Better Than This

The other day I was pondering what this earth is to a Christian. To someone saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. The answer came quickly for me. A temporary home. Somewhere I won't be forever. There is a place so much better than this, waiting for me.

Wait. Better than this?

This earth is a beautiful place. It is filled with the glory of God that shines out at you. Catching you unexpectedly and knocking the air right out of your body. Leaving you breathless as you stare in wonder and try to tell others exactly how gorgeous this place is. This place that God created. With His voice.

Yet, this is not my home. Someday, I will leave this place. I will go to a better place. A place that is much more beautiful than here. Not only that, a place where there is no sin. A place where I won't see the glory of God one minute, and the corruption of Satan the next. It will all scream praises to our Maker.

Then it hit me. Again. Because even though I've realized it before, He always has to remind me. What a loving Father I have. Even though He knew from the beginning I would be on this earth only for a short time, He gave it beauty. He made it livable. He didn't create something that would work for now, He created something He loved. Something we could love. He gave us a taste of heaven. Telling us things would get so much better than this.

What a promise.

I'm the Girl...

"Great. Well done. Now we wait." -Mahoney

"No. We breath. We pulse. We regenerate. Our hearts beat. Our minds create. Our souls ingest. 37 seconds well used is a lifetime." -Mr. Magorium

I'm the girl...

• who finishes the dreams she woke up in the middle of, on paper.
• who eats Doritos and cheese for breakfast.
• who watched the end of one movie and the beginning of another.
• who started a new story when she's already swamped in a million others. (All for the love of inspiration)
• who wanted a glue stick where no glue sticks were to be found.
• who called "dude" and "Cheeto" American slang.
• who sang Long Black Train at the top of her lungs with Josh Turner.
• who was craving pork.
• who had a good day.
• who will have a great day tomorrow.

True Grit - The Western I Loved

My Daddy took my family to see True Grit last week. I actually wasn't really looking forward to it for two reasons. #1 I'm not a big fan of westerns. #2 I'm really not a fan of John Wayne, therefore any movie he played in before must not be that great.

That was the movie Daddy wanted to see though, so we went. I watched a western. I loved a western.

"There is nothing free in this world... except the grace of God." -Mattie Ross

One of the things I loved the most about this move was the language. How true it was to the time period. Mattie's quick wit, and responses.

Not only was the language period, so was the acting, the belief's, and... everything.

"I've just come from Yale County." -LaBoeuf

"I wasn't aware we had rodeo clowns in Yale County." -Mattie Ross

"A saucy line will not get you far with me." -LaBoeuf

It was a tad bit gory. I really did not need to see such a close shot of fingers being sliced into segments. Even if you have the nice effects to make it look so real doesn't mean I wanted to see it. I don't think I'll be watching the new Spartacus movie coming out. The trailer only was way to gory.

"So, you say that when Amos Wharton raised his axe, you backed away from him." -Lawyer

"That's right." -Rooster Cogburn

"In what direction were you going?" -Lawyer

"Backwards. I always go backwards when I back up." -Rooster Cogburn

My jaw dropped at more then one scene in this movie. I'm not talking as an average viewer anymore, I'm talking wanna be movie maker. This was movie making genius.

I haven't seen the original True Grit, I don't really want to even now (like I said, it's a John Wayne thing) but from what my family (who have seen it) said, it follows the original far more then we were lead to believe. Don't listen to the guy who gives you your tickets. He knows nothing.

The acting was amazing. Jeff Bridges should be given a medal. Hailee Steinfeld needs to be in more movies, and Matt Damon was... Matt Damon.

So, great movie. Probably one of my favorites. Never thought I would say that about a western, but there you have it.

Audrey Hepburn

Isn't she adorable? She's certainly one of my favorite actresses. I love her attitude. She helped build the film world. She was born in Belgium, blue-blood from the start. You could tell too, just by the way she moved. She had an amazing voice.

Without hesitation, Rex Harrison named her as his favorite leading lady.

She died January 20, 1993. Sad day. I think I'll watch My Fair Lady on the 20th. In a way, she'll almost be alive again.

Awesome Mr. Twain

"In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them." -Mark Twain

Someday, I want to have a bookroom like that. Mr. Twains name shall be on some of the books found there. Mr. Twain is awesome.

Heritage

The excitement level of Celtic Thunder fans is at a high right now.

Favorites of 2010 - Movies

Following up my post from yesterday, being the movie person I am, I thought I might do the same with my favorite movies from this year. There aren't as many good movies as there are books, so the list was rather shorter, but here goes.

In order from favorite to least favorite.

1. Alice in Wonderland Director: Tim Burton.

If you're anything like me, the director of this film

threw you off. He's weird, he makes weird movies, he makes movies I never want to see. This however, is not one of those movies. True, it is weird, and it's slightly dark, but a good kind of dark. I mean, it's Alice in Wonderland, falling down a huge hole just gets that way.

This movie was made amazingly well. The acting was well done (I mean, its got Johnny Depp!), the story was told in a new and interesting way. It's all around an amazing movie.

2. Tangled Directors: Nathan Greno & Byron Howard

I wrote a review on this movie after watching the first time. I watched it a second time time since then and I would have to say, I like it even more. I really would not mind owning it. It's just that good.

3. Secretariat Director: Randall Wallace

I was trying not to get to excited about this movie. It was a horse movie, and there are a lot of people who don't know how to make a horse movie. Randall Wallace does. You know you're a horse lover if you remained dry eyed when people die, but every time that horse starts to get ahead in a race, your eyes water.

4. How to Train Your Dragon Directors: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders

Dreamworks... uh... All I can say is I'm not a fan. In fact, I would even go so far as to say, I seriously dislike Dreamworks. I had never seen a Dreamworks movie I liked. At all. Shrek is terrible. Over the Hedge was terrible. The Bee Movie was terrible. I didn't even bother with Kung Fu Panda. Then I watched How to Train Your Dragon. Dreamworks went up a notch in my opinion. This movie was amazing.

There are several movies I'm looking forward to that come out this year. The Eagle, The Dark Knight Rises, The Adventures of Tintin, and Rango to name a few.

Favorites of 2010 - Books

My dear blogging friend, Tarissa, from In The Bookcase, listed her favorite books she read last year and invited others to do the same. It sounded fun to me, so here goes.

I've read a total of 34 books in 2010. Rather sad, even more so compared to the 62 I read in 2009. Anyway, my favorites...

1. Blood Red Horse by K. M. Grant. Ever since I read this book it's been a favorite of mine. The crusades, horses, the slightest touch of romance. I love it.

2. The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. Set in Roman Britain, packed with history and suspense. Written by one of my seester's favorite authors, I've been meaning to read more of her novels.

3. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. I've heard this book was confusing, I've heard it made perfect sense. I've heard people put it down, I've heard it praised to the skies. So, I read it. It was amazing. I would recommend it to anyone. Honestly.

4. Tuck by Steven Lawhead. The third book in the King Raven trilogy was most certainly the best. If you haven't read the King Raven series, and you're into Robin Hood as much as I am, you need to.

5. White by Ted Dekker. Another third book. Second only to Black in my opinion, however I read Black in '09. Ted Dekker made it to my list of awesome people after I finished this series.

6. In Defense of the Faith by Dave Hunt. I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing this book was. Defending the faith is something all Christians should know how to do, and (next to the Bible of course) this is the handbook.

7. Start Here by Alex and Brett Harris. Not as good as Do Hard Things, but it still makes you think. A powerful books written for teens, by teens.

8. The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker. Ted Dekker again, I know. The first book I read of his that wasn't in the Circle Trilogy. It had me hooked from the very beginning. If I remember correctly I even cried at one point. Not something I do to often.

So, one of my goals for 2011, read more books.