Knowing and loving God; people; family; friends; studying the Bible; history; theology; philosophy; music; writing; the mountains; steak, brats, bacon, fresh fruit; fresh air; art; fall; spring; sleep; play; work; mind-wandering, contemplation, and thinking (yes, there is a difference between them!); wondering and wonders; life and death; being; dialogue about any of the above; - stuff like that.
Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, Sara Groves, Water Deep, Ben Harper, Sandra McCracken; Julie Miller, Steve Goodman, Mark Heard, Jeremy Casella, John Francis, Cheryl Wheeler, Fred Small, Derek Webb, Jan Krist, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Phil Keaggy, Jars of Clay, Third Day, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Nickle Creek, Solas, Pierce Pettis, Greg Brown, Van Morrison, Indelible Grace, and lots and lots of others across the musical spectrum. So much music, so little time!
King of Hearts; Little Big Man; Harold and Maude; Brother Sun, Sister Moon; Chariots of Fire; Gandhi; The Dark Crystal; The Mission; Platoon; The Princess Bride; Scrooged; Dances with Wolves; The Sandlot; October Sky; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; A Beautiful Mind; Secondhand Lions; The Ladykillers; Little Miss Sunshine
Generally not suitable for human consumption. However, there are few exceptions: Northern Exposure was great (ran from 1990-1995); other worthwhile programs include: Austin City Limits, News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Bill Moyers, Late Show with David Letterman.
The Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress, Horton Hears a Who, The Irresistible Revolution, The Myth Of A Christian Nation, Thy Kingdom Come by Randall Balmer, Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace, Love Your Enemies, The Politics of Jesus, God's Politics, Captain America and the Crusade against Evil, Anxious About Empire, A Peoples History of the United States, Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America, The Life of Arthur W Pink, Almost anything by:, Arthur W Pink, Martin Lloyd-Jones, A.W. Tozer.
Well, no one surpasses Jesus, but being that he's God that's pretty much a given! Then there are the big names, like Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Jimmy Carter, and of course the Lord's motley assortment of apostles and deciples; these are all good ones. BUT, mostly my heroes are folks who generally live under the radar of popularity while loving and living like Jesus. Folks like Ben and Holly (check out "Building Peace in Northern Uganda" at http://www.hollyandben.blogspot.com/). And folks in all kinds of circumstances who get themselves out of bed each day to do their very best at whatever "mundane" task is at hand doing the best they can to serve the Lord by loving the best they can with a real, gritty love (not the schmaltzy pseudo-stuff) even though it is often like being a salmon swimming up stream arriving exausted and battered to die at the end of their journey and yet they faithfully struggle on with integrity and grace and sacrificial love... these folks are heroes.