Favorite Christmas Movies

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese. A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus.

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Welcome to Masculine Journey, this special Christmas edition, yay! Well, you could call it Christmas and its own way. It's New Year's Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, seven, you know what I'm saying? Six, it'd be six, right? Yeah, that's correct, you know.

That's right. Yeah, yeah, it's Christmas. It's all about Eve. It's all about Eve.

Yes, it is. Well, Merry Christmas to everybody. We're going to do a fun show today. We're going to be talking about some of our favorite Christmas clips, movies from our favorite clips, so it's going to be just talking about that, honestly. We're just going to set it up first. Andy, you're going to talk a little bit about a bonus check, I think, aren't you?

Yeah, okay. Fun show. So we're talking about Christmas Vacation, and Clark is really looking forward to this Christmas bonus. It's like what he wanted for Christmas.

It was a carryover from last week's What Do You Want For Christmas show. So, Clark, you know, he has an expectation that's not met, and you'll kind of hear the results of that. We'll talk about it when we come back. Yeah, they didn't know it was not met last week.

No. They said it's this week. Yeah, well, all right, we'll put it. You do it. Ball all over it, or are you going to open it? I'm just going to wait until tomorrow to tell you all this, but what the heck. With this bonus check, I'm putting in a swimming pool. That's it. That's the big one.

Open it. I'm sorry if I've been a little short with everyone lately. I've been waiting for this bonus. To make sure the pool goes in as soon as the ground thaws, I had to lay out the money in advance, and until this little miracle arrived, I didn't have enough in my account to cover the check I wrote.

That is so gross, then, Dad. Yeah. Drum roll. There's enough left over.

I'm going to fly you all down here to help us dedicate it. I can't swim, Clark. I know that, Eddie. Clark, what's wrong? Honey? It's bigger than you expected?

Smaller? What is it? It's a one-year membership in the Jelly of the Month Club. Clark, it's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year. That it is, Edward. So, Andy, what was it about that clip that made you pick that? No, I think it's funny. I think part of the deal is I think sometimes we expect the pool and we get Jelly of the Month Club.

You know, underwear and socks instead of the latest toy or whatever. Exactly. Well, plain milk's fine. The thing that I like about that clip, honestly, as you listen to it, and I didn't pick the right clip to start the show because it was none of our first selections. It was leftover from last week. It was leftover. It was Christmas leftover.

So we're going to try to make something from leftovers is what we're going to tell you. The thing I like about that clip, honestly, it sounds more like the normal American family, right, because you've got some of the in-laws and ones you like to be ex-laws that are in there. Out-laws. Yeah, out-laws.

You've got to open it or cry all over it. You just want to strangle that guy, right? It just reminds me that's the way family is, and everybody's got a cousin Eddie in their family, and if you don't, it's probably you. That's right. If you don't feel like you have one, you are one.

Yeah, if you're wearing the Christmas dickey thing, you know, that's all you. So, Eddie, we'll go ahead and get to your actual clip. So if you want to go ahead, we'll put you on this one. The Home Alone 2? That's the one I was going with. Okay.

All right. Yeah, I just want to make sure it made the cut. So on this Home Alone 2, I've been watching more Christmas movies than I do most of the time, and I hit Home Alone first, and then this past week, I watched Home Alone 2, and I forgot how good of a movie that was. This is where Kevin sits down with the pigeon lady in Carnegie Hall, and they're kind of talking about just the heart, and it's really what this ministry is about, is the human heart.

And you know, Christmas to me is about us getting our hearts back, and man, this is just a powerful clip. You'll hear it. So, do you bring your friends up here? I haven't got many friends.

Oh, sorry. I'm like the birds I care for. People pass me in the street. They see me, but they try to ignore me.

They prefer I wasn't part of their city. Yeah, it's sort of like that with my family. I'm kind of the pigeon of the house, just because I'm the youngest. Everyone fights for position.

Everybody wants to be seen and heard. I guess so. I'm seen and heard pretty much, but then I get sent to my room a lot too. I wasn't always like this, you know. Oh, what were you like before? I had a job. I had a home. I had a family. Did you have any kids?

No. Oh, I wanted them. But the man I loved fell out of love with me. That broke my heart. And whenever the chance to be loved came along again, I ran away from it. I stopped trusting people.

No offense, but that seems like sort of a dumb thing to do. I was afraid of getting my heart broken again. You see, sometimes you can trust a person, and then when things are down, they forget about you. Maybe they're just too busy. Maybe they don't forget about you, but they forget to remember you. I don't think people mean to forget. I think it just happens. My grandfather says, my head wasn't screwed on, I'd leave it on the school bus. I'm just afraid if I do trust someone, I'll get my heart broken again.

I understand that. I used to have this really nice pair of rollerblades, and I was afraid if I wore them, I'd wreck them. So I kept them in a box. Did you know what happened?

No. I outgrew them. I never wore them once outside.

I just wore them in my room a couple of times. A person's heart and a person's feelings are very different than a skate's. Well, they're kind of the same thing. If you aren't going to use your heart, then what's the difference if it gets broken? If you just keep it to yourself, maybe it'll be like my rollerblades.

When you do decide to try it, it won't be any good. You should take a chance. You've got nothing to lose. Put a tooth in there somewhere. I think so. Your heart might still be broken, but it isn't gone.

If it was gone, you wouldn't be this nice. Thank you. Out of the mouth of babes.

Oh, yeah. Really powerful. A lot of wisdom there. You know, Isaiah 61, you know how Jesus came for the brokenhearted. I have to think if we asked Jesus what he wanted for Christmas, he would say conversations like that, interactions like that, where somebody goes after somebody's broken heart. That's why I liked it.

Agreed. One of the things I want to clarify, and I probably should have set it up at the beginning of the show, obviously the season is about Jesus. And we're not saying that it's about these movies. It's about Jesus. But when you talk about Jesus, there's a whole lot more to it. It's loving people well. It's loving others well.

Kevin reaching out to the lady no one sees. Right. I love his little comment in there that I think I'm the pigeon of my family. Yeah, right. Because I think we all feel that way sometimes. And so there's a whole lot more to Christmas that Jesus wants us to do than just go to church on Sunday.

Sadly, it's more that way around the Christmas season, too, because people expect a family around. And when they don't have it, that's why we need to reach out like that. Agreed. Agreed. Well, since we're kind of in a home alone kind of spirit, I was going to pass it around. Oh, we've got a microphone over there. Caleb, this is your clip for you and Eli. Right. And so do you want to set it up or just play it or how do you want to go?

Yes. This is my sons, Caleb and Eli. Sorry about that. This is the Home Alone 1 trailer. Most people have probably seen this movie, but we're just going to go ahead and play the trailer and we'll talk about it afterwards. Where are you going? We're going to miss the plane.

When the McAllister family left on their Christmas vacation. Did we miss the plane? No, you just made it. Yeah! They forgot one small thing.

I have a terrible feeling. Did you lock up? Yeah.

Do we set the timers on the lights? Mm hmm. What else could we be forgetting? Kevin! Home Alone.

Police in the northern suburbs are on the lookout for a pair of burglars who are calling themselves the Wet Bandits. We know that you're in there. It's Santa Claus and his elf. Get off my property. This is my house.

I have to defend it. Where's your mother? My mom's in the car. Where's your father?

He's at work. What about your brothers and sisters? I'm an only child.

Where do you live? I can't tell you that. Why not?

Because you're a stranger. He's a kid. I mean, what can a kid do to us?

Kids are stupid. I know I was. You still are, Mark. You did.

I don't care if I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike. I am going to get home to my son. Ah! Yes! Where are you, you little creep? I'm gonna kill that kid! Why'd you take his shoes off? Why'd you dress like a chicken? Gus Polinski, Polka King of the Midwest.

If you have to get to Chicago, we'll gladly drive you. Hey, guys. Yesterday, he was just a kid. But tonight, he's a home security system.

You guys give up or you're thirsty for more. Ah! From John Hughes.

You know, I got a feeling this is gonna be your best Christmas ever. A family comedy without the family. Ah! Home Alone. What is it about that particular movie that you wanted to play that?

Well, who wouldn't want to be Kevin, right? I mean, it's all about the adventure. You get to defend your home on your own terms as a kid and eat pizza and stay up late and put on aftershave and get the burn. I mean, that is an awesome part about the movie, right? Because I think that's one thing that all kids watching that movie, they can grab from it. But me and Eli have a different reason why we love the Home Alone series.

What is that, Eli? Yeah, so growing up, we used to go to our Nana and Pat Balls who lived in Indiana. And one of our favorite movies to watch while we were there was Home Alone, whether it be one, two or three. But we would watch it and it wouldn't even have to be Christmas time. And it just reminds us of our Pat Ball.

And unfortunately, it passed away in 2015. But I think it just really brings me back to my childhood and it makes me think about those happy times with my Pat Ball. Yeah, and we watch it so much that I even got called Kevin by Nana a few times. So that kind of became a new name for me.

And you want to talk about new names. But no, it does bring us both back to our childhood, even to the point where last night we're just sitting around and we go, you know, what movie do we want to watch? It's Christmas time. And we watch Home Alone 3. And it's just one of those things that always brings us together as a family and just something that we'll always share because of that. You know, some of my favorite memories about Dallas watching that is he could watch it a thousand times and laugh just as hard, you know, every time that he watched it. And it is such a good thing. And to your point, it's got adventure. It's got a battle to fight, you know, and they're all about rescuing Kevin.

You know, that's what the family's going to get him. And so you got a lot of the method, the things that we talk about. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp coming up March 31st through April 3rd. Hi, this is Sam with Masculine Journey.

I'm here with my son Eli. We're going to talk about ways that you can help support the ministry. One way you can go to smile.amazon.com, go to smile.amazon.com. There's information on our website there on how to do that. You can go to facebook.com and click the donate button or you can go to masculinejourney.org and find the donate button, masculinejourney.org.

Or if you want to mail something in, mail it to P.O. Box 550, Kernersville, North Carolina, 27285. Are you confused and stressed by the news and our culture? I'm Maria Bear with the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. I want to invite you to join me and John Stone Street every week right here on this station for Breakpoint this week.

We provide a Christian perspective on the news that gives clarity, confidence and courage for your daily life. Don't miss it. I'm rearranging. Does that mean Christmas changes too?

Where are you Christmas? Do you remember the girl you used to know? You and I were so carefree, now nothing's easy.

Did Christmas change or just me? Wow, that's the longest bump ever. You broke like every rule. We're supposed to stay under 30 seconds. Not true professional that I am. Yeah.

They're throwing the flag on me. Yeah, we're going to review that one. A minute, 23 seconds of Mary Lou Who. It seems like so much more. But we are not going to review that one, no.

I think we needed super slow mo, where are you? Yeah, this is the masculine journey in case you're wondering. That wasn't? So, honestly, the reason I love that, I really do, is that quite often at Christmas we would go on family adventures. And when I had, my kids were small, being a Chrysler dealer, we had a minivan with a video thing in the back.

And I would take my kids like at one in the morning to wherever we were going, so they would sleep. But you know, you had to put the movie in. And so I would always put in, of course, Christmas time, How the Grinch Told Christmas.

And then I would listen to that song and ball like a baby. Yeah, we got to witness that firsthand. Because it just, it really, it speaks to my heart in so many ways. Like, you romanticize what Christmas was when you were a kid. And you're asking that very question, did Christmas change or is it me?

Right? And fascinatingly, as I have continued my walk with Christ, it's really something I have to press into every year. And I actually listen to that song very specifically every year so that I can get my, can I find it? You know, the way that song ends, if you ever listen to it, it comes back, you know, I found you. I find you Christmas.

And it has to do with when you can find that feeling back and feel like you found the Christ in Christmas. After all, his name's in the deal, you know? And so it's interesting, neither Mary Lou Who nor the Grinch ever went looking for the one whose name happens to be in the word that she is looking for. But he's there, and it's fun. Sure, throw Christ in it so I can't make fun of you. I see what you're saying. Wow, that's a good strategy.

Let's just throw Jesus right in the mix of it so I can't really come off like an idiot there. But yeah, anyway. Oh, you still can.

I still can. I have plenty of time left, plenty of time left. Well, the hardest part's going to be we keep telling Jim no on long bumps. And so maybe Jim won't listen to this show. It could happen. It could happen.

Yeah, it could happen. Well, while we're in the vein of kind of that type of a deep dive, I'm going to play my clip. It's from Love Actually. And Wayne, you can go ahead and get up and say something about it, because I know you've been waiting to. Well, I just want to make sure we set this up correctly, right?

Yeah. I want everyone to imagine Sam right now sitting in his lounge chair at the house, right? Glass of wine in his hand, tissues beside of him. Just water.

Just water. But sitting there with the tissues right next to him watching Hallmark. Yeah, yeah. But I can see that. And this movie does it to me, actually. It is not your traditional, it's not a Christian Christmas movie from the standpoint.

It's got some stuff in it that's not good for kids, right? It's from England, so there's a lot of different words they use over there that we find very offensive here, that they don't find as offensive over there, and so it's full of a lot of that. But I'm going to go ahead and play the clip. It's the intro to the movie. It's from Love Actually.

And I want to come back and talk about why I really like that. Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion is starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed.

But I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around. The reason for me, if you'd ask my kids probably what my favorite Christmas movie of all time would be, would be Christmas Vacation. And that's the one that makes me laugh, and I love to watch it. It just has a lot of fun for me.

But this is one that I won't miss in a year since I found it about four or five years ago. And it's because it brings me back to a place of, it's about love. At the end of the day, it's about love. It's not about presents. It's not about all these other things. It's about loving each other well. And in this movie, you have a lot of stories of people learning to love each other well.

You know, even some real quirky ones. You know, the rock star and his manager. You know, that they find that their friendship is something that they learn to cherish.

You know, they've been friends for so many years. And so, for me, it's a great reminder going into the busyness, the hustle and bustle of the holiday, and getting distracted on a lot of things that brings me back to this message of, it's about love. At the end of the day.

And the greatest of these is love. Right. Exactly. And so, again, it's not a family movie. Don't throw it in.

If you're offended by certain words, don't throw it in. And there's some nudity in it. Just look past that and just go on for the meaning of the movie.

Right. And it is all about that. And I really do enjoy watching that each year. And I've already watched that. I've yet to watch Christmas Vacation.

That's coming up this week sometime before New Year's. I'm going to get that in. So, moving back to Robby, one of yours. The Charlie Brown. It's actually Rodney's favorite. But I did want to, if you subscribe to Our Daily Bread, they mention that if you've ever watched Charlie Brown's Christmas, there's a spectacular thing that they've thrown into the movie that if you watch Linus, as he's going to quote Luke chapter 2 here, when he gets to the part where the angel says, be not afraid, Linus, for the first time in the history of Charlie Brown, drops his blanket. And you can watch him use his two hands to describe the rest of Luke chapter 2.

We read that this week in Devotions. And I went back and watched the clip and then clipped it. But it turned out, right, Rodney?

It was your favorite before we ever started, but let's go ahead and play it. And then let Rodney... Go ahead. Go ahead, you're going to say something?

No, just do it. Oh, well, thank you. You're hopeless, Charlie Brown.

Completely hopeless. Rats. You've been dumb before, Charlie Brown. But this time you really did it.

What a treat. I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree.

Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about. Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.

Lights, please. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid, and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Nailed it. I mean, who doesn't love Snoopy and the Peanuts anyway? But then when, what's the producers, the creator's name? Charles Schulz.

Charles Schulz. I mean, and he's like, basically, I'm going to get that in there, or you're not going to air it. And what a gem we all get to live with from there on out and get to listen to that. Worst thing is, I don't know if I ever get to see it on TV anymore. Oh, it's on YouTube. You can see it.

Yeah, I know, but it's not on regular TV. And it's really cool for me, for those of us who like The Chosen, and I won't go into any names that don't, but, you know, this year, Christmas with The Chosen, as Joseph and Mary were looking at each other, actually he was actually, you know, bearing Jesus. You know, he looked at her and said, what did your angel tell you? And it was, be not afraid. She was actually in labor. And it's really a beautiful scene of, you know, but Mary didn't drop her blanket, I'm just saying.

Nope. But, you know, it's classic stuff to think, wow, because of what Jesus did, think how many fears, I mean, how many fears I don't have is unbelievable. How many fears have you dropped? Yeah, really, especially my fear of the dark. Yeah, think about that. Everybody's dropped some fear. Dropping some fear.

Even on us that didn't like The Chosen. It's me. Sam's name in names. I'm going to play the shortest clip we have, because we have time for it, and so I'm going to go ahead and play it, and we're going to come back and talk about it.

Happy birthday! Go ahead, Andy. That's the Jesus wept of Christmas movie clips right there. It is, it is. That's good, Andy. You know, growing up, and I'd watch Frosty the Snowman, and I threw that in there because, honestly, when you would say happy birthday, it didn't dawn on me that it was Frosty's birthday.

I was just always thinking, okay, he's talking about Jesus' birthday, you know, growing up, and then I realized, oh, obviously, it's actually his birthday, you know, but I think it was such a great reminder, one of those things that they threw into some of the shows, you know, back when it wasn't as, I don't know, I don't know the word I can even choose to use for it, but I had to go through a lot of different strainers to get on the air. Filters. Filters, thank you. Not strainers. But, yeah, it's just something that, it filters strainers, it kind of does the same thing. Yeah. It works. See, I had plenty of time to get the idiot part in. Colander, maybe.

Colander. You know, I don't know, you guys. Anyway, no, it's something that just reminded me of, okay, every time I watched it, it was about Jesus' birthday.

Even as a kid, you kind of got that. Even during Frosty the Snowman and all the stuff that went with it, we know what the reason for the season is, and just enjoying it, but there is so much more. Jesus is calling us to love each other well, to love strangers well, to reach out to ones in need. All those kinds of things, the things that He calls us to do year-round, it's especially important at Christmas that we do that, and we just encourage you to go out and look for opportunities to give to others, to participate in food drives, to participate in kitchens, any of those types of things this season to kind of give back to the people in need, and then go to masculinejourney.org. We do have a bootcamp coming up March 31st through April 3rd. March 31st through April 3rd, go register now. We'd love to see you there. We'll talk to you next week. This is the Truth Network.