My husband and I just saw this incredible movie this past weekend. We laughed, we cried, but mostly, we praised God for the gift of fatherhood and how it is accurately displayed in a media format.

So many TV shows, movies, and commercials nowadays depict fathers as the idiotic, nuisance of the family, rather than the respected head of the household God created them to be. Then we wonder why they don't take the lead, or why they prefer to hang out with their buddies rather than their families.

I realize not every father is worthy of honor because they are not honorable people. I understand many of us live under very different circumstances with men of authority, who abuse their position in multiple ways. I'm not talking about these men. I'm talking about the average Dad who often gets forgotten. The one that gets told what the family's weekend plans are and if he has an opinion of his own, everyone rolls their eyes and say, "Oh Dad, you don't know what's good."

Unfortunately, this is all too common within the Christian households as well as those of unbelieving families. Christian women spend more time in Bible study than most men, which results in many women taking the spiritual headship of the home.

We wives need to learn what true biblical submission is. And men need to stop acting like little boys, and act like the men they are, living courageously under the headship and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”

~1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (ESV)

Okay, I'm off my soapbox...back to the movie review.

When a movie captivates your heart as well as your conscience, it isn’t something you can just sit back and watch. Movies like Courageous compel the viewer to participate in the lives of the characters as they face real-life, every day issues that many of us have experienced—or will. The writers, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, move you from complete annoyance at the obvious lack of judgment and love displayed by the main character, Adam Mitchell (played by Alex Kendrick) to utter compassion and grief for what he suffers.

I’m married to a godly husband and father who spent the beginning of the movie gruffing about the flagrant self-centeredness of Adam. He just couldn’t believe how Adam could so nonchalantly decline to participate in activities that were obvious blessings from God. He’d say, “Did he really just say, ‘No’ to her?! I’d pay a million dollars to do that. What a loser!” And that’s what Adam finds to be true when tragedy hits his home. Adam is awakened to the reality that he’s lost what can never be replaced; opportunities that will never come again. And he is left swaying between the despair of what will never be and the gratitude to God for all that has already been.

What ensues is a firm resolve to live fully in Christ in every aspect of life. Adam shares this resolution with his friends who at first think Adam is taking things too far as, Shane Fuller (played by Kevin Downes) says, “You’re being too hard on yourself...You’ve been a good enough father.” To which Adam responds, “I don’t want to be a good enough father.”

Rather than settle for “good enough”, Adam is determined to be what God has called every man to be—a man of courage, not a boy of mediocrity.

Marriages are tough enough without the added burden of a man who doesn’t live as one who is above reproach, but rather as one who is above approach. Humility and submission to Christ the Lord, opening oneself up to accountability with wives, children and especially other godly men who will faithfully rebuke them when necessary is vital to any Christian man’s spiritual growth. It’s sad that there isn’t enough of this in American churches today. I am however, grateful for this movie that is setting standards for all men who profess Christ as Lord and Savior to truly live abandoned to Christ.

Courageous is currently rated number six in the box office, with showings in only 1,161 theaters as compared to other movies that are showing in 2,000-3,000 theaters.*

All glory and praise to God for allowing even the least of these to do anything to further the kingdom of Jesus Christ and raise up men who will courageously follow the Lord; no matter the cost.

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him...”

~Philippians 3:8-9a (ESV)

“Courageous” is showing in 28 theaters in the Dallas, Texas area. Check your local AMC andCinemark theaters for dates and times.

*Movie ranking provided by: http://www.fandango.com/boxoffice

Though 18.4% of abortions are performed on married women, the aftermath of the abortion and its effect on her and her husband are rarely discussed, researched or published. There are many arguments for abortion, but none of them are sufficient to relieve the husband or wife’s unbearable grief from participating in their own child’s death.

Most abortions are performed within the first trimester, during the time the baby is not viable. This is an elementary argument. Why? Because it is common knowledge that babies are not capable of surviving independently, from the day they are born and at least, up until they are three years old. If a parent does not feed, cloth and provide adequate shelter for a child within this age range, the child will die. Every mother and father knows this is true.

When is a baby considered alive? Are life and death processes or events? They are both events. You are either alive or you are dead. And nothing dead ever continues to grow and develop. That’s what death is; a cessation of life. And that is what abortion is. It is a procedure that stops a baby’s growth and development. The baby dies. And as expected, the parents mourn, just as any human being with any compassion does when their child dies.

Women should have the right to their own reproductive system. I agree. And compassionate and intelligent choices would be to either abstain from sex for a time, if the couple agrees they don’t desire children at a certain time in their marriage, or have a hysterectomy or a vasectomy if they never desire children at all. A woman will not die if she does not have sex. But if she chooses to engage in the only activity that can produce life, for the sake of self-pleasure, she is choosing to willingly jeopardize the life of an innocent child.

A husband’s story:*

“Ours was no longer the perfect situation, so to my thinking, abortion became the preferred option...

“I was also surprised by my own reactions and feelings. I found that I felt guilty...

“Our country’’s lawmakers had made abortion legal, hadn’’t they?... So, why did I have these feelings? Why was my wife having these problems?...

“But one day I had a revelation... My heart softened and I saw what abortion really was— not a solution to a problem, but the taking of an innocent life.

“This happened after my wife came to realize that she didn’’t need to take her own life to atone for our baby’’s death. She discovered that 2,000 years ago, God had sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth for the sole purpose of dying a painful, agonizing death in order to take the punishment that she deserved. My wife discovered the love of God that day, and accepted Jesus’ death on the cross as payment in full for her own wrongdoing.

“A few months later, the recognition of my own guilt before God led me to understand my need for God’s forgiveness for my sin, as well. We were now able to stand clean before God. We had forgiveness. We had hope.”

A wife’s story:*

“Marriage vows are based on the idea of loving, honoring, cherishing and respecting each other. After an abortion, love can turn to hate, honor to dishonor, respect to disrespect, and cherishing to yesterday’s newspaper.

“What took an abortionist and his staff six hours to undo, took me 18 long years to put back together, both my life and my marriage. Unlike so many other stories, mine has a happy ending. With God’s help and the help of other caring Christians, our marriage and lives have been healed from the wound of abortion and it is no longer a negative issue.”

*Excerpts taken from: http://www.afterabortion.org/pdf/Vol10No2.pdf, The Post-Abortion Review, Vol. 10, No. 2, April-June 2002. The Elliot Institute News

abort (verb) - to cause to cease or terminate.

To abort or not to abort...that is the question. But what is the answer? I mean, the right answer? Whether you ask an unbeliever or sadly, even professing Christians this question, the answer varies. It seems odd that a Bible believing Christian would support the "choice" for a woman to abort, that is, terminate the life of her unborn baby, but many professing Christians have no problem with this. Why? I believe it is because both professing Christians and unbelievers have been deceived by the devil to think that because we cannot see life and because this life is not ready to be birthed from the mother's womb, the baby is not really alive. But how can something or someone that is growing and developing be dead? Have you ever seen anything in all creation, a plant, a virus, an animal that was dead, continue to develop? No. Only that which is living is capable of growing and developing, just as the baby in the mother's womb does, unless the baby's growth and development is aborted -- terminated; killed.

Who defines life? God defines life, because God is life.

When does life begin? A person is either alive or they are dead. There is nothing in between. Life is not a process, but an event. You either are a living being or you are not. Just as death is a one time event, so is life.

Please watch this short, 33-minute movie, where you'll see 8 adamantly Pro-Choice people become Pro-Life, in just seconds! This vividly intense documentary shares the truth about abortion, it’s affect on the morality of our nation and people just like you and me. Because the issue of morality was brought up by some of the interviewees, a clear and biblical Gospel presentation is also included in this movie.

I found 180 to be a passionate and intellectually gripping movie. Ray Comfort, Founder and President of LWP, presents the viewer with a perspective on abortion that speaks directly to the condition of a person’s heart, rather than keep abortion at a comfortable, political distance. Ray Comfort opens the movie with a stern warning that history will be repeated, if we aren’t wise enough to educate ourselves and learn from it. and help spread the word.

Please visit Heart Changer to support the cause of speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Prov 31:8-9).

Please join me in prayer that God will use this movie to open the eyes and ears of all those who have been deceived.