You had me at hello.

I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

The fall will probably kill you!

You make me want to be a better man.

It amazes me that, even though some of Hollywood's classic films are half a century old, most of the college students I teach have seen the best of the best! Steven Spielberg's wonderfully inventive Back to the Future came out in 1985, but just about everybody has seen Marty McFly rev the DeLorean up to 88 mph and jet his way back to Mill Valley High where his mom and dad need his help in order to fall in love.

It's been said that cinematic story telling involves putting an appealing character up a tree, and then some antagonist throws rocks at him. I don't know about that, but we can all relate to the dilemma of facing a frightening foe (like a man-eating shark.) What's the solution? Well, for sure you're going to need a bigger boat. I confess that movies do have their seamy side, and an R-rating is nothing to take lightly. But all the stories alluded to in this book share something about the human condition, and how desperately our world needs a Redeemer who immersed Himself in the rough-and-tumble life stories of the people Jesus loved and blessed.

When a bunch of American GIs rescue Private Ryan, several losing their lives in the effort, is Matt Damon then morally obliged to earn this? What do the grisly electric-chair executions in The Green Mile tell us about the nature of eternal hellfire? Why doesn't a loving God who knows about the iceberg and 11:40 p.m., April 14, 1912, rescue the innocent souls aboard Titanic?

Without a doubt, I've missed some of your favorite stories, and for that I apologize. Perhaps we can make this a double bill. You get the popcorn; Ill take notes.

David B. Smith is also the author of the ten-book Rachel Marie series of love stories all set in his childhood home of Bangkok. The first story, "Love in a Distant Land," is an audiobook production starring Tonya Foster Yancey.