Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.

The good news of the Gospel is Jesus has come, and Jesus will come again.

Jesus does not put us on trial and make us pay for our own sin, but he, himself, is put on trial in our place.

Scott Hall may not have been a theologian or a preacher but for me, at that moment he might as well have been.

I finally watched the film “Encanto” with my kids. I had heard many people say the subtext of this movie was deeper than most. So, we snuggled up on the couch and watched it to see what everyone was talking about.

In honor of this anniversary celebration, here are five fun facts about The Lord of the Rings that I hope you will enjoy.

It is in your lows where Christ has hidden his highest high, eternal life itself.

Jesus did not come because we had our act together. He came because we couldn’t get our act together.

Jesus lives to intercede. So we needn’t bring him our feigned righteousness or our faux rehabilitation.

The forgiveness of your sins and your reconciliation with God the Father courtesy of Christ’s cross and blood is gifted to you, for you.

Christ urges us to love our neighbor as He loved us, forgiving all of their sins - giving them the absolving, shirt-pulling, embrace that we would also want.

It wasn’t a perfect image, but it was still there, even in its cartoonish movie magic distortion. It was an element of the Gospel right there in front of me.