INSPIRATIONAL FILES

“Unforgiven” is a 1992 Western, produced and directed by Clint Eastwood. The film also stars Eastwood in the lead role, along with Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris. It won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film explores how the desire for vengeance unveils the real ugly side of violence. “Unforgiven” was set in motion by a burning desire by a group of prostitutes led by Strawberry Alice (Frances Fisher) from Big Whiskey, Wyoming, to perpetrate vengeance on two cowboys who disfigured one of their own. The Kid (Jaimz Woolvett), William Munny (Clint Eastwood), and Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) answered the call, though with some sense of reluctance. But for the price of $1,000, the heat and the hit was on. And for one sincere question asked and for one shocking story told. Years before Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" (circa 33 AD), a master storyteller told the story of "The Unforgiving Servant". This time there w...

We live in a time and in a society in which it appears as if names are no longer significant. This is evident of a western society where parents give their children names that appear void of any meaning. Many children's names do not speak any virtue or predict any blessings. When asked how her daughters got their names, a friend of mine recently shared with me how they got their names. Their names were combinations of the first syllables in the different names of different relatives. Names should speak of a character, a virtue, a value, or a purpose in life. Names should be carefully thought out and even prayed about. God takes names seriously. If God takes names seriously, so should we. Let us break the cycles of meaningless names. There is a strong link between name and achievement. I am supposing that the reason why some people never achieve anything significant is because of names that are not significant. What I am driving at is that names can drive (motivate) achievement. Pa...

The statement “This is it” could be a statement of affirmation or that of declaration. As a statement of affirmation it could be a statement made in recognition of the unfolding of God’s plan in the life of a man or a woman. As a statement of declaration, it could mean a statement made in taking a stand against a particularly oppressive situation or circumstance in the life of a person. And for Michael Jackson, “ This is It ” would forever remain the millennium concert that never happened. The theme of the musical event that was once billed as the grandest comeback ever for any performing artist was in itself predictive of the permanent exit of the King of Pop from the musical scene. But this time, it was without all the applause, the ovations, the pomp and pageantries or the signature grand entries and exits that once marked Mr. Jackson’s entire performing career. The irony of Michael Jackson’s “ This is It ” is really in the exit of the King of Pop, not only from the perform...

In a fictional WW II story set in 1944 on the eve of the Allied D – Day invasion of Normandy, twelve American convicts set out as a special military unit on a pre – invasion kill and destroy mission in Rennes, north – western France. They had virtually no military experience and nothing in common except convictions for criminal offenses. For the twelve men, it was a mission to prove their worth as soldiers as well as a journey to find redemption. And for some of them it was a chance to escape justice. Director Robert Aldrich found his big score in assembling twelve of the greatest names (Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, George Kennedy, Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, and football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, to mention just a few) in Hollywood’s history to star in The Dirty Dozen (1967). The mission of “The Dirty Dozen” was a suicide mission from the onset. Landing in France, they discovered themselves short one man; Jimenez broke his neck in the parachute jump and most ...

“ The pen is mightier than the sword ” is a statement coined by English author, Edward Bulwer – Lytton. What he left out of the statement is that for the pen to be mightier than the sword really depends on the person holding the pen. In the hands of a child, a pen could be really nothing more than an obje ct of fascination or even a mere plaything. Even in the hands of most adults the pen is nothing more than a mere writing instrument, but the same pen in the hands of a skillful writer could turn out to be a very powerful instrument of persuasion or a very destructive weapon of slander. In the hands of most shepherds, the shepherd's staff or rod served as a mere instrument of protection and rescue for endangered flock as well as a symbol of assurance of the shepherd’s power, but the same rod in the hand of Moses became a very powerful instrument of the enabling power of God for ministry. Moses’ “burning bush” encounter with Jehovah could be considered one of the most powerful calls...

“ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some will even dare to die. But God commends his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ” [ Romans 5: 7, 8 ]. The text in quote implies that there is a “line” between good and righteous as there is a difference between a righteous man and a good man. The concept of “line” signifies a line of separation, usually between two opposing ideals, and it is abstract rather than physical. Such line of separation between two opposing ideals is expressed in statements such as “the line between good and evil,” “a thin line between love and hate,” and “the battle line being drawn.” “The line between good and righteous” on the other hand is neither abstract nor is it physical, but spiritual instead. The statement, “This is where we draw the line” also implies that whenever and wherever there is a line, there is always someone who draws that line. In the line between good and righteous, i...

The 1954 musical film, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Howard Keel and Jane Powell tells the story of a backwoods man named Adam and his new bride Milly who marries him after knowing him for only a few hours. On returning with Adam to his cabin in the mountains, Milly found out that Adam is just one of seven brothers (Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank and Gideon) living in the same cabin. And through a chain of hilarious events, Adam’s six brothers decided to have their own brides by kidnapping six girls named Dorcas, Ruth, Martha, Liza, Sarah and Alice. One Bride for Seven Brothers is really nothing more than a short narrative from the Bible but the lesson in it could turn out to be a blockbuster. As the story has it, some Sadducees came to Jesus in what was apparently a premeditated attempt to justify and support their own belief and said, “ Teacher, Moses said, ‘if a man dies childless, his brother should marry his wido...