I must admit that the movie Last Holiday charmed me because of the warmth of the two lead actors, Queen Latifah and L.L. Cool J. In that red dress Queen Latifah is styling to the max!

The love story between the Queen and L.L. won't win any famous awards but the life lessons of the story are hard to resist. Here are four of those lessons that I hope will help you:

1. That Special Trip or Vacation is Definately Worth SAVING For!

The depth and length of this recession we find ourselves in, the Great Recession (some are calling it) reminds us that spending some and saving some of our precious dollars is what we all need to do. Saving for travel can be exciting because the anticipation of visiting famous destinations can sustain us until it's time to go! We all can benefit by looking forward to a time when we can throw caution to the wind and just kick back and enjoy ourselves.....even if it's only for a little while.

2. Don't Keep Your Talents to Yourself!

Queen Latifah's character, Georgia from New Orleans, was so careful about her life that she kept her talents hidden and obscured. She kept them to herself. But when a doctor told her she only had 3 weeks to live (sorry to spoil for you if you haven't seen it yet) all of a sudden she let her talents flow. And folks took notice too. Your talents are meant to be used and shared. USE THEM!

3. Let Love Take Hold

L.L. Cool J's character, Sean, didn't even know that Georgia was diggin' on him. Not really. But once he got the hint he could follow up and it turned out he was carrying a torch for Georgia himself. They looked like a happy couple on screen. We've got to let the folks we love know it. We've got to let go of all that fake shyness and let love flow!

4. Don't Be Shy About Making New Friends

Another lesson of the movie was the relationship that developed between Queen Latifah and the french chef at the hotel where she was staying in Europe. He felt appreciated because she ordered every dish on the menu. She clearly took delight in enjoying the gourmet dishes the chef prepared. If we can simply learn to enjoy the moments we're given and live life to the fullest while we can there are people out there waiting and willing to befriend us and make our lives fuller and richer.

If you're going to pick up a movie this holiday season on DVD....try this one! It's great entertainment and the love story also re-enforces some life lessons that remain timeless. Enjoy!

SpectrumTalk Blogger Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther

James Ellis Fouther, Jr. is the inspirational architect and spiritual leader of the United Church of Montbello. This northeast Denver based, progressive community of Christians embraces and welcomes folks of all backgrounds, races and levels of need. The church itself has been a groundbreaker in many ways. It has led the effort to feed hundreds of families and individuals through the Montbello Cooperative Ministries Food bank and sponsored refugee families from different parts of Africa.

While James is a pastor who embraces the need for ministers to be serious scholars, his bachelor of arts degree is from Illinois Wesleyan Univervsity, his master's degree is from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and his doctorate degree is from Eden Theological Seminary. James comments on current issues as well as spiritual, motivational, religious and funny matters on SpectrumTalk as well as his own blog site at http://revjamesfoutherjr. blogspot.com/

"You only live once, so why not go out in style?"

I have lived with that line in the trailer of one of my favorite movies for a long while. And after a visit with two of my favorite cousins, who have made it a point to travel the world shamelessly, I was reminded again that life is short. We've got to live it to the fullest while we have the chance. Living with a "Bucket List" Mindset means doing five important things while you can.

See these 5 important tips below!

1. Travel the world and never look back! International travel is hard to beat in terms of what it teaches us. The beauty of a place like Rio in Brazil or the sugar cane fields of Barbados can only be fully experienced up close. Don't wait, travel the world!

2. Find a friend who you can speak truth to and who can speak truth back to you! The world is filled with hucksters, liars and fools! Avoid them and find a friend who can be counted on to "zing" you every now and then!

3. Laugh.....even when you feel like crying. Oh, don't skip the crying part but a great sense of humor is a great helper in times like these! Laughter AND crying is good for the soul.

4.Connect with your spiritual self and don't ignore it! In the movie, Morgan Freeman is heard even quoting his pastor at one point, IMAGINE THAT?

5. Reconcile those old hurts! Jack Nicholson's character must gather himself to reunite with a daughter whom he'd been previously estranged from.

Maybe the movie was emotional for me because I visit hospital rooms regularly as a church pastor. I see families at their best and at their worst. Maybe the movie was emotional for me because I recently found out that a good friend who was about six years younger than me died suddenly....or at least suddenly from the perspective of a person who only saw her occasionally after college. I've lost so many family members to the scourge of cancer also.

Maybe the movie was emotional for me because I could buy the DVD itself for a rock bottom price as my favorite Albertson's Grocery store in my neighborhood was moving out because of the recession.

Find out what chords are touched in you when you watch the movie, The Bucket List. But, take the five tips to heart and you will find gifts of God in unexpected places, people and things!

SpectrumTalk Blogger Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther
James Ellis Fouther, Jr. is the inspirational architect and spiritual leader of the United Church of Montbello. This northeast Denver based, progressive community of Christians embraces and welcomes folks of all backgrounds, races and levels of need. The church itself has been a groundbreaker in many ways. It has led the effort to feed hundreds of families and individuals through the Montbello Cooperative Ministries Food bank and sponsored refugee families from different parts of Africa.

While James is a pastor who embraces the need for ministers to be serious scholars, his bachelor of arts degree is from Illinois Wesleyan Univervsity, his master's degree is from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and his doctorate degree is from Eden Theological Seminary. James comments on current issues as well as spiritual, motivational, religious and funny matters on SpectrumTalk as well as his own blog site at http://revjamesfoutherjr. blogspot.com/

The great African American novelist Charles W. Chestnutt once offered this interesting opinion that is truly food for thought as this new year and new decade dawns, he wrote:

"We are all puppets in the hands of fate and seldom see the strings that move us."

I hate to think of myself as a "puppet" especially in light of all the self help resources that are available to nurture my mind and challenge me to lead a life that matters. But there are some responsibilities that drive a great deal of what I do in my life.

How about you? Do you feel fully in control of all the circumstances in your life right now? I am frequently with folks who have taken ill or had some other traumatic event take place in their life. Some of them have talked about how surprised they were to have to face their illness or trauma. Yet, when pressed they could tell of warning signs or ways they were living that might have led to the very illness or trauma they were facing.

I was reminded of the kind of dedication to the unknown our soldiers face at a recent event with one of my favorite World War II veterans. He could joke about the paths his life had taken before, during, and after the war as he reflected about it. But it also seemed to me that he mastered the art of living fully in the moment, somehow.

If we can live fully in the moment in this new year maybe we can shake some of those unknown forces trying to control us and turn us into puppets. Maybe we'll truly be able to make up our own minds about living green, losing the pounds and loving our friends, lovers, and family members in the ways that will really matter.

A wise sage wrote of "a time for every season under the sun" in the 3rd chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Scriptures. Day by day I'm finding that book of the Bible a bigger and bigger gift!

Consider who and what is controlling you as this new year begins. Live each moment out loud, fully, expressively, and joyfully! Make this new year and this new decade brighter and better as you move along in it! Keep striving for higher ground!

James Ellis Fouther, Jr. is the inspirational architect and spiritual leader of the United Church of Montbello. This northeast Denver based, progressive community of Christians embraces and welcomes folks of all backgrounds, races and levels of need. The church itself has been a groundbreaker in many ways. It has led the effort to feed hundreds of families and individuals through the Montbello Cooperative Ministries Food bank and sponsored refugee families from different parts of Africa.

While James is a pastor who embraces the need for ministers to be serious scholars, his bachelor of arts degree is from Illinois Wesleyan University, his master's degree is from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and his doctorate degree is from Eden Theological Seminary. James comments on current issues as well as spiritual, motivational, religious and funny matters on SpectrumTalk as well as his own blog site at http://revjamesfoutherjr.blogspot. com.

Link: http://revjamesfoutherjr.blogspot.com/

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired me with his stand for peace, his witness for justice and his commitment to non-violence. I must admit that one of my favorite quotes of his was this one,

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

We live in need of constant adjustments. Our eyes adjust from darkness to light. Our feet adjust to different surfaces as our bodies encounter them. We adjust what we wear according to the weather.

For me as a Christian this is the time of year when we really focus in on salvation. The celebration of Christmas is all about God's creative act in sending Jesus to earth to live, to minister and to die.

But an urgent call I got recently reminded me that the work of salvation is undone until everyone is free to live fully. A counselor called from one of our locally run groups for the developmentally disabled. She called to see if there was anything some of the developmentally disabled adults could volunteer to work on in my church.

Before I could answer her she said she had called more than twenty churches asking whether or not there was something in those churches the volunteers she works with could do. She encountered one, "no" after another.

It seems that even in this special time of the year there are still some hearts that are frozen cold. Have we done what we could to reach out the those who are physically or mentally less abled?

Have we sought salvation not just for ourselves but also for those who are still discrimated against, even today? Dr. King's word rings out in my mind again. We are called to be 'creatively maladjusted.'

Let's not adjust to injustice, to malice and meanness, to hurt and heartache. Let's make this a season where we creatively reach out to the ones in our midst who deserve our attention, our care and our involvement.

James Ellis Fouther, Jr. is the inspirational architect and spiritual leader of the United Church of Montbello. This northeast Denver based, progressive community of Christians embraces and welcomes folks of all backgrounds, races and levels of need. The church itself has been a groundbreaker in many ways. It has led the effort to feed hundreds of families and individuals through the Montbello Cooperative Ministries Food bank and sponsored refugee families from different parts of Africa.

While James is a pastor who embraces the need for ministers to be serious scholars, his bachelor of arts degree is from Illinois Wesleyan Univervsity, his master's degree is from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and his doctorate degree is from Eden Theological Seminary. James comments on current issues as well as spiritual, motivational, religious and funny matters on SpectrumTalk as well as his own blog site at http://revjamesfoutherjr.blogspot.com/

Saturday, November 28, 2009
Leave Tiger Woods Alone!

The news of the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday weekend concerning the world's number one golfer Tiger Woods caught me by surprise. But scrolling through some of the speculation about his auto accident made me stop and think about our celebrity culture with over zealous reporters and people out there willing to just say anything to ride the headline!

British tabloids are often the harshest critics and speculators! As for me, my hope is that we will all leave Tiger Woods alone to work out whatever happened behind the scenes. In a long past era, one of the great African American boxing champions, Jack Johnson was quoted as saying:

"I know the bitterness of being accused and harassed by prosecutors. I know the horror of being hunted and haunted. I have dashed across continents and oceans as a fugitive, and have matched my wits with the police and secret agents seeking to deprive me of one of the greatest blessings man can have - liberty."

I'm not saying that Tiger's case is anywhere near as serious as some of the things that Jack Johnson went through in his tumultuous boxing career.

But give Tiger the chance to heal from his injuries in the accident and give him the freedom to work out whatever needs to be worked out......in peace! Take a deep breath people!

James Ellis Fouther, Jr. is the inspirational architect and spiritual leader of the United Church of Montbello. This northeast Denver based, progressive community of Christians embraces and welcomes folks of all backgrounds, races and levels of need. The church itself has been a groundbreaker in many ways. It has led the effort to feed hundreds of families and individuals through the Montbello Cooperative Ministries Food bank and sponsored refugee families from different parts of Africa.

While James is a pastor who embraces the need for ministers to be serious scholars, his bachelor of arts degree is from Illinois Wesleyan Univervsity, his master's degree is from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and his doctorate degree is from Eden Theological Seminary. James comments on current issues as well as spiritual, motivational, religious and funny matters on SpectrumTalk as well as his own blog site at http://revjamesfoutherjr.blogspot.com/

The Sad Story of Shaniya Davis Should Shake Us to the Core
"Innocent until proven guilty" is an axiom we apply in our criminal justice system. But the case of 5 year old Shaniya Davis is one of the saddest I've heard about in a long time. I attended the National Council of Churches of Christ General Assembly held in Denver in 2008 and learned about the horrific problem of human trafficking in our world today. Folks at the PolarisProject.org report that, "over 200,000 children in the United States are at high risk for human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation."

It is Shaniya's mom, Antoinette Davis, who stands accused of starting the chain of events that led to Shaniya's eventual death.

Human trafficking is one of the greatest tragedies of our world today. It happens under the radar screen of the things that often hold our attention. But for people of faith, good will and good conscience there is an organization that is working on this and they deserve and very much need our help. Click on the PolarisProject.org and see how you can help stop human trafficking problems in the future. It would be great if no other 5 year olds like Shaniya would ever have to die again.

Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther, Jr. is the Senior Pastor at The United Church of Montbello (http://ucm.ctsmemberconnect.net). He's from Chicago originally and enjoying the mile high experience. He's married to Angelle Collins Fouther and father of two girls, Danielle and Daryn.

Rev. Fouther enjoys golf, exploring, cooking and reading. His favorite books are many by W.E.B. DuBois, "Biography of a Race" by David Levering Lewis, "Prophetic Fragments" by Cornel West, "God of the Oppressed" by James Cone Lif, "Every Voice" by Susan Thistlewaite & Mary Potter Engel, and "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler.

By Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther, Jr.

So there I was sitting in front of the television one evening recently surfing through the channels trying to find something to watch. I stumbled onto CNN and a special show on their effort to name their 2009 Hero or maybe "She-ro" of the year. A racially and culturally diverse set of ten finalists each has a story that is sure to inspire you!

From wheelchairs provided to kids in Iraq to homeless veterans being helped in Florida I was inspired. There was the story of wine sold in America so that water can be provided to folks in developing countries and a door to door appeal to encourage women to take care of their breast health.

In Zimbabwe there is a program to aid sexual abuse survivors and hot food, coffee and goodwill provided to homeless folks in Queens, New York. There is a Filipino teen who is getting other Filipino teens to consider alternatives to gang life and an orphanage in the home of a couple in Indonesia.

There is a drummer in New Orleans who is helping kids after school choose music rather than trouble and help for amputees all over the United States from a young amputee who lives in a city I used to live in, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Please learn the names of the ten people responsible for these inspiring acts of courage and, if you can, vote for just one. You will surely be uplifted for your effort! Just click on this link and learn more: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/

Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther, Jr. is the Senior Pastor at The United Church of Montbello (http://ucm.ctsmemberconnect.net). He's from Chicago originally and enjoying the mile high experience. He's married to Angelle Collins Fouther and father of two girls, Danielle and Daryn.

Rev. Fouther enjoys golf, exploring, cooking and reading. His favorite books are many by W.E.B. DuBois, "Biography of a Race" by David Levering Lewis, "Prophetic Fragments" by Cornel West, "God of the Oppressed" by James Cone Lif, "Every Voice" by Susan Thistlewaite & Mary Potter Engel, and "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler.

Could the writer James Thurber have been correct when he wrote, "It is better to ask some of the questions than to know the answers"? There are questions we all have when we have to deal with suffering and stress in our lives. Have I been faithful enough? Haven't I been a good person? Isn't there supposed to be a God that sits high and looks low that is looking out for me?

Sometimes the way life teaches us lessons about the universe and how we manage our suffering an stressful situations is clearly in retrospect; as we look back. We have to look back to times when we didn't understand when or why we were going through those stresses and all that suffering. Such was the case of a man who never dealt with the grief of his father's death. He tried to live on thinking that if he could just make it through to his next set of challenges he would be okay. Well, as he lived out his life his sister got sick and his mother developed cancer and finally when he looked around and realized that he might be alone in the world without all three family members in his life anymore he began grieving.

The grieving he did led to a high amount of stress and a significant amount of suffering. His physical body began to betray him. He had chest pains and palpitations to the point where he thought he was suffering a heart attack. He developed insomnia and found it hard to complete simple tasks at work.

Now I believe deeply that as we navigate this road of life we are always trying to find companions, other men and women who have been through what we're going through or what we're about to go through. I believe that you can find good people in churches, and mosques and synagogues.

Some people say, "its hypocrites that populate the pews of those places." But where can we ever go to find perfect people acting perfectly? Nowhere, that's where! A relationship can only thrive if we bring real emotions, real feelings, real intentions and real goals into it.

There will be many things in life we won't have answers to when we go through them. The proposition Thurber posed is definately the best one we can ever pose......."It is better to ask some of the questions than to KNOW all of the answers."

Striving for Higher Ground

Rev. Dr. James E. Fouther, Jr. is the Senior Pastor at The United Church of Montbello (http://ucm.ctsmemberconnect.net). He's from Chicago originally and enjoying the mile high experience. He's married to Angelle Collins Fouther and father of two girls, Danielle and Daryn.

Rev. Fouther enjoys golf, exploring, cooking and reading. His favorite books are many by W.E.B. DuBois, "Biography of a Race" by David Levering Lewis, "Prophetic Fragments" by Cornel West, "God of the Oppressed" by James Cone Lif, "Every Voice" by Susan Thistlewaite & Mary Potter Engel, and "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler.