Believing without Seeing --Luke 7: 6-9

"Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:

Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Luke 7: 6-9)

There was also once a certain man, an American, who came to Jesus and said "Forgive me for my sins!" And Jesus said to him, "what did you do?" And the man said "I haven't broken any of the commandments or trespassed the law in any way, but whenever I burn oil, a child got sick from its well first in Nigeria, and the air conditioning I use for simple comfort strains the resources some yet-unborn grandson of mine might need to care for his wife and children." And Jesus said, "I haven't seen faith like that in Israel either, faith in the power of things you don't see."

Cool Video--Luke 10:33-35

"But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."

I had a chance, between graduation at BYU and my return as an adjunct, to grow out my beard quickly and help out acting in a short church film of the Good Samaritan story. We shot at a very cool site near Goshen, UT: an old stone structure there made the director think of some abandoned building a scrappy man might have been able to make an inn out of. It looked really beautiful as the sun set, and since unlike the Samaritan, I didn't have to carry anyone up stone stairs, I could enjoy that.

The video is posted online now at the bottom of the page of the church's call for actors for further New Testament video projects which will be shooting this spring. It's five minutes or so and well worth watching. You should also pass on the call for actors/extras to anyone who might be a good fit.

The grey is added and I have age make-up:
the script calls for someone in his forties who
"looks worn out." It describes the innkeeper
as "chief cook and bottle-washer." It was sort
of a relief when they decided to age me--when
I got cast, I figured that meant I was looking
worn-out enough all ready to make up being
thirteen years shy of forty!