Praying for Leaders, part three



Thanks for joining me in praying for our leaders this month. Being a leader is a huge responsibility. Our humility and perseverance in prayer is an important part of their success.

Sometimes we’re supposed to take action after we pray. But how do we know what kind of action to take?

At my devotional blog, Seek God With Me, I’m considering that very thing. Join me as I take a look at a Bible verse that shows an example of how to take appropriate action. 

Meet John Doe, 1941



We love stories about heroes. And we love stories about Girl Power. This is both. This film was directed by Frank Capra, whose films are usually about the common man, rather than superheroes.  

Barbara Stanwyck is Ann Mitchell, a newspaper reporter who’ll do anything to save her job. In her rage at being fired, she changes her last column before she takes her belongings and leaves. The column is a letter from a fake suicidal citizen who plans to jump from the top of city hall. The column gets the city in an uproar.  

Gary Cooper plays a former baseball player whose career ended with an injury. He’s been out of work for a couple of years and wants to get a job so he can eat. Cooper is John Doe, the supposedly suicidal man without a job. He gets enough attention to bring the newspaper out of mediocrity. Soon the newspaper’s circulation skyrockets.

John Doe spends his days in a hotel room playing baseball with his friend Colonel. Of course, they didn’t use an actual ball. Still, it was a fun game. Pretty soon the word gets out to all the surrounding communities about John Doe, and thousands hear him on the radio.

Norton, the owner of the newspaper, invests in the John Doe movement until “Join a John Doe Club” becomes a rallying cry. Everyone goes to meet their neighbor, and communities come together to help out those who need it.

When Norton wants to use this powerful voice of the people for his own plans, things get out of hand. John has a decision to make.

Praying for Leaders, part two



It’s funny to hear the way people pray to God today. We ask a lot from God without celebrating the fact that he is with us and we can have a relationship with him. Have you noticed that we sometimes save our praises for those moments when we see that God has answered our prayers?

During the month of November, we can choose to take a closer look at the way we approach God. We celebrate Thanksgiving. But only for one day. And not even a whole day. It’s mostly about football in some homes.

I wonder what would happen to our family unity and our national unity if we were to stand back and reevaluate our relationship with God.

On my devotional blog, Seek God With Me, I’m taking a look at the way we approach God. If we stop to look at our celebrations and double-check what it is we’re really celebrating, we could be surprised. It might affect the way we pray.

Join me today at Seek God With Me.  

Goodbye, My Fancy, 1951



Joan Crawford is Miss Reed, a woman politician who is the chairman of a Congressional committee and used to getting her way. She’s tough enough to speak her mind without blinking an eye.

Robert Young is the handsome president of Good Hope college, which Miss Reed attended 20 yrs ago. Both of them have tried to keep their secret all these years.

Miss Reed accepts the invitation to give the graduation speech at Good Hope where she’ll receive an honorary degree. Good Hope would’ve been her alma mater if she hadn’t been expelled from school twenty years ago.

She can’t wait to get back to her old school to see the man she’s loved all these years from a distance. Were they the same people who fell in love so long ago?

A twist at the end caught me off guard. I had envisioned a different ending. However, there were a few comments about education not being about protecting the minds of the young female students, but exposing them to current events and challenging them to think for themselves.

Praying for Leaders, part one



It’s the day after the Presidential election, and some people are happy while others are sad. Some people are wondering why God allowed this to happen, and others are thanking God that it did. That’s the way it goes with elections.

I’ve seen the question on faces of people who voted and became frustrated when the other guy won. “How do I pray for someone I don’t agree with?”

If you trust God, this is pretty easy. God wants us to pray according to his will, but God wants us to pray even when we don’t understand God’s will. On my devotional blog, Seek God With Me, I am sharing scriptures that help us understand the purpose of some spiritual mysteries.  Join me and let’s keep praying for our leaders.

Kisses for my President, 1964



Those who watch Desperate Housewives have seen Polly Bergen as Stella Wingfield. I haven't seen that one, but I have seen some of her 83 roles, of which one was United States President Leslie Harrison McCloud.

As a woman who has just been elected US President, she has to balance career and family life in a little different way than all the men before her. She’s glad to be married to a man (Fred MacMurray) who isn’t threatened by stepping into a position in which his predecessors had always been called First Lady. Of course, it takes some getting used to. His normal routine is anything but normal.

He has an opportunity to stand up for his marriage and be his wife’s hero, but the unstable footing of his new position keeps him off-balance. He’s not sure he’s making the right decisions while his powerful wife is running the country.

When Arlene Dahl, who plays Doris, steps into the scene, trouble is written all over her. Trouble also follows Eli Wallach, who plays Valdez. These two keep the First Family on their toes and the audience rolling in laughter.