I'm one who loves adjusting and readjusting and tweaking and learning. One friend mentioned how nice it was to have the preview of the next day's show, so I added that as a regular feature. Another friend noted to me that she really appreciated how, in episode 3, I recapped the show (with just a little bit of commentary here and there) and then did the review, applying the Gospel filter, at the end.
So, I'm working on being more intentional with structure. If the show is one topic I'll recap then review; if the show has different segments, like today, I'll recap and review that segment and then move on and format the post so that's clear! If I do an end review, with one major theme, then I may do a Pause! at times to interject a gospel truth that would make sense at the moment but not at the end.
And, did you notice? I included the name of the episode in the title, not just the episode number. Happy day!
All right, here we go! For today's episode, the general theme is Oprah making people's dreams come true, so I'll recap each section and do one review at the end with some Pause! moments here and there.
Monica "the Warrior Mom"
Recap
Three years ago, healthy mother Monica gave birth to her second daughter. Soon thereafter, she contracted a flesh eating bacteria and lost both of her hands and the bottom half of both of her legs. She's had a great attitude, and was one of Oprah's favorite guests because she refused to give up. That's true, even now, as her husband has lost his job and things in their house don't work for her. Her three-year-old has to work the child safety lock to open kitchen drawers for her.
While taping, one of Oprah's camera crew accidentally broke a chair, so Oprah brought out Nate Berkus, designer extraordinaire, to replace the chair. He then spoke of how inspired he's been by Monica's story, and you just know she's getting a lot more than a new wooden dining chair. And... they get a house! This is so cool--the family gets to find the perfect house, and then Nate will team up with Lowe's to design the house not just to be beautiful but to be livable for Monica.
Kristin & Laurie, Owners of the Centerville Pie Company
Recap
Two women in Cape Cod, Massachusetts opened up a pie shop in the spring of 2009. They heard Oprah and her best friend Gayle were in town for Eunice Kennedy Shriver's funeral. They miraculously got past Oprah's security and after one bite of chicken pot pie Oprah had to have more and bought more to take home to her friends. After some newspaper "pie-gate" drama with not being able to prove Oprah--the Oprah Winfrey!--fell in love with some small restaurant's pies, it was confirmed and the restaurant went from 20-ish pies a week to 200!
When the CEO of a local charity, Cape Abilities, came in, the women got an idea. They could team up with Cape Abilities and now they employ 30 adults with special needs to make pies for their company. So, Oprah has the two women on her show, and they think they're just talking about their pies and telling the story of their restaurant and helping others such as people like those at Cape Abilities.
Pause!
Oprah notes that she was in Cape Cod for Eunice Kennedy Shriver's funeral, and she was the founder of the Special Olympics. She discovered Centerville Pie Company while there, and her loving their pie led to them working with special needs adults. She says that she feels that somehow the spirit of Eunice Kennedy Shriver was there making this happen.
Reject! When a person dies, their spirit does not stick around and hang out with humans. They die and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Those who received forgiveness of sin and belong to Jesus stay with Him; those who rejected Him go to hell. I don't know if Eunice Kennedy Shriver is in heaven or hell, but she certainly is not hanging around Cape Cod, MA anymore.
Reject! When a person dies, their spirit does not stick around and hang out with humans. They die and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Those who received forgiveness of sin and belong to Jesus stay with Him; those who rejected Him go to hell. I don't know if Eunice Kennedy Shriver is in heaven or hell, but she certainly is not hanging around Cape Cod, MA anymore.
Ok, so the two women are just excited to be on Oprah. They don't know that today's show is about ultimate wildest dreams coming true. Surprise! Harry and David love Centerville pies and they want to sell their pies both online and in all their stores nationwide. Not only will they appeal to Harry and David's customer base of three million people annually, but Kristin and Laurie get the profits and a percentage of all pies sold will go to Cape Abilities. Their famed chicken pot pie is even going to be Harry and David's November pie of the month. People can go to the website and pre-order today; I have a feeling these ladies are gonna sell a LOT of pies!
Vera Wang, "the Queen of Wedding Couture"
Recap
Vera Wang is quite the bridal dress designing queen, so they discuss how finding the perfect wedding dress is such a emotional, powerful experience. Backstage is Lashea (I'm guessing on the spelling, since it's not shown), who doesn't know Vera Wang is there, but who told Oprah that finding the perfect man was a cinch compared to finding the perfect dress.
Pause!
I am not assuming that all women care more about the wedding than the marriage, but single ladies: put far more work and effort into your character and your relationship with Christ to prepare for a long and godly marriage than worrying about the perfect dress or perfect cake to try and create the perfect day. Far too many women plan their wedding their whole lives but don't work on their character, and then their marriage quickly goes to shambles; let's redeem weddings by letting them be one sweet and wonderful day to start off a lifetime of even sweeter and better days of marriage!
On the show, we cut to tape: Lashea and her fiance, Chris, grew up without much but have worked hard to make a better life for themselves. Chris is in Afghanistan, serving in the military in large part to better their financial lives. Lashea describes how much she loves Vera Wang, but explains that Vera Wang is the Rolls Royce and she's on a Ford budget.
Back to live: Oprah asks Lashea if she thinks it's such an interesting coincidence that she's in the audience, talking about how much she loves Vera Wang but can't afford her on the tape, "but look who just happens to be here!" You know, Vera Wang. Oprah then has a whole slew of brides to be, I'm guessing 30-40, stand up in the audience. Oprah brings out models in Vera Wang dresses and tells the brides-to-be that they can have any one of those gowns. The women cheer and cry, and it's a sweet moment. Vera talks about how she's teaming up with David's Bridal with this more affordable line.
And we're done... but no! Oprah has the fiancee's stand back up and tells them that they are each getting $250 Kohl's gift cards for some clothes. And then Oprah says it's done, chill out, sit down. And then she says stand back up, because where are they going? Each woman gets a $4,000 gift card to use at any Marriott Hotel and Resort location. But how will they get their? United Airlines is giving them travel vouchers to go anywhere in the USA, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Canada. Oprah tells them, "If you can dream it you can do it... I'm so happy for all of you." And, as a bride myself three years ago, I feel it and am happy for them, too!
Last but not least, Kohl's wants "everyone to feel the love" so the entire studio audience gets $250 gift cards. It's the usual--jumping, crying, cheering, FREE STUFF! I might have to work this season to not get cynical... maybe I'd be that excited, but it's just some free clothes. We have a tight budget that rarely allows for clothes and I would be happy but not jumping up and down over some free clothes. Am I grounded and realistic or too cynical? Hmmm.
Denni Foster and Family
Recap
Denni Foster is a single mom of three who has worked incredibly hard to give her children a good life. Her husband left when the children were young and took everything they had. Denni and the children lost their home to foreclosure and had to live with others or even in their van at times. Since then, Denni has never worked less than three jobs at a time. She is a full-time schoolteacher and has done everything from taking in other people's laundry to cleaning homes and working at restaurants on nights and weekends to provide. All three of her children have graduated college and her oldest, a son, is in medical school. Denni has $78,000 in undergraduate student loans for her children.
Her children describe wanting their mother to be happy, to have everything she wants and not just working to give them what they want. Denni, however, says that being a parent has always been a total joy and that it's never been work for her, because she had something so special to come home to. Heart moving stuff; I love families who love one another!
Denni tells Oprah she thinks they're on the show to prove that it can be done, because she was told that it's a show about single moms making it work to take care of their children. But sometimes Oprah's producers fib. We know Denni's greatest dream is to go on a trip to Italy, and so Oprah's "friends" at Marriott and United Airlines are sending Denni and her children on a luxury trip to Italy! Denni tells Oprah that she is the ultimate educator of people and has been Denni's greatest inspiration. Very sweet. But what about those loans?
Sidenote: Commercials include that Joyce Meyer spot again. See early in yesterday's post for thoughts on that.
So, back to Denni... yay! The loans weren't forgotten! She'll be "a young 93" when she pays them off. Instead, Oprah and her team will pay them off now, from $78,000 to zero. And that's not all! Oprah gets teared up when she tells Denni that she wants to do something just for her, because she can't do something for every single mom out there. Oprah is personally paying an entire year's salary for Denni to take a year off. Very cool for her!
Oprah's Latest Book Club Pick
Recap
Oprah talks about one of her greatest dreams coming true, starting her book club 14 years ago today. Oprah says she'll have books all season long and she'll keep it going when she moves over to OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). So, the newest book club pick is Freedom, a novel by Jonathan Franzen. Oprah says it's a masterpiece that spans three generations of what looks like a perfect family in Minnesota and all of the stuff happening behind the scenes.
Oprah guarantees it will be "the best novel you have ever read". So we will see! Since the show will have an episode about the book later, I should read it. I just went and bought it for my Kindle App on my iPhone, and when she does the show about it I'll have it read so I can speak into it's message and what Oprah shares about it.
Gospel Filter Review
I've touched on this before, but I will hit on it all season long. I love that Oprah does things like this. This will change Monica's entire life, along with her family. I'm happy for the brides, and for Denni. Such blessings. I'm only very sad that people see Oprah as the ultimate gift giver and not Jesus.
As for Oprah, I don't want her to stop being generous. But we can't just receive her generosity, because the Bible teaches that good works that aren't out of a desire for His glory, even the most beautifully moving act of generosity, is as delightful and useful to God as used menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6; polluted garment literally means the modern day equivalent as used and bloodied tampon. And yes, it's meant to be gross. That's now much God detests people trying to earn favor apart from glorifying His Son!). Instead, we need to redeem Oprah's generosity.
First, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to search us. He knows our motivations. Maybe you serve, serve, serve, serve, but it has nothing to do with Jesus. You want to feel useful, you fear rejection if you say no, you want others to think of you a certain way, etc. Maybe you do good things simply because you get to feel good. Then you have received your reward in full (see Matthew 6:2 and beyond). As I said in my first post, the purpose of doing good and generous things is to honor God and worship Him. He wants you to be so secure in His goodness and love for you that you give, love, and serve others out of love flowing back toward God and to others because God first love you and gave His Son Jesus to die for you. If you aren't doing good works out of love for God, and the Holy Spirit convicts you, you can repent! You can ask for God's forgiveness, available to you through Christ's death on the cross if you have received that free gift of grace, and ask Him to change your motives and change your heart!
Secondly, we need to pray this for Oprah. As I also said in my first post, she will stand before Jesus someday and account for her life. All of us will. It will not matter if she gives away every last penny of her billions upon billions dollar fortune; if she doesn't not receive Jesus' free gift of salvation and forgiveness for her sin then Jesus' words to her, despite the many amazing things she has done, will be, "Depart from me, for I never knew you," and she will spend eternity apart from God in hell. That breaks my heart because I really, really enjoy Oprah. I love many things about her and ache for her to know Jesus. I pray that Jesus would save Oprah, that she would live for His glory, and that many, many would come to know and love Him because of her. Will you join me in praying for her, and that this Gospel truth will reach many of her viewers?
All right. Week one done! Five episodes down, 125 to go! I'm excited to see what Jesus does in me and, I hope, through this blog in the next 8 1/2 months!
Up Monday: "Waiting for Superman: the Movement That Could Revolutionize American Schools". It will have Bill Gates, film director David Guggenheim, and John Legend and center around their work to fix the problem of education in America.
Quick request: Do you like this format, with headlines and such? Could I make things better? Please share your thoughts!
I like the headlines. Makes it easier to follow.
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