The power of prayer a million times over

This week so many people saw the injury to Buffalo Bills defense player Damar Hamlin on live TV as it happened. In fact, it was the most watched NFL game on ESPN in years, something like over 22 million were watching. It just so happened that this heavily watched game included an injury unlike any in recent history. I’m sure you know the details about the CPR and the AED and how both teams pretty much immediately and totally forgot about football as they all rallied around Hamlin. Well, across the nation people rallied in the form of prayer. A radio show host I listen to brought up a profound point: this might be the most “prayed for” person simultaneously in world history. In other words, all at the same moment, millions of people were praying for Damar Hamlin. There was also a prayer prayed on ESPN.

The more I thought about the amount of unified prayer happening all at once, the more remarkable it was to grasp. I prayed too, but not very eloquently. All I could say is, “God, you HAVE to come through. We NEED you to come through. PLEASE come through.”

So let me be clear, I wasn’t telling God he has to do this, as if I’m giving HIM a command. Like, you have to do this or else! I would never, ever do that. Here’s what that prayer meant… because of the amount of people praying, so many counting on God to come through, it became a matter of reputation. God’s reputation is/was on the line. If he weren’t to come through, how many folks would say something like, “See, God doesn’t care. God isn’t real.” But then, God has shown that he DOES care. God IS real. He was in a situation I think he loves to be in. One where a gigantic mass of people were desperate for him to act, and he could’t NOT show up.

Of course, we can also be extremely grateful for the expert medical staff from the beginning of the injury all the way through to this very second. Praising God isn’t ignoring the highly skilled people who were part of the miracle that’s happening. They are to be revered and respected, without a doubt! But along with them, it was the prayers that moved God to act, too.

It’s just a very cool situation coming out of a very tragic situation. Of course, Hamlin not suffering the way he did would have been great, too. The game would’ve went along as planned. One of the teams would have the W. People would have turned the TV off and gone to bed. But because of the crazy event that night, look at the life being breathed back into the spiritual world. The comradery among the players, coaches, etc, and sports fans everywhere. Unification across the country.

I, for one, won’t forget these moments.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

Ambulance Movie Review – Race, Homosexuality, and Unrealistic Driving

The white guys are rich, arrogant, naive or aloof. The white woman is a lesbian. The hispanic woman is always angry. The black woman is a loving and devoted wife. The black men are righteous, heroic, family oriented, and that’s including the guy who’s one of the main criminals! Can you guess which movie I’m talking about? It could almost be any Hollywood movie these days, but I just watched Ambulance. In this movie, there’s more time spent on praising the criminal as a hero, culminating in the scene were the white cop is asked to point to the guy who shot him (which was the black criminal, not the white criminal). He lifts a weak finger up, points to the black guy and says, “He saved my life.” It’s also the same guy who shot him twice but who’s counting?

What I enjoyed in the movie is that they used humor to balance out the action and intensity of shootouts and car chases. Plus, the dog was a big hunk of cuteness. But the list of what I didn’t like is a lot longer and includes most of the scenes including a clunky ambulance, go figure, being driven around like it’s a Maserati. I’m sorry Michael Bay, but this would’ve lasted about one, maybe two police blockades in real life. Showing the ambulance and the two criminals outwit dozens and dozens of police officers, along with their sporty cop cars, is just too much to “make believe.”

I forgot to mention another of the white characters. To wrap it all up with a perfect little politically correct bow, the FBI agent is portrayed as the all-wise, all-knowing authority figure… and, of course, he’s as gay as the day is long.

See y’all tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

More about Lainey Wilson “Heart Like a Truck” Music Video

I came across this song in a roundabout way as I was looking for a tune to use in the background of a Facebook story video. On Spotify it’s listed on the “hot country” playlist. I’m not exactly in tune with country music anymore so I have only inklings of an idea about who or what song’s popular in any given week. Hey, I’m not Grady Smith over here… but I wanted to watch the music video because I’m definitely interested in how they interpret the song visually. If you haven’t watched it yet, take a look then scroll down for my thoughts.

I saw the horse in the first few seconds of the video and I was locked in. I won’t be diving deep into the connections between the song lyrics and the taming of a wild horse but gosh, aren’t horses such beautiful creatures?

I had a post recently showing off favorite horse pictures from my gallery (check that post here) so this video was a real nice reminder of how much I love them. What horses have to do with a heart and a truck, I don’t really know but I’m glad I watched the video. My only critique is really just a pet peeve of mine in music videos. At the very end of the video it’s the “hero shot” where the camera pulls back and the singer stares at the lens with their best “blue steel” impression. It was fine in the 90s but do we really need it now?

Animated GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

See y’all tomorrow!

-Out of the Wilderness

TurboTax Commercial – Old Music, New Era, Gay Weddings?

Unless you’re an accountant and tax season is your Super Bowl, the last thing most sane people want to think about is taxes. Well, that’s sort of the idea behind the TurboTax commercial called, “Not Taxes.” It’s only January and the tax deadline is over 3 months away at the time of this writing, so TurboTax has come out of the gate in a full sprint. But to do so, they reached back over 4 decades for the soundtrack. Take a look at the ad then scroll down for more info…

The Music. The visuals work really well with the song choice, which is “Plantasia” by Mort Garson, released way back in 1976. This song is quite interesting and plays just a part of the big picture presented in the commercial. I’ll explain what I mean below, but first, here’s the full song track.

An Old New Era. Most of the characters shown could be plucked right out of the 1970s. Check out their wardrobe, the room decor, etc. But I’ll admit when I first heard the song, I had no idea if it was a new or very old. At least some of today’s music has come back around to old, familiar sounds, and I don’t hate it! In regards to meshing this sound with the disco era visuals, it could be that the creators of the commercial wanted to reflect back on, and remind us of, a time in which taxes were basically a nightmare (kind of like the amount of hairspray used on those hair-do’s, am I right!?) to complete. And even in 2023, trying to do it on your own without TurboTax will send you back in time with how difficult it would inevitably be. At least that’s what they want all of us non-accountants to think!

Colors. This colorful ad shows off a few things people do when they’re not doing taxes… like horseback riding, swimming, and kissing, although I think most of those happen year-round. Taxpayers (or should ‘taxpayers’ just be called ‘US citizens’ as to not be offensive now that Stanford’s list of harmful words is out?) are encouraged to let TurboTax do the dirty work. Notice the use of darker colors and tones in the first half of the commercial and as it progresses the palette gets lighter and brighter. I’m sure this is on purpose to leave you feeling good about handing off tax responsibilities to someone else… ANYONE ELSE!!! The brightest scene is the wedding, which includes lots of pastels of pink and red. Not to be nitpicky, but this gay marriage is the only scene that doesn’t fit the 70s era narrative. It wasn’t until 2015 that same-sex marriages were recognized in every state in the U.S. Plus, with all the non-binaries, the 1,429 new genders, trans this and trans that, are they even called gay weddings, anymore?

Michael Sheen Tread Carefully GIF by ProdigalSonFox - Find & Share on GIPHY

How do you feel about the use of the song in this commercial? Is it too early to be thinking about taxes? Chime in below!

See you guys y’all (Stanford approved) tomorrow!

-Out of the Wilderness

An aging beagle and how to reinvent our relationship

When you read posts from dog owners, most would say having a dog is the highlight of their life. I’ve posted a lot about my dogs over the years (“Life with Dogs” blogs here) and we’ve had such fun moments in the last 13 years! They are definitely part of fun moments in the last decade. They’re such troopers coming along with me on all kinds of adventures in Tennessee, a big move from Tennessee to Florida, and then camping all around Florida and the southeast. They’ve gone from having their own room in a house with a big back yard to sleeping on the floor of a tiny camper. So they are amazing and I love them so much.

But lately with my 13-yr old beagle, Piper, I’ve notice our relationship has changed. It’s gone from fun and frolicky to warden and prisoner. Some days all I do with her is tell her “no” and make her stop eating paper, cardboard, tissues, and poop. Honestly, I don’t like what it’s become. I want to have fun with her but she’s not really interested in playing anymore. I understand that, I mean, she’s 13 and we’ve played a lot over the years. But without that bond of playfulness, I don’t know exactly how to navigate the next few years… or the next few days, for that matter. It really is just me keeping her from eating stuff, knocking things over, or running away when she has 5 seconds of off-leash time. I’m anxious. Are all beagles escape artists? If so, I’d still say Piper is the best of them all! I don’t want to just be her warden, but actually, sometimes I feel like the prisoner, and she’s the warden.

I love my dogs so much. Piper is smart, sassy, stubborn, cuddly, cute, soft, and curious. I just don’t like that basically all I’m doing is telling her what to do and not to do 24/7. There isn’t much bonding going on these days. Where there was warmth seems a lot colder now.

There ARE good moments, too. She’s a great dog. I think I’m just learning that while she’s getting older and more stubborn, I’m also getting older and more stubborn. If you have any advice on how to reinvent our relationship or what I can do differently, I’ll all beagle ears.

See you tomorrow!

-Out of the Wilderness