“To the people of his hometown, Jesus was always a carpenter, the son of a carpenter, a man who worked with saws and planes. We have some of the same problems, except in reverse. We’ve always known Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. We can’t see him as an ordinary craftsman who made…
Tag: movie
The First Olympics
In June of 1894, Pierre de Coubertin and his newly organized International Olympic Committee unanimously voted to schedule the first Olympics of the modern era to open in April of 1896 in Athens, Greece. Over the next two years, 13 countries would assemble teams of athletes to represent their nation in this peaceful international assembly…
A Town Like Alice
War is a barbaric, dehumanizing and destructive force that rips families apart and tears nations to shreds. Like a wildfire, it has no mercy and it is indiscriminate in its destruction. Also like a wildfire, however, it can be a catalyzing force for new growth and potential. Neville Shute’s A Town Like Alice is a…
Mother Teresa
This is article is in our modern Missionaries, Mystics, and Martyrs series. You can find all of our Christian biography articles here. “Of my free will, dear Jesus, I shall follow You wherever You shall go, in search of souls, at any cost to myself, and out of pure love of you.” – Mother Teresa…
As You Wish
I’m not your typical 80s kid. I was raised in a mostly t.v. free home. I had no idea what the “Wonder Years” t.v. show was until I got to college and everybody was watching it on rerun. I had no idea who Billy Crystal was or why I should care. And I certainly had…
Seabiscuit, Family Friendly
“Separately they were nothing more than a failing jockey and a broken down horse. Together they would become the hard luck heroes for a troubled nation.” – Seabiscuit PBS Documentary In 1938, America was hurting. Not only was the nation poor, scared, hungry, and gearing up for war, but it was also broken. The Great…
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Several years ago my children were just beginning to enter the age where they could appreciate classic Disney live-action films, and I was thrilled to have an excuse to revisit some of my old favorites. I grew up loving Haley Mills, Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, and all of their Mickey Mouse Club peers. Top of…
Bilbo’s Journey
I had never heard of Middle Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien, or The Lord of the Rings until I entered my freshman year at Hillsdale College in 1995. The only real fantasy I had read up to that point was the Chronicles of Narnia. I quickly discovered that practically everyone on campus loved The Lord of the…
How The West Was Won
In April, 1959, Life Magazine started what they called “a great new series” entitled “How The West Was Won”. The series included photos and stories of the American expansion into the West. A story of the struggle between the settlers, wagon trains, railway lines, cowboys, ranchers, and Native Americans who were all fighting for different…
Daddy Long Legs
Have you ever seen the movie “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? If not, go do it. Really. Right now. It’s not perfectly moral but it is adorable. And, well, it has books and book shops at the center of the plot, and that just makes it charming. In this delightful little…
The Jungle Book
23 years! That’s how long it’s been since I first read Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. That was the first year we homeschooled, and I was casting about our home library for literature I could teach from without having to buy curriculum at the last minute. My father-in-law had admired Kipling, and my husband had…
84 Charing Cross Road
Marks & Co.84, charing Cross Rd.London, W. C. 2England Gentlemen: Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase “antiquarian booksellers” scares me somewhat, as I equate antique with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want…
War Horse
“I shall not call him my master, for only one man was ever my master.” Two books have made me cry in front of my class while reading aloud. One was Little Britches, the other was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. It’s not that I only cry about horses. It is the suffering of innocent…
All Creatures: Jim Herriot
“I, like countless of his readers, found the humour that runs through the stories to be one of James Herriot’s most appealing qualities. He himself had an acute sense of humour— an ability always to see the funny side of things— and it shows in his writing.” – Jim Wight of his father, Alf Wight…
Nurse Matilda
Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand is one of those books that the child in any of us would enjoy. When I consider recommending it, however, I realize that I have to wear two different hats. Wearing the hat of my inner child, I adore the book. It is delightful. It is moral. It is creative. It…