Night on Earth: A Door's Howl Review

Source: Indiewire (review here)

Synopsis

Night on Earth is a Netflix documentary series. Like many nature documentaries it follows a narrated story of animal interaction. Unlike other documentaries Night on Earth utilizes latest camera technologies capturing animals at night. Using infrared, extreme light sensitivity and thermal image cameras the Night on Earth footage is incredible.

I'm 3 episodes in to the 6 episode series and I am blown away. Here are just a few highlights:

• The incredible footage of cheetahs hunting at night, 
• The spectacular colors of scorpions in ultraviolet light, 
• The bioluminescent beauty of mushrooms and frogs
• The amazing blooming of cactus flowers under moonlit skies 
• The wondrous "roar" of a scorpion killing mouss

This series reveals the natural world in a powerful and beautiful way. Yes, it's a nature show, so you will see animals hunting each other, killing each other and living together. But I wouldn't hide it from kids, it's all part of learning. And they just might surprise you. As one of my own son's said after watching a lioness take down a Wildebeest, "What a John Cena move!" He doesn't even watch wrestling that I know of, so yes, surprising!

Since this comes on the heels of a recent post about the importance of the environment, I think this is worth watching. It's beautiful and educational. The narrator, Samira Wiley, is excellent, with the same gravitas and beauty of David Attenborough. The footage is well shot leaving me wondering how they got what they got. The stories are written to evoke emotion and they do a good job. It's a great documentary.

Now to go watch episode 4!

Score

Night on Earth scores a New Moon.

Scoring System

Wolves are thought to commonly howl at the moon. So, the better the moon, the greater the howl. Description of scoring system below.

Full Moon - best you can get, must watch and must own
New Moon - great movie, worth seeing and buying
Crescent Moon - average to above average, good to watch, but may want to wait for DVD
Sliver Moon - below average, not worth seeing and only get it on DVD when you have nothing better to do, like having a root canal
Moonless Night -not even worth mentioning - avoid at all costs!

Kobe Bryant: a reminder of our mortality

Photo by Olivier Collet on Unsplash

The sudden death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and 7 others has left people in shock. From the tears of Doc Rivers trying to process this to the crowds standing and chanting at the Staples Arena his passing has impacted many. I, too, was impacted. For me, it came from a post by Jen Hatmaker expressing comfort and sorrow for Kobe's wife, Vanessa. In one day, she lost her husband and a child. I cannot begin to imagine that grief. Another family lost a wife and child in the same crash.

Kobe's death reminds us of our own mortality: the reality that at any moment we could die. His death leaves us adrift, shocked and in denial at what happened, wondering about when it will happen to us. I've seen pastors comment in comfort, people mourn in public and private and the ripple effect of this event spread across the world.

With that in mind, as we draw comfort from each other, as we love on our children and spouses dreading the nightmare that is Vannessa's reality right now, let's allow this grief to spark us into living differently. Don't leave for tomorrow what could be done today.

President Obama commented that Kobe was getting started on a second act that would have been just as meaningful as his basketball career. While he is gone, let's make Kobe's second act our actions. Don't leave for tomorrow the loving action, the courageous stand, the inspiring action that can be done today. Let's make a difference, because as Kobe's death reminds us, tomorrow might never come.

Dear Future President Part 3 of 3

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

In the final session of our Dear Future President series the message focused on one final foundational issue that is important to God, his followers and therefore should be important to the future president: the environment. I used the words environment, the world and the earth interchangeably in the message and summarized the message in the final letter to the president listed below.

Dear Future President,

We live in a world created and owned by God. We are born into this world and leave this world. We do not bring anything in with us, and we do not take anything out with us. All we have is this short space of time where we live together in a symbiotic relationship with this world. How we live can negatively or positively impact our world. God has entrusted this world to us, and God holds us accountable for how we live. When we steward the earth as a gift from God, we all benefit. Dear future president work as the chief steward for our nation; a shining example to us and others on how to steward well.

As you make decisions about this world consider a story of Jesus: a parable, designed to teach and make us think. The story is about three servants given resources by a master. Two servants invest and increase their master’s gifts. One does not. The master blesses the one who invests and increases the resources given. He punishes the one who does not. Let us together, invest and increase the precious resources that are our world. You do your part; we will do ours.

We will live simply and wisely, performing small actions that when counted together will be big actions nationally. We will limit our desire for more and commit to being generous with those in need. Dear Future president, we humbly ask you to do your part: protect our limited resources, manage them wisely and advance future technologies that might show an increase in our resources. Work with others around the world in global partnerships and efforts to find ways to invest into and increase the resources of our natural world. In this way, we might secure a future for the generations to come until Jesus returns.

Dear future president, steward this world as a gift with wisdom and humility for it belongs to God.

Yours truly,

A follower of Jesus.

The application of stewarding the created world is diverse. The tendency is to see one's own lifestyle as appropriate, necessary or right and others as wrong or extreme. But, perhaps the better task is to learn from each other and provide grace to each other as we try to live this out. What do you do to steward our world?

Nelson and Martin

Photo by Brian Kraus on Unsplash

It has been two days since Martin Luther King Jr Day. As usual, my comments filled my feeds and news about activities, comments, quotes and thoughts about the impact of Reverend King. And as predictably, criticism of people's support and quotes was present too.

As an immigrant to the US, my history is of a different black man who fought for justice and civil rights: Nelson Mandela. To my knowledge they never met, but they fought for the same things: dignity, equality, justice. They find commonality in the phrase "free at last" where I believe President Mandela quoted Reverend King when he was released. Their fight was similar, but their outcomes completely different. Reverend King was assassinated, while President Mandela was imprisoned, released and then elected president of the very country that imprisoned him. 

Just like the responses to Reverend King this past Monday, so too, President Mandela was quoted and referenced too. In a similar vein, people also brought to attention all the unpopular views and statements of President Mandela.

Here's an example: people like to quote Reverend King's dream speech. Others critique by quoting Reverend King's views on capitalism. President Mandela is often quoted for his statements about dying for a cause while others critique him for being a terrorist.

This has bugged me: not because they are inaccurate, but because I'm not sure of the point. Let me pose my...irritation seems the right word...as questions:

• What is the end goal of criticizing someone's support of of who you support?
• Is it possible that you can support one part of a person's philosophy without agreeing with all of it?
• Do we allow people to grow and change, even if that change is frustratingly slow?
• Why criticize their change and growth in support?
• Is it possible to celebrate these two men without that celebration becoming a weapon of division, which, I think, neither would have endorsed?

These are just my thoughts this week on this. Happy to hear your thoughts, even if they are criticisms.

As for President Mandela and Reverend King, I think they would have been great friends. In fact, I would love to have been in a room over dinner listening to them talk. Based on the fact that they both professed faith in Christ, I believe they might just be sitting chatting together, not as Reverend and President, but as Nelson and Martin.

If we listen closely, we might just hear their echoes and find some wisdom for our day. 

Speak on, Nelson and Martin.

Dear Future President: Part 2 of 3

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Dear Future President is a message series I am preaching at Faith Community Church this month. It is a three week series posed as a letter to the future president of the United States communicating what we believe is important to God and to His followers. This is a series, like all messages, worked in partnership and under the guidance of our lead pastor Mike Laurence. At the end of each message I read a letter I have written to the future president based on the message.

This is the second letter based on the second message: People Matter. It is a little long, but I think it captures the essence of why people matter.

Dear Future President,

As a follower of Jesus, we believe God created every human with care, intention and effort. Every person, from the least to the greatest, from the poorest to the wealthiest, from the citizen to the foreign is made in the image of God. Every person has worth, dignity and purpose. This means we believe that all of us should treat people with the dignity, worth and respect according to how God created them. In Christian terms, as Jesus commanded us: we need to love all people. Dear future president, as you lead us, lead with a deep love for all people.

God knows, as do we, that it is easier to love and care for those who are like us. It is much harder when they are different to us. God knows this too, so he specifically put laws in place to guide us in how to love those different from us. How we treat people different from us, reveals how we see the image of God in all of us. Dear future president, you lead us in this nation, and you represent us to the nations of the world. Lead through the lens that sees all people with respect, dignity and compassion.

We are a diverse nation, living in a global village. Your job is extremely difficult. We know you face choices with terrible consequences and limited information. We pray for you in those choices. We also ask, graciously, that you accept the challenge to make laws that are just, fair and compassionate. Make laws and policies that restore and nurture the dignity and worth we have, including the laws that provide protection and punishment for those who break them. Follow the teachings of Scripture and the convictions it brings to protect all people, care for those in need, do justice and show mercy. We need to do the same. We, as followers of Jesus, have failed to do this, and we are convicted of our own lack of love. We will work harder to honor the image of God in all we encounter as we ask you to do.

That is why we ask finally, that we work together. Build bridges to communities of faith so that we can serve together. The government cannot meet all the needs it faces. Neither, can communities of faith. But together, oh dear future president, together we might become agents of God that create a great society. We might build a country that brings hope to the desperate, security to the endangered, prosperity to the poor and happiness to the downtrodden. Together we might build that great American dream where all people, regardless of race, creed, gender, wealth, or orientation, might pursue life, liberty and happiness.

And in that work, we, as followers of Jesus, pray that all people might find the hope that comes when they enter into a relationship with Almighty God, their creator who made them with dignity and care in order to love and be loved.

Dear future president, lead with love because people matter, and so do you.

Yours truly,

A follower of Jesus.

What are your thoughts about what you would say to the future president about why people matter?