Once there was a beloved emperor in a small country who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, “It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you.”

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – one seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!”

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by — still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn’t have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn’t say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kids laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, “Hey, nice try.”

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back.

“My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. “Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!”

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered him to come to the front. Ling was terrified. “The emperor knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!”

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. “My name is Ling,” he replied.

All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at

Ling, and then announced to the crowd, “Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling couldn’t believe it. Ling couldn’t even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants, and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new leader!”

This is a metaphor for life. Each of us was given his or her “seed,” his or her body, psyche and soul. The saddest thing you can do is try to mimic other people because you dislike your own seed; to live your life based on other people’s expectations, so that you gain their approval and feel successful, even if that means repressing your own seed and using the seed of another. Only when you become completely honest with your own condition and reality, confessing that your seed has grown nothing, can you truly make something of yourself and become a genuine source of leadership and inspiration to yourself, and others.

The Baal Shem Tov said “G-d desires your heart” – your raw, naked truth, more than anything else. It is what your children need most, too. No fancy toys or fun trips — those are good but it is not what they really need. They need your sincerity and your truth.

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

How many ways are there to talk about love without being repetitious? That has been my annual challenge for over a decade. So my angle this year is condemnation of the very loving intent of the sacred Golden Rule — “Treat people the way you’d like them to treat you,” which is the modern interpretation as posed by GRO (www.thegoldenrule.net). Actually, if we follow that directive blindly, we are committing an act, in some instances, of extreme selfishness.

Wait wait wait! Before you throw me into the pyre, hear me out.

Certainly, there is the desire to be treated with respect, but the word treat in this context covers a plethora of peopled interactions, some of which are multi-layered. Example: A boyfriend presents his long-time “main squeeze” with a huge bunch of flowers for a romantic occasion. She had spoken to him of her allergies to flowers, but he wasn’t exactly into listening. In this instance, he was treating her with the love and kindness he would have wanted reciprocally, perhaps in a more gender-appropriate offering. It was received with feigned appreciation and the recognition that he hadn’t heard her.

What she had really wanted from him was to have been heard. Sure, she could then have told him the truth and, this time, be heard; and she may well have done so, but there’s that little nuance of wanting to be treated (listened to) the first time around.

Being heard is really a metaphor for being known. People in close relationships want to be known by the important people in their lives, as in, “Hey! This is the real me – the me I want to be loved for – not the me you love because you have fantasized some combined ideal of me and who you want me to be.” This, of course, is taking the flower tale to an extreme, but there are so many similar situations where people with good intentions treat others without any emotional input into how that other person really wants to be treated.

Quick story: My sister and I had a bachelorette apartment in Manhattan eons ago. We shared laundry chores. I’d fold hers and place the items neatly in her drawer. She’d flatten mine on top of the dresser. I fumed every time I had to fold and place my items in my drawer. One day, I found her taking her items out of her drawer, and she turned to me, saying, “I hate the way you fold my stuff, and I hate how you put them away for me.”

We laughed. We straightened it out. Neither of us had “done unto” the other the way each of us wanted to be “done unto.” We loved each other, but we had gone our own separate ways for so many years that it took time for us to really get to know each other again.

The word love is bandied about carelessly and sometimes meaninglessly. To really love someone is to know the essence, the soul, the inner workings of that person; to know and to accept all that, and to make it a part of who you are.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach Middle School girls basketball coach Brittany Harvard knows firsthand what it means to put together a perfect season and in the process be MVP for county champion.

Harvard recently guided her team to a 14-0 season and the Broward County Middle School championship with a convincing 65-29 victory over Pembroke Pines Charter at Stranahan High School.

It was a sense of déjà vu for Harvard who was MVP in 2003 for the Bengals when they finished 13-0 and won the county championship.

“The focus level was unbelievable,” said Harvard, who went on to star at Blanche Ely High School and then play at Benedict College in Colombia, SC. “To see a middle school team focus like that was unbelievable. The year we won, the whole team wasn’t focused – maybe a couple, maybe the starting five. To have a strong 10 girls just lock in and focus on one goal, it was amazing.”

Bengals eighth-grader Ja’Leah Williams scored a game-high 34 points as Pompano Beach handed Pembroke Pines Charter its only loss of the season in 14 games.

Along the way, Pompano Beach abruptly halted two-time defending county champion Dillard Middle School’s 41-game win streak in the semifinals, 60-17. Dillard had lost just once to Westglades in the county semifinals the year the school opened three years ago. They are 53-2 during that span. The victory over Dillard this year avenged a 33-32 setback in last year’s semifinals that ended Pompano’s season.

Pompano Beach lost to William Dandy three years ago in the second round of the playoffs and is 37-2 during that span.

“We beat Dillard this year so they knew how we felt last year, but worse,” said Williams, 14, of Pompano Beach, who has been on the team all three years. She averaged 36 points a game this year.

“We were thinking about that one point loss all season, since the first practice,” said Williams, who averaged 36 points a game this year. “At the beginning of the championship game I knew we had it. We had more skill than they did.”

Williams scored five of her game-high 34 points in the first quarter and dropped in another 13 in the second quarter as the Bengals led 33-12 in the title game. Williams added nine in the third and seven in the final quarter to earn MVP honors for the game. She also dished out five assists, had six steals and five rebounds in the contest.

Bengals’ eighth-grader Mikihia Lumsdon and seventh grader Mya Kone each added 10 points, while seventh graders Michiyah Simmons and Zaria Blake had 6 and 4 points, respectively.

Pompano Beach also went 12-0 in 1993, this season marking the third time in school history that they were perfect.

“The one thing that stood out was their dedication and their working hard,” Harvard said as she reflected on the season. “They were always determined to learn, even what they already knew. They stayed determined to work on their craft – both strengths and weaknesses – from the time we lost last year all the way up to now.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As we come to an end of Small Business Appreciation Month, I have often wondered if there have been any movies that have presented small business in a positive light. Beyond some Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, most Hollywood motion pictures present business practices in a negative light. Some of these motion pictures actually get nominated for awards.

Produced by the Weinstein Brothers, The Founder presents the growth of the McDonald’s fast food franchise in America. We are introduced to Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), a traveling salesman who takes an interest in a unique food service business in San Bernadino, California. Run by the McDonald Brothers, Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch), Kroc learns the secret of their success.

After agreeing to franchise McDonald’s in middle America, Kroc’s ambition outweighs the McDonald brothers desire for quality control. Conflict ensues and Kroc eventually gains an edge through a legal loophole.

The Founder is a good story about growing a business. You can enjoy watching Ray Kroc visiting service organizations like the Rotary and the Jaycees to promote the American Dream. You see how constricting the original franchise contract is for Ray Kroc; yet, by the time the story is told, you feel so much sympathy for Dick and Mac McDonald.

Currently available on DVD, Hell or High Water is film noir set in the modern west. Taking a cue from No Country for Old Men and Breaking Bad, Hell or High Water introduces us to the Howard Brothers, Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster), who rob Texas banks a la Robin Hood.

Soon to be retired Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his Mexican/Comanche partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) pursue these masked bank robbers. A showdown is inevitable for these rangers and the brothers, but one walks away from Hell or High Water feeling sympathy for both sides of the conflict.

As the study of economics is considered “the dismal science,” the business practices in both The Founder and Hell or High Water can be perceived as gloomy entertainment. However, there are lessons to be learned from both movies and, whatever award consideration these two fine films receive, will be justified.

The start of a new year customarily produces reflection, introspection and resolutions for the days, weeks and months that lay ahead of us. What do we envision for our lives? What steps will take us there? How will our objectives be accomplished? The advice gurus, life coaches and motivational experts are all offering their strategies and opinions.

Allow me to add another by appealing to the ancient, yet relevant, wisdom of king Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, He offers this advice, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might: for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

After studying various aspects of life and behavior, the wise man draws several conclusions in Ecclesiastes, and makes a profound recommendation in this verse. First, we are all endowed with certain abilities that enable us to work, serve or lead. This allows us to realize that we have purpose, meaning and a call to our lives, and are not here by accident. “Whatever your hand finds to do” speaks to those abilities that enable us to make a living, as well as a significant contribution to the lives of our fellowman.

Next, Solomon reminds us that we have a limited time within which to live and fulfill our purpose. We don’t like to think about it but we are all headed for the grave. When the soul and the body separate at death, we’ve run out of time to affect anything in this life. “There is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave.” We should so live as to make the best use of the time we have left, and perfect what we are able and skilled to do.

This brings us to the essential focus of the verse, “do it with your might.” Give it your best effort. Put your all into it. Strive to excel. Why be mediocre when you can be exceptional? Why walk if you can run? Why run if you can fly? Someone once remarked that our abilities are God’s gift to us. What we do with them is our gift back to God. Why not give Him your best?

On Oct. 26, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was speaking to students at Barrat Junior High School in Philadelphia. Part of his speech captures the essence of what Solomon sought to communicate — “And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don’t just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree. If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail. If you can’t be a sun, be a star. For it isn’t by size that you win or you fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

Aim to make 2017 your best year by giving your best effort at what you are gifted and called to do. May God’s word inspire you and His hand guide you to a life of excellence and service. Amen.

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

By Gary Curreri

When Pompano Cowboys Mitey Mites coach Ronnie McDougle began their inaugural season in the Gold Coast Pop Warner Conference, he had a vision. McDougle said the season started off with many new players, and the coaches put together a staff that helped players that needed guidance and new goal setting.

“The goal was to teach the kids to play for more than just themselves,” said McDougle, a Recreation Supervisor with the city of Pompano Beach. “We played for Collier City, our neighborhood. When the Super Bowl game arrived, the kids already had a full season of lesson, and domination was the only thing they had on their mind.”

“‘We’ve come too far to let up now,’ was the chant the entire week of practice,” said McDougle, whose team rolled to a 42-14 win over the Pompano Eagles in the Pop Warner Super Bowl game.

Ja’cari Barnes and Antonio Nuwry combined for five scores, while Terrell Loray added the final TD. “So for the biggest game of the year, the kids put on the biggest show for the fans.”

McDougle led his team to a perfect 11-0 season, which also included a win in the Miami Dolphins Championship Series (DCS). The Pompano Cowboys Mitey Mites 9U team recorded a 6-0 championship win in overtime over the Northwest Boys & Girls Club Falcons at the Miramar Asin Center. Barnes scored on a fourth down, 10-yard run for the win.

Gary Hadley scored as the Pompano Eagles 8U team also topped the Northwest Boys & Girls Club Falcons, 6-0.

The Miami Dolphins Youth Programs featured the league champions of six South Florida youth football organizations as part of the Dolphins Championship Series (DCS). Kids ages 5-15 years old from the American Youth Football League, Gold Coast Pop Warner, Greater Miami Pop Warner, Miami Xtreme, National Youth Football League and Youth Academic Sports League participated in the competition.

“The Dolphins Champion game was just one for the old bragging rights book,” McDougle said. “Anytime a Broward team plays against a Dade team is always guaranteed to be a good one.

“Northwest Boys Club is a very well-respected program,” he continued. “Both teams were missing players and played in the worst weather condition of that day. Our coaches watched and made great adjustments as the game went on and our kids, like they did all year, responded well to the match-up that we put them in to get the win in overtime.”

“It’s an honor for the Miami Dolphins to celebrate youth football in South Florida by hosting the Dolphins Championship Series,” said Miami Dolphins Senior Director of Youth Programs Twan Russell. “The DCS games provide another opportunity for student-athletes to compete and showcase their skills after another remarkable season of play.”

Two Pompano Chiefs’ squads also went far in the Pop Warner postseason playoffs as the JV team lost in the regionals to the Riviera Beach Chargers, 26-20, in double overtime, and the Varsity made it all the way to Nationals where they fell, 33-8, to the Harvey Colts (Chicago, IL.)

Jerold Smith, president of Football Operations for the City of Pompano, said he was proud of what his teams were able to accomplish this season. The Pompano squads broke away from the Miami Chapter of Pop Warner and joined with other teams from Broward County to form their own Pop Warner Chapter called Gold Coast Pop Warner.

The Pompano Eagles had two teams – 75-lb. and 85-lb. teams – that won the Superbowl in their division; Pompano Cowboys (100-lb. championship); Pompano Chiefs (155-lb. and 180-lb.) Superbowl championships.

“We had five teams from Pompano Beach win the Gold Coast Pop Warner Superbowl this year,” Smith said. “That was a great feat to do in our first year in Gold Coast as a founding member.

“The season went off without any problems and in our first year we had a team make it to the National Championship in Disney World, Wide World of Sports,” Smith added. “Our kids got to play two games on ESPN on National TV. It was a great experience for our kids and coaches as well.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Denzel Washington has entered the Hollywood legendary status decades ago, joining generational acting legends like Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. Fences marks Washington’s third directorial motion picture, which is based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning Broadway play. Having won a Golden Globe award (for Viola Davis), Fences is poised to receive multiple Oscar nominations.

Sanitation custodian Troy Maxson (Washington) returns home on payday and dutifully gives his check to his loving wife, Rose (Davis). After finishing a bottle of gin with his sidekick and discussing his glory days as a baseball player, Troy and Rose bring up their domestic woes.

Much like those controversial award-winning plays from the 1950s (Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) that became award-winning motion pictures, Fences features terse dialogue creating fantastic performances. Much like the performances given by Marlon Brando’s Stanley Kowalski and Elizabeth Taylor’s Maggie the Cat, Washington and Davis sink their teeth in their roles with conviction.

At 139 minutes, Fences is a long movie to sit through. Set in a Pittsburgh townhouse, watching the Maxson family air their dirty laundry gets long in the tooth. After witnessing much arguing and bickering, one wishes the Maxson family would move away.

Among multiple awards, Moonlight took home the Golden Globe award for best picture. Whereas Fences was a static story, Moonlight clocks in under two hours and feels more epic. Set in a crime neighborhood in Miami, Moonlight presents the right of passage for little Chiron Black and covers the span of time from 1979 to the present day.

Told in three parts, we meet “Little,” a bullied boy whose Mom (Naomie Harris from Pirates of the Caribbean and James Bond franchises) is a drug addict. Seemingly pulled out of a bad situation by a mentor, little Chiron witnesses a tragedy that colors the rest of his life. In Part two, titled “Chiron,” we see the teenager confront his own feelings that leads to explosive actions. “Black” is the final story which presents the protagonist coming to grips with his current situation as a young man of the streets.

With echoes of Boyhood, Breaking Bad and Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight is truly an original story that presents a culture we see on the street. For its originality with surprising plot twists, Moonlight deserves award consideration.

It was a regular Sunday, like any other Sunday. The Scripture text assigned for the day included the words below:

“So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” – Matthew 5:23-24 NRSV

I thought, “This is a good time to preach on forgiveness.” Now, I have preached many sermons on forgiveness. In fact, I would go so far to say that you really cannot proclaim the Gospel if you don’t bring up the topic of forgiveness.

And, besides, I thought, “Forgiveness is a safe topic.” Yes, I wasn’t in the mood to preach a controversial sermon that would stir up or even divide the congregation.

It was going nice and smooth. I brought up God’s love, our sinful nature, our need to be forgiven and the ultimate price God was willing to pay for us on the cross. It was nice and safe. People were smiling pleasantly and nodding their heads and I thought everything was going well.

And, then, I decided to apply this to our lives. Therefore, if you are estranged with someone you love or another member of the congregation, I want you to go home, call them up, and tell them that you forgive them.

The mood changed quickly. Smiles started to leave faces. I even saw a frown or two. People were squirming in their pews. I knew that I may have gone a step too far.

And then, when people were departing from the service, one person decided to linger behind. It was one of the frowners. She proceeded to tell me that she was wronged by another person whom she loved. Now, I am not talking about victimization, but it was more of the nature that words were said that hurt her feelings. I understand that feelings can get hurt; and, when they do, it isn’t pleasant.

But this person was very upset with me; because, in her words, her anger was “none of my business” and “how dare you” was used to question my message.

For years she has been nursing this grudge and now I challenged her to forgive the person who hurt her feelings. I was now the bad guy. It would have been good if I would have stopped my sermon at the cross of Christ and then proceeded with a pleasant hymn. But I had to throw in that pesky “however” and I discovered that, indeed, forgiveness is not a safe topic for some people.

When I challenged the congregation, I received the counter-challenge. When this occurs, it is easy to pull back and retreat. Lesson learned; don’t include the “however.” Keep it safe. Talk about forgiveness in generalities; but, do not, under any circumstances, make it specific or personal. Forgiveness is a safe topic when you talk about it in generalities, but not specifics. But when you get specific, it gets personal. People squirm, get angry, and even confront you.

But, wait, have I not been called to proclaim the Gospel? Have I not been called to distribute the sacraments which, at their core, are a means of grace? As a Lutheran, I include the confession and forgiveness in my service. None of my business? Forgiveness is my business.

I thought about the fact that I could have ended with the proclamation of God’s forgiveness, but this proclamation is not an ending; it is a new beginning.

And, as far as “keeping it safe,” we were never promised a safe journey. In fact, if anything, we were assured that living we find ourselves in danger every time we live out our faith. Safety was never promised. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is the promise.

Considering all of the obstacles we face within our places of worship that are related to the lack of forgiveness and forgiving, I double down on this message. I proclaim forgiveness and do it; if people squirm — good riddance. It is high time that we embrace the pastoral courage to leave the safety zone and challenge our people to forgive. I look back at that Sunday with no regrets. My only regret is that I didn’t learn this lesson sooner.

Pastor Gross is a pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, located at 959 SE 6 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. For more information, call 954-421-3146 or visit www.zion-lutheran.org.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

After hearing the tragic news from the Ft. Lauder-dale Hollywood International Airport, I went to see a movie whose primary theme featured the terror of grief, A Monster Calls. Based on an award-winning young adult novel written by Patrick Ness (from an idea by Siobhan Dowd), A Monster Calls has received a low box-office return. However, given the vast visualization and emotional wallop, you should see it on the big screen for genuine popcorn-eating fun and entertainment.

12-year-old Connor (Lewis McDougall) wakes up each morning at 12:07 a.m. with a reoccurring nightmare, that he cannot rescue his mother (Felicity Jones – Rogue One) from a pit. His mother is battling cancer and Connor channels his fears into his art. Inspired by his mother’s love of the original King Kong, Connor envisions his own monster (voiced by Liam Neeson), who forces him to listen to three stories. Upon completion of the three stories, the monster demands that Connor tell him his own story and it must be the truth.

Directed by J.A. Boyona, this film is filled with allegory enhanced by quality special effects. However, it is the human exchanges between his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) and principal (Geraldine Chaplin) that pack the most emotional wallop for the protagonist, Connor. I wished I saw A Monster Calls a week ago. It would have made my Top 10 list.

Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea also focuses on grief. Last Sunday night, Casey Affleck took home a Golden Globe for his performance as Lee Chandler, a tortured man who loses a brother (Kyle Chandler) and is given custody of his nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges).

Unlike the tortured Connor from A Monster Calls, Patrick is a callow high-school student who is both popular and a two-timing ladies’ man. Given the horrible history with his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams), Lee does not have the emotional strength to mentor his nephew.

Minus monsters and special effects, Manchester by the Sea is pure and painful realism, with moments of humor and beautiful New England cinematography. This film is a roller coaster ride. A funny scene involving slapstick and a refrigerator freezer becomes an emotional breakdown for one of the characters that is painful to watch. However, this scene provides much character revelation and alters the family dynamic for the rest of the film.

While both films deal with subjects that we would like to avoid, both Manchester by the Sea and A Monster Calls are fine dramas for a matinee afternoon price.

For more escapist entertainment, Silverspot Cinemas in Coconut Creek will screen the second Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone spaghetti western, For a Few Dollars More, on Monday evening. Before the 7 p.m. screening, a spaghetti dinner with a glass of wine and tiramisu will be served, along with some popcorn [for $23]. Details: www.silverspot.net.

On the evening of Oct. 21, 2009, the flight crew of Northwest Flight 188 accidentally lost radio contact with air traffic control and flew approximately 150 miles past their destination of Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP). Unfortunately for the pilots, besides losing their flight credentials, David Letterman, in response as to how this could happen, released the Top Ten Northwest Airlines pilot excuses. Having piloted under the Northwest colors myself, it pains me to admit that number seven —“Tired of that show-off Sullenberger getting all the attention”— gave me a chuckle.

It just so happens that Sullenberger, aka Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, also graced my list of the Top Ten resources in 2016 That Made Me a Better Person.

10. (Movie) God’s Not Dead 2. As a staff member with First Priority of South Florida, a non –profit organization operating under the Equal Access Act which “gives students the right to initiate and lead a Christian club on campus,” this movie reminded me that with nearly half a million students in the public middle and high schools of Southeast Florida — with statistics indicating that over 90 percent of these teens do not know Christ—one of the greatest mission fields is right in my own backyard.

9. (Podcast) Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. This series challenged me to think differently about the past, and while I may not always agree with everything Gladwell has to say, I’m reminded that empathy begins when I leave the island of self.

8. (Podcast) The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. One particular episode stirred me to consider that if EQUIP, our student ministry, disappeared, would it matter? Would anyone miss it? I was forced to reevaluate the culture I was creating and enact a strategy to ensure it was a culture of continual improvement through a clear mission and vision. This podcast required me to defend why EQUIP exists.

7. (Movie) Sully. I’m moved to tears when the bustle of New York City drops everything to rescue the 155 passengers and crew of US Air flight 1549 when the plane lands in the Hudson River. This movie reminds me that there is much good in this world, and, as the old cliché states, “Not all heroes wear capes.” Sometimes they just ride ferry boats to work.

6. (Book) From the Pen to the Palace: A Youth Ministry Evangelism and Discipleship Dtrategy for a Post-Christian Culture by Benjamin Kerns. Benjamin introduced me to a world where the prodigal son never returns. It’s a context I have to understand if I’m ever to reach a generation that’s always lived in the “pen” and has never experienced the “palace.”

5. (Book) Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull. The title says it all and it’s my favorite book about how teams should operate.

4. (Movie) I’m Not Ashamed. This true story crafted from the journals of Rachel Scott, who was killed for her faith during the 1999 Columbine shooting, reminds me why it’s important to live boldly for Christ.

3. (Podcast) The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. Pastor Craig helped me to understand the importance of being a leader that communicates effectively. He also taught me how to embrace change and to accept nothing less than my God-given leadership capacity.

2. (Book) Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg. There is a reason Pastor Doug Sauder recommended this book to his entire staff, and why it’s my No. 2. This book helped me understand exactly what my soul is and how I can administer the proper “soul-care.”

1. (App) The YouVersion Bible App. Truthfully I could just say The Holy Bible — it is all we need. But what I love about the YouVersion Bible App are the reading plans that span every topic and situation imaginable. With this app you’ll never have to say, “I don’t know where to start.” It also includes multiple languages, translations and even audible versions. A truly transformative 2017 begins here in God’s Word.

C.J. Wetzler is the NextGen pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach. Before transitioning into full-time ministry, CJ was a commercial airline captain and high school leadership and science teacher. For questions or comments he can be reached at cj@deerfieldfirst.com.