This was a special filming for many reasons. The book, this picture of Ruth, her character, the model she is, and then the raw love story behind her and Boaz and then the picture of Christ redeeming us, just like Boaz redeemed Ruth. All the ingredients for the ultimate Hollywood Classic.

Also, the location. Wow, City Church International, www.citychurchintl.org, is a very special place both in architecture and more importantly the body of Christ that fills that building.  The building is a 1917 church built by the Congregationalist. Very European in its wood work and amazingly unchanged these past 93 years.

Here is just one of the behind scenes pics we will start to release.

As for a dad, that’s me, the dude with all the gray hair, but more importantly, that is my oldest daughter, KK, who wanted a ‘work day’ with dad. Of course this work day lasted until about 2AM! You can’t tell it here, but she is actually asleep standing up.

Ruth will release on August 23, 2010. Be praying for Matt Coleman, www.unblindproductions.com, as he does post and graphic work on the project.

Also, if you want to suggest a tag line and chance to win a free DVD Box Set of Ruth, click here.

Blessings on you!

Doug Hudson

I think yes, but then I think of those who don’t know Him yet, and as Tommy Nelson once said, “Aren’t all Christians grateful that Christ did not come back the day before we were saved?”

It is hard to comprehend all of this tragedy. Mark Driscoll travels there and witnesses a teenage boy being shot and killed. My 13 year old daughter is trying to process all this at dinner time last night and she cried for people she has never met. “God, I believe, help my unbelief” is what Christ said through the Apostle Paul.

So, this begs the response, what should I do? What can you do? Generally it comes down to a few basic things:

• Pray.
• Go.
• Give money.

At The Hub, 20% of all online sales through February 1, 2010 will be donated to Haiti.  All monies will be donated to www.churcheshelpingchurches.com To whom much is given, much is required.

God is with Haiti, and their people, even when we don’t understand.

Doug Hudson

My question for you is simple. Why? Why do we have more access to information than we have ever had before and yet the core issues, Romance and Relationships, Religion, Politics and Money?

Are you content with how much money you have/make?  Was your childhood with religion a positive or negative thing?  Did you judge others in your home or did you feel judged?  Was your home a happy place with a mom and dad who had a good, healthy, kind relationship and therefore home?  Or was your home icey cold, volatile hot, or just empty?

Ever wondered why these issues get our blood boiling and minds moving?  It’s quite simple.  God!

He created us with the desire and capacity to share, experience and enjoy romantic relationships.  He created the desire within man/woman to create, work, design, build, grow and therefore earn a way to provide for ourselves and family units.  He created us in His Image and therefore to have freedom, responsibility, community, and safety.

So, it is God who has created and given us the desire and need for Romance, Relationships and Religion (I will define this as the need for a personal relationship with God, everyone’s Creator).

Am I saying it is as simple as belief in God will solve all Romance, Relationship and Religious issues?  No.  I am saying that trust and belief in The One who made us is the source to find fulfillment in all these areas and the source of strength and courage to work through our differences.

These issues will always been in the TOP 10 of internet, magazine, newspaper, blogs, or whatever form of communication our God given minds will create.  Because, until we stop searching the internet, magazines, newspapers, blogs, or whatever form of information our God given minds develop and start searching His Written Word, The Bible and pray for His best in the areas of Romance, Relationships and Religion, there will always be turmoil in our lives and therefore our world.

God is with us – thank goodness.  Happy New Year from The Hub.

This is very difficult. For Matt, Lauren, their kids, family and for The Village. Not in my life have I seen God raise up so much love for a preacher in such a short time than I have with Matt.

It is a must that we bend our knees, hearts and minds and look only at Jesus. This does not and will not make sense to our human mind. We are not able to comprehend this kind of pain and suffering.

Do we bend our knees, hearts and mind with hope? Absolutely! As Paul says in Romans, we do not grieve as those without hope.

Matt, family, and The Village, those of us who have been blessed by God using you and His gifts He gave you to teach, we commit to pray for you all.

We will pray for physical healing. We will pray for Christ to be made known around the world so that many others will experience spiritual and eternal healing through this struggle.

It is not our way, but God’s ways are trustworthy, for He is the only true Trustworthy one.

God is with you, and us.

Our dear friend Matt Chandler is in a fight. For those of you who don’t know, here is the link to The Village Church website to get the latest updates.

Matt is a friend and the teacher of our brand new series on Philippians. The title of his series is the epic verse in Philippians, To Live is Christ and to Die is Gain.  Clearly a description for the journey Matt is on right now and of course it is the description for everyone of our lives.  The one major difference for Matt at this time in his life, is that he is clearly aware of his mortality and as he has said in his own words, “God is sovereign.”   For many of us…we still live in the land of ‘life is pretty good and may last forever.’

This is one of the most amazing journey’s I can only imagine and it is evident that God’s truth, love and grace are absolutely sustaining Matt and his family. When you watch this video of him just a day or so before brain surgery and you read his blog post, it is clear that as Matt’s body is weak, Christ is (of course) being made so real and strong.  God is giving Matt tremendous courage and He is being made STRONG in Matt.

I am grateful that in Matt’s blog and video there is clear evidence of real/honest/true emotions: tears, fear, questions – but  it is even more obvious the trust, belief, hope, confidence in Things Not Seen – but Things That Are Certain.

God, we wish it was not this way, that pain, awful struggle like Matt and his family are experiencing, are ways that we see your overwhelming love, power and peace, but it is clearly evident in Matt’s countenance and words.

God, we join with millions to pray. Please heal Matt. But we agree with Matt that your will be done and that through whatever struggle someone reading this might have, how great or how small, as we are found weak, we will trust you more because in those moments you are made strong.

Matt and Lauren, God is with you.

In thinking about which direction to go in my response, I tried to think about one of the issues brought up that may affect the most people. I just spent some time with family over the Thanksgiving holiday, as I am sure many of you did, which of course is a whole other topic, right? So who is going to give me counsel on that one?

But, here is a point that I know so many people deal with. I am not going to focus on the biblical/theological issues dealing with re-marriage. That is a very lengthy conversation and one that has much disagreement within the Christian church. In fact, if you ask most pastors, they will be hard pressed to put their true beliefs on paper, and many of them will tell you it is not the issue of divorce that is difficult, it is the issue of re-marriage.

But I digress. The issue for this response is dealing with the kids from previous marriages. This is extremely difficult whether the kids are young, or if the kids are grown.

I think my primary principle is two-fold. When you choose to re-marry, you have a new husband/wife. The principle in Genesis is that a man should leave his mother and father and the two shall become one flesh. Marriage is a new union of two becoming one. This is why the issue of re-marriage is so difficult, and in my belief another in a very long line of reasons why God intended and designed for one marriage, one husband and one wife. However, even in the issue of the death of a spouse where there is no theological problem related to ‘is it okay to remarry’, the issue of the kids is still very much an issue.

First principle: If God called you into a marriage, then you need to be committed to God first, then to your spouse, then to your family. Now, I know this is very difficult. But, each person did decide to get married, and with that comes ‘opportunities’ to be faithful to God and our commitment. The real issue in many folks situation is that the person we choose to re marry is not submitting themselves to God and therefore they can cause more problems than they should. These are signs that we should look for diligently prior to getting married or re-married.

You will continue to hear me say over and over again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  But, of course God’s forgiveness is for all of us because we all need the greatest ‘Cure’ of all time, Him.  So, any husband or wife dealing with a difficult spouse on any issue, pray diligently for them.

In another blog we posted, Mark Driscoll makes the statement to ‘invite’ your spouse, don’t nag your spouse.  I suggest mustering the most patient, kind and courageous attitude, after much prayer, and trying to get an honest dialogue going with your spouse about how you really feel.  Not emotional, no ‘angry words’ or ‘tones’, but an honest, calm discussion.  No ultimatums, no expectations of immediate relief or change, but an honest dialogue that allows room for God to change both you and your spouse’s heart.

Much of the angst that fills our heart and mind on these issues is that “I just wish I could fix it right away,” it is the sense of being out of control.  Well, guess what, we are not in control of anyone, other than ourselves, and the only control we have is to submit to God and live one day at a time.

My second principle is your kids are your kids.  It is always a delicate balance and one that takes much time, self-control, brave communication and trust to guide us through this journey.  Again, the issues of dealing with the kids in any situation, re-marriage, grandkids, are very present and real.

The balance from kids becoming their own families and the right level of involvement are things that must be worked out together and over time, and they will change over time.  Of course in all of our families, we all have dysfunction.  Humans are dysfunctional.  Our goal should be each day by God’s grace and power, to be brave and continue our own personal growth and asking the Lord to lead us to make better decisions and leave the results to Him.

So, for all of us and our families, let’s make a start today to: Get quiet and Pray, be brave and to have calm and honest discussions, and leave results to God.  Some of you have tried this, others have not, but again, we all have to live with decisions we have made and trust an all loving and powerful God to work first in our lives, and then in our spouse or kids or grandkids.

Most importantly, God is with you.

To view all of the posts on the Conflict Series, click here.