This is too cool

The Best Laid Plans

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”

It's cliché, I know, but the famous Woody Allen quote about making God laugh is totally true. I have come to believe more and more that not only does God have an incredible plan for us but He also has a great sense of humor. There have been so many times in my life when I thought I knew what I was supposed to be doing and it turned around 180 degrees. When I was 5 I was sure I was going to be a pilot, when I was 7 I was going to be a zookeeper and when I was eight I was going to be an ice skater for Beauty and the Beast on Ice (don’t ask). But the last couple years The Lord has been working in my life and showing me what it means to fully put my trust in Him.

I’m the kind of person who really likes to plan for things before they happen, not because I don’t trust God, but because I like to be prepared. Recently I’ve learned that there’s nothing wrong with being prepared but part of that preparedness is being ready to change those plans at a moments notice. God doesn’t always give us a clear answer when we want him to. He’s not the proverbial genie in a bottle. He does things in His timing and although it may not make sense to us He knows the big picture and we just need to obediently follow His leading.

Peter and Andrew probably had plans to be fishers for the rest of their lives, and that’s exactly what would have happened if they hadn’t decided to follow Jesus. Imagine what would have happened if Moses decided that he wanted to continue living as royalty in Egypt. Or what if David was just fine with looking after sheep for the rest of his life? What if Noah decided that building an ark wasn’t on his agenda?

For me it’s a struggle sometimes to ask God for direction and then have to wait patiently and seek Him for an answer. What am I worried about though? Running out of time? Or missing an opportunity? But if God is The God who created the universe (and He is) then why am I worried about something that should be so simple for Him?

It’s because I’m in the same situation as the children of Israel after they left Egypt. They were ecstatic about leaving slavery behind but very quickly that “high” wore off. We can look back at the exodus now and say to ourselves “Come on! What were they thinking? They just had food fall from the sky!??! And they are doubting God again??” Well the difference is that we know the end of the story and they didn’t. That’s the point where we’re at in our lives, but we can have assurance in the knowledge that even if we don’t know about life’s twists and turns The Lord does.

A lot of times people use this illustration about God being the co-pilot, but I think God should be THE pilot and we should just be sitting in a seat. A passenger knows where they are going. I mean, they have to have a ticket to board the plane after all. The passengers aren’t sitting in their seats with their navigational maps and GPSs wondering how the pilot is going to get them to their destination, or if he’s properly compensating for the crosswind. Since Jesus bought the ticket for us we should just be able to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be smooth flying, there may be some turbulence on your way there.

The point is that we need to put our full trust in God and His perfect plan that He has for us and know that it’s better than anything we could think up. We just have to be willing to change our plans so they line up with His.

-Dane

The most patient man in the world?

Well, he has my vote.

This was a triumph, huge success!

This is one of the best video game props I have ever seen. Click for more photos.

Ponyo English Voice Actors

While it’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of English dubs for foreign movies I have great respect for the reverence that Disney has shown for Hayao Miyazaki’s films. In fact the only dub that I really didn’t care for is the Totoro dub. The majority of the time I still prefer listening to the original version and reading the subs but Disney has done a great job of making the films more accessible to western audiences.

Now with that being said I am a little bit worried about the Ponyo dub. It seems to me like Disney has just tried to get the biggest name actors in Hollywood for the English dub. Here’s the list.

Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Frankie Jonas, Noah Cyrus and Cloris Leachman.

I am still of the opinion that just because you are a good actor does not particularly mean you are a good voice actor. I think this is one of the many factors that set Pixar apart from competing animation studios. They go more for unknowns, whereas the competition loves to tag as many famous actors on their posters as possible. I honestly don’t care how big the actor is, I’m not going to be seeing them on the screen. I just want them to have a good voice. Now I would be happy to be proven wrong by all of these actors and I’ve only heard Liam Neeson provide a voice to an animated character (Aslan), and of course I was proven wrong by Christian Bale in Howl’s Moving Castle. I just hope Disney isn’t trying to cash in on all of these big names.

Miyazaki’s films are held in pretty high regard in Hollywood and it could just be that all of these actors wanted to be apart of one of these movies. I know I’ve heard other voice actors say that about previous Ghibli films.

Either way I can’t wait to see it in the theaters in the near future and supposedly summer is looking good for a US Ponyo release.

-Dane

Trek vs Wars

It has been far too long since my last post so I will make up for it with this.

Words cannot describe how cool this is

Alarm or Calling?

So I was doing my devotionals in the morning yesterday and as I was praying my stomach started growling. Now I thought I had gotten past those teenage years of constantly eating but for some reason in the last month I’ve been eating like a pimpled monster (no offense to those of you under 18). Coincidently I was reading through Mathew 4 where Jesus was being tempted in the desert, and I read the following verse.

Mathew 4:4

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

It got me to thinking, when I miss a meal, I know it. My stomach tells me, it grumbles and gives me hunger pains. Sometimes, if I’m hungry enough, my whole disposition changes for the worse. It’s the exact same way with my devotional time. When I miss my daily spiritual food my whole day suffers as a consequence. There have been some days where I’m just in a rotten mood and I’ll wonder why, and then I’ll realize that I wasn’t in The Word that day. Just like the physical hunger pains those spiritual signs become apparent in my day to day life.

A lot of times I pray before I go to bed that God would remind me in the morning to do my devotions. I also put my Bible in a place where it cannot be overlooked. These actions alone have been integral when it comes to combating that convenient forgetfulness that often befalls us.

It’s such a blessing when I am in the Word spending time prayerfully seeking His Will in my life. There is nothing greater than waking up to our savior and starting the day with Him. I love a quote that Greg Laurie uses. It was something that he saw in some sort of computer advertisement, but it says “Do you wake up to an alarm, or a calling?” I would hope and pray that when I wake up in the morning it’s because of a calling that The Lord has put in my life and not just because I have to get up and shut off my alarm.

Wow this was way longer than I intended it to be but I hope you all are blessed by it.

-Dane

Pixar's newest trailer is "UP"

Click Here

John Williams is indeed the man