By “Cinema Dave”

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As part of the 4th of July festivities, I indulged in a Duffy’s Hot Dog and enjoyed a half pound cheeseburger (medium well) from Jacks Old Fashioned Hamburger House. My meals were delicious, but I am glad I had those meals before viewing Eating Animals. Since witnessing that documentary, I have been eating vegetarian (Not that this diet is going to last).

Narrated by Natalie Portman, Eating Animals presents how the food industry has become addicted to factory farming. Through this type of farming, we see genetically raised chicken and fish products being bred for consumption. We witness healthy and unhealthy animals being slaughtered by machines and dead on a conveyor belt before being processed and gift wrapped for purchase on grocery shelves or through online purchases.

To director Christopher Quinn’s credit, this film is a politically objective documentary. Democrats and Republicans are treated fairly, though there are some “Deep State” issues involving censorship. Most of the graphic images seen in the film are now considered illegal since this film was released. It has been nine years since the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove was released; expect similar kudos for Eating Animals during the awards season.

With the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp, movie fans will have to wait a full seven months before the next installment of the Marvel Comic Universe 21st movie, Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson. Thus far, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and the Ant-Man sequel have dominated box office gross for the first half of 2018. While each of one of these Marvel Comic Universe movies are interconnected, the strength of these screenplays is that they present standalone stories.

Since the events of Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (a.k.a. Ant Man), played by Paul Rudd, has been under house arrest, but is spending quality time with his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson). Lang is also estranged from Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly). Both father and daughter have created the technology that can shrink an individual into the size of an ant … or a wasp.

Of course, there are multiple bad guys with greedy motives who seem intent to destroy happiness. To reveal more of the plot could ruin the popcorn-eating Saturday Matinee fun that Ant-Man and the Wasp delivers. With the exception of some sentimental scenes involving Dr. Pym’s attempts to rescue his wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm, this film is mostly full of fun and merriment.

Suffice it to say with any Marvel Comic Universe movie, stay past the closing credits and see how this film links up with the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War. People who had not seen Infinity War exited the Museum of Discovery IMAX theater with gasps of astonishment. The cool thing about Ant-Man and the Wasp is that ticket buyers witnessed a few clues to the Marvel Comic Universe films that will be released in 2019!

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.— James 5:13 (NLT)

No one is exempt from going through bad times, but please do not forget that we have many good times also. Whether everything is great or it totally stinks, God should always have our attention. Last Sunday when I went to church, I knew I was in for a great day. How could I not be? I was in God’s House, the “Happiest Place on Earth.” However, as I looked around at this happy place, I started to think. In this happy place, there was a crying child, a man who just lost a family member to Cancer, a young woman going through a divorce and a preacher that felt each of their pain. I couldn’t help but think, even in God’s House, the happiest place on earth, there is still suffering and hurting people. Check out Psalms Chapter 20 (Awesome):

1 In times of trouble, may the LORD respond to your cry. May the God of Israel keep you safe from all harm.

2 May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem.

3 May he remember all your gifts and look favorably on your burnt offerings.

4 May he grant your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.

5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory, flying banners to honor our God. May the LORD answer all your prayers.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed king. He will answer him from his holy heaven and rescue him by his great power.

7 Some nations boast of their armies and weapons, but we boast in the LORD our God.

8 Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm.

9 Give victory to our king, O LORD! Respond to our cry for help.

— Psalms 20 (NLT)

For some, our happiest place is with our family and friends, or taking a walk on the beach. We cannot escape suffering; no matter how hard we try, we are not exempt. Sometimes, suffering is used for correcting; sometimes, it is used for God’s glory; sometimes, it is used to build our character, and sometimes one person suffers for another’s benefit. Yet, there are times when we really don’t understand why others or we ourselves are suffering. Like Job from the Bible, we must seek to trust God and endure because we win when we do! We have a happy place found in the presence of the Lord. If God could hear Jonah’s cry from inside the whale, then I am sure he can hear your cry. One thing is for sure: if we are suffering in any way, then we should be praying and talking to God a lot. What do you think?

Perhaps you are in a season of hurt or suffering right now. In this moment, it may not be clear why your suffering is happening. Your role in this season is to spend time with and reach out to God, knowing that He will help you through this trial with His strength. In this way, at the end of the day, you will be able to rejoice in who God is. James 5:13 says we should pray and praise God during the good times and the bad times. In good or bad times, we better be spending time with God. Try happiness … it is found in the presence of the Lord.

Pastor Tony Guadagnino is a pastor at Christian Love Fellowship Church, located at 801 SE 10 St. in Deerfield Beach. www.clfdeerfield.com.

By Karen Lustgarten

Ever wonder what the restricted areas in North Broward’s top industries are like? What makes big businesses and government entities in this region tick and how can you get private backstage tour tickets to them? Leadership North Broward (LNB), in conjunction with the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce, is the way. This executive local leadership program is designed to inform and empower participants to greater business success by connecting with government and business decision makers in the region.

One day a month for seven months, Leadership North Broward 2018 participants have been experiencing a full itinerary of seminars, field trips and restricted guided tours through the inner workings of eight different industry sectors that impact our region economically, including tourism, public service (police, S.W.A.T. team, fire-rescue tours), health services (inner workings of area hospitals), local and regional government day, big businesses (Whole Foods docking/deliveries) and education entities.

June’s industry field trip featured transportation sites: two executive airports and Port Everglades — not the popular cruise side, but the restricted cargo side.

Did you know that 60 percent of Pompano Beach Air Park, the executive airport for private aircraft, is devoted to flight training with helicopters and small planes? It also provides aircraft rentals and charters, scenic rides, aerial photography and mapping/surveying. Steve Rocco, Air Park manager, traced the 71-year history and importance of the facility to the local area, including air ambulance and search/rescue services.

The Air Park also is home to storage hangers, aircraft sales, maintenance and avionics repairs when planes break down. And, the next time you see the Goodyear Blimp in the sky, know that its hangar home is adjacent to the Air Park.

Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport, in contrast, handles large private planes up to 737s. LNB participants were treated to an interactive presentation by the airport’s Assistant Manager Carlton Harrison and Karen Reese about the history and growth of this economic engine on June 21. Did you know that the executive airport has its own police substation, a U.S. Customs and Border protection facility, 24-hour airport security, a 24-hour FAA Air Traffic Control Tower, 24-hour aircraft rescue and firefighting services? It’s also Foreign Trade Zone 241, which means big duty-free benefits to companies here doing international business.

We were driven around this general aviation city within a city with 5,100 employees. Noteworthy was the discussion about excellent career opportunities in aviation, especially at the airport. Both executives emphasized the need for college graduates in airport-related fields and the partnerships forming with local colleges to ensure more graduates enter this field.

An escorted bus tour of Port Everglades’ highly restricted cargo area ended the day. This powerhouse port does more than $22 billion in trade with the world. We were treated to a backstage guided tour covering acres of cargo area where complex cranes and equipment were moving and stacking huge containers that come off ships.

A trip to the top of the Harbor Master Tower, the air traffic control tower of the sea, topped the day. The harbor master shared how he monitors, on multiple large computer screens, hundreds of ships coming, going and docked at the port, along with activity in and around it. The sophisticated operation in his perch with a 360-degree view was impressive.

Participant Johnathan Saluk, from American Credit Card Processing, found the experience worthwhile.

“You get to see places and businesses you normally don’t see and it’s good networking with members in the group,” he said. “Every day we went out there was so much going on behind the scenes like at the docks, the satellite beacons, the new technology at the Broward Sherriff’s office.”

The next Leadership North Broward starts January 2019. Applications are accepted now. LNB costs $600 for members of the chamber and $1000 for non-members. But it is $350 for an annual Chamber membership, so you get both for the price of one and save $50! For more information/registration call the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber at 954-946-2940 or e-mail Cagnone@pompanobeachchamber.com.

Karen Lustgarten is president of Multi-Media Works, a multiple award-winning media company specializing in video PR, print and social media with offices in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. She has won awards for writing/producing videos for businesses and nonprofits, and for website content. Karen founded a newspaper in Washington, DC and was a syndicated columnist. www.multi-mediaworks.com.

By Gary Curreri

Host Deerfield Beach rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to pull out a 10-9 victory over Ft. Lauderdale and capture the District 10 Little League Junior Division Championship last week.

The Deerfield Beach Mets started their comeback with two runs in the bottom of the third and added four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead as Lorenzo Feliciano, Brock Buerosse, and Janelle Calvet all contributed in the big inning with RBIs.

After Deerfield added another run in the bottom of the fifth, Ft. Lauderdale rallied to take a 9-7 lead in the top of the six with four runs. Undaunted, the Mets pulled ahead for good, scoring three runs of their own and Feliciano broke the 9-9 deadlock with a fielder’s choice that scored Maxwell Thompson from third with what proved to be the winning run.

“It’s my first championship and it is really cool,” said Deerfield Beach Little League Junior Division manager Jason Siracusa, who also took over this year as the league president. This is his third year as an All-Star manager.

“It was like a six day a week, seven day a week ordeal between coaching a team, running the league, and also coaching T-Ball, I was all over the place.”

“In the end, it was worth it,” Siracusa said. “We made a lot of changes to the league and the league is shaping up and ending the year with a championship is pretty special.”

Calvet, who went 3 for 4 at the plate and threw out a runner stealing second to get the first out in the top of the seventh (her cousin is Colin Calvet), plays on an all-girls travel baseball team in addition to the All-Stars. Buerosse had two hits and a walk for Deerfield Beach.

Keanu Siracusa went 4-1/3 innings and allowed five runs – just two earned – on two hits while striking out seven for the Mets. Gio Caffro and Neile Thomas came on in relief and closed the door on the Indians to win the championship.

Manager Siracusa said the Junior Division tournament featured teams from Deerfield Beach, Parkland, Coral Springs and Ft. Lauderdale. Deerfield Beach had 12 players on its roster but played the final with just nine players due to conflicts.

Deerfield Beach opened district play with a 1-0, extra-inning win over Ft. Lauderdale and then cruised past Coral Springs American, 12-2, before falling 7-4 to Ft. Lauderdale to set up the winner take all matchup last Friday night.

“We had better depth in pitching,” Siracusa said. “It was really an across the board team effort.”

“ We had a team of players that have played together for several years and they all back each other up,” Siracusa added. “They have a want-to-win mentality. We dominated the league this year going 13-1 with the only loss to Ft. Lauderdale 13-1. We outscored our opponents, 179-24. Our pitching super dominated everyone. Obviously, it can’t get any better than this. From here on, the rest is icing on the cake.”

Deerfield Beach will next play in the Sectional competition on July 20 in Tallahassee.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With very little surprise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom dominated the box office. It is soon to be replaced by Ant-Man and the Wasp this week.

As I said last week, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible (IMAX), for this is the only opportunity one will get to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex or an Apatosaurus life-sized.

Also at IMAX (at the Museum of Discovery & Science in Ft. Lauderdale) is Backyard Wilderness 3D , a simple and entertaining documentary. Set in a suburban New York, we seem to ride on the back of a bird, who spies Katie, a teenage girl working on her computer. Katie is writing a report about nature and can’t seem to find all the information on the Internet.

As the snow melts, Katie goes exploring and witnesses the miracles of nature in her own backyard. As the bird’s eggs hatch, we see the hatchlings eat their first meal and instinctively attempt their first flight. As coyotes await the opportunity to seize a baby deer, ticket buyers are reminded about the savagery outside the safety of the front door. As the narrative reminds us, there are not villains nor victims in nature — simply predators and prey.

With a running time of less than an hour, Backyard Wilderness 3D does not feel rushed as we follow the cycle of the four seasons. Taking a cue from Henry David Thoreau’s nature study, Walden, Backyard Wilderness 3D will inspire you to step outside your door and observe our own tropical ecosystem.

While the emphasis on the 4th of July is baseball, hot dogs, American music and fireworks, the motion picture industry usually tries to release a special movie on this special holiday. Ironically, this 4th of July only one motion picture opened and it seems to be a subversive choice, The First Purge, which is the fourth movie of the dystopian horror franchise.

The core assertion of The Purge series is that crime (including murder) is legal for 12 hours a year. This controlled anarchy is examined from a sociopolitical perspective, while the fundamentals of horror movie jump scares remain intact. While The Purge series was thought to have concluded two years ago with The Purge: Election Year, this new entry opening this week is being used to set up a new cable television program in September.

Narrated by Natalie Portman, Eating Animals is due to locally release in July. This documentary looks at how the meat-packing industry has changed in the past century. With the science of cloning and harmful food additives, one wonders if we will give up our hot dogs and hamburgers and go vegan after viewing this film.

I am going to tell you today the story about Jerry Sternin, one man who is responsible for saving the lives of tens of thousands of children, not a generation ago, but on our very own watch. (He died in 2008.)

When Jerry Sternin arrived in Vietnam, the welcome was rather chilly. The government had invited his employer, “Save the Children,” the international organization that helps kids in need, to open an office in the country in 1990 to fight malnutrition. But the foreign minister let Sternin know that not everyone in the government appreciated his presence. The minister told him, “You have six months to make a difference.”

Sternin had traveled to the country with his wife and 10-year-old son. None of them spoke the language.

“We were like orphans at the airport when we arrived in Vietnam,” he said. “We had no idea what we were going to do.”

Sternin had minimal staff and meager resources. And he knew that nobody wanted him.

The conventional wisdom was that malnutrition was the result of an intertwined set of problems. Sanitation was poor; poverty was nearly universal and clean water was not readily available. The rural people tended to be ignorant about nutrition.

That analysis was, in Sternin’s judgment, TBU — true but useless.

“Millions of kids can’t wait for those issues to be addressed,” he said.

If addressing malnutrition required ending poverty, purifying water and building sanitation systems, then it would never happen — especially in six months, with virtually no money to spend.

Ignoring the experts, Sternin traveled to a local village and called together all the village’s mothers. He asked for their assistance in finding ways to nourish their kids better, and they agreed to help. As the first step, they went out in teams to weigh and measure every child in the village. Sadly, 64 percent of the children were malnourished.

He asked them, “Did you find any very, very poor kids who are bigger and healthier than the typical child?”

The women nodded and said, “Có, có, có.” (Yes, yes, yes.)

“Then let’s go see what they’re doing.”

Sternin’s strategy was to search the community for bright spots. If some kids were healthy, despite their disadvantages, then that meant something important. Malnourishment was not inevitable.

Armed with that understanding, the mothers then observed the homes of the bright-spot kids, and, alert for any deviations, they noticed some unexpected habits. For one thing, bright-spot moms were feeding their kids four meals a day (using the same amount of food as other moms but spreading it across four servings rather than two). The larger twice-a-day meals eaten by most families turned out to be a mistake for children, because their malnourished stomachs couldn’t process that much food at one time.

The style of eating was also different. Most parents believed that their kids understood their own needs and would feed themselves appropriately from a communal bowl. But the healthy kids were fed more actively — by hand if necessary. The children were even encouraged to eat when they were sick, which was not the norm. What is more, these parents were washing the hands of their children before eating.

Most interesting, the healthy kids were eating different kinds of food. The bright-spot mothers tossed in sweet-potato greens, which were considered a low-class food, to their children’s dishes. They also put into the kid’s rice tiny crabs which they found in the Vietnam rice paddies and were considered adult food.

These dietary improvisations, however strange or “low class,” were doing something precious; adding sorely needed protein and vitamins to the children’s diet. Without knowing it, these parents provided important nutrients for their children: protein, iron and calcium.

Jerry Sternin refused to make a formal announcement, knowing that it would be futile. Instead the community designed a program in which 50 malnourished families, in groups of 10, would meet at a hut each day and prepare food together. The families were required to bring sweet-potato greens and crab. The mothers washed their hands with soap and cooked the meal together.

Dozens of experts had analyzed the situation in Vietnam, agonizing over the problems—the water supply, the sanitation, the poverty, the ignorance. They’d written position papers and research documents and development plans, but they hadn’t changed a thing.

Six months after Sternin’s visit to the Vietnamese village, 65 percent of the kids were better nourished, and they stayed that way. Within a short time, the program reached 2.2 million Vietnamese people in 265 villages. Malnutrition in Vietnam was diminished by 85 percent!

Today we face a battle where children are starving right here in America. Not physically but spiritually and morally!

We must find the bright spot kids in our society, learn from them and do everything in our power to stop the starving children. We must devote ourselves consistently to our children’s health and well-being. By studying each child and giving them what they need individually, we will change the future for our children.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

A few days after her 85th birthday, on one of my frequent visits to her, my mother sidled up to me hesitantly, and almost apologetically said, “I’d like you to take me shopping.”

“Of course, Ma,” I said.

“What else is new?” I thought to myself, asking, “What do you want to buy?”

“A new living room set,” she announced in the same tone as she might have said, “A bottle of milk.”

“A what?” I asked.

“A new living room set,” she reiterated,” this time in her most defiant voice.

“What’s the matter with your living room?” I asked, sweeping my hand dramatically around the room, eyeing each piece of furniture as never before.

“It’s old and I’m tired of it and I feel like sprucing up,” she said as she sat back in her comfy chair in her “I dare you to deny it” pose and folded her arms around her belly.

I sputtered a bit, shushing my thoughts, struggling to keep them away from my voice, “For God’s sake, you’re 85 years old — how much longer do you think you’ll be using new furniture?” and indeed, I silenced that voice. Eventually, I regained my equilibrium.

“Ok, Ma. When do you want to go — and where?”

My mother lived eight more years, approximately 2,820 days, basking in the pleasure of her “spruced up” living room.

So why, at the age of 91, do I stare at my used underwear and think, “I can’t throw them away. They still fit, and are not torn and are undeniably serviceable — and how long am I likely to use new ones?”

Remembering my mom, I decided to “spruce up” from the bottom up.

And the more I think about it, the more I become an advocate of living as if there were no such thing as dying.

In deference to my progeny, I have always said that I can’t die until I clean up my desk, and throw away some more of the trash I didn’t throw away last time I threw away trash. So, tell me the truth: Isn’t the act of cleaning my desk tantamount to suicide? It paves the way for a smooth, easy, guilt-free trip to the hereafter. But what’s the rush?

People are living much longer these days — and for some, living now is better than the stressful days of their youth. For those of us who have managed to eschew doctor visits as the social activity of our daily lives, there is so much to be said about this time of life as being a new phase – a challenge of discovery. Even for those of us who are more sedentary now than in the past, there are more places we can go on the Internet than ever we might have imagined – physical places and places of the mind.

Joseph Campbell famously exhorted: “follow your bliss.” And, alas, after years of total immersion in family matters – bringing up kids, caring for elders, developing careers, creating social enclaves, too many people have lost their sense of bliss, or are unable to articulate it even to themselves. It is most likely something beyond buying new furniture, or bras. I’m thinking of giving a class to people over 80 in “Finding Your Bliss.” I hope some of you will enroll — or send a loved one.

By Gary Curreri

Deerfield Beach’s Jim Eddy doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Eddy, 52, who plays shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals team, is a perennial Liberty Hardball Coral Springs Men’s Baseball League all-star and has been a member of the team for about a decade. Eddy is hitting .437 with two home runs, seven RBI’s and 14 runs scored.

“One time a week is all I can get and that is all I need,” said Eddy, who is an athletic trainer at Highlands Christian Academy in Pompano Beach. “I still go to tournaments and stuff, but I still love playing ball and I still can. That’s the key. I am still healthy and able to run and throw and all of that stuff.”

Eddy has played in the league for nine years.

“I don’t feel it (being sore) after playing on a Sunday morning unless it is really hot or a game with 20 runs and you are running a lot,” Eddy said. “I probably get more sore lifting weights.”

If the St. Louis Cardinals are going to win a sixth straight baseball championship, and eighth in the past 10 years, they will have their work cut out for them. The defending league champions struggled out of the gate, starting off with a 3-3 record, but have since caught fire winning four consecutive games to move to a league-best 7-3 record. They have outscored the opposition 85-37 on the season. The league has made a few subtle changes to the rules and one in particular has stymied the team in the early going.

“They went to a wood bat league,” said Cardinals manager Jeff Young. “We used to average 30 home runs a season and that is going to be way down this year. Another thing they did was allow up to five players under the age of 28 per team. They allowed three players under 28 last season.”

The Cards return most of their core players from their title years. The team started their championship run in 2009 and then in 2011. The Cards then began their streak of five in a row in 2013 and haven’t tasted defeat in the league championships since.

Crockett camp moved to July 7

Zack and Henri Crockett will host their 13thannual football and cheerleading camp a little later than usual. The free camp was originally slated for this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mitchell Moore Center, 901 NW 10 St. in Pompano Beach. The field is not ready yet, so the event has been moved to July 7.

Henri Crockett, 43, who played linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos and the Minnesota Vikings, along with his brother Zachary, 45, a former fullback for the Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, are expecting between 300 and 400 local children to attend.

Both men grew up in Pompano Beach, and graduated from Blanche Ely High School, before they both played at Florida State University in their path to the NFL.

The free clinic is designed to introduce children, ages 4-16, to football by teaching basic skills in a fun and energetic environment and is supported through a grant from the NFL Foundation. The camp includes T-Shirts and autograph signings from the professional athletes.

By “Cinema” Dave

cinemadave.livejournal.com

Twenty-one summers ago, I quit my social studies teaching job to pursue full-time my Information Science degree from Florida State University. It was my personal renaissance. I really appreciated the “science” movies that summer like Men in Black, Contact and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. I used many of the vocabulary words that I heard from those movies and incorporated them into many of my research papers.

Much scientific and philosophical debate takes place in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which opened to better than expected box office gross.

This film is fun and combines jungle adventure with haunted mansion drama featuring a scary monster. There are heroes and villains. There are moments of jolting scares and deep belly laughs. There is science fiction query that raises the question about the meaning of life. Fortunately, none of these scientific distractions get in the way of telling a good story.

It has been three years since the disastrous events from Jurassic World. The abandoned island is suffering from volcanic activity and Professor Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum — reprising his character from the first two Jurassic Park movies) is brought in to testify about rescuing the dinosaurs stranded on the island. When Congress votes to terminate the dinosaurs, a wealthy capitalist, Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) finances a rescue expedition and recruits the two heroes from the last movie, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard).

While Owen and Claire debate who dumped who in the last three years, the two are in synch when it comes to rescuing the dinosaurs and in particular, a velociraptor named “Blue” who Owen raised from an egg. It turns out that Lockwood’s underlings have nefarious intentions for Blue and his unique DNA code.

Director J.A. Boyana tells a difficult story, the middle part of a proposed trilogy. Nonetheless, the director fills the two-hour plus screen time with Indiana Jones like thrills.

Like his previous movies The Orphanage and A Monster Calls, Boyana excels with claustrophobic scares. One stand-out scene features Grady and Clare in a cage with a waking Tyrannosaurus Rex. This dark scene balances danger and humor with sophistication.

Certain films need to be seen on the biggest screen imaginable. While it does cost a bit more, this film will be playing at the largest screen in South Florida until the 4th of July, the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science IMAX. More so than any movie this summer, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the movie to see for Saturday matinee popcorn-eating fun.

If you attend an early show, take advantage of the package which allows entrance to exhibits too. Besides catching there is an exhibition that focuses on the effects of a hurricane. You can walk into a wind machine and endure 100 mph winds in a secure environment. Fun is where you find it and, if you are not careful, you might learn something…

The recent high profile deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have put a renewed spotlight on depression and its connection to mental illness. In the wake of their suicides, it was revealed that both of them were battling depression compounded by an inability to overcome it. It is reported that major depression is a mental illness that affects more than 16 million adults every year. More concerning in is the fact that half of those affected never seek treatment for depression. We should encourage those who seem unable to emerge from the gloom and sadness that threatens all of us to seek a professional counselor for the help that they need. Modern medicines have been developed to adequately address the brain’s malfunctions and help people to enjoy a normal life.

Mental illness is only one side of the issue of depression. However, far too many people are succumbing to depression due to an inability to properly manage their emotions when life becomes overwhelming. It’s not that they are mentally deficient, but that they’ve bought into the idea that money, fame, possessions or achievement will give them satisfaction. The pressure to have more, to accomplish unrealistic expectations or to simply keep up with the proverbial “Joneses” is a never ending treadmill. Worry, anxiety and frustration will push one over the edge if not tempered by a realistic perspective and proper priorities. When what we can have or accomplish becomes our sole purpose for existence. We set ourselves up for discouragement when they fail to satisfy. Someone once remarked that Alexander the Great died in discouragement, having no more kingdoms to conquer.

We have a natural inclination toward a peaceful, balanced existence free from conflict and disorder. Maturity means that we are able to enjoy the good in life, survive and learn from the bad, and to realize that adversity and pain are as likely as joy and comfort. A good mental disposition helps us to navigate the varying landscapes of our progress through life. The peace that seems elusive is possible with the proper attitude and perspective. Isaiah 26:3 offers the Biblical approach to attaining true peace. “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

First, note that God is the primary agent in the verse. Three times, He is referenced as the object around which the action is centered. He both supplies and maintains peace for those who set their minds on Him and trust Him. Next, man is the primary beneficiary. He is the one upon whom God graciously bestows the gift of peace. God makes available what man cannot attain on his own: true peace, perfect peace or peace-peace, as written in the original Hebrew text. The apostle Paul characterizes it “as a peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

Then, the verse reveals that peace is the primary benefit. Among the many things we seek and desire, peace is paramount. We learn very quickly in life how weak and vulnerable we are. We lack complete control of our existence and are subject to circumstances beyond our control. Peace with God is necessary to finding peace with others and with ourselves. Thankfully, God gives us peace when we subject our thoughts, minds and lives to Him. Finally, trust is the primary condition that makes peace possible. The ability to believe, to have faith in and to rely upon God is required to access His gift of peace. When we give up control of our lives and turn to Him in humble faith, we have the assurance of divine assistance. God, not ourselves, must be placed at the center of our universe. Only then will we avoid the chaos, frustration and depression that follow a narcissistic and selfish existence. In this world of uncertainty and turmoil, look to God and embrace His perfect peace.

Bishop Patrick L. Kelly is the pastor of Cathedral Church of God, 365 S. Dixie Hwy., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. 954-427-0302.