Fresh Movie

Enjoyed this documentary about food. I'm glad that there is such a movement toward caring about where our food comes from, and about how our choices impact our health and so much more. Of course, after these bursts of education, I wonder, what do I do now?

One back-to-basics farmer is portrayed in sharp contrast to the meat-factory and says:

“Where we’re standing got grazed 2 or 3 times in the Spring then we made hay on it; the next time it got grazed, ran the hen-mobile behind it; then we ran a big batch of turkeys through here….and then graze it again at wintertime; the point being that when you add all of those things up, suddenly you’re not getting not only the multi-speciatian, and the different kinds of manures, but you’re getting all these complimentary income streams, so that unlike the neighbor who just brought in beef cows getting $150/acre, we’re getting over $3000/acre/year, and we haven’t bought a seed, or bought an ounce of fertilizer in 50 years. That’s what I say, wow.”

Once expert says:

“It is true that local and organic food costs more. It’s worth more too. When this dozen eggs costs $4 or $5, because these animals have been on pasture, and it’s full of Omega-3 and it’s full of Vitamin A, those are not the same as those 79 cent battery-cage eggs. Yeah they’re a white sphere, but it’s not the same product. As we’ve industrialized our food we’ve made it cheaper, but we’ve also diminished it nutritionally. According to the USDA’s own numbers, if you look at fresh produce grown in 1950 and compare nutritionally with fresh produce grown today, you will find that the amount of key nutrients-- minerals, vitamins-- has diminished by 40%.”

“The more you process food, the less nutritious it is. Cheap food is an illusion. There is no such thing as cheap food. The real cost of the food is paid somewhere. And if it isn’t paid at the cash register, it’s charged to the environment, it’s charged to the public person in the form of subsidies, and it’s charged to your health. You do get what you pay for, with food as with anything else. There are people, however, who can’t afford it. And we need to basically level the playing field. Right now we’re heavily subsidizing every calorie of high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil, which are the building blocks of processed food, the least healthy food we’re eating, and we’re not doing anything to subsidize or support the growing of fresh produce. Millions of Americans live in food deserts, where you can’t find fresh produce; you can only find processed food. You can find Ramen noodles, but you can’t find an apple. People do want to eat this food, they just don’t have access to it.”

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Thoroughly interesting... does make you ask a lot of questions!

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

I appreciate the simplicity and humility with which the story is told. I'm glad they decided to write this book, and that I heard about it, because to me, it is a reminder of what I claim to believe-- that heaven is for real! I was particularly touched by the little boy saying that he came back because Jesus was answering his dad's prayer. Oh, if I could remember every minute that heaven is real and that it is the home of a real God who really does answer prayers... and this story nudged me that direction.

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam Junior

Yeah, the book was way better than the movie:)
Very interesting to me that they called the movie October Sky because market research showed woman under 30 wouldn't be interested in a movie called "Rocket Boys." So, they re-arranged the letters to create October Sky!
Aside from the part where it seemed like he was bragging about having sex as a teen, it was thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring story!

Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure

I could focus on the fact that at many points while reading this book, it seemed like a repeat of cliche's I've heard over and over again. "Give it to God." "Be self-controlled and don't give up!" "Make good goals and a plan; follow through."

That's what a lot of it was. I haven't read any diet books before, or any Christian books particularly relating to weight-loss, but I've heard all those things before. And I've always shrugged them off. "I'm not overweight," I would think. "God is more concerned with my heart anyway; I need to worry about that first, and not be so superficial."

So even though I've heard many of the ideas of this book before, THIS FEELS DIFFERENT because I am now poised and ready to make a change. It's not because I'm overweight or superficial, but I'm making a New Year's Resolution for weight loss for the first time ever as a direct result of this book.

Some quotes... "I do my best to honor my body by giving it the best option I can." [And she encourages others to] "stop looking at dining out as an entitlement to pamper your passion" (173). Ouch.

"I knew that abusing my body with food was a bad habit for me, but since I wasn't hurting anyone else, I hadn't seen it as sin. I finally understood. He created me. My body is a temple to be used by Him and for Him. He desires that we seek a spiritual transformation, not merely a moral one" (182-183).

"Life takes time, and we need to remember that--it takes time" (194).

"If I have learned anything from my experience with trials, it's this: I need to take that step of patience now--not tonight, not tomorrow--right now. Push the food to the side today. Why? Because it's not going to comfort me the way that I think it will. And guess what? That food will still be there tomorrow.
"Some might say, 'It's just food. Get real!' But no, it's not just food any more than gold is just gold. When your life molds or shapes it into something you idolize, or use to tranquilize, it becomes your golden calf" (195).

Candace's wise words have helped me see things in a whole new light. Here are the two main changes:
1) She helped me realize that I look to food for fulfillment. In the past I've justified my view of food by saying I'm just enjoying a gift from God, but in my heart I know the truth: I think about, long for, and crave food too much. It is an idol. I love sweets, eating out, eating good cooking, and if I'm honest I usually enjoy them more than the company of those at the table, I don't have a thought --least of all of gratitude-- toward God, and as soon as it's over, I'm thinking about what will come next. I have a pattern of over-eating, trying to get that full feeling, to find fulfillment. It is kind of shocking to realize this... am I not to be filled with the Spirit?? Shouldn't that be enough? Years ago, I practiced fasting from time to time. Now I think I need to daily (hourly) re-focus myself as to what I need for energy, fuel, and what will truly satisfy.
2) She helped me realize that over-eating, not exercising, not taking care of this temple--ie, not being self-controlled is truly a SIN. We tend in our culture to rank sins. So many Christians seem to think that homosexuality and abortion are the only ones that "count." In my circles, it seems that not having daily devotions is THE WORST. So many of us (me included) tend to think of certain kinds of things as "optional," though the Bible would say otherwise. It's not a choice to be COMPLETELY SURRENDERED to my God and find all fulfillment in him, to not think one thought anything short of love, to not "beat my body and make it a slave." I have many reasons to try to be healthier and lose weight-- I feel better (happier, more energetic), to look good for my husband, I am able to do more (hike with friends, etc). The thing stopping me is laziness and lack of conviction. And that cannot be.

My desire in this endeavor is to fulfill Elisabeth Elliot's words, "Discipline begets discipline." I mean that if I can be disciplined in this area of life, I know it will spread to others.

The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason

The subtitle "Meditations on the Miracle" is very appropriate. This book reminds me of the writing style of John Eldridge; it has Scripture sprinkled in and seems to come from a Christian worldview, but is so romantic, metaphorical, and fluffy that I'm not sure exactly what the author is saying or how much I agree with. I like my books more straightforward, with outlined points and clear-cut summary sections. However, some of it was helpful.

My favorite part-- indeed, the most helpful for me, was his discussion of "Otherness" in marriage.

"The fact is that our natural tendency is to treat others as if they were not 'others' at all, but merely aspects of ourselves. We do not experience them as the overwhelming, comprehensive realities that we feel ourselves to be. Compared with us, they are not quite real. We see them as through a haze, the haze of our own all-engulfing selfhood..."(45).

Indeed, I often think of God this way. But loving someone, knowing and appreciating the being that they are, helps us learn to better know and appreciate the reality of God.

I liked his explanation of "the two becoming one":

"Inevitably, as we shall see, a couple will grow more and more like one another in character. Yet at the same time, for two to become one flesh does not mean for the hand to become a foot. It means, rather, for the foot and the hand to become coordinated, to start doing the same task, heading in the same direction" (140).

I also resonated with this:

"One of the commonest illusions about marriage is that it is meant to be a sanctuary, a place of familiarity and protectedness amidst the alien harshness of the world, a place in which the rigors of change and challenge and uncertainty are expected to be minimized, the shocks of life abated....God wants us to enjoy security. Unfortunately, we have a way of equating security with complacency."

What a helpful exhortation!

Still, for all these helpful tidbits, the sum of the book wasn't my style, and there were some parts I couldn't agree with wholeheartedly. Often it seemed that instead of supporting the idea that "Relating to God is #1; marriage is a reflection of that, and a way to learn to do that better," it was saying that "Make marriage #1 because if you're doing that, you're learning to love, and ultimately that's serving God." On page 157, for example, it seems that we are to be most concerned with "directly" submitting to our spouse, more than to God (though it is implied that submitting to a spouse is "indirectly" submitting to God.)

One particular thing I didn't like about Mason's style was his repeated aggrandizement of "love." It wasn't defined, the idea wasn't applied to various situations in life, but whatever it is, it seemed to be preeminent to this life, and the primary way to express it seemed to be marriage. Much was made of following love and being long-suffering and forgiving, holding to love's ideal rather than ever giving up on one's spouse. I am a firm believer in marriage; I believe God hates divorce. Still, I think in all this discussion, there should be explanation of how all these ideals apply to us in our fallen world. Particularly, some discussion of abuse situations should be noted. We should still discuss the importance of patience, steadfastness, and commitment, but the church has ignored how to handle very real situations of abuse for far too long.

If it sounds like I'm being harsh, I don't mean to be. On the whole I appreciated this book, unique from other marriage books I've read which tend to discuss only leadership/submission. I think I set my expectations a little too high when I read JI Packer's foreward:

"...marriage, being the most delicate and demanding of human relationships, as well as potentially the most delightful, is a terribly difficult topic on which to write wisely and well. I should have pointed out that the Christian world is already full of bad books on marriage, books written, it seems, by extrovert Pharisees for readers like themselves who want to reduce life to routines of role-play....Rarely however, has a new book roused in me so much enthusiasm as has the combination of wisdom, depth, dignity, and glow--I don't know what else to call it--that I find in these chapters" (9-10).

Watership Down by Richard Adams