Recently I learned that a good friend of mine, Joey Gish, is leaving in the fall for Yakima Community College. So I thought it was time that we make one final film this summer before the old movie-making-team goes their separate ways. We are calling it “Вечер с Вишневского в” or in English “An evening with the Vishnevsky’s.” It’s about someone who is invited to a formal dinner at the Vishnevsky’s house. Little does this person know that he is the dinner, and that all the dinner guests are vampires. All dialogue will be in Russian with English subtitles. The film will probably have a maximum length of five minutes and will be filmed over the course of three days. I’ll update my blog with further developments.

Спасибо,
Jack

I was looking through my bulletin at church last Sunday, and came across an article put out by Focus on the Family that caught my attention. It was titled God’s Purpose for Marriage. Marriage being a topic that I have been studying for the last six months, I was very interested to see what this person had to say. Anyway, before I talk further, here is the article:

Like a lot of men, I jumped into marriage with the thought that being happy was the ultimate goal. As I look back, many of the struggles my wife, Rhonda, and I encountered in the early years stemmed from my misconceptions about her and about marriage in general. My expectations, tone of voice, requests and responses to her all reflected my selfish heart, which considered my wife as a producer of my happiness. One day, I listened to a sermon on the high calling of marriage. I became extremely emotional and saw my wife and marriage in a totally different way. I hugged Rhonda and said, “I finally got it about this thing called marriage.” The sermon convicted me with the truth that my marriage is about much more than managing intimacy, conflict, kids, and finances. It’s about more than simply meeting needs and making one another happy. Those aspects are merely natural outcomes of a much greater purpose-glorifying God and reflecting HIs sacred truth to one another and to the world. When we become one in our marriage, we reflect the unity of God. When we are not one, when we do not follow His pattern, it affects our relationship with Him and with each other. When I began to look at Rhonda through God’s eyes, it changed the way I saw her: She was His creation, fearfully and wonderfully made, a precious gift. I no longer looked at her with my own selfish agenda. She was no longer somebody who couldn’t meet my expectations; she was an expression of God’s love and grace. God had freely forgiven her shortcomings and imperfections, so why couldn’t I? Yes, it’s sometimes difficult to maintain this heavenly perspective. Whenever I lose it, I go before the Father. I ask, “Lord, help me to see her again through Your eyes. Help me to treat her the way You treat her.” Then God faithfully reminds me that Rhonda isn’t in my life to make me happy, but to teach me how to love. -Mitch Temple

So I have been thinking over this quite a bit, and am questioning if that is why I would like to get married, if that is at the core of thinking. For happiness, or for a higher calling. It’s something that I will probably be debating for the next few years, and maybe something I will not truly know the answer for until I am married for several years.

Yours,
Jack