The following are the final three paragraphs in the "Christianity Today" article on Philip Anshutz and his attempt to make a positive difference in the making of good and inspiring movies.

"Douglas Gresham, C. S. Lewis's stepson, who manages much of the Lewis estate, says he decided to sell the film rights to the Narnia franchise to Walden becasue he liked their vision--and Anshutz.

"'The main reason I went with Walden,' he told CT Movies in 2005, 'is because of their mandate to produce good, entertaining movies that also education, not merely in factual matters, but in matters of ethics and values and morality.

"But the clincher for me was meeting Phil Anschutz, and growing to respect him enormously and spending time in prayer with him. Walden Media has exactly the right idea what we should be suing cinema for.' Which is exactly what Anschutz wanted."

In the May 2008 issue of "Christianity Today," Mark Moring writes about the "elusive billionaire" who "used to bemoan the lack of family-friendly movies. Not anymore."

"Philip Anschutz may be the biggest Hollywood mover and shaker you've never heard of. The two adjectives that typically precede his name in news stories--'Christian' and 'billionaire'--are the very reasons he can do all that moving and shaking.

"Almost a decade ago, the Christian part motivated to quit cursing the darkness of mainstream movies and do something about it instead. And the billionaire part, of course, prompted Tinseltown's exces to sit up and listen.

"His efforts seem to be working. Anschutz...now owns two production companies--the family-friendly Walden Media and the more broadly focused Bristol By Productions. The companies' creative teams have brought us such films as "Amazing Grace," "Charlotte's Web," Bridge to Terbithia," "Ray," and most prominently, "The Lion, The Witch, and the The Wardrobe," the first of seven planned movies based on C. S. Leis's beloved Chronicles of Narnia. The second Narnia film, "Prince Caspian," is due this month.... Bristol Bay is also adapting "The Screwtape Letters" for the big screen, likely due in 2009.

"Such cinematic bounty is a result not just of Anschutz's deep pockets: he's also a lifelong film buff committed to bringing more wholesome options to th elocal multiplex."

I hope to blog on this article at least once more. For now, I hope you will join me in saying, "Thank God for Philip Anschutz!"

Chonda Pierce is well known as a Christian comedian who moves people to laughter and tears at Women of Faith Conferences and in other venues. It turns out Chonda has a brother.

With him they have established the Branches Recovery Center. Yesterday, I heard her brother share how God brought healing through a verse provided by an unlikely source.

The verses is Zephaniah 3:17. Here is how the New International Version translates that verse: "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

After completing several posts on Luke (for one not found here, please feel free to check with me for a link) inspired by reading Taylor Caldwell's "Dear and Glorious Physician" historical novel about Luke, I turn now to sharing decades of memories with regard to the author of a Gospel and the Book of Acts.

I think I first read Luke and Acts during my sophomore year of High School. After God soverignly drew me to Himself in November of 1971, His Holy Spirit put a hunger in me to read His holy written Word--the Bible. After trying unsuccessfully to start from the beginning and reading all the way through the Bible (I bogged down in Leviticus and Numbers), I started reading (a couple times, I think) the "Good News for Modern Man" version (remember the simple pictures--the one of Jesus healing a blind man continues to be in an eye hospital in central Asia) of the New Testament and Psalms. So, I think I read Luke and Acts twice during that time.

Also during my High School years, I had an early morning Quiet Time, consisting of Bible reading and study along with prayer. While I used various study guides during those years, most of the time I read William Barclay's commentaries in the "Daily Study Bible" series. The Anglican Barclay combined classical scholarship with a fresh translation and helpful application. Whenever I see my surviving copies of Barclay's commentaries, I have a very sentimental feeling and one of gratitude to God as well.

I'm sure I studied Luke and Acts in college, but I do not recall any specifics at this time.

While attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I took a "Life and Times of Jesus" class--on the Gospels. One option for a paper was to answer the question, "If you could have only one Gospel, which one would it be and why?" The title of my paper was "Luke Alone Remains." I posited a nuclear holocaust having occurred (I was pretty naive about that, but work with me here) and a bishop writing a person who had found a surviving copy of the Gospel of Luke.

By the middle 80's (I think) I had begun to ponder the possibility of writing two novels about Luke--one about his Gospel and one concerning Acts. When, a few years, I took up Caldwell's novel I put it down after a hundred or so pages because I feared it might color my thoughts.

Having finished it today, I realize that I did not need to worry. While it is a wonderful book, I found in the final hundred or so pages a traditional perspective of one particular Christian faith community is presented. (The almost last paragraph of the novel has distinct similarities with J. R. R. Tolkein's presentation of the Elven Queen Galadriel--you can see what Tolkein has to say about Galadriel and Mary in the book of his letters, compiled by his son Christopher).If I ever write my novels on these subjects, they will be based upon the biblical text and not legends or additions.

Having written the various posts on Luke--especially the one on Luke as author--I have a renewed respect for this Gentile physician author who loved His Lord and sought so faithfully to vividly and accurately portray Him and the birth of His Church!