Author: 2019tv

I blog about things in general although I am particularly interested in photography and love taking pictures.

New Christian Movie Makers

Young people today have so many more opportunities than we did when we were teenagers.  Technology has opened many doors for them that weren’t even on our horizons. Take for instance, my two oldest granddaughters, Clare and Mary.  When they were thirteen and twelve years old, the girls decided that they wanted to make high quality, Christian, family-friendly movies because they felt that there weren’t many available.  So they got together with other like-minded teens and began making movies.

They had a family camera that their Mom had purchased on clearance and used it to start out.  In the beginning, they made short clips of friends and family members. They made a YouTube Channel, JVGPictures, and began posting the clips.  Then they decided to make a longer movie. It was called “Cyber Attack.” The movie was written and “made by a group of homeschoolers all under 16 years of age.”  You can view the full movie at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIeP8TIBbVk. The movie was submitted to various film festivals and received the following:

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As soon as the girls finished their first movie, they began working on the next film.  The title of this movie is “Seek First,” and it is based on the bible verse Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”  The story is about two teens who live next door to a family that is having problems with their children. The teens were planning on going to camp, but decided to stay home and help the parents next door with their children.  You can see it at the following web address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ihFK6UN5U.  

The film was also submitted to various festivals and received the following awards:

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Seek First was a very appropriate movie.  Clare and Mary are seeking the kingdom of God first by following what they think God wants them to do, making movies for families.  From the resulting accolades, I would think that He is giving them all these things as He promised.

Another movie is in the works.  I will post about it later— to be continued.

Johnson Space Center – Houston

Space Shuttle Independence on 747

On July 20 of this year we will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the landing of man on the moon. If you were alive at that time, I don’t think you will ever forget it or Neil Armstrong’s words: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Although most space launches occur in Florida, the main control center for flights is in Houston at the Johnson Space Center. Touring this facility can only be called inspiring. There are so many amazing things to see. As you drive up to the main building, the first thing you see is one of the space shuttles atop a 747 that is used to transport the shuttles back to Florida. Once inside the main building, you can actually go into both of these vehicles and see the massive size of the interior for yourself. Then you can walk around the main building where you see all types of exhibits and mockups of different space vehicles, and movies. There are also hands on experiments for both adults and children, as well as an area for kids to actually attempt to do some of the things that astronauts have to learn to do. One of these exhibits is a moving vehicle kids sit in and try to dock a incoming space vehicle to a stationary vehicle in “space.” There are also rides that can be taken (extra cost). One of these involves using goggles that make things appear multidimensional. In addition, there is a lunar rock area where you can actually touch a rock from the surface of the moon, and see many others.

Another very interesting adventure involves taking tram tours. Most of the time there are two tram rides. The blue line or the red line. Both took us to Rocket Park. This is by far our favorite part of the tours. There are a few rockets outside the building, but when you enter the building, you are totally blown away by the massiveness of the Saturn V rocket inside. It is laying on its side and is 363 ft long. This rocket has three stages and a command module. Finally on the very top is the lunar module.

From here the tram tour drives you around the actual working areas of Nasa and shows you the buildings from the outside. Then you are allowed to go into the Christopher Kraft Building and see the actual mission control room for the Orion missions. We were told that this will be closed very soon, and we were one of the last groups to be able to see it. In this building there is also a room that you can tour with a special ticket of the old mission control room of the early space programs. On a trip quite a while ago, we were able to see this room. The thought that we were able to put a man into space using computers that didn’t even have the capability of a present day cell phone is truly amazing!

The second tram tour takes you to the astronaut training center as well as riding around the outside of buildings. It has lots of different space vehicles and robots that are used for training.

I would say that the space center has something for just about all ages. Older adults will enjoy the historical parts and seeing the actual machinery involved. Younger children will enjoy all of the hands-on experiences and rockets.