What a day. Nothing dramatic happened to me but I feel like it was a full one.

I went to work around 8am. That's normal for a lot of people but it's a earlier than usual for me. While at work I made a mistake that halted production for a few minutes. It wasn't a big deal. I don't work on an assembly line or a movie set with tens of thousands of dollars of people and equipment to worry about. I work in a small studio with a few other people and today we were only taping Ed Hindson sitting at a table lecturing on the Old Testament. I left work around 4:30. It isn't unusual for me to be out of there before then. That's a statement not a fact.

I got home and installed quicken on one of my machines so I can better manage my finances and prepare for taxes. I imported last year's records and got them synced up with my current balance. I had to search around a bit to find some paper statements from my bank. After getting it all squared away I went through and categorized everything that was business or charity related. I think I'm ready to start the tax process. Hopefully, I'll stick with putting things in quicken this time so it'll be easier next year.

When I arrived home my room mate told me I had some very good mail waiting for me. He was right. A rather large check from a client of mine came in. I'm not going to list the amount of the check here but it is second only to the check I got for winning the funniest video of the year on "World's Funniest". It's not nearly as large as that one but it's ... well, I could pay off my car with it. The sad thing is I might not get to spend any of it on what I want to. It depends on how much I owe in unpaid taxes last year and how much I'll need to prepay this year. Also, I give 10% of my gross income to God. I'm not going to say I wish I could spend that amount on myself or my business but the thought does creep up a bit. On the other hand I feel like He's blessing my business so giving is a way of showing gratitude and respect. All the money and material goods in the universe belong to Him anyway. Anything I spend it on will most likely be junk in ten years or less. It's not that much money in the grand scheme of things anyway. At any rate I have a large check that's already spent.

The Passion of the Christ came out today. I don't know how it is doing or what effect it is having on people. We don't have a lot of theaters in this area so getting a ticket will require more effort than I care to exert. I kind of feel bad for not wanting to see more ... well, passionately. There's something about hype that turns me off and this film has a lot of hype. That's not to say that I am impervious to hype. I've been known to be at the theater on opening night or at least opening weekend. It'd be hypocritical of me to use that as my only excuse. There's a certain something that scares me about the film. I am a Christian and I've complained about the cleaned up representations of Jesus on the cross. Maybe I'm afraid that I'll watch it and it'll change my life. Fear of change is a common fear. Fear of surrender and bowing your will is as well. I don't know how the film will effect me. Saving Private Ryan left me numb and a bit shell shocked because of the realistic violence. I came away from the experience grateful to the vets but not wanting to see it again anytime soon. Grave of the Fireflies, a Japanese animated film about a couple of kids in WWII, deeply effects some viewers, but it didn't have a profound impact on my life and outlook. The Passion will hopefully be more like the SPR in its effect on me.

Some Christians are very excited about the Passion. They feel like they're about to witness a new "Great Awakening" or revival. Cynicism isn't one of my better traits, it eats away at hope. We now have a dramatic, mostly accurate, reenactment of the death of Jesus. Does that mean people will see this and believe in Him? Could this one film do for its viewers what the actual event failed to do for some of its witnesses? Of course, thousands were added to the early church at that time so it's unfair of me to assert that most who witness Jesus' death and resurrection (or just His miraculous earthly ministry) weren't effected by it. I'm just afraid that we might be putting too much hope in a film. Sure it can (and will) be used by God to draw people to Him. Will it effect a lasting cultural change? Will this event (or echo of an event) change the world? I guess we'll find out in the next few days/months/years. This film is not a substitute for living a consistent, compassionate, godly life on earth. People who see this film may be drawn to Christ only to stumble on His followers' hypocrisy. I hope I'm not a stumbling block to anyone. I know I'm not anywhere near righteous or holy. There are times when I second guess my own faith. Only by the grace of God through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus do I claim any kind of purity.

Well, all of that is to say, don't expect a work of art to be more persuasive than the event it portrays. Of course, that initial event changed the course of the world completely. Maybe my cynicism is waning. Prayers will flow from my mouth that God may bless those who see the film.

Today my major freelance project didn't get worked on at all. I'm such a slacker.