Stand Strong (2011)

Stand Strong: Directed by Amy Kenney. With Sean Benson, Bryce Bishop, Shelly Brandon, Alyssa Brown. Matt Webster measures his success by his possessions. Matt and his family are stripped of all they own and are humbled enough to learn what success is really all about.

“Even without the Christian trimmings about living within your means, Stand Strong is an interesting situation about a family who had been putting material possessions and acquiring them to keep up with the Jones.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChris Steele and Alison Trouse are a pair whou0026#39;ve just overextended themselves and now theyu0026#39;re in debt. Business reversals have led to him being laid off, house and car being repossessed, the family fortunately has in Jon Mckenzie a brother to Steele who takes the whole group in.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMcKenzie is a financial planner, but heu0026#39;s also a Christian and we keep hearing words about God having the right idea. We do get some biblical quotes and by giving some rather secular advice McKenzie gets Platt on the road to recovery.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Christian part comes when their youngest Nathan Dobbin is nearly killed in a climbing accident. That will make anyone reexamine whatu0026#39;s important in this world.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt seems to me weu0026#39;re talking about two separate things. Materialism and the worship of possessions you canu0026#39;t take with you. One does not have to be a fundamentalist Christian to appreciate that perspective. The second thing is that good financial planning is not a spiritual concept. The film rather falsely says the two are linked and I say, not necessarily.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGood for church audiences, The world outside will not necessarily see the connections Stand Strong tries to make.”