appearences - but I am liking him as well.

The WV Mountaineers really embaressed me while I was on vacation... *sigh*, but then again, they seem to choke when on the national stage. They had two bowl appearences where they choked both times... it will be interesting to see what they do this year.

Well, I am going to wrap this up before it takes until tomorrow to complete. I'll probably have more to say about my trip in the coming days.... but I will leave you all with the one pin I was most desperate to find for my own collection - even more than the Tron pin... God bless...





Verse for today:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

A quick note in passing...

...well, for reasons I will not expound upon here and now, I will not be blogging for the next week or so. I will be getting back into the swing of things around the 5th. In other news, my Panthers got walloped yesterday, at home... again. It's looking more and more like a 5-11, and maybe even (shudder) a 4-12 season! I keep hoping the Falcons will go on a winning streak so the Panthers can finish 4th in the NFC South... then, assuming the trend continues, they have a good shot at winning the NFC South next year (IF the Bucs win it this year, that will be 5 years running that the team that took 4th the previous season, wins the division the following year). I pray you all had a great Thanksgiving... Verse for today: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, ESV Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, [1] you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children [2] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

October is my favorite month

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. I love the cool, brisk mornings, that give way to the warm breazy afternoons, that then yield to the innevitable cool evenings, and night. I love that the kids are back in school, that it's Football season again, that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.

October is shaping up to be an even more busy month than I thought possible. :) But we will get through it... and I will be complaining that it is November already. :)

I have a book review coming soon - by Friday I hope. I've been given the opportunity to read and review a book on a topic that is near and dear to my heart - as you all will see when the review comes. :) No more clues than that though. :)

I pray that you all had a blessed weekend.

Verse for today:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, ESV

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, [1] you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children [2] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.