Which one?

Our Daily Bread
I read an article the other day about the prodigal son story -- which one was really the prodigal? Was it the son who left and squandered his inheritance or was it the one who stayed and felt like he deserved better?  

IMHO, both sons were prodigals. They both represent important images in our church. First, the one who left represents the folks that never really had much to do with the church. The words of Jesus remind us to celebrate when these folks "come home". The one who stayed represents the folks who have provided faithful, consistent service. That is a very good thing! The problem is that folks like that, and I include myself in this group, feel like they deserve more because of our faithful, consistent service. 

We are all saved by grace. We have not earned a drop of the blood of Jesus no matter how long we faithfully served God. Grace. Amazing Grace.

Movie Monday
I didn't take time to go to the movie theater this weekend, so I watched some movies on Netflix. I started a trial subscription last month and decided to keep it. There are a lot of movies on it, of course. I wasn't sure if they had enough for me to subscribe. There are a lot of TV shows too, but I am not a big TV person.

I watched a couple of movies over the weekend: The Machine and The Punisher.

The Machine is a sci-fi flick about the making and evolution of a cyborg kind of creature. It was a little slow, but had a lot of cool stuff in it. At the end it sort of made me feel unfulfilled as there was an odd ending to me. Oh well. It had some entertaining parts. The technology was cool.

The Punisher is a Marvel comic made into a movie (if you can imagine). A phoenix of a man comes back to "punish" the family that killed his entire family. Bad guys get it in the end. I liked it years ago when I first saw it. I liked it again last night. Lots of violence so shy away from this one if you don't like the testosterone-filled blow up style of movie.

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We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives
Its time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive
- Thrive by Casting Crowns