Doing something new and different involves risks and disappointments. But if you’re willing to venture out, it can also produce phenomenal results.

When it first hit the theaters, the science fiction blockbuster “Star Wars” blew everyone’s minds. I know. I was there. (Yes, I’m that old.) No one had ever seen a movie like it before, and they kept coming back to the theaters to see it again. It ran for a straight seventeen weeks at the main movie theater in my town, which was unheard of at the time.

Back in 1977, there was no such thing as a multiplex movie theater. There weren’t even that many strip malls. In fact, I suspect that the idea of a multiplex theater resulted from “Star Wars”, and the way it transformed the movies.

Before “Star Wars”, going to the movies just wasn’t that thrilling. Movies were rated as either good, bad, or great, and people were often just as satisfied to stay home and watch one of the many popular TV shows. It wasn’t until after the success of this film that producers and moviegoers started thinking in terms of “blockbusters”. Something that would far exceed everyone’s expectations, break the mold of the average film, and sell more tickets than was deemed possible.

Investors then became willing to put up a lot more money to help make another blockbuster happen, along with all of its related products. Through its astounding box office success, and its commercial earnings from all the movie-related books, toys, video games, T-shirts, and comics, “Star Wars” had rocketed to movie stardom beyond anyone’s imagining. And everybody everywhere – producers and viewers and publishers and toymakers – couldn’t have been happier.

Except for writer and director George Lucas. He was disappointed that he couldn’t have made a better movie.

Sadly, he didn’t have the budget to do the film the way he really wanted. Which leads one to believe that no one would have had such a budget, since this movie had already stretched its special effects past the limits of contemporary filmmakers’ minds and wallets. Still, Lucas had to rush to put together the final version of the film. It’s rumored that “Star Wars” was still being edited a few hours before its nationwide release into theaters. As such, Lucas felt he had done a disservice to his concept, never fully realizing his original vision.

Much like his protagonist, Luke Skywalker, who feels ill-equipped to join Obi-Wan Kenobi on a revolutionary crusade, though he wants to do so with all his heart. It’s been Luke’s longtime dream to join the academy of fighter pilots, and to secretly join the Rebel Alliance that’s fighting against the cruel dictatorship of the Empire. However, his “practical” considerations hold him back from taking such huge risks. He sees no way to leave his home planet and his responsibilities, as well as his family’s expectations, to venture out into an uncertain future. It’s the same thing that scares all of us. What if we can’t reach the goals we set for ourselves? And what will everyone else think of us when we fail? What if we choose the wrong path?

It’s a new year, the time when people start thinking of how to change their lives for the better in the next 365 days. Getting in shape and getting out of debt. Joining a worthy cause and spending more quality time with our families. Learning how to make pasta or write a sonnet or hang drywall. We want to add in whatever we feel is missing from our lives and making us feel somewhat incomplete.

But most of us never get off of our comfortable couches to accomplish these goals and dreams, because we fear the devastating disappointment of failure. We often set ridiculously high expectations for ourselves, such as running five miles a day when we’ve never even gone for a brisk walk. And then, surprise, we don’t reach our goal! Just as we had expected, deep down. We set out to do something simple – like produce a mega-hit blockbuster movie – but it doesn’t quite turn out the way we had hoped it would.

That’s okay. Really.

At a Christian conference several years ago, a speaker encouraged us to remember that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. He explained that he had mis-quoted this familiar moral intentionally, because all too often, we think that our pet projects must either be done well or not at all. In fact, most of us think they should all be done perfectly. And therefore, we never really start work on them, because we’re never satisfied with our efforts.

At some point, we just need to step out and get it done. Even if it’s not perfect, it could be something great. And we’ll accomplish far more by making an effort than by refusing to get started.

Luke Skywalker ran out of excuses when his family and home were destroyed. The murder of his adoptive family showed him how dangerous the Empire was, and freed him to do something about it. Under Obi-Wan’s tutelage, he learned to control his outbursts of temper and to exercise a new faith in the Force, a source of strength and focal power that only a few people still believed in. Luke found the means for changing and directing his life to accomplish something incredible, ultimately destroying the Empire’s deadly weapon and nullifying their threat.

But he had to start with a simple decision to step out. As he practices with his new light saber and tries to understand how to get in touch with the Force, he begins to experience its power. “That’s good,” Obi-Wan instructs him. “You’ve taken your first step into a larger world.”

So go ahead. Take a risk. Try something new. Open your mind to new ideas, new opportunities, and the very likely possibility that you’ll succeed in a far greater measure than you anticipated, if you just take that step. And if you don’t achieve all of your goals, don’t sweat it. Just like George Lucas, you can always go back and fix it in another twenty years.

 

Find more reviews of Star Wars at amazon.com!

 

Character is something that most of us consider extremely important … for other people. We want those around us to have exemplary character, because it means they are trustworthy, reliable and safe. For ourselves, however, it’s sometimes hard to resist certain things. We often gravitate toward things we know we shouldn’t look at, or listen to, or say. Sometimes a guilty pleasure is just an embarrassment, like a parent who enjoys watching “Sesame Street” when the kids aren’t even around. Other times, guilty pleasures are things we should feel guilty for enjoying, because we know they’re bad for us. I once heard it said that no one preaches about the joys of smoking cigarettes, and how others should experience it. When they meet someone who doesn’t smoke, their typical response is, “I wish I could quit.”

My character is not exemplary, though I trust it is improving. As a Christian, I strive to do what is pleasing to God … usually. Years ago, when I wanted to start a business that focused on presenting quality, life-changing fiction, God gave me the single word, “character”. I knew it wasn’t just the name for a business, but something He wanted me to start developing more in myself.

And fortunately, when I don’t always listen, God is gracious enough to bring me back to His plans for my life.

Every Christmas season, I make it a point to watch “A Christmas Carol”. I know the story backwards and forwards. I’ve even read the original book. Yet I always end up watching the movie again. Seeing Ebenezer Scrooge, the town’s meanest and stingiest man, change his ways, I’m always challenged and encouraged that I can continue to change mine.

After the first two spirits show Scrooge all the misfortune he has caused others through his selfish life, he knows he needs to change. He even wants to. But he’s afraid he won’t make it. “It’s not that I’m not penitent,” he tells the Spirit of Christmas Future. “It’s just that I’m too old to change. Go and redeem some younger man!” But he agrees to join the Spirit and see where his life is headed: to a lonely, forgotten grave. To be treated as ruthlessly as he treated others.

He finally breaks down, begs for another chance, and wakes up in his bedroom on the dawn of a new day. Christmas Day. Thrilled, he takes immeasurable delight in restoring all the relationships he’s broken over the years, surprising them with abundant gifts and kindness. This beautiful transformation is exactly what we all long for, and why I remind myself with it each year. It’s the very thing God desires for us. To be changed into such kind, generous, loving people that the world is astounded.

I’ve messed up in life, many times. I’ve hurt people. I’ve cost myself opportunities to do good, just like Scrooge. We all have. But there’s hope for a new day, to become new people.

The wonderful message of “A Christmas Carol” is that, if Scrooge can change, we all can.

 

Find more reviews of A Christmas Carol – Ultimate Collectors Edition and A Christmas Carol at amazon.com!

 

“Nothing says ‘Christmas’ like hymns being sung by a bunch of kids who are horribly out of tune!” my friend Craig Skinner told me. He was referring to the songs from A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack that he loaned me. His favorite song, and one of mine, is the “horribly out of tune” song, “Christmastime is Here”. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the CD, with its catchy jazz versions of traditional Christmas songs.

But one piece of music gripped me, in a way that no other song has in a long time. The Peanuts gang sings “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”, just “oo”-ing without the words. The stillness is broken only by a solitary organ playing the melody behind them. The first half of the piece is eerily quiet and calming, before the children burst into the joyful lyrics for the second half, with their signature off-key voices. Something about this rendition catches my breath every time I hear it start.

I’ve been dealing with a good amount of stress lately. (Does stress actually come in good amounts?) Enough that, at times, I want to lash out at someone or something. Of course, I don’t, since that would only make me feel better for a while, while making things much worse the next time I saw the person I snapped at. But I need some kind of release from my anger and worry over my circumstances.

I found it in this song, when I wasn’t even looking for it. Even after hearing it several times, it continues to instantly calm me down, and to help me remember.

See, sometimes my soul starts whining, causing my inner thoughts to sound like Charlie Brown and his friends: way out of tune. I know that I shouldn’t let everything stress me out so much, because I have a secure hope and peace through Christ. And I’m ashamed to be angry over the little annoyances in my life, when I know other people around the world and even close to home are going through much harder struggles.

But God knows I get out of tune, just like everyone else. He knows I can whine and complain about trivial things like a selfish child who didn’t get what he wanted for Christmas. He knows I often take a long time to recognize – let alone adjust – my immature attitude.

But he still accepts me. He understands that my life is often way out of tune. But he sticks by me, anyway. And when my life sings along with Christ’s, it sounds a whole lot better. His grace, counsel and love more than make up for my tuneless attempts at life.

Listening to that song of the angels’ first noel – the first message that “all is now well” – reminds me of what I’ve received.

It reminds me that it’s nice to know that someone cared about me enough to come down and live life as a human being, just like me, with the same struggles to hit the right note in life.

That when Mary and Joseph found no room to deliver their baby except for a filthy barn with an animal trough (a “manger”), God reminded them of his presence in their hardship. Through visits from angels and shepherds, who stood in awe of the baby that Mary had borne, God reminded them that his plans were intact, and that he would take care of them through the whole ordeal.

That Jesus came to join his hand with ours and walk with us through this life, and offer a life beyond it.

That the troubles stressing me won’t last that long, whether it’s a few hours or a few years, in light of all the rest of my life I’ll get to enjoy.

That whatever happens to bum me out, there are still moments of joy to be found, in a child’s crazy antics, in an unexpected gift of love, in a friend’s warm smile, and even in a few seconds of uninterrupted rest.

Songs of peace like these bring me back in tune with God, helping me remember all the good things I have in life.

And for just a moment – however brief it may be – there’s peace.

 

Find more reviews of A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack CD at amazon.com!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming.

They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!

Their mouths will hang open a minute or two

Then the Whos down in Whoville will all cry, “Boo Hoo”.

(from How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss)

 

Have you heard this in your family? “It’s a tough economy.” “Christmas will probably be a little lean this year.” “We can’t go all out like we usually do.”

My extended family said this, too. Only they said it last year. This year seems even worse.

Sort of.

 

All the windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.

All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care …

When he came to the first little house on the square.

 

 

Last year felt like more of a shock. Not a big one, just enough of a wake-up call to remind us to watch our spending over the holidays (something I always have trouble with).

 

 

Then he slunk to the ice box. He took the Whos’ feast.

He took the Who pudding! He took the roast beast!

He cleaned out that ice box as quick as a flash.

Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!

 

 

This year, it’s less of an abrupt adjustment and more of a plan. Nicki and I decided to keep more to our budget this year for our gift-giving. That basically means keeping me more to our budget. After all, a lot of the things I buy for people look much more exciting in the store than they do when they’re actually unwrapped.

 

 

Then he did the same thing to the other Whos’ houses,

Leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos’ mouses.

 

But cutting back a little – or a lot – doesn’t mean we won’t fully enjoy our Christmas. The gifts we give and get – whether many, few, or none – don’t define Christmas, even though the gift-giving aspect is so deeply entrenched in our celebrations.

I’ve heard about people whose homes were robbed on Christmas Eve. It’s horrible to think of such a thing happening to your family, after all the cost and care put into each present. All the anticipation of seeing your loved ones open the gifts you picked out especially for them.

But it doesn’t mean that Christmas doesn’t come. No one can really steal Christmas.

 

 

But the sound wasn’t sad!

Why, this sound sounded merry!

It couldn’t be so!

But it WAS merry! Very!

… Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same!

 

 

Christmas is a gift that was given a long time ago by God, when he gave us his Son. No one can take that away, with lay-offs, crime, or funerals. My hope is not in the gift under the tree. My permanent security and trust is in the Gift I’ve already received in Jesus Christ. In the end, I don’t really need gifts at Christmas (of course, I’ll still accept them!).

 

 

“It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”

 

 

Tragedies can and have struck in my life. Sometimes those tragedies have brought me down – way down – for a time or for a long and distressing season. But Jesus always lifts me back up. He always reminds me of his faithfulness and his power to rescue me from the worst of times and the biggest of problems. Knowing Jesus means knowing he will always lead me into tomorrow, no matter how long and how hard today seems.

 

 

And he puzzled three hours, ’till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”

 

 

No one can steal Christmas from me, because it’s not in a store or in my house. When all the other trimmings are stripped away, my Christmas will still be in Christ, and Christ will still be in my heart.

 

Find more reviews of How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss and How the Grinch Stole Christmas 50th Anniversary Deluxe Remastered Edition DVD at amazon.com!

 

Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it means nothing at all. But it’s hard not to notice the joy that it brings to many others. An episode of Justice League titled “Comfort and Joy” demonstrated this well.

After rescuing an alien civilization, the Justice League prepares to take a break – for Christmas. All except J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter. “I’m afraid this season has no meaning for me,” he tells the Flash.

“We’ll have to do something about that,” Superman secretly decides. He later invites J’onn to join him for Christmas with his parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. J’onn reluctantly agrees. He stands awkwardly in the door of the Kents’ country home. “I hope I’m not intruding. Super— Clark was most insistent I join you for the holiday. My name is J’onn. I’m a Martian.”

Jonathan Kent puts a welcoming hand on J’onn’s shoulder as they draw him inside. “Oh, we’re no strangers to aliens in this house. You just make yourself at home.”

Superman shows J’onn to his room. “You should be nice and cozy here, J’onn.”

J’onn is surprised. “‘Nice and cozy.’ How odd to hear you speak that way. I’ve never seen this side of you, Clark.”

“That’s why I like coming home for the holidays,” Superman explains. “I can just relax and be myself.”

For people like Superman – an alien raised by humans to celebrate a traditional Christmas – the holidays mean coming home to a loving family that will always accept and welcome him.

J’onn tries to understand and share in this sentiment, but even the family cat hisses and flees when he tries to pet it.

Later at dinner, the Kents recounts stories of wrapping Clark’s presents with lead foil so he couldn’t peek inside with his X-ray vision. Then Martha insists on giving J’onn a present. “But I brought no gift for you,” J’onn protests mildly.

“Nonsense,” she tells him. “Your company is the only present we need.”

J’onn slips on the oversized sweater, as Martha explains that she wasn’t sure of his size. J’onn uses his shape-shifting ability to expand his muscles until it fits. “I can grow into it,” he says, smiling for the first time. He’s beginning to  understand the joy of having a loving family at the holidays.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern has a king-sized snowball fight with Hawkgirl, another alien who can’t understand “this obsession with the holidays.” But she notes that her own race on the planet Thanagar would celebrate after a successful battle. Although she can’t return home, she’s found another planet where people celebrate in the same way. She doubts that Green Lantern would appreciate it, but he insists on tagging along.

They journey to the third moon of Gaultos, where Hawkgirl enters a hostile crowd of aliens in a bar and starts a fight, pulling Green Lantern right into the middle of it. It’s the only way she knows how to celebrate. By the end of it, she and Green Lantern lie in a heap along with other weary alien brawlers. She kisses him gratefully on the cheek and whispers, “Merry Christmas, John.” She can’t understand Christmas itself, but she can appreciate the gift of his company in a foreign environment. For some people, Christmas is a time of shared moments with friends who are willing to set aside their plans to spend time in your world.

For the Flash, Christmas is a time of giving back to others. He visits a group of underprivileged children each year and then dashes around to find them a group gift. This year, the kids requested the hard-to-find DJ Rubba Ducky toy, an automated toy duck that does gangsta rap. Flash manages to find the very last one, but it’s destroyed in a battle with the Ultra-Humanite, a gorilla-like beast with high-tech weapons and intellectual snobbery. Scoffing at Christmas and the senseless toy that Flash planned to give, he pronounces, “They’d have been better off with a book. I suggest Voltaire.”

But Flash only wanted to make their Christmas wishes come true. He chews out the Ultra-Humanite for his callous attitude. “For a creep that claims to personify human advancement, I’d think you’d know what it means to pass along good will. Especially to kids who need some. I’d like to think they’d group up to pass that good will on to others.”

“A not unworthy aspiration,” the Ultra-Humanite agrees. Admiring Flash’s sentiment, he calls a truce “in honor of the season.” The Flash is astounded as the Ultra-Humanite tinkers with the damaged toy, telling Flash that he’s fixing it for the children, and “improving” it.

The Flash is doubtful. “It’s not gonna blow up or anything?”

“Flash,” the Ultra-Humanite says, offended at the thought. “It is Christmas.”

For some people, Christmas is a time of giving hope and joy to children and those in need. For others, it’s a time for not blowing things up.

The Ultra-Humanite’s “new and improved” DJ Rubba Ducky no longer raps, but instead draws the children close to hear the story of The Nutcracker, to everyone’s delight. Showing his appreciation, the Flash brings the Ultra-Humanite a surprising gift in his prison cell that night.

The Ultra-Humanite is touched. “An aluminum Christmas tree.” Flash starts to apologize for its cheesiness, but the Ultra-Humanite interrupts. “No, no. We had one just like it when I was —.” He catches himself before revealing anything more, and says, “It’s very nice. The guard will show you out.”

Before leaving, Flash takes a last peek into the cell, to see the Ultra-Humanite switching on the tree’s lights … and smiling.

For some, it’s a time to remember the joys of Christmases past, no matter what paths they’ve taken since then. To find renewed hope and joy, if only for a few brief moments.

Still trying to solve the puzzle of Christmas at the Kents’ farmhouse, J’onn uses his ghostly abilities to travel through the walls of their home and then through the town of Smallville, like the Spirit of Christmas Present. He observes the deeper sense of love shown between family and friends. Hearing a little girl’s hopes that Santa will really come and eat the cookies she left for him, J’onn noisily sneaks through the chimney, letting the girl hear him, and snatches one of the cookies.

For some people, Christmas is a time to believe in miracles, and to help others do so.

J’onn even stops outside a church to listen to the choir singing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, reminding people of the angels’ message: “Peace on earth, good will to men from Heaven’s all-gracious King.”

For some, Christmas is a time to worship and thank God for sending his son as a baby, to live like one of us and share our joys and sorrows, and ultimately free us to live a new life.

The morning light of Christmas day dawns on the Kents’ farm. Superman rises and leaps from his bed, to find his parents listening to a song coming from the guest room. J’onn is signing a Martian song of peace and joy as he gently strokes the family cat, who is now quite comfortable in his arms.

“And he said he didn’t bring a gift,” Superman says with a smile.

For some, Christmas is a mystery. A foreign and strange time of year that somehow brings great joy to many others, for no clear reason. Yet many find that it’s a mystery that does not need to be solved. Only enjoyed, for whatever comfort and joy it brings each year.

 

Find more customer reviews of Justice League – Season 2 at amazon.com!