I did the unthinkable last night and took Carie to see “New Moon” for date night.

As you may or may not know, date night is a non-negotiable time set aside with my wife Carie that is anchored into our week so that, no matter how busy we get, nothing may remove date night out of the way without the express written consent of both of us and another date night scheduled to replace the first one.

As the evening was planned, I assumed based on something Carie had mentioned to me that she had bought the tickets for a theater about a half hour away.  Because of this, I plotted out too much time before the movie since we only live about 5 minutes from the theater to which we were actually driving.  After a bit of a debate on who was right and who was wrong, we decided to show up early for the movie and wait around the lobby area if we couldn’t get in the door.  But we found out there was no need to wait, for the place was in pandemonium when we arrived.

I took the above picture about 50 minutes before the movie started, and as you can see, the line already spread the full length of one of the theater’s long hallways twice over.  Which led me to process the enormous popularity of the Twilight series.  Jeff had some really interesting things to say on the topic, and while I don’t share his enthusiasm against America’s current most popular book/movie series, I certainly see some of the faulty philosophies within the group of novels/movies.

And I wonder how a group of books about vampires and werewolves and the girl who is torn between the two can captivate the hearts of a monstrous demographic.  Is it the idea of unconditional romantic love that is exhibited by Bella and Edward as they clearly have some sort of strong love bond between them?  Both the writing and the filming do a fine job of showing their respective audiences this.  As you might have guessed, about 85% of the audience that night were female, which leads me to believe that this kind of unconditionality is something sought after by a generation of females who have been mislead, manipulated, and manhandled by a generation of males who have neglected their responsibility to protect and care for the women in their life.

Or maybe it’s the intense “I’ll be there for you no matter what” attitude displayed by both main characters.  Typically women get the “I’ll be there for you, until something better comes along” attitude from their men, which because of the way the earth is created and evolving at the same time, means they will stop looking for protection and care from real guys.  Then they will seek after the same type of relationships from a) books and entertainment where they can dream about that real guy or b) a human being who is not male, yet can give them that dependability that all humans desire from their love relationships.

The deeper problem of course, lies in our understanding that no matter who we place our trust in, they will fail us.  But this is no excuse for men and women of all ages and generations to not be people of character as they move into relationships that literally must include two people of character to succeed.  In short, don’t get into a romantic relationship until you are ready, or as a wise man once said in Scripture…

“Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”

This has been the craziest week.  I’m trying to recover from an ice storm, and especially no internet.   I think I’m a carrier of bad luck even.

This morning I drove to my ne favorite place to hang out to study and write and read.  This week’s message focuses on the book of Haggai in the OT, and I’ve been thrilled to be able to do some research and study on some of the insights this prophet offers to the people of Israel.

Anyways I drove to my new favorite place called “Jumpin’ Juice and Java” (from here on out, I’ll affectionately call it “Triple J”) and parked my car.  The ice on the path didnt agree with me though, and I slipped and fell. It was kind of embarassing, but not as embarassing as the time in 8th grade I hit a 3 pointer, jumped up and down in celebration, and then strode backwards all by myself with a “how you like me now?” smirk, only to fall on my butt so hard I had a bruise for days.

Then I walked into the Triple J ready to do some work, complete with a chai tea (usually ice, but probably hot today), but the computer wouldn’t take my card.  The cashier was friendly and apologetic, saying it was not my fault, it was theirs.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any cash, so I meekly asked if they had an atm, to which the employee answered, “I don’t know.”

“Ummm, ok,” I said to myself, and thinking to myself, “How does one not know whether there is an atm in there place of business?”

So no big deal, a friend of mine would be joining me soon anyways, I’ll sit down and enjoy the internet.  What?  No internet?  The computer problem equals no internet.  That does not bode well for a sweet business that gets a lot of its business from people using lap tops.

So I read and studied, which was awesome.  Thanks Haggai!  And thanks Charter for now ruining the internet at my home, my church, and now, my Triple J.

I’m really thinking that my problem is not bad luck, but I do think I should probably stop reading the “Twilight series” and getting all of Bella’s bad luck.

What?  Did I just tell the world I’m reading those?  It’s Carie’s fault.

This is for my wife.  So maybe she’ll read my blog!

Love you Carie!