A Busy Day
Oh, my goodness gracious, it turned out to be a very busy day today. We were planning, Jackie and I, to get a bite to eat for breakfast at Citrus Café and go to the City Hall to get absentee ballot information for the presidential election for this November 2024. Every presidential election because it is the only one, I really worry about. With the campaigning going on this year, I am very worried about right now. Please understand that I am not happy with both democrats and republicans alike. My vote this year is going to be a tough one. The commercials are unavoidable! Oh, my goodness gracious people, some of us will do ANYTHING to get to where we want these days with the freedom of speech now-a-days.
Before I go any further, I better get back on track of my day being a busy day. Anyway, Jackie and I included my neighbor and friend Marie H in our plans for the morning that was breakfast and going to the City Hall. It was a treat for Marie because she does help me out on a regular basis. My treat to pay for her breakfast. Jackie also thought of getting Marie away from the building and from a friend of ours who happens to be demanding at times. Marie does not have the ability to say no sometimes. It is a sad situation some of the time. We care for Marie and get upset with her when she makes unwise choices like every other friend. After the errand at the City Hall, we were walking home and Jackie mentioned going to the movies and halfway home we decided to go to Garden Court and drop off the food leftovers and grab bus tokens for the city bus. We then got on the bus in front of Garden Court and transferred to the Milton Avenue bus to get off near Pine Tree Plaza by Home Depot.
We decided to see The Firing Squad that was based on a true story from 2015. It had Eric Roberts, Kevin Sorbo, and Cuba Gooding Jr. in it. I wanted to see it because of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kevin Sorbo. I recognized Eric Roberts in the movie, but couldn’t remember his name until looking up about the movie until later this evening while being home watching a movie or two to relax. I also wanted to write in my diary here before it got too late.
Anyway, I want to admit that after I did not want to see The Firing Squad until I learned that it was based on a true story, and it was Christian based movie. The men in the movie found Jesus while they were in prison in a third world country (Indonesia) on death row. Being on death row in this third world country Indonesia for selling drugs is punishable by death because selling drugs there is not tolerated. As far as it gets, I get it, but the death penalty. Is it not too extreme? What are your thoughts? I think it should be a lengthy prison sentence, but the death penalty.
The Firing Squad Movie
Another anyway… I did find the movie incredibly good even though I disagreed with the death penalty. Yeah, I get it is a third world country, but I am not there. God has me where I am for a reason. The men in the movie were about three men who got caught selling drugs in the third world country Indonesia while trying to leave on a jet plane to get back to the states. The military police arrested two men and a woman before they left for take off. The girl, a girlfriend of one of the two men, was free to go because she did not know something, but the two men were sent to court and told they were being punished for selling drugs and it is the death penalty, and sent to prison on death row. At this point the two men find their friend who had been arrested for having the drugs. As the weeks and months pass, the three men accept Jesus into their lives, and are at peace and ready to die for their wrongdoing of selling drugs. At one point, Peter, their oriental friend who was played by an actor I did not recognize, and Samuel played by Cuba Gooding Jr., tried to escape by being dressed up in clothes to look like reporters. They did get away for a little while, but the police found them trying to ride the subway. They were back in prison.
As the movie continues, the men learn about Jesus with another prisoner named Pastor Lynbrook who is Kevin Sorbo’s character in the movie. Peter and their Asian friend learn about Jesus and accept Him in their lives before their execution of the firing squad. As Peter learns and accept Jesus as his personal savior and Lord, he learns of Pastor Lynbrook’s reason for being in prison to be executed by the firing squad. Why Lynbrook was in for the death penalty was because he killed his wife while an argument they were having. Pastor Lynbrook’s execution was coming up and he asked Peter to continue with running the church for the other men. He did, reluctantly at first, but did so until his execution. Anyway, it came that Pastor Lynbrook and Peter’s Asian friend were up to be executed together. Peter’s Asian friend was one of two Asian men in the movie who did not have character names in the listing of characters I found on wikipedia tonight while reading about it. Anyway, the Asian man was crying and screaming and acting like a child by having a tantrum over the fact that he was going to be executed. Pastor LynBrook spoke up and said that the Asian man was scared. Well, the firing squad shot the Asian man and Pastor Lynbrook.
Weeks go by and soon it became Peter’s and Samuel’s turn for being executed. There were two other men I did not recognize in the movie and were not on the list of characters. As the days continued, Peter and Samuel were staffing the church sessions with other men finding Jesus while they were still alive and finding solace in church. When it came to Peter and Sam, they sang their favorite exiting song, and it sounded very were executed that night. Peter had gotten to know a woman who visited the men to pray with them named Miriam. Miriam was Madeline Anderson. She was the only woman in the movie and she and Peter fell in love and got married in the church the night before his execution, and asked another prisoner to take over after he was gone. This is where Peter and Sam sang their exiting song Amazing Grace with the other guys. That evening, all the prisoners said their goodbyes and Sam began to sing Amazing Grace while walking out and several inmates and police began to sign with Sam and Peter. As they walked outside, the men went to the wall and get prepared for their executions. As the warden told his men to aim and fire, they hesitate for a moment before shooting and freeze. The warden gets a little angry and tells them to aim and fire a second time, his men finally aim and shoot, leaving the four men dead on the ground. As the warden and his firing squad get back in the building, the warden is not a happy man and yells at the prisoners, bullying a couple of them about their God.
As the movie continues to end, it is the next day and the prisoners are in the church. As the prisoner who oversees the church service that morning, Mariam was there to support the prisoner in charge of the sermon that morning, had asked the prisoners if anyone wants to come up to accept Jesus in their lives to come forward at this time. CNo prisoner does get up, but the door opens in the back and in steps in someone as the camera only shows boots walking in and up, and everyone in the room see who it is as a camera angle upward to show it is the warden himself. As the camera gets to his face that he is crying, and tears are going down his face, and he ends up dropping to the floor onto his knees. We see the gentleman who is leading the sermon is tears. Miriam, who told Peter, that her mother got it in her head at age 12 not to show tears, was now crying for the first time ever in the movie. When the warden was kneeling, the prisoner leading the prayer and Miriam went to lay hands on the warden to pray for the warden to have Jesus in his life.
The warden did not believe in God or love because he lost his wife to cancer and became a man who did not believe in God anymore. I am not going to say heathen, agnostic, or atheist because he was not any of those things. He called other prisoners heathens, though, throughout the movie. As the leader and Miriam put their hands on the warden to pray, the movie took a moment before fading to black for the end of the movie went to ending credits.
Going Back Home
After the movie, we got to the bus stop and waited for Milton Avenue bus to come to us and go to the rest of the route to the bus station and transfer to West Court Street bus in front of Garden Court, then get inside after talking to a tenant that wanted information about work. That conversation was between Jackie and the tenant, but Marie and I did not say anything—just listened. After the conversation, we walked into the building behind the tenant who was kind to hold the inside door open since we were close behind her, lol. I believe she said her name was Jennifer. I know many Jennifers and Jennies these days. The Jennifers I know are Jennys. There is one friend named Jennie and she is not Jenny or Jennifer. Just Jennie. She will tell you so 😂 in an unkind manner and walk away from you.
Good Night
Well, friends, it is time to say good night. It was an enjoyable day and now I am tired and tired and ready for my nightly rest. I have dialysis in the morning now, and those kinds of days sneak me quite fast.