Justice Carmon: author, artist, teacher

We're Number One! - And You're Number Two!

2012-01-26T10:27:00.007-06:00

One of the biggest dangers all saints encounter is the 'better than you' earworm that invades our minds and hearts as we try to proclaim what we once denied.

'Better than we used to be' is quite true, and yes, if we are led by Christ and have received his forgiveness, we are 'doing better' than another who does not know Him or has not been given His righteousness.

But the idea that we ARE better simply because we are safe, or nothing truly bad has happened to us, or because we belong to party 'X' is absolutely false for all human beings, everywhere, everytime. God is out to save our souls, not our bodies [though He does still heal bodies, Virginia].

Job was one of the first victims of this mentality that if something bad is happening to you, you are being punished by God. Not so in his case: he was enduring a particularly vicious assault by Satan.

But it WAS for a season - and God DOES justify Job, so we do know what was going on behind the scenes; Job was not getting his come-uppance; Job was getting his inheritance of being a righteous man in a world "with devils filled."

Comedy Is What Happens to You; Tragedy Is What Happens to Me

I wonder if the reason we watch the local news night after night - or watch horror movies - or chase after anything that has an unredeemable ending is because it helps us feel better that it did NOT happen to us, thank God!"

And when things DO go bad?

Well, of course, we blame God.

Not Satan.

The negative side of being a cozy-at-home TV-watching hobbit is the laziness attached. "No adventures for us, thank you! - but if you will show them to me from a safe distance I will peek at them!" We see it in what information we consume: movies, news, gossip, 'reality TV', etc.

Smug, safe, secure, we honestly think that God will judge us kindly for having 'stayed out of trouble.' For being 'wise' and politically savvy.

Jesus answers that false belief in Luke 13:1-9:

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?

3 "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

5 "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

For Non-Christians Who Are Smug in their 'Non-Hypocritical Rationality"

Look, I know its hard to do this in an election season: to not feel smug or better than the 'other guy' who [insert foolish concept] which will destroy the country, destroy the rights of [group x]. I have certain, strong, Bible-based, God-breathed commands about what kind of man I can vote for and what kind of man I cannot.

But God forbid I forget that I once WAS on the other side of the political fence,slamming my vote card down AGAINST ALL CONSERVATIVES and ALL WHO DID NOT HELP 'THE LITTLE GUY'!

I slowly and surely found out IMX that those who voted so 'wrongly' were DOING what I was mouthing about. They were helping the poor, loving their families, and more forgiving than a thousand of 'my kind.'

And Jesus showed me that. He showed me that to be 'righteous' was agreeing WITH HIM and not a party, nor a particular ideology.

When Jesus is telling the folks above unless they repent, they must have been shocked.

But He knew. He knew that the words they were saying meant "Yeah -they really got it bad - must have deserved it, huh Jesus?"

And He HAD been hoping they would get the point [this 'crowd' had been around Him for some time] - He was the one doing the miracles, not them! He was the righteous one come to save them, not affirm how good they were being!

So He says plainly: "Unless YOU - yes, YOU - repent, you will also perish [meaning NO EVERLASTING LIFE]." Dead to God means 'DEAD' spiritually and thus, eternally.

So if you think you are number one because you are a Republican or a Democrat, liberal or a conservative, American or blessed to be born in another place, Jesus has one word of warning for you:

Repent!

I think that is clear enough, don't you?

Patriots Escape With Win...

2012-01-22T21:11:00.004-06:00

It was an amazing drive - and amazing pass for a TD that was held on 1 second too little.

So the Ravens had to settle for tying up the game with a field goal and go into overtime.

From about 32 yards out.

And missed.

It was such a heart-breaking ridiculous failure, that I felt sorry for the kicker instead of enraged.

The Ravens QB and offense made it a battle royale and it was some of the best football a man could hope to watch, with stunning back-to-back reversals of possession that looked like a script from a movie.

And then the sad, pathetic, humiliating miss of a field goal.

AFTER an end-zone catch that was ripped away by an alert, never-say-die Patriot defense.

There was only one thing to do.

Show the humor.

Thus, the cartoon above.

Ravens, you are awesome. You truly are.

And you need to love and accept Bill Cundiff's game-ending gaff - and if he EVER does anything that sloppy again...

...please don't make me watch it.

Ow.

God bless Billy.

It's gotta hurt.

Owowowowowowowowowowowowowowowwww....

peace
justice

It's Hammer Time - or Is It? Who is Worthy?

2012-01-18T15:19:00.001-06:00

I re-watched Thor with a bud last night, and since he was not a comic geek like moi, had to explain that what is so special about Thor's power is that his hammer CANNOT be used at all by anyone who is not worthy.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy shall possess the power of Thor!"

"Worthy" is such an archaic term in the vast politically correct non-judgmental moral milieu of today that it was refreshing to me just to HEAR the word - as well as the words "coward" and "sworn" and "allegiance" - spoke with meaning and respect, without mockery.

Now some of us have only heard the word rarely, and maybe their point of reference is like mine: its use in "Wayne's World" the movie, when Wayne and Garth meet classic iconic rock star Alice Cooper and are invited to hang out with him - at this honor, they fall to the ground, saying "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!!" [ YouTube clip here ]

I gotta admit, I love that clip! Especially when Alice offers his "ring hand" to kiss. :D

But humor aside, that is what worthiness ends up implying - only a few really are 'worthy.'

It is a judgment call.

Now let us be clear here - not a 'judgmental call' - excluding good and proper people due to some false or separatist criteria held by a select few. It is rather a call to judge, rightly, what is worthy of respect and honor.

Back to Thor - one of the heart-breaking moments in the film is when Thor realizes he has LOST his prized gift from Odin All-Father: he can no longer wield mjolnir, his mystic Uru hammer.

The son has discovered he is not worthy. Even the SHIELD agents stop and watch the heartbreak.

He had heard Odin tell him he was unworthy, due to pride and was cast to Earth - but now, reaching for his favored weapon, he discovers the loss of power as well as position.

He is not just not a god anymore; he is not even ason - and therefore, he will never be esteemed again. He has lost his identity before his heavenly Father.

He is mortal and will die as a mortal.

Thankfully, later he does just that - willingly sacrificing his life to save those who have loved him.

In so doing, he proves he he has been changed. He has cast off the selfish sin of pride and ego.

He then is worthy to wield mjolnir - again.

Now the Christ-allusions are obvious, but are not precisely parallel. It is enough for me to see the god-man come to Earth and die for those He loved. But this is a story of personal redemption as well - this god-like man was arrogant and needed to die to his own ego and self before receiving the honor and position of king.

That is soooo like Christ-followers and what we must go through before God can use us. We must die to self. We must prove ourselves worthy of the calling we have received by GRACE - yeah, folks - we were not worthy, and we are made worthy by God. The crowd that wants to be saved without all that jazz about being changed or becoming holy is living in dreamland. God has to humble us to use us.

You see it in the men of the Bible - both Old and New Testament. They are taken out of the world, placed in crucibles and trials by fire BEFORE they are given power and authority to do great wonders and miracles. From Joseph to Moses to Elijah to Peter and Paul and of course, Jesus our Lord.

But if you ARE willing to be humbled - to see your own pride and ego first, to confess it and humble yourself before God, you may indeed find yourself holding a hammer - "to build or to destroy - a fit weapon for a king" as Odin says.

And one day, upon giving your life in service, you too will see the King of Kings, smiling, scarred, glowing with joy and power before you, wanting only to have you in His presence forever and ever and you will sing with the multitudes:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

It is clear from scripture that what makes us unworthy is pride - and if we want to get our position restored and have the power to change the world for the better, we will need to go to our Father and admit we are unworthy.

He will restore us and grant us authority, even as He did for His disciples - if we are willing.

May you have the courage to do so today.

And yeah, me too.

Amen.

It's Hammer Time - or - Who Is Worthy?

2012-01-18T13:54:00.002-06:00

I re-watched Thor with a bud last night, and since he was not a comic geek like moi, had to explain that what is so special about Thor's power is that his hammer CANNOT be used at all by anyone who is not worthy.

"Worthy" is such an archaic term in the vast politically correct non-judgmental moral milieu of today that it was refreshing just to HEAR the word - as well as the words "coward" and "sworn" and "allegiance" spoke with meaning and relevance, without mockery.

Now some of us have only heard the word rarely, and probably their point of reference is like mine: its use in "Wayne's World" the movie, when Wayne and Garth meet classic iconic rock star Alice Cooper and are invited to hang out with him - at this honor, they fall to the ground, saying "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!!" [ YouTube clip here ]

I gotta admit, I love that clip! Especially when Alice offers his "ring hand" to kiss. :D

But humor aside, that is what worthiness ends up meaning - only a few really are 'worthy.'

It is a judgment call.

Now be clear here - not a 'judgmental call' - excluding good and proper people due to some false or separatist criteria held by a few - a call to judge, rightly, what is worthy of respect and honor.

And PART of the humor is these two middle-aged 'losers' bowing down before a man dressed in black eye make-up who then reacts with great affectation.

Back to Thor - one of the heart-breaking moments in the film is when Thor realizes he has LOST his prized gift from Odin All-Father: he can no longer wield Mjolnir, his mystic Uru hammer.

The son has discovered he is not worthy. Even the SHIELD agents stop and watch the heartbreak.

He had heard Odin tell him he was unworthy, due to pride and was cast to Earth - but now, reaching for his favored weapon, he discovers the loss of power as well as position.

He is not just not a god anymore; he is not even a son - and therefore, he will never be esteemed again. He has lost his identity before his heavenly Father.

He is mortal and will die as such. And later on, he does just that willingly sacrificing his life to save mortals.

In so doing, he proves he he has changed. He has cast off the sin of pride and ego.

He then is worthy to wield Mjolnir - again.

And one day, upon giving your life in service, you too may see the King of Kings, smiling, scarred, glowing with joy and power before you, wanting only to have you in His presence forever and ever and you will say with the multitudes:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

It is clear from scripture that what makes us unworthy is pride - and if we want to get our position restored and have the power to change the world for the better, we will need to go to our Father and admit we are unworthy.

May you have the courage to do so today.

And yeah, me too.

Amen.

Merry Christmas, Hobbits!

2011-12-24T23:51:00.004-06:00

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Merry Christmas from a man in his very own hobbit-hole in Wheaton.

I might as well finally admit it to myself - I have a wonderfully full, cozily cluttered warm hobbit hole, thanks to a lady who loves good food and gardening.

Yeah.

She be a hobbit, she is.

And living here is good, especially on quiet nights after a busy day of cooking, singing, worship, yard work, present wrapping, clothes washing and cleaning.

AFTER we ate breakfast this morning in downtown Wheaton where I ate TWO stacks of deee-lectable blueberry pancakes. I really did - I liked the short stack served with my meal so much I ordered another side of blueberry pancakes!

I helped vacuum and clean mirrors and watched the ending of 'It's a Wonderful Life'... crud, I AM A HOBBIT!

Not that that is a bad thing, but it is far too domestic for a saint... or is it?

I suspect I will have to go on an adventure [re: mission trip] soon to keep my heart right and not TOO comfy - but for now, it is a loving bit of grace.

You know what is even more hobbit-like?

We intend to have five guests for dinner tomorrow. Heh. I hope they won't be too offended if i refer to them as 'dwarves'. ;)

Well, I guess I better get to bed.

Santa's coming!

And for those of us who love hobbits, here's the newest trailer - the two-part film is due to hit the cinemas next December with part one: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HOBBITS!!

Amen.

The Economy Is Down But The Dark Knight Rises

2011-12-20T00:51:00.002-06:00

"I have never seen the righteous begging for bread."

That's from the psalms, and effectively, the author is confirming "what you sow, you reap" principle Jesus stated - and that upright men and women get their needs met by God and His people all the time.

We like to think otherwise, because we are full of pride and self-justification. If we are poor, it someone else's fault. That is almost true - the fact is we just put our trust in the wrong place, not God. When we trust God and keep working, we win.

But I had to LEARN that myself. It's taken a while.

I am SO lazy, so easily made comfy in the least settings, I see it faster in myself than anyone else. My out-go exceeds my in-come all the time. It is stupid and I need to repent of it. Frankly, I am filthy rich with goods and food - I am only CASH poor.

It was when I came to Christ, in a very wealthy church, that I finally grokked that just because so-and-so has more money than me, it is not HIS fault for not paying my bills.

I am just a bad manager of money. Period. To make it, invest it, sacrifice and not waste it, takes a lot of self-discipline I just do not have. But when I trusted God, I began working hard for Him and trusting Him to provide as I obeyed and in 10 years, I paid off a $30K debt. These days, I have a credit card with a couple grand of debt on it and frankly, if I sold everything I owned, I'd be flush.

So, clearly, I am no Bruce Wayne.

[Girls interested in matrimony - RUN! Yes, both of you! ;)]

The reason I am saying this is because the Nolan boys are tapping on this "the rich SHOULD be victims" nerve we all feel in bad economic times in the latest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

Anyway, watch the trailer and you will see what I mean:

Looks awesome, does it not? The destruction of Gotham, the chaos and carnage and battle on what looks to be City Hall steps...

In my experience, I have found that MOST of the men I met who had wealth - MOST - were incredibly generous and only wanted to find how they could keep employees employed, and what cause was the best to donate into, how to keep using their wealth to provide good things for others.

Money was a tool, not a god.

I think, once again, the Nolan brothers will remind us that "to whom much is given, much is required" and we must ALL vigilantly defend our hearts against the jealousy and hatred that is so tasty to our souls when someone else succeeds.

Heh. A thought came to me. I might as well confess it.

One of my favorite pastimes in college before I came to Christ was to spit on each and every car that had a personalized license plate - what I saw a symbol of utmost vanity and pride.

I WAS the one with the pride - it was just manifested as self-pity.

God showed me I did not have to hate someone for NOT suffering as I did.

I needed to ask Him to make it better.

May you too ask and find His love and provision today.

Amen.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm & backwards masking

2011-12-07T16:15:00.009-06:00

I am sitting at Wheaton Public Library, typing away on my new laptop in the 'silent room' reserved for serious students.

Due to the re-modelling of the library a few years ago, I have a spectacular winter view of Adam's Park as the sun sets.

So to aid me in my solitude of sound, on a bleak December afternoon, I am listening to the Batman: Mask of the Phantasm soundtrack crafted by the late great Shirley Walker. It matches the chill December afternoon well with its somber brass and melancholy themes.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an overlooked gem. It was WAY ahead of Batman Begins, taking a key motivational element from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One in its retelling of WHY Bruce Wayne became not only a crime-fighter, but the masked Bat-Man - a terrifying scourge for the underworld!

The movie plays out the tragedy and heroism that surrounds the Batman - that what keeps making Batman such a heroic figure IS the personal hard choices. It is good stuff and folks, if you have not seen it, you ought to. Personally, I was blown away by it in the theater [I had no idea it was coming out, so poor was the marketing] but my best bud only remarked "I just paid $6 to watch a cartoon?" so my opinion and rave is NOT universal.

If the EXACT same script had been shot with live actors, I think his tone would have changed.

Bruce Wayne does something with taking on this identity that Christ-followers in service need to do. We need to wear and be Christ, just as Bruce needs to be this avenging angel of the night. He wants the criminals to FEEL the terror they dish out to others, and frankly, I have no problem with that for the unrepentant.

Neither does God, if I read scripture aright.

But while Batman is created to instill fear, we Christians are to instill hope and love and faith. And as Wayne admits in Batman Begins "I cannot do this as Bruce Wayne -" we also find WE cannot do it as merely our natural selves.

That is not a spiritualized metaphor. If we do NOT ask for Christ to live in us and try to work against the world's onslaught, we are going to lose immediately. "Apart from Me, you can do nothing," Jesus says.

So when we ask for "Give us this day our daily bread..." keep in mind that Jesus IS the bread. So we need to keep asking for Him one day at a time. We need Him to keep us from being like the rest of the world.

That covers the internal need to be like Christ - but what about the EXTERNAL style of being Christ-like?

Do we need to wear sandals? Or more Christian-themed clothing? Or put another fish on our car?

Would that be deceitful to put it on - or cowardly to NOT do so?

Would it be cheap superficiality or crass advertising? Maybe the answer lies in our motive for the 'mask' we wear - or do not wear.

There is one disturbing thing in Batman Mask of the Phantasm, and I just found out about it these 18 years later. The beginning theme, sounding so ominous and brooding, has a Russian

choir singing what sounds like Latin. I tried to find out what the lyrics meant, and what I found blew me away. You see, you are SUPPOSED to think it is Latin. It is played and performed as if it is some ancient Latin chant.

It isn't.

It's the names of several of the orchestral team and support staff, spoken backwards.

Yeah, I'm afraid it is true. Shirley Walker was crunched for time, so she did it as an in-joke to give some hidden credit to her peeps - and one of her sound editors caught on to it.

It's nonsense Latin, created just to sound good. It means nothing - unless you KNOW its the names of the support staff, disguised.

So Shirley, vigilante-style, put a 'mask' on her good deed - giving hidden credit to the orchestral staff that worked so hard and got so little credit.

It was her own version of backwards masking -for a good cause.

You know, Jesus Christ wore a mask - that of an ordinary man. With it, he was able to do many mighty deeds before his crucifixion. We evangelical types work very hard to reveal the divinity of Christ, it gets frustrating at times.

I am beginning to suspect Jesus doesn't WANT to reveal Himself to everyone. Not just yet, anyway.

Maybe wearing a mask can have a good purpose, even a spiritual one.

Maybe Christ-followers need to mask themselves more, not less. There is a lot of power in covert ops in a fallen world.

Maybe it is best if people misunderstand and underestimate us.

If we understand that fame is often VERY constrictive and expectations turn all too often into condemnations, we may very well see it as a blessing to do what we can do without recognition or fanfare.

I have been so ashamed of my past disobedience, I have been quick to show my current obedience to Christ. I am glad, rightly so, to be serving Him.

But to be even more like Him is to do greater things with even less recognition.

Maybe my own narcissism will get in the way but I am going to give it a try.

So that, one day, someone will be singing my name loudly in heaven!

Backwards, just to keep me humble.

;)

May God bless you as you decide to live for the Lord who wore a mask for you.

"None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

Amen.

Bob Kane Gravestone

2011-12-05T19:44:00.006-06:00

When I think of certain heroes, I find I like them WAY before I know the reason why.

Later, as I examine their portrayal, their motives, I see what attracted me to them more fully. And when something is taken away, or changed ever-so-subtly, I can smell it.

Now, I want you to read this final gravemarker of Bob Kane, creator of Batman - and yes, geeks, I know he got a lot of help from Bill Finger - but still, the character is there and Bob Kane is the one who got him started.

And obviously, this was written by loving family member, so it is not very critical - but who wouldn't have been proud to have their family relative create the World's Greatest Detective?

These words at the end are wonderful for me to read as a Christian:

"Batman is known as the 'Dark Knight'
but through his deeds he walks in the
Light of a Higher Power, as did his
creator -- Bob Kane!"

This language of a 'Higher Power' are borrowed from the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous - a reference to God without using 'religious' words.

So I don't know much about Bob Kane's ultimate faith - and I have heard some negative things about his 'creative originality' - but I like the hope and reason and ideal expressed here.

I like that one of the world's most famous characters is identified this way:

"A ' Hand of GOD' creation,
Batman and his World personify
the eternal struggle of good
versus evil, with God's laws
prevailing in the end."

If we create, and do it well, let us also give credit where it is due: to our creator God.

May we also understand that there IS evil in the world and it must be fought - both internally and externally.

If we do that, perhaps we will be blessed with having creations that endure year after year, decade after decade, century after century

Amen.

Uncharitable Charity

2011-11-28T12:38:00.003-06:00

I watched a sweet widow try to give a man a little money for helping her. He refused it completely, and even gruffly.

I could have thought it was noble at first, but something about NOT taking the small gift seemed - I don't know - inappropriate? If he had accepted it graciously as a thanks, it could have been a blessing to her heart and then given away to another if he did not need the money.

But I suspect this hard-working man despised the idea of taking charity - even from a willing giver. A very thankful giver. Why?

Well, I find it is probably pride - pride in personal self-sufficiency. Pride that we are ABOVE needing help or charity. To even have an appearance of receiving money from someone in a lesser position - or anything of value - would seem evil.

The fact is it was a gift rejected. She offered and even said "If you don't want it, put it in the offering plate!" Still, on those terms, he laid the money on the nearby wall. "Nope!" he said.

Now you and I can see that as almost noble - not taking money from a widow.

But you are also not accepting her gift.

Oswald Chambers showed me that we also do this with God and Christ.

The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).

Burn Notice - & Burn Recovery

2011-10-20T00:28:00.007-05:00

My current fave TV show I am watching in re-runs is "Burn Notice."

Michael Westen is a spy who's been let go by his handlers for no honest reason - "fired" so to speak, and so the term used in the spy game is he got a "burn notice" or was "burned."

Makes as much sense as being 'fired' don't you think?

Funny how we use that term "I was burned by my ex..." "I was fired from my job..." - both idioms mean that we've been hurt badly - and I think we like the term and accept it so easily is because we feel the anger and rage at the unfairness, the injustice of it.

We've gone through the flames - of hatred, self-doubt, self-loathing, fury at our impotence, etc.

I think that we are foolish to imagine we will NEVER 'get burned' - never be betrayed, never be deceived by a friend or lied about - no, we MUST expect that will happen in a Fallen World.

It is just a matter of time - or opportunity.

I have found that when I am my happiest over some event - say I just got all my bills paid off, or I've just won an award, or I've just darn happy, someone believes it is their solid and sworn duty to burn me.

It's happened so quickly on so many grand occasions, I suspect a Malevolent and Diabolical Foe [just like the One mentioned in the Bible] is prompting these responses.

But it could just be old-fashioned jealousy and envy. No supernatural push required.

You see, I am thinking about this because only two days ago, I ran into a woman who seemed familiar to me and she said the same. We went through a laundry list of places we had served in Wheaton, and which churches we attended. Then she mentioned she used to work at the headquarters of a relief organization, and I went "AHA!"

I was given a 'burn notice' some 11 years ago at this Christian Relief Organization. I had left everything to come to Wheaton to serve Christ here and in 50 days, I was being run out the door. I hated that because, frankly, I loved my job and the variety of Christ-followers working there.

But my department manager? She was infamous there. And this woman not only knew of her, she had worked UNDER her for many, many more 'days' than I had - years in fact. I saw the pain and fury in her eyes as she spoke of this particular manager, what she had said, what she had done. She had endured so much under her "leadership" that she honestly had mental and physical health issues.

She still smelled of smoke, if you catch my drift.

I would love to say I've moved on adn it doesn't bother me at all, but the fact is I have a a bittersweet memory of those days and that unforgettably manipulative dictator.

At first, I was VERY happy to work with so many saints. I was joyous and busting my butt to prove myself.

But then I uncovered the small fact we were spending $30,000 on a 'new' web site design that simply would not work. It was being designed in a frameset and no one, I mean no one [in 2000] was doing that anymore. Too many times 'bots ignored tags, you are asking for two pages from the server when one will do, bookmarks would always lead you to the 'Main' page, CSS is simpler and more elegant, etc. Lots of reasons.

To say manager was not happy with my 'revelations' and 'observations' would be an understatement. Before you know it a paper trail was being created to show how I was not performing to speed. In a classic, 'you've got to be kidding me', a list of 24 items were typed up for me to have accomplished - an 'impossible' task by their reckoning - to be reviewed that day at 1:00! [I got this at 10:00.]

I got the task list done in 30 minutes. [Yeah, I am that good... O.K. they were THAT ignorant.]

I was grinning at this silliness and thought it absurd. I was just trying to get this ship I'd signed on to going in the right direction as fast as possible. I tried to reason with my immediate supervisor. Oh, it was ugly. Pride and anger and envy rose up. The word 'insubordination' was used.

It was too late. I had angered her [by challenging her ignorance] and she sat me down in her office. She began laying it on, how I was not working with the 'team' [who had no training and were her personal sock-puppets of opinion.] In the end, I distinctly heard God say "Resign" as she was hotly giving me this "talking to."

"I resign!" I said, being the compliant Spirit-led guy I am supposed to be. [Your applause is appreciated.]

Her "Good!" sealed the deal.

I was saddened to be honest. I hated being betrayed, but I knew something that Joseph knew.

The OT Joseph, that is. The one betrayed by his family and then his employer. He knew this: God was watching.

What makes Joseph's story great is not the burns he got but his burn recovery.

He ends up saving people from starvation. He ends up leading Egypt.

In six months, my department manager was let go. I ended up staying in Wheaton and starting a ministry. I've seen several souls be healed, miracles happen and lives permanently transformed.

That is wonderful. Not the process, but what it CAN produce, if we allow God to use it.

The reason I watch 'Burn Notice' is not because Michael Westen is a burned spy - but because he's a burned spy who STILL cannot help but use his skills and abilities to fight evil, help the defenseless and basically take down the bad guys. In Miami. With people who'd die for him.

Sure, he's still obsessed with "WHY?" but in the end, the answer doesn't matter to us. We are glad he's at home kicking but not in Afghanistan. We know the character of the man because he is NOT in self-pity mode. He rolls with the punches. He keeps coming back.

That is the joy in the character. Jeffrey Donovan plays him as a poor man's James Bond - cool car, but an old black Dodge Charger it is. Hi-tech surveillance - made by hand from cell-phones and whatnot. Beautiful women - on the Miami beach.

And Michael is not distracted by these things. He only wants to clear his name and get to the truth. Why? Why was he burned?

Frankly, we don't REALLY care - we are glad Michael Westen is home, helping his family and friends.

Folks you may have been burned - and recently. The answer to why you were burned is simple - someone who was selfish wanted you out of the way.

But take heart. God sees. He knows. He's going to make it right.

You have more friends than you know. You just have to keep going in the right direction.

I'm not trying to give you the Romans 8:28 bullet of comfort. I am telling you that being burned will stop only PAPER, not METAL. If you are going to be soul of sterling silver, worthy to be given everlasting life, you MUST expect this process.

And as I have accepted it, I have begun to laugh again, to preach of God's goodness and even to be amazed as He has made very difficult paths straight as I continued to trust and obey Him.

Like Joesph, bloom where you are planted - even if in a prison.

Like Michael Westen, keep doing what is right, serving others - even if you have no job history, no money, no "assets."

Because "there is nothing hidden that will not be uncovered" said Jesus.

And you can count that the Perfect Man knew precisely how much uncovering would be necessary. And how those who burn others will themselves be burned.

Don't worry. Keep laughing. Keep doing what you are good at.

God will restore everything. Just give Him some time.

Amen.

p.s. "Keep Calm and Carry On" was a motto the British developed to raise morale in England as it was facing imminent disaster in 1939.

It is a good motto.

Wonder Woman re-boot - and yeah, I was right.

2011-10-17T00:36:00.005-05:00

Wonder Woman's origin is going to be re-told!

And they are addressing half of the issues I had with her origin in one classic swoop: she has a Dad and his name is Zeus.

My original blog - 14 months ago - pointed out this need.

Should I wait for a check from DC? Nah. Great minds think alike, that's all.

But if I WAS of some help - say some in editorial at DC READ this and GOT an IDEA - I would like the first 12 issues sent to my house, signed by Brian Azzarello.

Here's my original blog: http://justicecarmon.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-been-nearly-week-since-my-last-post.html

And here's the article on the re-boot:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/10/10/wonder-woman-zeus-father-daughter/

Glad they are moving in the right direction.

Amen.

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T00:32:00.006-05:00

I loved the first time I ever used a Mac.

I remember asking the computer aide at Memphis State [now University of Memphis] how to save a file I had been working on. I was patient. I knew it would be a SAVE command with some colon with some other letters, etc.

He said "You just drag it to the disk - like so..." and proceeded to use the mouse instead of typing in some arcane drive letters separated by innumerable slashes. I was floored. I fell in love.

As a graphic artist, I found work, career and so much more far more wonderful and enjoyable because of this one inventor who thought computers should be user-friendly.

We all did.

I liked Steve Jobs for that reason.

He really did change the world.

Sorry you left so soon, Steve.

Blast.

God bless the Jobs family as they cope with their loss.

Amen.

p.s. a short Windows Movie Maker video - sorry, Steve! - I did to honor him and his wonderful achievements that truly opened up worlds of communication to us all.

A Lifetime - a tribute to my father

2011-09-18T17:07:00.002-05:00

The night before his memorial service, my niece and her husband diligently worked to bring to life the video I imagined.

Inspired by the first five minutes of Pixar's movie Up, and using a selection from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Inception, I think we created something very, very special - showing the life of my father in pictures.

If you knew him, his uncomplicated love of life, his deep concern for his family and his joy in manly things, you will get a special treat as you see it all here.

If not, let this serve as a testimony of a life transformed - literally transformed - by the grace of God.

We share this because we loved him.

Thank you, Dad.

Amen.

Remember the Loss of September

2011-09-12T12:59:00.006-05:00

As the air turns cooler and the smell of autumn is in the air, we remember those who are gone.

The Loss of September
Remember, remember, the loss of September.

The day we paid for befriending the people of God.

The day miracles happened even as tragedy fell, and the price, though dear, was cut in twain, one hand of Providence at a time.

And in the fires of hate, heroism did arrive, running up floor after floor, unable to see, to breathe, to know what would happen next after the unimaginable had occurred. Before the unthinkable happened.

Towers fell as the terrible chapters in the Book were read and we wept. Knowing all things MUST end, does not us prepare us for the shock of hearing so. Who can judge such things besides God? Have mercy, O Lord.

Have mercy, O men. Weep with those who weep - and remember, remember that day in September.

__________________________________

I spent the entire afternoon recovering from a cold and writing and re-writing my father's obituary to beat The Commercial Appeal's Monday morning deadline. It cost an amazing amount of money to put this into the paper, but it was worth it, short as it is.

"Earnest Lee Carmon, 79, former resident of Memphis, died Friday August 26, 2011 in Spokane, WA. Mr. Carmon served in Korea as a U. S. Marine and worked as a trucker in the Memphis area for over 30 years.

"A Christian, he served as an elder in the 1st Presbyterian Church of Laredo, TX. Beloved son of William Ellis Carmon III and Lutinia B. “Tinnie Lou” Powell, his wife, Norma Joyce (McClanahan), gave him two sons, Sean W. Carmon and Rev. Brian J. Carmon. Upon her death after 29 years of marriage, he married Brenda Faye Webb, of West Memphis, AR. Beloved stepmother, they celebrated their 26th anniversary.

"He is survived by brother, Thomas “Sonny” Carmon of Missouri; and sister, Dora Mae Carmon of California; three grandchildren, Cristin Carmon Franklin, Michael Sean Carmon, and Katie Carmon Kimball, and three great-grandchildren, Clay, Jackson and Aiden.

"A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 17, from 1-2:15 p.m. at Lifepointe Baptist Church, 50 Getwell Rd South, Hernando, MS 38632.

"Also, a public graveside service with military honors will be held Monday, Sept. 19th from 10-10:30 a.m. at Crittenden Memorial Park in Marion, AR."

____________________________________

"We mourn - but not as those who have no hope," wrote the apostle Paul.

Amen.

Digital Inks - Right On, Baby!

2011-09-07T23:16:00.005-05:00

This is posted to clarify a definition I had used in response to a detractor on a forum where I said "digital inks" and meant taking the the artist's original pencil sketch through stages to sharpen them up and make them suitable for print.

The poster said in all his years of art training he'd NEVER heard of that usage.

I was feeling pretty down in the dumps. I am Irish and we CAN create names to fit what we want on the fly - sort of like German philosophers. But I've been doing it this way for years - was my terminology that far off?

Then my library got the latest and newest copy of Stan Lee's How To Draw Comics, and on page 148, I was exonerated. To my detractor's credit, the term is used BOTH ways: to simply correct 'real inks' or to pull the pencil values into the reproducible 'ink' form.

I remember the first time I showed two comic book pencillers this new ability to work STRAIGHT from the pencils was available to them and they did not NEED an inker. It was back in 1995 or so. {I will say a VAST majority of good inkers IMPROVE the penciller, so this is NOT for all artists.)

They got quiet.

Here's to those who learn quickly -

Amen.

The Crazy Comics Code, and How It Made Great Comics

2011-09-03T15:14:00.008-05:00

Ever notice how when we talk of great films, we talk about the "Golden Age" of film?

They had great stories and some especially adult themes - try watching Casablanca or Gone With the Wind and count how many sexual subtexts there are - but they also were under a fierce watchdog: the Hayes Commission.

You had to mind your manners. You could tell the story, but you could not violate good manners and taste. It HAD to be viewable by kids and adults. It had to be available to all.

Then the ratings system came in and that all changed. Still, today, if you want to make the MOST money, you keep it fairly clean. Economics are on the side of the "Let's take the whole family to see this" on Friday nights. Add to that the voice of the church groups and school outings, and you can see that keeping a broad market gives you more chances to make your money back and even find venues to sell your film.

We had a watchdog when I was growing up. It was The Comics Code Authority, and it made sure that comics - designed for kids - were acceptable to their parents.

Now somehow, every one thinks having restrictions is BAD for creativity. Au contraire!

It is the creative writer who has to come up with a new way of saying "Shoot!" or "Darn!" or "You could've knocked me over with a feather!" who finds the strength to meet the challenge.

I mean, outside of comics, I have NEVER heard anyone say "Oh my stars and garters!"

Have you?

[Love ya, Beast! Image courtesy of http://bullyscomics.blogspot.com/2010/03/365-days-with-hank-mccoy-day-76-oh-my.html. Thank you - I had this issue, but you saved me the trouble!]

The Comics Code was a reaction against horror and gore and crime comics that were going a WEE bit too far. And as sinful as all human hearts are, you cannot read a single thing about this reaction that's positive in the minds of comic-lovers.

Well, I haven't yet.

But I submit it was NOT insane or crazy or fascist to put our collective foots down on this stuff that was appealing to baser instincts and aimed at children, esp. young boys. Still, the praise for the end of the Comics Code Authority by the so-called enlightened moral relativists of this generation seems to be echoing through the web.

Folks, we just hate to be told "No." We don't even care what the reason is. We just don't want ANYONE telling US "Nope. Sorry. Can't do that." And when you want to change that sentiment to "I don't want anyone telling me what to do..." you go too far again.

Editing out gore and crap and especially visceral horror elements is NOT the same as "telling you WHAT to do" - it is simply telling you the boundaries to abide within.

And why is it necessary?

Because we care about what kids read, imagine and put into their mind. We care about that more than lining your fershlinger wallet, you moron.

And I want to present to you this terrible, fascist code that SOMEHOW we are better off without (sarcasm) - keeping in mind of course, that without this general, all-must-comply code, we kids would NOT have had comics to read for mere pennies on the racks at every magazine stand, drug store, 7-11 and Walgreens.

You see what I am saying? Like the "Golden Age" of movies, under the restrictions of the Hayes Commission, comics also had a "Golden Age" and it was so powerful, some our BEST creations occurred UNDER those restrictions - and those restrictions enabled superheroes to fill our homes and offices, 'cause they were safe.

Well, I've said enough. Read the following code and tell me how many violations we accept today REALLY 'enhance' the comic genre:

Here ya go, True Believers. I think you will find these guidelines... enlightening.

STANDARDS OF THE COMICS CODE AUTHORITY FOR EDITORIAL MATTER AS ORIGINALLY ADOPTED
Source: Comix, a History of Comic Books in America, by Les Daniels, copyright 1971 by Les Daniels and Mad Peck Studios.

Code For Editorial Matter
General Standards Part A:
1) Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals.
2) No comics shall explicitly present the unique details and methods of a crime.
3) Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.
4) If crime is depicted it shall be as a sordid and unpleasant activity.
5) Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates the desire for emulation.
6) In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds.
7) Scenes of excessive violence shall be prohibited. Scenes of brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun-play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime shall be eliminated.
8) No unique or unusual methods of concealing weapons shall be shown.
9) Instances of law enforcement officers dying as a result of a criminal’s activities should be discouraged.
10) The crime of kidnapping shall never be portrayed in any detail, nor shall any profit accrue to the abductor or kidnapper. The criminal or the kidnapper must be punished in every case.
11) The letters of the word “crime” on a comics magazine shall never be appreciably greater than the other words contained in the title. The word “crime” shall never appear alone on a cover.
12) Restraint in the use of the word “crime” in titles or subtitles shall be exercised.

General Standards Part B:
1) No comic magazine shall use the word “horror” or “terror” in its title.
2) All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.
3) All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.
4) Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or or shall be published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor so as to injure the sensibilities of the reader.
5) Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.

General Standards Part C:
All elements or techniques not specifically mentioned herein, but which are contrary to the spirit and intent of the Code, and are considered violations of good taste or decency, shall be prohibited.

Dialogue:
1) Profanity, obscenity, smut, vulgarity, or words or symbols which have acquired undesirable meanings are forbidden.
2) Special precautions to avoid references to physical afflictions or deformities shall be taken.
3) Although slang and colloquialisms are acceptable, excessive use should be discouraged and wherever possible good grammar shall be employed.

Religion:
Ridicule or attack on any religious or racial group is never permissible.

Costume:
1) Nudity in any form is prohibited, as is indecent or undue exposure.
2) Suggestive and salacious illustration or suggestive posture is unacceptable.
3) All characters shall be depicted in dress reasonably acceptable to society.
4) Females shall be drawn realistically without exaggeration of any physical qualities. [ED: Not anymore!!]

NOTE: It should be recognized that all prohibitions dealing with costume, dialogue, or artwork applies as specifically to the cover of a comic magazine as they do to the contents.

Marriage and Sex:
1) Divorce shall not be treated humorously nor shall be represented as desirable.
2) Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at or portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable.
3) Respect for parents, the moral code, and for honorable behavior shall be fostered. A sympathetic understanding of the problems of love is not a license for moral distortion. [ED: Oh, I love this one!]
4) The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.
5) Passion or romantic interest shall never be treated in such a way as to stimulate the lower and baser emotions.
6) Seduction and rape shall never be shown or suggested.
7) Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden. [ED: Ooooooo... guess what THAT excludes, kiddos?]

Code For Advertising Matter:
These regulations are applicable to all magazines published by members of the Comics Magazine Association of America, Inc. Good taste shall be the guiding principle in the acceptance of advertising.

1) Liquor and tobacco advertising is not acceptable.
2) Advertisement of sex or sex instructions books are unacceptable.
3) The sale of picture postcards, “pin-ups,” “art studies,” or any other reproduction of nude or semi-nude figures is prohibited.
4) Advertising for the sale of knives, concealable weapons, or realistic gun facsimiles is prohibited.
5) Advertising for the sale of fireworks is prohibited.
6) Advertising dealing with the sale of gambling equipment or printed matter dealing with gambling shall not be accepted.
7) Nudity with meretricious purpose and salacious postures shall not be permitted in the advertising of any product; clothed figures shall never be presented in such a way as to be offensive or contrary to good taste or morals.
8) To the best of his ability, each publisher shall ascertain that all statements made in advertisements conform to the fact and avoid misinterpretation.
9) Advertisement of medical, health, or toiletry products of questionable nature are to be rejected. Advertisements for medical, health or toiletry products endorsed by the American Medical Association, or the American Dental Association, shall be deemed acceptable if they conform with all other conditions of the Advertising Code.
____________________________________________

Comics may have better art and better coloring and better paper and my even be more respectable in many ways today.

But they also lost loyal readers - and perhaps a humility that made them worth buying by the dozen.

Think about it.

Amen.

Farewell, Dad

2011-08-26T12:37:00.005-05:00

My father, Earnest Lee Carmon, aged 79 and having just celebrated his 26 year wedding anniversary with his second wife Brenda yesterday, passed away this morning in Spokane, WA.

His ashes will be sent to me and I will journey to the grave of my mother, his first wife, Norma, to re-unite them and lay his remains to rest at her side.

Your love, prayers & support as I celebrate his life and grieve this immediate loss of his presence will be much appreciated.

He was a big ol' bear of a man who feared God and loved his family.

peace
justice

p.s. If you HAVE ALREADY seen Tron: Legacy, please watch this moving clip from the very end. It is a beautiful piece about fathers and sons and their love and the opposition that tries to stop them from connecting. Link: http://youtu.be/zD8v-goYl0E

Wizardly Worlds, Pros & Cons...

2011-08-17T09:54:00.012-05:00

I went Saturday to Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago. Parking ALONE in a hotel about half a mile away was $19.00 - ouch!

But I needed to get my geek fix, though I suspected God had some other plans as well.

I FINALLY Jack Herman, co-author of my favorite RPG of all time, Villains and Vigilantes and shook his hand. We geeked on what movies were good and what scenes we loved and I got to show him my portfolio for ANY art in the next edition of V&V. He signed my old adventures modules too - stuff that I have had for 30 years -GEEK!

I met Peter S. Beagle of The Last Unicorn fame - and he told me about his meeting with Jeff Bridges "a nice young man" - and how impressed he'd been with Loyd Bridges, his father, because of a emotional LIVE TV performance that was scandalous since, in character, Lloyd had actually cursed at the 'raging mob' in a Playhouse performance. [Got a bit too 'in character' as it were.]

I also met a dear Christian brother who working hard with Walter Koenig [ST:TOS's Chekov!] on a new comic called "Things to Come"! He had helped with the creation of Fiefdom of Angels and so I shared with him my story and vision for my novel about intergalactic knights, etc. We may be collaborating, but even if not, it was SO good to see him!

Are you getting tired of my exclamation marks?! It's the super-dialogue in me! ;)

I also got to meet Patrick Gleason and get him to sign my hard copies of Green Lantern Corps and thank him for an old blog comment. I kvetched about the design on the GL movie, but he liked my one remark: "Oa looked like Detroit after 500 years!....ehr...sorry..." "No, no - you're good. I'll remember that one!" [I apologized because sometimes we forget as Fans Who Have Opinions that these guys ARE working professionals who are trying to make a living.]

They have to follow directives and do things they may not like; and Patrick may very well have been friends or on a working basis with the art director - or may have just met the guy and liked him. I was unhappy with the movie's art direction and opened my mouth.

Not a wise idea.

Not if you want to serve, to help others.

You see a Pro wants to serve others; a Con wants to take. Take your time, your money, your efforts but in the end, produce nothing.

Pros are gracious. Cons are not. Do you see how I am slightly redefining these from abstractions into identities? "Pro" means you are FOR something, i.e. Pro-Life. CON means you are AGAINST something - and it is so negative, even in our common slang, we change stances to STAY on the "Pro" side. So someone for an abortion will not say they are "Con-Life", but "Pro-Choice."

I can only say in respect that God makes choices too. And He has, in the past, indeed chosen to use unwanted pregnancies to save other lives and change the world. Abortion is death; adoption is life. I will say no more.

As for becoming a Pro in the Comic Book SF/Fantasy field, I have come to realize it is about giving away your time and your energy working diligently to bring to life to imaginary worlds.

I met Bill Sienkiewicz, he of Electra Assassin fame and much more. Funny thing is, I REALLY liked him - though some of his work I did not think 'worked' in storytelling, he is truly a very radical and ground-breaking artist. I asked if I could get a picture, and he smiled, obviously having a grand time - and I had to say as others backed away for my shot, "Let me get a picture of a good-looking man!" Bill grinned big. "Bill, tell me if one shows up later, O.K.?"

His grin turned into laughter as his ear processed past the constant din of the crowd. "I got that! That was good!"

Then I met Larry Elmore and man, we chatted like two old Southern boys who remember the days of outhouses.

Now, my DAD was the one who instilled in me the harsh realities of being a Kentucky farmboy, and rural living, so THAT was my touchstone with Larry, not my own personal experience, mind you.

But Larry Elmore has been there and done that.

He told me stories about drawing with ONE pencil by candles that were in paper sacks [like Xmas luminaries] until the pencil was no more. He told me about sitting on the front porch and listening to folk stories and ghost stories out in the Kentucky woods before electricity had gotten within miles of his home. Or running water.

Dang, he'd LIVED almost a medieval life! "You can still see a lot of references in my work to those days," he said. I sure could, from log cabins to oil lamps!

But it was in such conditions he learned to create and imagine - and he could make and shape a world with a piece of charcoal from a fireplace because of it.

"That type of imagination is missing today from this generation," he lamented. He wasn't saying the kids had NO imagination, but we had made it commercialized and packaged and marketed - and it did not HAVE to be. I had to agree.

What a gentleman! I could have listened to him for hours. And all started because I said "Larry, I remember your first work - an ad for DragonLance in which you had PERFECTLY captured a winter sky. Man -it put me in that world!"

He understood. He loved doing that -bringing worlds to life. His joy showed in his craft.

And that's what a Pro does, folks. They can take you to a world that exists on in the mind and heart and make you want to stay there.

If we are to create, let's be Pros.

There are enough critics for all the Cons in the world.

Amen.

Superman, by Cavill and created by ????

2011-08-04T23:51:00.008-05:00

I remember seeing Henry Cavill in The Count of Monte Cristo as the young Albert Mondego. Great movie with Guy Pierce being his evil foster dad [unbeknownst to him] and Jim Caviezal as the Count [ the former Edmond Dantes who was utterly betrayed by his friend and shipmates].

Good looking kid. Now a good looking man. I think he'll do well, if the script is worth a plug nickel.

Cool pic, huh?

Sort of sad though. The reason they are working so hard on this film is because of some litiginous mess created by the families of Shuster and Siegel keeping the rights to the very very FIRST presentation of Superman and Warner Bros. owning all the rights to what was developed over the years.

Long story short: it'd be like owning the rights to the pilot episode of a TV series, but none of the characters or developments that happened later.

And you KNOW how much changes over the years, but some of the essentials remain?

So frankly, Superman as we know him will probably be changed only in certain ways - like kiss the red trunks good-bye and maybe lose the spit curl. Maybe lose even the blue body suit??!

But Shuster and Siegel's original creation could not fly, only "leap tall buildings in a single bound."

So he still can fly - legally. And to keep this and other rights, the studio had to get out a Superman film ASAP.

The reason this is depressing is not that the families of the creators want their rights, but rather they never were paid PROPERLY in kind for the amazing contribution of their forefathers and so they are suing. Essentially, for "back pay."

[Edit: according to Wikipedia, they got some from other arenas - Like the TV show Smallville for instance.

A July 9, 2009, verdict on the case denied a claim by Siegel's family that it was owed licensing fees. U.S. District Court judge Stephen G. Larson said Warner Bros. and DC Comics have fulfilled their obligations to the Siegels under a profit-sharing agreement for the 2006 movie Superman Returns and the CW series Smallville. However, the court also ruled that if Warner Bros. does not start a new Superman film by 2011, the family will have the right to sue to recover damages.

Now, this is tricky, because I am certainly for creator's rights - and right now ANOTHER comic related property, my favorite RPG is in litigation to see who owns the right to publish it.

But I am not in favor of non-creative control. And if Warner Bros / DC Comics dodges this "right" by making some minor cosmetic changes to the character we know and love, and keeps making millions, the Siegel and Shuster families did nothing but screw around with the character and waste everyone's time. They are not going to get the money they want.

They aren't going to get anything but a 'right' that ends up being useless. Superman has had his origin re-told and so MUCH was added to the mythos AFTER that initial page of origin, almost nothing will be impacted.

Well, we can only hope.

Shall We Create What We Can Lose?
See there is a weird thing in creating something. You create - but you must have an impetus to do so. And someone to take you further. You spark an idea - but if you don't carry the ball, you tend to see others run with it.

It is humbling to realize that letting go of creative control MAY be the best thing for your creation, but the downside is others may profit more than you ever will.

It's a dangerous marriage, contracts and creativity; too much control and your creation may die.

Too little control, and you may lose your creation to some greedy jerk.

Great Creations that Owe More to Those Who Came After
Bob Kane created Batman, right?
He created the one with purple gloves and a gun, bunky. Originally, he was red with a domino mask. We owe writer Bob Finger a LOT - like the COOL Batman with a cowl. Like Robin, the Batmobile, the Batcave, Gotham City, the Joker, Two-Face, etc. Need I go on?

Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, right?
Yeah - with the monotone uniforms and NO Klingons. Compare the first pilot and ST:TMP and you will see Gene wasn't really that good at drama. His idea of the future was too idyllic. We owe Gene Coon a LOT. The Prime Directive, Starfleet Command, Klingons, etc.

You see, when you have a REALLY good idea, others WANT to join in, pitch in & help and if you are humble enough and wise enough, you let them. You listen hard. You say "That will work!" as often as you can. Why?

Because your Good Idea needs others to live. By all means, keep control by Leading the Way, but not by micro-management. Stay in the mix and be diplomatic, learn to play well with others. Stan Lee knew how to do it, even though he became simply the High King of Marvel Comics, not involved in day to day business affairs.

Otherwise you can sit with your Great Idea alone in the "My Way or The High-way" box you made.

And if you owe your success to someone with a Great Idea, you had better keep them on good terms. If they want $$ - not $$$$$$$$$$ - but if it is something reasonable, give it to them.

You won't be keeping that cash anyway. 'Cause lawyers and judges do not create; they dissect.

And a beautiful idea dissected is a bloody mess.

This blog is as much to me as to anyone out there - 'cause I'm trying to create a TV series with a bud. I need his input and encouragement with my idea. As long as my name is in the credits and I get paid $$, I think I will be happy. I need to write a lot of episodes to keep my vision alive. But if I wear more than just the "IDEA" hat and work hard on it, I think I will have served not just my family but humanity - and the Creator of All Good Things.

Let us all Create and keep the Edits to a minimum, OK?

And pay your opponent instead of your lawyers.

It is cheaper.

You betcha.

peace
justice

Evangelical Batman - Sir Rev. Dr. John Stott - Dies at 90

2011-08-03T02:05:00.006-05:00

Just found out. Was so busy attending a wedding last weekend, I missed the news.

Lifelong celibate, Anglican minister and author of over 50 books, he was knighted in 2007. He lived a life that made Billy Graham look like Hugh Heffner.

I mean, this saint was disciplined - VERY disciplined. You knew PRECISELY where he placed his hope.

Wow.

For geeks, I can clarify: if Batman became a minister of the gospel, he'd be John Stott.

Here's the NY Times article [props to Org for link]:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/world/europe/28stott.html?pagewanted=all

__________________________________________________________

Rev. John Stott, Major Evangelical Figure, Dies at 90
By WOLFGANG SAXON
Published: July 27, 2011

The Rev. John Stott, one of the world’s most influential figures in the spread of evangelical Christianity over the past half-century, died Wednesday in Lingfield, Surrey, in the south of England. He was 90.

His death was confirmed by Suanne Camfield, a spokeswoman for his publisher, InterVarsity Press.

The religion scholar Michael Cromartie once said that if evangelicals could elect a pope, they would be likely to choose Mr. Stott. Though less known in the United States and hardly a household name outside the evangelical sphere, Mr. Stott, an author, preacher and theologian, was often compared to the Rev. Billy Graham, his American contemporary.

But while Mr. Graham’s influence is rooted in a rousing preaching style and a personal magnetism that has filled stadiums, Mr. Stott’s relied on a proliferation of books — grounded in learning but accessible to all — and the evangelical organization he founded, Langham Partnership International, named after its cradle, All Souls Church at Langham Place in London’s West End.

“We must be global Christians,” he once wrote, “with a global mission, because our God is a global God.”

Beginning at the college campus level and branching out country by country, the Langham Partnership (known as the John Stott Ministries in the United States) grew into an organization comprising 5 national and 10 regional nondenominational movements.

Before then, through the Anglican Church, Mr. Stott had led a revival of evangelical Christianity in Britain, exhorting Britons to find personal salvation by repenting sin and accepting Jesus as their savior.

But he also demanded that evangelicals look beyond liturgy and Christian tradition and remain engaged in worldly matters — “to take more responsible attitudes toward economics, the arts, politics and culture in general,” as Mark A. Noll, a University of Notre Dame professor and scholar of the movement, said in an interview in 2007.

“And perhaps most importantly,” Professor Noll added, Mr. Stott became “a patron, mentor, friend and encourager of thousands of pastors, students and laypeople from the newer Christian parts of the world.” He became a bridge, Professor Noll said, “between the West and the rising Christian world.”

Mr. Stott was dedicated to helping the poor in developing countries, what he termed the Majority World. Using royalties from his books, he set up trusts to help gifted students from the developing world earn doctorates abroad and then return to their native countries to teach in theological seminaries.

How He Lived [emph. by J.C.]
For all his fame on several continents, Mr. Stott’s travels and appearances were remarkably devoid of pomp, befitting his simple message of reason and faith and his unassuming demeanor. Those in his ministries knew him simply as Uncle John. In his later years, he lived in a two-room apartment over the garage of a London rectory, and for many years he kept a small cottage on the Welsh coast, where he did much of his prodigious writing in longhand and, until 2001, without electricity.

“Pride is without doubt the greatest temptation of Christian leaders,” Mr. Stott said in 2006 during a visit to the United States. “And I’m very well aware of the dangers of being feted and don’t enjoy it and don’t think one should enjoy it.”

Believing the college campus to be the most effective pulpit from which to preach, he frequently led weeklong evangelist meetings at universities in Australia, Asia, Africa, North America and elsewhere around the world. One event drew as many as 18,000 students. Until 2003 he was an active vice president of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

“I declare myself an impenitent believer in the power of preaching,” he told an evangelical group in New York in 2006, by then a frail and stooped figure walking with a cane. “The pew cannot rise higher than the pulpit.”

Mr. Stott, a leading evangelical theologian, was regarded as the framer of the Lausanne Covenant, a declaration of the movement’s beliefs and global aspirations. Drafted in Switzerland in 1974 at an international evangelical congress, it is regarded as a 20th-century milestone of evangelicalism.

Mr. Stott was the author of about 50 books published in 65 languages. Among his best known are “Basic Christianity” (1958), “Christ the Controversialist” (1970) and “The Cross of Christ” (1986).

“Basic Christianity” alone has been translated into more than 60 languages and has sold more than 2.5 million copies, according to the John Stott Ministries, which said his books have sold more than eight million copies worldwide. His last book — he himself described it as such — was “The Radical Disciple: Some Neglected Aspects of Our Calling,” published in 2010.

“To read Stott is to see someone practicing ‘thoughtful allegiance’ to Scripture,” David Brooks wrote in The New York Times in an admiring column in 2004 titled, “Who Is John Stott?”

“For him, Christianity means probing the mysteries of Christ. He is always exploring paradoxes. Jesus teaches humility, so why does he talk about himself so much? What does it mean to gain power through weakness, or freedom through obedience? In many cases the truth is not found in the middle of apparent opposites, but on both extremes simultaneously.”

The books have become staples of evangelicalism, said David Neff, editor of the evangelical publication Christianity Today. “Almost anyone who is a leader in American evangelicalism has read those books and been shaped by them.”

John Robert Walmsley Stott was born in London on April 27, 1921, the youngest of three children of Sir Arnold W. Stott, a prominent physician and an agnostic, and his wife, Emily, a Lutheran who attended All Souls. His older sisters died before him. A lifelong celibate, he left no immediate survivors.

The young Mr. Stott originally intended to train for the diplomatic service, but influenced by the Christian Gospel, he changed plans while still in preparatory school, determined to enter the Anglican Church.

He graduated from Trinity College at Cambridge in 1943; transferred to Ridley Hall Theological College, also at Cambridge; and was ordained a minister in the Church of England in 1945. He started as an assistant curate at All Souls Church. After receiving a master’s degree at Cambridge in 1947, he advanced, at the age of 29, to rector of the church in 1950. When he turned rector emeritus in 1975, he moved from the rectory to a modest apartment over its garage.

The British government acknowledged his contributions in 2006 by naming him a Commander of the British Empire. He was appointed a chaplain to the queen in 1959 and served in that post until he reached retirement age in 1991. In 2005, Time magazine selected him as one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People.” He retired from the public ministry in 2007.

An avid birder and bird photographer, Mr. Stott took his binoculars and cameras on all his travels and wrote a book about the many species he encountered. Titled “The Birds Our Teachers: Biblical Lessons From a Lifelong Bird-Watcher” (1999), the book is illustrated with his own photographs.

At Mr. Stott’s death at the retirement home, his friends and associates were at his bedside, reading Scriptures and listening to Handel’s "Messiah," the All Souls Church Web site said.

“The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen,” Mr. Graham said in a statement on Wednesday, “and I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisers. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to heaven.”

Dennis Hevesi contributed reporting.

______________________________

Awesome man. "'Well done, good and faithful servant!'" said one pastor I know, echoing the words of Jesus.

I can add nothing to that.

peace
justice

Raising the Dead, Pt. 1

2011-08-01T23:01:00.004-05:00

BTW, if you read this blog with ANY regularity, go ahead an mark yourself a Follower, OK? Gives me encouragement.

I just read four unrelated news articles, two of which personally affected people I know and care about.

First, a 'family friend' of Nancy's called with some bad news. His roommate died four days ago. We were schocked and looked up the details on the web, as it was reported. Seems a heroin dealer gave him some product - maybe for the first time - and it killed him. Here's the article and the picture of the dealer: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110729/news/707299848 .

Investigation is pending, but with 38 other packets, I doubt Malcolm will be coming home for Christmas - for a decade or two. Anyway, I hope he repents and realizes what he's done.

Secondly, in another drug-related tale, our favorite Mexican restaurant La Playa Cantina, in Glen Ellyn right next to Trader Joe's, has been closed. Yeah, it seems business was so bad the owner decided selling drugs was the way out. Funny thing is, I never saw it as a hopping place, but we both liked it, Nancy and I. Article here: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110729/news/707299876 .

That was so interesting on the Daily Herald page, that I had to investigate the double homicide listed - of a mother and a prostitute. What I read was so dark and violent and foolish and stupid and cruel I nearly threw up. Still drinking Kool-Aid and eating popcorn to ease my stomach and my nervousness. Long Story short: evil man-child goes clubbing, comes home, stoned/drunk/whatever and decides to take out anger on mom - who had him when she was 12. Yeah. Look at the ages.

Stabs her so many times and is so violent he nearly decapitates her. Decides deed is done and calls some hookers. First two call girls have no trouble, then the third sees something she shouldn't, gets concerned, calls her pimp. This gets ire of man-child who then stabs HER to death. VICIOUSLY.

Here's the article: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110727/news/707279868 .

After all that, I did find one POSITIVE story: The lady Senator Giffords [D.] who was so brutally shot through the head, recovered and came back to the House to vote today amid thunderous applause! Article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-debt-giffords-20110802,0,4910712.story

What's Your Point? Joy Takes Time
Now what makes all these disparate articles so enticing to me is that tonight I was teaching on John 11 in the DuPage County jail. About Jesus WAITING until Lazarus is dead BEFORE raising him up. How he did it so they would KNOW experientially that HE was 'the Resurrection and the Life', i.e. it wasn't just going to be some event - it was Him Who Had That Power.

In other words, Jesus Recycles!

We are the material. And because there IS a resurrection, because we have a compassionate Lord who WILL let death happen, weep painfully over it, and then go beat the snot out of it - death cannot stop Him - we can stop being crushed by this world.

Still confused? OK - why DO you need drugs? Or fat cash? Or random sex?

To feel better. To feel secure. To live As We See Fit.

But Frankly, Dear, The Consequences Suck
When we place our faith in drugs, we become drug dependent, if not simply addicted.

The drug may be illegal, like heroin or cocaine. It may be legal, like nicotine or alcohol or caffeine. But if you cannot 'be nice' unless you have 'your fix' something needs to change. It is ruling your emotions and your personality. It may kill you, too.

When we place our faith in people, if we do not receive the love or care we demand of them, we turn on them. We gossip or lie or simply write them off of our invitations. We demand what they cannot give far too often.

If sex is our god, we will pay to have it, worship/vilify those who give it/withhold it, and basically destroy ourselves to have it. From same-sex unions to simple fornication, we hear the horrors of "love" [really lust] gone bad.

But when we place our faith in the Person of Jesus Christ, we have relationship, love and fulfillment. We don't just have a 'Get Out of Hell Free' card. We have more. We own Boardwalk. We own Railroads and Utilities. Heck, we own the entire board!

You see, we all want to be happy - but Jesus Christ has the ultimate monopoly on true eternal happiness.

We don't want death; we want life. But real life can take time to arrive. There are no shortcuts. Half of our struggle with 'faith' is simply adjusting to life here and saying 'God is here and everything will be OK.'

According to John 11
Martha and Mary knew Jesus loved them and Lazarus, but "He stayed where He was three more days."

He wasn't trying to be cruel, but He had a higher calling: to make them believe and trust in Him for everything.

When we DON'T trust Jesus or our heavenly Father, you know what we do? We find some way to fill in the God-gap - and THAT ends up being poisonous to our souls.

Before you get so desperate as to either sell drugs or sell your body, do yourself a favor, OK?

Ask Jesus to help you, heal you and save you.

And if you don't know Him yet, at least sit down and ask God to show you what the truth is. Amen.

peace
justice

Capatain America: The First Avenger

2011-07-22T23:11:00.006-05:00

Created back in the heydey of the 40's to answer the question of the European war with fantasy, Captain America is well named "The First Avenger" - to right wrongs done, to fight evil and to do it out of desire to protect the innocent, NOT to simply, as Dr. Erskine asks in the latest film "ready to kill Nazis?"

I'm gonna guess you are familiar with the classic story: how patriotic and puny Steve Rogers, classified 4F due to multiple health issues problems is unable to serve in the U.S. army. However, a sympathetic Dr. Abram Erskine overhears his plight and offers him a chance - to undergo a special treatment and become America's first "super soldier" - with a form of instant bio-engineering. It is a smashing success, but the good doctor is subsequently killed by a Nazi spy, and key elements of the process are lost. Thus, Steve Rogers remains the only living example of the super soldier formula.

And in the comics, he immediately begins fighting for Uncle Sam on the battlefield.

The movie is a bit more savvy - Steve too prized a possession to use that way! We need money for the war effort - and so he's used on USO tours across the US in that classic spandex costume - to entertain and garner support for the war. It is to Steve's credit he plays along, until he meets real enlisted men who mock him on stage.

He realizes its time to do what he was created for - and thus the heroic front line, pure action Captain America is born.

Yes, poppets we were impressed. Nice blend and lots of wisdom with some gags to get us in a good, period piece of Captain America. Like the previous films of Spider-Man and Iron Man, this is not QUITE the historical America, but Marvel Comic's version of it: replete with super science biggies fighting behind the scenes - SHIELD [sort of} and HYDRA.

It was a good set-up for the Avengers movie next year. And yes, we saw the trailer/teaser - it looked good.

Actors - did they pull it off?
Yes. Chris Evans did for Captain America what Christopher Reeve did for Superman the Movie back in 1978.

You see, Christopher Reeve made Superman so emotionally vulnerable, you liked the fact he had powers, but it was his heart you could see - and that made him WONDERFULLY approachable.

If you do a movie about a super soldier, and make him tough as nails, you will get a lot of "Hell YEAH!" from the fairly stupid fanboys who think Punisher, Wolverine and Robocop should all be in one film together killing things - I mean people - as worthless objects.

I can enjoy that mentality - for about 15 minutes. After that, my anger wanes, my bloodlust is satisfied and I'm wondering what else to do with my time.

Chris Evans plays a heroic, had-no-time-for-girls-they-had-no-time-for-me, geek who loves to read, can draw and is willing to stand up for what is right - even if it means getting his face punched in. While Superman PRETENDS to be Clark Kent, Steve Rogers IS Clark Kent!

And THEN he becomes a super soldier.

Look, I cannot gush on and on, but Chris Evans nailed it. Steve will grow and become the dynamic "never say quit" guy later on, but this origin points PRECISELY to WHY he is that way. And the fact that he has a wise Jewish doctor, Dr. Abram Erskine [played by Stanley Tucci], speak into his life, really makes this movie shine.

Reservations
I wish we had seen more Nazis. I wish Steve's costume for the battlefield looked a little more realistic or had come together more serendipitously.

I wish it had a little more Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers realism - but I guess the filmmakers wanted to keep it lighter. I can see that.

Achievements
You will never forget the Red Skull. Hugo Weaving was awesome.

You LIKE Steve Rogers BEFORE he becomes Captain America. You are GLAD he is picked.

Tommy Lee Jones almost steals the show with a not-quite-period deadpan world-weary attitude and hound dog eyes.

From Brooklyn Antiques storefront, to Phineas Horton's artificial man [nee The Human Torch] at Howard Stark's World Fair Expo, to Cap's Shield serving as a motorcycle windshield, there a PLENTY of 'fan boy' Easter eggs known only to those who grew up with Cap in the 60's and 70's.

But the ending has just the right amount of surprise and pathos.

Conclusion(s)
Cap can't stay in World War II, you know. And the fact that they spent 98% of the film there made the ending all the more impactful.

You see, Cap does not have one origin. He has two.

He went from being Steven Rogers, frail and helpless to Captain America, super soldier. No problem.

But then Cap goes missing in action in World War II and was never found. He is M.I.A.

Until he is found, decades later - originally by the Avengers, now by SHIELD - and brought screaming into the modern era - the 21st century.

His country is no longer the same. His family is gone. He is an American, but of another time.

What this character does - and thank you Marvel for doing it - is remind us of the values, style and heroism of men of the last century. Men who put their country and lives ahead of their personal comfort. They felt far less 'entitled' and had a different set of morals they espoused.

You respect them for that. You really do.

They saw evil in the flesh and fought it. They were flawed but they were willing to be trained and to change. They fought, but for peace. I suppose Stan and Jack were thinking of this when they brought him in - or at least as middle-aged men they saw the 60's a bit different than the younger adults.

Cap gives us a touchstone to timeless truths we accept - or have accepted - as a nation.

Justice as Cap
I went to the premiere dressed up as a "Southern style" Cap - with shorter sleeves and blue jeans tucked into black boots. Had helmet and shield too.

When I walked into the 90% full theater, I had only one thing to say to the sudden comments on the costume: "OO-RAH!! Semper Fi!!"

Yeah - its the Marine Corps chant, but everyone loved it. As I went up to find a seat, I saw a lot of appreciative smiles and comments "cool shield Cap!" and then one guy said "Hey Cap - what do you think about our troops in Viet Nam - AFGHANISTAN?"

I turned towards him, feeling very suddenly the challenge of playing a character that has to show patriotism without being a mindless flag waver. The challenge of standing up for a country that is flawed but you love. He about 20, lean and with a very short 'high and tight' haircut. Very possibly military himself - or friends who were. Possibly even now serving.

As a jail minister, I have to answer some tough on-the-spot questions about God, and this was one about our policy in the Middle East. From a solider.

I 'heard' the reason behind the question, because the question is NOT the question. The REAL question was 'Do you think its RIGHT to send our young men to die in some God-forsaken desert for a people who probably will not change nor even care because their leadership has such a evil grip on them?'

I responded respectfully: "I want every American to come home safely."

He nodded. "I can agree with that!"

We all can.

I had thought about this even as I worked on the costume - what if I ran into a real vet of WW2? Would he like it or think I was insulting him? Being a soldier has a cost.

But those who pay that cost wear the distinction of being labeled as heroic and loving. They loved their country, their people, their home.

And to take that away from a man, not once but twice, and is what makes the fictional Steve Rogers such an awesome Captain America.

Cap is a super soldier - but because of his heart, not his abilities.

And I think, in my opinion, every man in uniform has that honor for serving.

Well-played Marvel. Well-played.

peace
justice

The Right Focus

2011-07-12T10:45:00.009-05:00

After a much needed break, and working on some of my portfolio pieces, I'm re-appearing with some good news: this week I will be teaching two classes on Sequential Art at KARITOS on July 16th, 2011, and right now I am working on a painting to submit to the juried art exhibition; it's based on "The Woman at the Well" from John 4.

Why the Joy?
A dear friend, Lynn Zuk-Lloyd, graciously got me involved this year, and encouraged me MIGHTILY with many words and emails to put my art out for sale.

Here's one image she nearly twisted my arm to get out - an old illo of my superhero Knightstar [see right]

She herself has written and illustrated some great books about finding your way when you don't know which way to go [Surviving Tough Times], and they are deceptively simple - and really right on the money for the wounded soul.

Her message in a sentence? "Don't focus on the darkness; focus on God."

Now the cynic in me fights such words - my issue is too complex for that, what a bit of jingoistic pablum! It's not that easy! etc, etc. blahblahblahblah....

Lynn's right, folks. It's the Gordian Knot of our internal life.

Marksmen and artists know the same truth: you hit what you look at. Truly, it is just a matter of concentration and patience.

"If you gaze long into an abyss," said Nietzsche, "the abyss will gaze back into you."

You know what Jesus said?

"But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light within you has turned into darkness, how great is that darkness!"

Basically, the same thing: a toxic focus will destroy you.

Focus on God and His Love.

And if you find yourself getting upset, do it again.

And again. And again.

It is a discipline, no doubt.

But it will save your soul.

peace
justice

The End

2011-05-24T12:26:00.006-05:00

I like things starting. I hate for things to end, except the "foreordained" kind - like in movies and books, graduations and operations - they are supposed to end, to be finished at some point.

But things like friendships, marriages, favorite heroes in fiction - when they "end" we have to kiss something goodbye that was a joy in our life - sometimes, in extreme cases, the only joy we had.

I remember hearing that Calvin and Hobbes was ending. Man, good thing Bill Watterson was so reclusive - I think he would have been mobbed and forced to produce more strips by federal law if possible. [BTW, Watterson held firm that he would NOT merchandise his icons into stuffed animals, etc. He would have made millions, as Charles Schultz did, if he'd allowed it. So for Calvin and Hobbes to disappear from the funnies was especially painful. We got a reprieve when we discovered they would be reprinted daily... whew!] [Late edit: in February 2010 Watterson was interviewed about his view of leaving Calvin and Hobbes - read here.]

This week Oprah Winfrey is ending her show and starting her own network after 25 years.

No single black woman has ever achieved so much wealth and fame and power. Like Johnny Carson before her, she is iconic. One woman said, I nearly quote, "I will need therapy without Oprah to watch!"

This past month, Smallville ended its tenth season, and did everything it could to restore the Superman mythos in an almost Dallas 'dream sequence' ending - even going so far as to use Superman IN COSTUME - to save Air Force One and physically fight Darkseid, finally breaking the "no tights, no flights" rule established for this 'boy becomes a man becomes a hero' series, notable for its constant emotional chaos, extreme closeups and soap opera-esque relationships between its main characters.

Some people don't want resolution, just more talking, I guess. Smallville finally stopped talking and put us all to rest. To be fair, I did enjoy the last-minute "Should a superman marry?" conundrum that allowed Lois Lane to see what she was asking Clark to give her - and what he himself already knew- that loves involves sacrifice, and yes, Superman is NOT God - marriage for him, could be either another duty or the reason for his duty. It sorts of depends on how demanding Lois is, doesn't it? They called it well, letting both see the challenge and letting love win out.

Osama bin Laden's reign of Al Quaeda is ended because he is dead. I have nearly no compunction about saying such a man is in hell - along with Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin - because their unrepentant evil was the hallmark of their life but I will also say I am not warmed by that thought. Another will take his place, I am sure.

I have seen more endings than beginnings this past month. A dear friend was let go after working 25 years at a company, losing not only her job but her friends, clients and co-workers.

I have seen a young lady graduate college and two days later and 500 miles away, witnessed the son of my high school sweetheart getting married. I have to admit, he is one cool dude. A Navy guy, he says he "married way above his pay grade." We met well and I confess he has the best features of his mom and his dad. I could not help but think that if I was in some alternate reality this could have been my son.

If he were, I would be proud of him; I am certainly glad to see how things 'turned out' for his mom. It was a good beginning [just a stunning wedding reception, let me tell you!], and a good ending of his childhood.

And as we wrap up...

Lastly, this week, Harold Camping a broadcast preacher of some infamy [he's been off-track on biblical doctrine for YEARS], finally blew his cover by announcing the world will end with Christ's return Saturday May 21st, 2011.

We are all still here. Harold obviously forgot this passage in the Bible, spoken by Christ:

Matthew 24:36-55
The Day and Hour Unknown
³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

Now guys, it doesn't get any clearer than that. Why DON'T people read their Bibles and trust them? It'd save us so much heresy and time and money!

The reason Jesus warns us at all is because, when it SEEMS God is NOT going to come, we tend to get fearless - and ruthless, turning on others and treating them as if NO judgment will ever come! Read the following:

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Those strong words remind us to do our jobs and do them right - loving God and our neighbors - and not to worry WHEN Christ will return and "THE END" will come.

Everything that has a beginning in our universe has an ending. Let us be faithful and wise and don't worry about the end. It WILL come.

You may meet Christ tonight due to a car wreck or a heart attack. The job and duty and love affair is to remember He is ALWAYS here and is ALWAYS watching.

And that, dear friends, is the end of this blog.

Amen.

Jesus Gives Goodies to Shut You Up -and Down

2011-04-26T17:40:00.007-05:00

If Jesus HAS BEEN raised from the dead - and is REALLY alive now - should we follow Him?

I think the obvious answer is yes. The real problem is that having mastered life and conquered death, Jesus sees no need to chase us down and force us to follow Him.

He does, however, admit we may need a nudge or two. And can I tell you the scary and wonderful thing about Jesus Christ, if you have EVER been baptized or professed faith and THEN gave up on Christendom? [You knooooooowww - stopped praying so much, stopped going to church, stopped trying to be 'oh-so-good' -].

He'll let you. For awhile. Maybe even a long time. Decades even. There is NOWHERE in the Bible where Jesus petulantly demands your return to following Him and His ways. No sir.

In fact, just about the opposite.

And even more scary, He will give you what you demand as a permissive parent if you are NOT praying "Lord, keep me close to you." You have to push the 'Please sanctify me daily' button.

The problem is, we tend to revert into self-protecting, judgmental or critical cynics who look to the world going to Hell in a hand basket and moan at all the poverty, injustice, cruelty, crime, warfare and then whine "WHY doesn't a LOVING God DO anything about this??!"

May I tell you God is nearly laughing in heaven when you whine like that?

He did everything at the cross.

You wanted to leave His service, so He let you. Others, the same. Or maybe they just never believed they were created by a Real Designer and paid for by a Real Redeemer? So they never call on Him for help? Well, if you do believe, then telling others is part of your growth as a Christian.

So God makes a public spectacle of Jesus on the cross, it echoes through history and even in Christendom, and STILL less than 1% want to share the Good News that sins are forgiven by God. Why? Because they also know in their hearts that it means facing into Christ, admitting their own rebellion and disbelief and then having to take on a Jew as their King. As the Lord of ALL Creation.

As the Guy Who Owns You and Can Judge You When You Die.

We think we can skirt encountering Jesus. We cannot.

Why do we think so? Is it because He is weak and powerless?

No. Just the opposite.

Because He really does have all power. He knows "where you live" [I mean the emotional metaphor, not location here]. He knows you are quite used to being fearful, being 'like everyone else' and being your own Boss.

All that is a false view - you really are not - yet He will bless you almost as you flee, just to show you He is NOT a stingy, control freak of a God. He is a Sovereign king who can find you anywhere, anytime. Nothing can stop Him. You? Not so much.

Look, it is really simple. When Jesus rose from the dead, and was given the keys of Heaven and Hell - you know, so He can put anyone anywhere He chooses - He gets an opportunity to really pound on His disciples. Really stick it to them, guilt-trip them and make them feel utterly ashamed for implying He was a liar or a loser, by 'giving up' on Him.

He doesn't. He knows He does not need to. He even gives them what they WANT, knowing that by so doing, they cannot refuse His love anymore. They want fish, He gives them fish.

He patiently waits for them at the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection - and I suspect He is sighing to Himself, thinking "Well, O.K. guys, if we have to go all the way back to the beginning..."

They haven't caught any fish. All #$%*%$ night, and no fish.

Jesus asks them about it.

They confess yeah, we ain't doing so hot.

"Throw your net on the other side, and you will get some!"

They do - and they can BARELY haul in the goodies. "Even with so many the net was not torn!" writes John. He even gives a number. Only a poor fisherman would be excited enough to count each and every one.

They wanted fish. They got fish. And that is how Jesus got them.

By the time they eat breakfast with Him, and there is not ONE word of condemnation - nope, Jesus is testing Peter's heart, not busting his chops - Jesus has these men eating out of the palm of His hand. Literally.

He knew it would be tough for them to accept He was alive. He knew it would take decades to understand fully what had happened. He knew they were going to get hurt and killed, but not by Him - by a cruel and unbelieving world that did not even think "truth" existed. ["What is truth?" asked Pilate, remember?]

So He smiles and helps them out and cooks breakfast and asks 'Do you love Me?'

And when Peter says 'Yes!' [and is soooo ashamed of his earlier behavior] Jesus consoles him with a gentle order of business: "Feed my sheep."

Not "conquer new lands for Me", not "Kill the infidels!", not "bring lots of money in or I will bring you home!" just "feed my sheep."

And do you see what is implied by Jesus?

"Like I am feeding you Peter right now: closely, friendly-like, intimately, gently."

Look, if you want to do your own thing, I understand. We humans have been doing that since the Fall of Mankind. It is right there in the Bible. But if you WANT to follow Jesus and you are scared, just keep in mind two things.

One, He will take good care of you and your particular neurosis/obsession.

Two, He has never wanted anything but to bring you glory as a son or daughter of God. In other words, you serve Him and people will be talking about YOU.

And YOU will stop talking about them.

"Lord, what about him?"
[sigh] "If I want him to remain ALIVE until I come again, what is that to you? You follow Me!"

Follow Jesus.

Everything else is, frankly my friends, dumb.

Amen.

Wolfman Jesus

2011-04-23T10:24:00.011-05:00

It's Holy Week, the day before Easter Sunday and I am preaching in the jail this afternoon.

Last night I watched two movies - Resurrection, written by Max Lucado and Wolfman, the 2010 film starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.

Tonight I will watch The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson's dark and powerful vision of the last night of Jesus Christ and his following execution. Mel did a fantastic job of showing the darkness that all men face when standing against the world, but the elements of horror he added opened my eyes to the fierce supernatural battle Jesus was fighting to save our souls when He conquered the great destroyers - Death and the Devil.

I loved werewolves as a child - still do, in fact. I love the eerie and not quite understandable, as long as I am on the safe side of the equation. I love Jesus too, and I've always wondered if it was O.K. to appreciate both. I think it is, for God set us up to love aspects of the truth BEFORE we comprehend it fully.

Did you know that Passover is always held under a full moon? Did you know that the reason the Jews celebrate it is because God sent an Angel of Death to kill all the firstborn [the most precious child] in Egypt IF they did not have the blood of an innocent lamb on their wooden doorposts?

We Christians see that blood on beams as a foreshadowing - God is an EXCELLENT dramatist, BTW - of Christ dying on the cross. Later, Christ's disciples realized it too. Jesus used the Passover meal as a sign to His own bloody death to save us from - well, the 'Angel of Death.'

You may have heard this before, that Christ not only pays for our sins at the cross of Calvary, but those who place their hope, trust and faith in Him will also be resurrected - as He was on Easter Sunday. Corpses will come to life and even our world and universe will be re-made.

But what you may not realize is that you and I are terribly afraid of Jesus, if we see Him as He is.

The last chapters of the Gospels are all horror shows with a surprise ending. Mark's gospel does its best to leave us hanging in the original text. The fear of meeting a man you'd abandoned to evil men under a full moon only to meet his resurrected body at breakfast cannot be less than terrifying.

I mean it. I think we are afraid of Jesus. We trivialize Him casually and think we can get away with re-writing what men shed their blood to write, but God, if He shows us mercy, comes in and MAKES us pay attention.

Wonder and terror are mixed in nearly equal parts in that resurrection Sunday.

And what I realized this past week is that we Gentiles like to put one thing here and another there but God gave the Jews a better perspective of what was going to happen in the yearly ritual of Passover.

You see, we have Thanksgiving, a feast for us to Give Thanks to God for His goodness to us in our lands. We also have Halloween, where we play with spooky things and talk about ghosts and monsters and sit under a full moon, glorying in her beauty while still aware that the numinous could break through our staid reality at any moment.

But the Jews get both concepts in Passover -and thus have a superior chance to see the Lamb who was Slain - if they believe that is.

Think about it. It is a night of a full moon, and we speak of how God sent a Death Angel to slaughter our unbelieving foes. Yes, God was fair - they had their chances and if they had obeyed as the Jews did, they would have been spared too. We are never told the angel of death looked to see if they were Jewish - but rather if they had the blood on the door posts, it would 'pass over' their household.

This makes it a very early hint God was working salvation for EVERYONE, not just His chosen people.

Then, we eat. We have some bitter herbs to remind us of the bitter toil, but we have nice roasted lamb, flatbread with salt, and several cups of Kosher wine as well for the joy of escaping bondage! Pretty awesome fare.

We keep our coats and shoes on, because at MIDNIGHT, we are going to be moving out - like the Israelites did hundreds of years earlier. [Sort of adds New Year's into the mix, doesn't it?]

But I am told in a modern Jewish household, that the door is opened by a child to see if Elijah has come. A place is set for him, and the child runs to back to the table to see if he has sipped from the cup.

So there is still this expectation of a spirit entering and communing with the living. During a full moon. At midnight. Spooky, eh?

Now keep in mind, Jesus does not want to scare you AWAY - He only wants to scare the Hell out of you. Literally. The hellishness of unbelief, found in every man and woman since the Garden of Eden and the Fall. He wants you to KNOW He's real and KNOW there is nothing to fear about death - but fear God and do His will so you will live and keep on living.

I say this all the time in DuPage County Jail. I say it here:

"Gentlemen, Jesus Christ is not afraid of you. You are afraid of HIM! Think! If you kill a man and he gets back up from the grave, what are you going to do? Kill him again?"

"We are told the disciples were in a locked room. It was, indeed to keep the Romans out. But I wonder sometimes if God smiled, because when His Son appeared, they also, would have a hard time escaping!"

"These men saw Him killed. They saw Him also walk on water and do things not even the old prophets could do. Jesus sees their fear, says "Peace be with you!" and immediately does the most calming, as-you-please thing He can possibly do: He asks for some food, 'cause He sure is hungry!"

"Later on, He helps them catch fish they could not find, but it is only to show them once AGAIN, He's going to care for them and provide for every need if they will just serve Him as evangelists.

"There He is, a dead man broiling tilapia over a bed of coals on the Sea of Galilee, and He says "Hey - bring some of the fish YOU caught!"

"Why is Jesus acting so casual? Because He is terrifying to us mortals."

"Gentlemen, if a big, scary monster puts his right arm around you and says 'We will be friends.' and you are NOT scared, you are either stupid or flatly ignorant."

"I can cure one, not the other... Let us worship this scary God who will kill His own Son to pay for OUR crimes - and then invite us to breakfast!"

Then, following my lead, all ten to fifteen men dressed in orange jumpsuits with PRISONER emblazoned on their backs, get up and sing "I Love You Lord" by Laurie Klein, arms outstretched and voices high.

They sing WONDERFULLY, I must say.

Thank you , Wolfman Jesus.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Amen.

p.s. ...and by the way, Lord, you can eat all the bunnies you find in our backyard.

A Man Called NOVA!

2011-04-18T21:43:00.006-05:00

[Editor's Note: Having re-read the Nova wiki article, I have discovered he has a lot more power than I knew when I wrote this. Still, if the Nova Force leaves him again, and we want to explain ANOTHER re-boot, I'd like a shot.]

Frankly, I think this one of the most overlooked, underused, under-rated heroes of the Marvel universe. Cut from a similar cloth as DC's Green Lantern mythos, Richard Rider, a self-deprecating teenager is given immense power by an intergalactic soldier of the Nova Corps as he dies.

Trying to work in the same vein as Spider-Man, and even meeting and teaming up with the famous wall-crawler on one occasion, Richard Rider simply never breaks out from being a B character after three decades and as many re-boots.

Now its a crying shame. His powers are not insignificant: he is given a measure of super strength [again like Spidey's - about 5-10 tons], some limited invulnerability [think early Superman - when"nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin!"], life support from his way-cool suit and helmet, and some hella fast flight speed - I mean dude, he covers galactic distances like Silver Age Superman - even GL would be left in the dust! And, incidentally, in later incarnations, he is given blasters on his arms.

Now, this character has never been used to any great dramatic effect by any writer. He's got so much wishy-washiness, he's nearly Charlie Brown . Too many "try, try, oops someone died - try, try, oops a planet is destroyed, try, try - hellwifitIquit - OKies I wish I hadn't - can I come back now? Come back, do some good and fade away" qualities to him.

Sort of like Supergirl in the 70s. Sort of like Hal Jordan in the 90s.

Sort of like Christians who deny the power of God in their lives.

Yeah. You heard me. We have power and authority and the ability to change the world, but we are hamstrung by our self-focus and fears. We are taught to mope and say 'It's God's will..." when it is not.

Like Richard Rider, we've got power to do great good and we're still whining.

If you ARE a believer, check how many times Jesus flatly was shocked at the unbelief of His followers - and how many times He TOLD them they could do miracles if they would simply believe and trust God.

Faith is a muscle, folks. You don't use it - you get weak and easily tired.

God is patient and willing to use us. It is CLEAR the power is HIS not ours - but we HAVE to USE it. "And Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief..."

Note it is their unbelief - not His power that keeps the miraculous events from occurring.

Now if you are an unbeliever, I expect you to never pray, never worship and bemoan your fate. I expect that. You are stuck in 'Natural' mode. I was, too. No God = no help.

But if you are a believer, how can you say God will NOT work through you or for you? Who's fault is that? I don't mean miraculous healings - that may take some time - but how about little things? How about answering a crisis in a person's life? How about letting God make your schedule - and letting God send you financial gifts when you have none? Why must He be treated as a stingy God? How about YOU doing miracles? Why not?

I know. I know. I have to preach to myself as well - but what small miracles I have seen and been a part of, show me I MUST be missing a lot. And scripture points flatly to this power from a gracious God: "All things are possible for him who believes!"

Woe to our hearts of unbelief.

Especially since we ARE 'new creatures' in Christ!

Back To NOVA
Nova, as you may know, is Latin for 'new.'

So Nova could be implying not just the power of an exploding star, but also being re-made into a New Man. Sure, there are ranks within the Nova Corps, but I think it would be a cool retro-fit to have a Nova Corps Centurion reveal this particular truth [in a full re-boot of the series, natch]:

"The Nova Corps has ALWAYS chosen the least of their species to be the most powerful - we find they do not abuse their power as often."

Richard Rider would be flabbergasted. "You chose me because I suck?"

The Centurion's grim visage lightened perceptively. "Or perceive that they are the least of their kind. Therein the star-spanning powers are held with natural humility."

"But I was never as powerful as THAT..."

Sighing, the Centurion replied, "YOU were - and are - your greatest enemy, Richard Rider. You limit yourself to what you can imagine.

"Be rational, for once. Consider your hyperflight capabilities - only permitted by your mind because you could not comprehend nor conceive of the power you were unleashing. Did this not awaken you to strange inequities?"

"You can travel across the galaxy at a thousand trillion times the speed of light, yet can only lift a tank?! You can casually override the laws of physics, escape being converted to energy by impacting trillions of hydrogen atoms a second, yet can only 'survive' in space for fifteen minutes?!"

The Centurion shook his head again and compassionately placed a hand on Rider's shoulder. "When the Worldmind let you go home, telling you had been stripped of all your abilities, what happened to them?"

"Night Thrasher revealed they were hidden inside of me..."

"Exactly. Once a member of the Nova Corps, ALWAYS a member of the Nova Corps, Richard Rider. It is time you accepted your destiny, and realized the full power of NOVA!"

The Centurion stood back, his eyes bright with authority and purpose, and as he spoke, the walls shook: "You are a NEW man, Richard Rider - welcome to the Corps!"

And the three circles of rank appeared on Richard's chest as the uniform began to coalesce over his body, clearing away all the stink of beer and stale cigarettes...

If Frank Miller can make Daredevil interesting and if Hal Jordan can come back to kick major butt in seven years, I think Nova could be re-born to do what every hero should do - inspire, encourage, and increase hope - that there ARE men and women who can make a difference -

- and they, dear children born of the Spirit of God, are us.

Amen.

The Giving Trees [or The Human Heart in a Nutshell]

2011-04-15T10:16:00.008-05:00

As is our usual practice, we had a Bible study fellowship on Tuesday night, and I, being a bit burned-out emotionally, decided to pull back and only cover three verses. They were solid verses and worthy of instruction, but I usually only take five minutes to cover such for believers.

Well, God is smarter than I am, and He knows how we like to blow past small but vital information in our daily lives. Afterwards one of the attendees said, "I think this has been one of the better Bible studies. I liked the fact we did not cover too much material."

And he was right. Profound things need time to simmer in our brains. We are deceived by their simplicity unless experience and wisdom make us say "Hold up, hold up! WHAT did you just say?"

It is a child who believes many words equate wisdom; fools LOVE to babble. But if you can sum up an argument or a solution or any complex issue succinctly in a few words, you are a wise person indeed. You are looking past the leaves of the tree to the trunk, and then to the root of the issue.

And that tree metaphor? It is EXACTLY what the Lord of Creation used to describe our actions and our deepest inner selves.

The evidence of who we really are can be found on the branches of our lives - and to produce what is good, you've got to have it inside you first. We are all "Giving Trees" - giving out [or dishing out] what has been growing in our hearts.

No wonder we have to be transformed by being 'born again' if this is true. No wonder we are to avoid quarrelsome people - they want a fight, not a 'heart transplant.'

Well, I'm getting too busy applying these verses before you have read them yourself.

Read - and tell me what you think of Jesus' analysis of human behavior.

_____________________________

Luke 6:43-45

Jesus Tells Us How to Know a Person’s Heart
”Better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt!”

That verse of common wisdom does indeed warn us how opening our mouths sets us up for judgment – rightly or wrongly – from others. Especially today an information age, every word is carefully scrutinized – especially by your opponents – to reveal your faults and failures as a human being. Many wise people in a wicked world do chose to be silent to avoid such attention.

However, the focus of this passage in Luke is for the saint, not the unbeliever, to be discerning.

Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is truly a follower of Christ. They may mean only that they have a fondness for social justice, or that they like the messages of Jesus but deny His divinity and lordship in their personal lives.

I have found Jesus never speaks casually, and if He gave a way to be wise, we must use it. Those who love Jesus ask Him to take over their lives, their hearts, their minds. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, to be sure, and if THAT has been done, you will find the saint has a beatific view of even the worst situations. They perceive everyday circumstances differently and store up what is good so they can encourage and be encouraged. This leads to great anger from those who see evil and store it up in their hearts. They think the saint is akin to an ostrich with its head in the sand.

However, it is not a ‘positive thinking’ form of denial.

It is a refusal to cherish cruelty and curse God for being alive. Our heart controls everything else we do. Be careful what you store in it: it WILL grow. Proverbs 4:23-24 says it this way “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Amen.

Read in the round

Luke 6:43-45

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

44 “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

1) What common sense measurement is found in the first verse here? If it is ‘common sense’, why did Jesus feel the need to say it to His disciples?

2) What have you learned from what people say out loud? Is it fair to use their own words to judge their thoughts – or is that too critical? [cf. Luke 19:21-23, Matthew 12:33-37]

3) When we say something mean or exclaim in anger, what are we really saying? Have you ever known something was wrong with a person because of their tone of voice?

Benediction
Ephesians 5:1-12, 19, 20

__________________________________________________

Various Thinkers and Leaders on “What We Should Say”

A hot-headed woman told John Wesley, "My talent is to speak my mind!" Replied Wesley, "Woman, God wouldn't care a bit if you would bury that talent." – attributed to evangelist John Wesley
Human conversation is largely an endless attempt to convince others that we are more assertive or clever or generous or successful than they might think if we did not carefully educate them. –John Ortberg
Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men's souls, and a beautiful image it is. –Blaise Pascal
Great minds talk about ideas, Average minds talk about things, Small minds talk about other people. –Unknown
Learn to say no. It will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin. —Charles Spurgeon
Never argue with an idiot; they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. –Anonymous

___________________________

Amen.

Revivification -the power we REALLY need

2011-04-07T10:28:00.005-05:00

I'm back, and my Dad is doing much better. [Thanks everyone for your prayers and well-wishes!]

In fact, he seemed to come alive as I appeared. His blood sugar dropped 100 points [it was insanely high]. I was able to wheel him outside into the early Spring weather and round a few blocks with him. He had been cooped-up so long, he'd forgotten how good it was just to be outside. He really enjoyed it and thanked me.

His biggest disappointment was that I was not going to be moving to be near him. I had to cite my responsibility to God first, and frankly, it was lightly received.

But he was revived by my visit and got back to his grumpy old curmudgeonly self before I left.

The Road Less Traveled
While I was out there, contemplating my dad's health and the state of my relationship with him, a lot of things about the cost of true discipleship came to mind. Especially those parts where Jesus says to follow Him is to 'hate' your own kindred.

Not to be hateful to them, but rather, by choosing to obey God's wishes and not your own personal sympathies, your love for God and His kingdom seems like hatred to your family and friends.

You are divorcing yourself from them for Another. That can't feel good. Killing a relationship so you can build another hurts like hell.

And so Jesus paints it wisely when He says "If any man wishes to be MY disciple, he must take up his cross and follow Me."

What those who do find out - that is, those who leave behind friends and family and lands for the sake of Christ find out - is that Christ revives them. They 'die' only to be revived.

He walks closely with them. They can perceive so many more things than before.

He revives them with Himself.

God's Wink as I Roll
This came to me in a strange way. As I was sitting in my stepmom's apartment, bored out of my mind, I decided to randomly roll-up a brand new character for me to play in Villains and Vigilantes. It'd been awhile so I was hoping I would roll a PC who'd sort of, I dunno, 'speak' to where I was at, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Sort of a role I could easily play - an alternate version of me [as V&V encourages you to make].

I rolled Revivification. I thought about how many times I would drop that power for something more useful in combat. This time I kept it. I went and rolled the rest of my powers and came up with a pretty nifty PC, who could alter density and travel not only through walls, but by shrinking down, travel vast distances near light speed 'for free'!

I stopped, looked at the character sheet and laughed.

I had been 'reviving' my Dad. I had been traveling by means 'mysterious', getting last-minute seats on flights taking me to places and people to minister unto, with next to NO planning.

God winked as we created together. I saw a hint of divine humor and irony at work.

My dad was revived so I could tell him I loved him. He said the same.

One day, my dad will die, and Another will revive him. Permanently.

All I can say is, I look forward to it.

Amen.

Family First

2011-03-22T16:29:00.003-05:00

After all my plans for sitting with Bill Willingham, Jeff Dee, and Jack Herman at GaryCon, I have had to change directions and head out to see my father in Spokane, WA.

My latest write-up was about a son losing his father and the bitterness it ensued. That is just natural in human experience. I cannot imagine playing an RPG for 3 days as my father dies alone. Even if this is a false alarm, I dare not risk it.

I feel the weight and timing of Providence on me as I go. I feel that a chapter of my life is ending.

Funny how easy it is to talk about pain than to experience it directly.

Be well, my friends.

I hope to see God's hand in this Final Edit and speak about it later.

Often attributed to C. S. Lewis is this thought from George MacDonald:

"You are not a body that HAS a soul; you ARE a soul. You HAVE a body."

...and those fade away.

peace
justice

Warrior 1 and Iron Man 2

2011-03-18T22:19:00.021-05:00

I sat down and began re-watching Iron Man 2 in order to grab the Russian mannerisms and style from the performance of Mickey Rourke for next week's three-day marathon of role-playing at GaryCon. [Ed. note: I re-wrote some of his origin below for better flow and grammar. It is essentially the same though.]

Warrior One
My character starts as a Russian boy who's father, a radical physicist, is run over by a black SUV as the Soviet Union begins to fall. His superiors had him working on a secret project [codename: Warrior] to create a one-man army that would hold the Soviet states together and restore power to the old guard.

As he lay dying in their Moscow apartment, he forced his only child, Aleksandr, nearly legally blind, to memorize ALL the material formulas and designs for the battlesuit. Even more brilliant than his father, and suffering from severe macular degeneration, he has one unique gift: an eidetic memory so efficient he can forget no detail, no matter how trivial, even years after the fact. At his father's grave, he vows to one day build and unleash this weapon on the United States for destroying his country and his life.

Comics"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585673875463541362" />He is sent to an orphanage, where he teaches himself how to live among the sighted using the faintest of clues. A natural autodidactic, he learns everything about the world of physics he can find in the library, memorizing entire volumes as they are read to him by younger boys. By age 16, he finished his schooling in St. Petersburg but can find no job in the Russian Federation for a blind physicist. M.I.T. hears about his intellect and sheer brilliance and offers him a full scholarship in the U.S. - and later, if he is approved, he may have an opportunity to develop cybernetic vision for both machines and people - that is, if he's interested?

He is.

Planning to gain their full confidence and get access to the needed restricted materials for his revenge, Alex designs a powerful High-Definition interface that gives its operator BETTER than normal human vision. After it is shown to work for machine intelligences, he declares that he himself will be the first test subject...

...and the first thing the brilliant bitter youth sees is the smiling faces of his co-workers! It has a stunning effect on him, and because of his highly trained mind, he cannot stop thinking about them.

He will never forget their love and acceptance of him; their pride at his success. He will never forget the kiss from the pretty Sarah, the backslapping and joy emanating from Leonard and Shane. They are now part of his 'hard drive.'

After they left, he sat alone in the darkness for hours, replaying the event again and again. He decided then that he would put all the materials back [quietly] and end his secret mission.

Then September 11th came.

Sarah was onboard American Airlines flight 11 leaving Boston for Los Angeles that morning; it was the first plane hijacked, the first to crash into the Twin Towers. In a horrible coincidence, Leonard and Shane were being interviewed by an Air Force general for a space defense project when they were killed by the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Alex saw for the first time that ANY nation can fall in a day and what he has memorized must be used for what is good not evil. With his help, Homeland Security was able to find multiple terrorist cells in record time and eliminate them completely.

For this action, he was offered a full American citizenship, which he gladly accepted - and is now on the forefront of waging a never-ending war against evil in any form - as Warrior One.

[Character concept image modified from Marvel comic's Crimson Dynamo]
_______________________________________

Iron Man 2: Again
In re-watching Iron Man 2, something jumped out at me.

Tony is wearing the weight of the world, he is dying, and he gives up his corporation to Pepper to run. He's making a big show of himself, not only personally but with the Expo and even mocking the Senate committee, and still ends up winning in the end.

I am perfectly aware of the happy ending syndrome, and it annoys me if it is not earned, but I think something a little subtle slipped past me and most viewers the first viewing BECAUSE Tony is acting so reckless and wild.

In fact, Tony makes a lot of jokes, hides a lot of pain and isolation, but frankly, makes a couple of terrific tactically wise moves.

He even says at one point "Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I am doing!"

Here's the two moves, I thought were smart, and maybe this film deserves a little more respect than it got - at least from me.

One, after his announcement "I am Iron Man!" Tony KNOWS he's going to have to face 1) the U.S. Government and 2) anyone who hates him. He needs help; he needs a second Iron Man.

Fighting the U.S. Government? A cinch. He IS one with the suit, and they cannot take away his life support; it'd be "indentured servitude." BUT TONY DOES HAVE A SUIT ANYONE CAN WEAR, already built - War Machine.

And it is NOT in his colors. It's a spare? For who? The guy who has his secret lair code - Rhodey? Look, I'm pointing out that Tony ALWAYS wants Rhodey to step up and join him - but Rhodey has got to do it on his own. Same with Pepper - Tony KNOWS she's competent, but she does not.

What about Tony being drunk in the party? It is unfortunate, but Tony plays it a little loud, folks. No, I am serious. Once the fight begins, he stops stumbling. He is in great pain emotionally, but something about his UNWILLINGNESS to chase Rhodey and his anger at the crowd he was playing to shows some other calculations in his tactics IMO.

You see, Tony KNOWS everyone is watching him all the time - been that way since he was a kid. And doubly more so as Iron Man. How CAN he turn that to his advantage? Can he serve as a decoy? If he plays decoy to draw fire, how can he run his company or keep America safe?

You see, I don't think Tony is unaware of the effects of his actions; he's just so damn brazen and brilliant, he doesn't mind looking the fool to get the job done.

Two, I think Tony resurrects the Stark Expo for a two-fold reason - to get all his enemies out in the open - and to possibly gather his friends [corporate buddies] together. WHEN a fight breaks out - and yes, Virginia, when you tell the WORLD you are Iron Man and you ARE appearing at THIS location, you ARE trying to flush them out - he can have the homefield advantage and take all the collateral damage himself - no more fights on the freeway, thank you very much.

When the whole thing is blown up, Tony doesn't even flinch. He expected it. Pepper wants to resign her position as Stark Industries CEO, and Tony, heart now fixed, enemies exposed and defeated, Expo having served its purpose burning in the background, takes it back just as easily as he gave it away.

As if it were a tactical move, not a childish avoidance of responsibilities.

Sure, Tony can be petty - did he REALLY need that award from the Senator he was mocking? No, not at all.

But he knew what he was doing the entire time -and everyone else had to react to him, not the other way round. Even his first fight with Whiplash shows his preparedness and ability to turn a crappy situation into a victory. In minutes.

So watch it again, and keep in mind, while everyone is trying to do their job, Tony Stark is trying to save the world -even when he is dying.

That's a pretty cool message IMO. I think I just ratcheted Iron Man 2 up two slots.

Way to go, Tony.

"To whom much is given, much is required."

Amen.

The Irish -and those who wish they were!

2011-03-17T11:33:00.009-05:00

I come from a long line of egocentric, weirdly blessed, drinking, talkative exhibitionists who, quite frankly, love to fight, boast shamelessly and do things with the English language that simply should not be done.

Yeah. I'm Irish. And today? She is St. Patrick's Day!

Now I hate to admit this [on this day of all days], but I'm not Catholic and that is a terrible blow to many an Irishman right there. But I have good company in my fellow Irishman, C. S. Lewis, who also loved Jesus, so I will not cry too hard.

The Irish were, essentially, a crazy people who were tamed by Christ, if you know your history. And if you know it well enough, you might see that they were even responsible for saving Western civilization with their devotion to preserving the Bible.

You can read more here: How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill .

St. Patrick
But the man who saved them? He was their enemy at first. A sixteen year old boy was captured by Irish slavers and served his masters for six years before escaping; it was a journey of two hundred miles just to get to the SHIP to go home!

Those six years were important though; they made him grow up spiritually. From his Confessions we read:

But after I reached Hibernia I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the Love of God, and my fear of Him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.

He knew God had preserved his life and was glad to be home again... and then, like Joseph, he had a vision in a dream of a man telling him to come back to Ireland, to "walk among us."

So Patrick did.

The Irish, being a direct, flamboyant, and even brutal people when they felt it necessary, coming from the lineage of Picts and Vikings, repented when this young man returned; even as he spent his life transforming Ireland, bit by bit, never marrying, but starting monastery after monastery, fighting constantly against the slavery and brutality of his new homeland, returning monetary gifts if it impinged on his ministry. He was a true socially conscious and evangelical missionary.

He made Ireland what it is today, frankly.

So when you lift up a pint of green beer or wear something green to honor the Irish today, do keep in your mind's eye a scared teenager who shook off the bitterness of his youth to save a people - and a civilization - God called him to save.

He did it by the Spirit of God, not by his own power. He knew that more than anybody.

And I think even Jesus would appreciate you celebrating one of his finest saints.

Because we probably wouldn't be HERE if he hadn't done his work for God THEN.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, indeed.

Amen.

Why Evangelicals Don’t Hate Jesus [and other small corrections]

2011-03-14T10:56:00.006-05:00

Phil Zuckerman has written an article Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus, and it has been seconded by Anne Rice and several other non-evangelical Christians who believe Jesus’ first call was for social justice [and social work], to help the poor in this world have a better life. He takes issue with the common evangelical thought that capital punishment is right, conservative evangelicals supported the war on Iraq and that, basically, by these actions, we evangelicals are disobeying Christ’s commands to ‘Love our enemies’ and ‘Love our neighbors'.

His Best Shot:
According to a poll, we oppose "food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training - anything that might dare to help out those in need."

I think it is because these systems get people to rely upon our government to do them, not our churches and communities, which are often more effective esp. at undoing the cycle of poverty. When we see the return on a lot of government services and how poorly they are done, we WOULD rather trust God and find another solution. The U.S. Government is pretty bad at being wise, resourceful and a good manager of our tax dollars.

But many evangelicals are HEAVILY into private giving - and thus, get no credit. [See point 4 below]

Facts that should be patently obvious but strangely are not.

1) The United States of America is not a theocracy. It is a government based on Judeo-Christian ethics with a faintly Theistic worldview that supposes God is a beginner of things but not very involved. When Christians support ANY action of the U.S. Government, it is supporting its role as a nation on the world platform.

Christians pray for and support their land and nation in war and peacetime and work diligently to get that government to change to Godly laws as can be accomplished. From getting the death matches in the Roman Coliseum outlawed, to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and later the U.S., Christians work from within, loving their neighbors and their opponents [i.e. enemies] hoping they too will see what is right. When facing therefore an opposing nation that is dangerous to others, a nation who decides killing millions of human beings is a darn good idea to keep power [cf. Josef Stalin and Adolph Hitler], we do what we can to stop them – as a nation with others. We “hate the sin but love the sinner.” During the Cold War, we did not hate the Russian people, but we were supposed to hate the evils perpetrated by the Soviet regime. I do not hate my home state of Mississippi; I cannot. Nor do I hate my third grade teacher, my best friend in high school nor the lady who sold me comics at the Quik Stop on Stateline Road – but I hate the prevalent racims that were so much of my state’s history.

As I told one quiet German woman in her mid-40s while waiting at an airport – “We cannot change our land and the shame it has brought to us, but we can make sure we are part of the change and that we do not perpetrate it.” She and I understood one another. Note: Germany and Japan are free countries, and yes, pacifists were saying it was un-Christian to wage war in WWII. They have been forgotten. Iraq is free and we are leaving. Hussein was judged by his own people and executed. Maybe that IS Loving Our Enemies, after all. We get the murderous out of power using our own resources -and lives.

2) God hates evil. Jesus, as His Son, also hates evil. He had NO sympathy for cruel tyrants, dictators, abusers or enablers. He knew how disobeying God by sin was dangerous and damnable. He loved God the Father and obeyed Him radically and uncompromisingly - unto death, even a self-sacrificial death [i.e. “death on a cross”]. When Jesus says “Love your enemies” he means “Don’t divorce the spouse you cannot stand.” “Treat with respect and kindness the jerk online who is given to ad hominem attacks” and “Make sure you are reporting correctly the amount of funds the evangelical church is giving to the poor and not create a false image bias with your shoddy reporting.” He is not saying “The Devil and his agents are misunderstood. Give Satan a big kiss! And a smooch to one of his men who used poison gas on his own people!” The command, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer noted, was for us individuals, not the state. C. S. Lewis saw it too. We are to love OUR enemies, not God’s enemies.

3) Evangelicals are one of, if not THE, most giving of all Christian groups. In this arena, I don’t like to differentiate between Catholic or evangelical, or any other such critter. But if we MUST, we will define it to “those who have ACTIVELY gone out and proclaimed Jesus as the son of God and the only way to heaven, preaching and teaching His death has covered humanity’s sins, and that He is thusly Lord of Creation.” You will find they have given BILLIONS in cash, assets and personal time to alleviate the world’s suffering. If I stretch it to ALL evangelicals – including the apostle Paul – over two thousand years, the number is most likely in the trillions. But getting such facts is going to be hard, because...

4) Jesus COMMANDED us to not let the world know what we are giving. He commanded us to give in secret. He told us to give away clothing freely [check], help those who are injured [check] and pray for those who are too stupid to understand their own need for Him, argue incessantly, complain, kvetch and moan while they continue in carnal lifestyles [che---- OK, I’m working on that one].

5) Evangelicals are NEVER going to get the credit we deserve, even if we were perfect. Jesus was called a Prince of Demons for doing miracles. It’s right there in scripture. Guess what Christians are being called WHILE they weekly give to various churches, charitable organizations and out of their own personal expense – which is often NOT tax-deductible? You got it. We are BAD people who DON’T CARE for the POOOOOOOORRRR! Guess what you are really saying bunky? “You didn’t give any money to meeeeeee…” and that folks, is the charge Judas laid at Jesus’ feet while Jesus was being worshiped and adored. It ain’t nothing new.

The biggest problem I have with Christians in the evangelical community is that they do NOT believe they have the power to change lives. It is not that they don’t care; but they know it was HARD for them to give up their own biases and turn around; to drop their own poverty mentality and trust that God wants them to live an abundant life, giving and loving instead of hoarding and hating. It took a miracle, a divine revelation.

And so, we reach who we can, speak as we can, do what we can – because if money would change people from evil to good, Saddam Hussein should have been the kindest man in the world. And if not having money meant you are righteous, then all the poor people in the world are BETTER than all of us.

We evangelicals have come to the conclusion – and every generation does it – that money and more money will not solve real problem of the poor. Only faith in Christ has changed us and only faith in Christ can change ANYONE – making, in one case I know, a career criminal a kind man.

In fact, the surest way to a lesser income I know is to serve Christ and the Church. We get the least income for the same degrees and skillsets. But hey, we don’t mind. We know His love and we will share our Campbell’s soup with you.

Show me a stingy Christian, and I will show you a person who DOES NOT know Jesus personally.

And if you are on death row for killing other human beings, we will offer you a chance to spend eternity with us. Because everyone dies, but not everyone lives.

But show me a Christian who puts social work above preaching the Gospel, i.e. having a person make peace with God, and I will show you Judas Iscariot. “who, though one of the Twelve, later betrayed Jesus.”

We do BOTH – to show love and to end a cycle of self-destruction. But if you want money, here – take it.

You obviously need it more than Me...

...says Jesus.

Here’s the irony: evangelicals outgive and outpreach the world.

Just for Fun: walk into ANY evangelical church tomorrow. Cuss ‘em out real good. Then DEMAND a Bible and some food for your [dying family member/pregnant wife/fictional lover/etc.]. Watch them obey Christ and give it to you, turning the other cheek. If not, at least you got in a good cussin’. Tell them Reverend Justice sent you.

Do it in the inner city – someplace really depressed and dangerous - and some pastor might convert you on the spot.

Jesus is waiting for you to show up, wrestle with Him and get real [cf. Genesis 32:22-32].

Amen.

All Star Superman, Pt. 2

2011-03-09T19:46:00.011-06:00

I wrote on the last blog how much I appreciated All Star Superman and said it was, due to its powerful example of Superman's humanity, the echo of Christ in his attitude and self-sacrifice, that it was a movie worth watching, right?

Eh - close enough.

I went a-hunting for OTHER reviews to see what they saw, see what I missed, etc.

I have NEVER seen such a broad spectrum of critiques - all the way from [essentially] "Awesome adaptation of Morrison's work!" to "Gahhhhh - what a hack job!" From 'lifeless' to 'teeming with drama and action!' From "Must Have" to "Don't Bother."

And I think, from those incredibly polarized comments, that I was dead-on about this being a very beautiful Christ-like allegory.

Let me explain. No - that'd take too long. Lemme sum up...

Heroes polarize people. They make you love them or hate them. You don't end up having a mild opinion about them.

And Christ was [and is] the Hero of Heroes, so He gets the most radically polarized opinions of his actions, especially in front of his enemies. Read John 7 to see what I mean. Look how many times they want to kill Him - and for doing miracles!

So if I am right about the REAL Jesus and about how human nature goes MAD when it meets him, any film that emulates His story should get a weird reaction - waaayy overboard for what it actually is.

That's what I keep seeing here: adoration and hatred, some 'agnostic' but many very vocal in their appreciation.

SPOILER ALERT - RUN AWAY
One thing about the Superman mythos is that Superman ALWAYS wins; even if he seems to lose, he comes back again. Crud, they even changed the definition of the power Invulnerability in the DC Heroes RPG so he could not die! [Note: in the DC Heroes RPG, your Body made you hard to be hurt, but Invulnerability meant you could recover from being hurt and just get back up, again and again, like a human juggernaut.

Feh.

The True End of Superman
We have been teased with "The Death of Superman" twice before in older stories.

One in the 90's where he is killed by Doomsday [and comes back two years later] and one in the 80's where he finally kills Mr. Mxyzptlk, who's revealed to be a trans-dimensional demon and definitely deserves it.

In penance for his 'crime', Superman 'kills' himself by going into his kryptonite vault and grabs the gold Kryptonite which permanently takes away all his powers and abilities. In a sentimental epilogue, he is found to be disguised and settling down to a normal married life with Lois Lane -and their super-strong baby! ;)

But in both cases, Superman's story is not TRULY ended; he returns at the end, as all serial heroes should.

Not in this film.

Lord, it hurts, if you are paying attention.

It's a bit of a shock.

It also wisely wraps up the mythos: an alien who got His powers by our Sun, who is dying BECAUSE of having too much of it, saves the world by returning what he was given.

Emotionally, we also see Luthor accept his new death penalty as right and just - and makes amends by giving back what he stole from the world - Superman. Yes, he's returning what he took, by giving Lois Lane [implied] the ability to have Superman's child.

The painful irony is that you, like Lois, buy into the fact that Superman is NOT dead - "He's fixing the Sun -and He'll return when he's done," she says.

And since we KNOW the sun could hold over 900,000 Earths [Jimmy Olsen told us earlier] -it may take awhile.

But it is a beautiful, heart-stopping piece of denial.

You can say [as any fan might] "Well, we KNOW he's gonna live - because he SAW his ancestors from the future and Lois even commented one looked JUST like her grandfather; so OBVIOUSLY they will get married and be together - and live 'happily ever after,' right?"

No. This 'prophecy' and foreknowledge is fulfilled by Lex's repentance and actions, not by the Man of Steel and His lady marrying at last.

Hmmmm.

You know what this is, don't you? I mean you know what happened here, right?

Superman - the Superman I grew up with, the one I and a thousand, thousand fans know - dies.

Heroically, as is perfectly fitting, but he dies.

We don't let that happen to serial characters - or if we do, we come off like a schmuck. Enough space is given for the myth to live on - for the legend to breathe - but I felt that I had watched the last chapter of the Superman legend in All Star Superman.

Folks, no one wants to watch the end of a hero, but dam', when you got to go, do it in style. Creators know how to do it; they are just afraid of losing a franchise to do it PROPERLY.

They ALMOST accomplished it in Babylon 5, when Sheridan called his ship in. The ALMOST did it in Star Trek VI when Kirk was nearly killed saving the President of the United Federation of Planets. [His later 'death'? Very unmoving, sorry.]

And yeah, the Superman franchise lives on, its true, but I got to say this.

If Superman is ever said to 'have died' THIS is the True Story of What Happened That Day, with Clark Kent writing his obituary just before saving the world as the Last Son of Krypton.

Thank you, Grant Morrison. Thank you, Dwayne McDuffie.

Amen.

R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie. Lord knows you did one last great work before leaving us.

All-Star Superman DVD Review

2011-03-07T10:56:00.008-06:00

If you are a fan of Grant Morrison's work, you will have some mixed feelings about this adaptation, admiring much of it, but seeing the limitations of a 74-75 minute film.

(Of course you will "want more", "it's not as good", "they should have included 'X'", etc. Go find a LOTR fansite and read THEIR lamentations for awhile, OK?)

I read Morrison's existentialist work. It's good for those who read a lot of poetry and bemoan human existence, while HOPING that myth and beauty will somehow redeem all of our human suffering.

No, it just makes so much of the crud we encounter worth bearing - as if a GREATER Story is being worked out. As if somewhere, somehow, if someone is good enough, some jerk will see he's wrong and repent. That's why fanboys have dropped real religion for myth so often. They still enjoy the story and their heart is all for it - but let's face it, when was the LAST time you saw a man fly through the air, really love his parents and love his enemies and was willing to give his life to save all of humanity - even the nasty ones - while forsaking his OWN heritage?

THIS is why All Star Superman is SO good: it is a soft echo of Christ and His charity before his impending death.

I bought this movie to honor Dwayne McDuffie's memory, I kid you not. I had very little interest in seeing Morrison's work 'come to life' - it was too jazzy and weird and eclectic, with no solid plot. But McDuffie, in adapting it, covered over some of the flaws, and tightened it, and when I realized that this REALLY WAS going to be the 'last days' of Superman and one of the payoffs NOT found in Morrison's work was the late redemption of Lex Luthor - by a GIFT from Superman? Me and my landlady - who leads a Tuesday night Bible study alongside me - sat in awe as the credits rolled.

I know Dwayne McDuffie was an atheist, but he nonetheless used a lot of good Christian imagery and characterizations we could identify with [cf. Amanda Waller's speech to Terry McGuinness]. I suspect he was raised in the faith but left for personal reasons, like so many do.

But that self-sacrificial heart found in the Man of Steel? Again it is shown, it is not from Krypton, but from a loving couple in Kansas, named Ma and Pa Kent.

I think what makes All Star Superman so wonderful at times is how many times Superman's humanity and compassion come through - even to Luthor - who even admits at one point he LIKES Kent because he's a 'normal guy' and even been (sadly) pushed aside in Lois Lane's affections for Superman.

Yeah. Luthor sees THAT, thinking he KNOWS Kent's suffering before the "alien." "In a world without Superman," declares Luthor, "the unobtainable Lois Lane might have noticed good ol' Clark, pining away in a corner. A strapping farmboy with brains, integrity and no discernable style of his own. You're a prize catch for a cynical city girl."

"But with HIM around, you're a parody of man, a dullard, a cripple!"

"Next to Superman even Lex Luthor's greatness is overshadowed!" That jealousy, that rage that HE is inferior to Superman is what has driven his hatred all these years.

And when he is given a dose of Superman's powers? He finally sees what it is like to see the universe as the Man of Steel does. As the powers fade, Superman even destroys the formula that would have continued them - "Wait!" screams Luthor. "With that, I could have saved the world!"

"Lex," answers Superman quietly, "If you had wanted to do that, you would have done it long ago."

"...you're right..." admits Lex.

And in saying that, I could not help but hear an echo of our repentance before Christ.

You see, I think we are all ANGRY we need a Savior. I think we are ANGRY Someone did what we could not. I think we believe Jesus was sent to condemn us for being failures as human beings, and frankly, whenever we talk about sins, humanity has plenty to talk about.

But we understand Luthor, not Superman. We understand fear and anger and 'putting up with idiots' but not self-sacrifice, tenderness and humility.

We don't work hard to make ourselves look stupid or incompetent - just the other way round, in fact.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

I never understood this verse until I was an adult and felt that I was never going to be good enough in anything. I felt condemned - before God, before Man.

But Saviors do NOT exist to show off how bad you are. Saviors are necessary to DO what we CANNOT do - and we should not be ashamed that we need one, only that we do not listen to the one sent.

In All Star Superman, Lex finally listens and - according to this adaptation - insures Superman's legacy as an act of repentance.

I loved it.

Because, in the end, Superman, with love and respect, saves Lex Luthor AND the world.

In my opinion, that's a film worth watching.

Amen.

Jesus Lays Down the Measuring Stick for His Disciples

2011-03-04T01:01:00.011-06:00

This was the lesson from our Tuesday night fellowship. [Some of it is really sinking in for me.]

Luke 6:17-26

Jesus Lays Down the Measuring Stick for His Disciples
No one wants to be sick – or poor – or rejected. No one wants to be ostracized or hated. We are a communal species, made for companions, lovers, friends, family and neighborhoods. This is hard-wired in us, for we ARE made in God’s image – and He is plural: “Let Us make man in Our image…” we are told in Genesis. We can see the Trinity if we look carefully in the first few chapters of the Bible. Even when God makes man, He says everything is ‘good’ except for man being alone and that is declared ‘not good.’ Thus Eve is created to be a partner for Adam.

But after the Fall, and as our baser human nature took more and more control, all of our relationships became polluted in one form or another. Humorously, Martin Luther imagined what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to keep on living after the Fall: “You ate the Apple”, Eve would say, and Adam would retort, “You gave it to me!”

And so God, mercifully, would choose men and women to speak back into the human race, to warn them to turn around, trust God and not the world. We called them prophets – and every one of them hated their job if they loved people at all. There is no glee in telling someone he or she is wrong, in trouble with God and needs to change.

You may not like the doctor who tells you the tingling in your throat is cancer – but he IS the one trying to save your life.

Amen.

Read in the round

Luke 6:17-26
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon,
18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured,
19 and the people all tried to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.

20 Looking at His disciples, He said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.
For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.

25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."

1) What was the first thing Jesus did when he met the masses? [Look again, it’s subtle.] Why did they come?
2) When people meet you, as a Christ-follower, do you impact their lives? Do your actions help and bless?
3) What shows that we are favored by God, says Jesus? Why is this so?

Benediction
Isaiah 44:8-11

Various Thinkers and Leaders on “Beatitudes”

It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. – C. S. Lewis

The ultimately lost person is the person who cannot want God. Who cannot want God to BE God... The reason they do not find God is that they do not want Him or, at least, do not want Him to be God. Wanting God to be God is very different from wanting God to help me. – Dallas Willard

She who kneels before God can stand before anyone – Unknown

When we lose one blessing, another is often, most unexpectedly, given in its place.
– C. S. Lewis

The Beatitudes are not so much ethics of obedience as ethics of grace. They imply God as a gracious giver and [humans as humble receivers]. They do not mean: you must do these things in order to deserve and win the Divine approval. Rather do they say: God gives his blessedness to those who claim no merit for themselves but, knowing their own heart’s needs, are content to rest wholly on the mercy of God. – Archibald Hunter

The thing [we are] blessed in is [our] poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says —Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter his Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper. – Oswald Chambers

The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and regulations: it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us. – Oswald Chambers

Bring On The Bad Guys! [and see them change]

2011-03-02T12:22:00.004-06:00

Before Megamind there was another animated film about a villain turned softy named Despicable Me.

Slightly different in it take - it is more James Bond-ian villainy than superheroic - the threat to the villain is ANOTHER villain!

And again, what changes him? Three little girls he temporarily 'adopts' to serve him in a nefarious scheme to recapture a shrinking ray device from his rival.

Unfortunately, they are with him just a little too long - and his cold heart is melted.

What I thoroughly enjoyed in this movie was Steve Carrell's vocal performance. How he just plays this older "out-of-touch" evil nerd who TRIES so hard to be be 'hip' and 'cool' and crashes beautifully...

"THAT'Z what Iyam talkin' 'BOUT!"

"Thas how eye... ROLLL!"

And it made me open my eyes to how we all try so hard to be cool, to be tough and strong and 'feared' - and we really got nothingThe only way to win is to quit trying for worldly approval and just be the softy you are to the ones you care about.

My dad was gruff and loud and tough talking - but he loved milk and cookies and being at home. Every time I think of how concerned he'd get over some bill or some family issue, so much so that he'd be in the bathroom upchucking, I get misty-eyed.

Like so many of his generation, he knew very little love and affection, since so many Americans were just trying to survive the Great Depression. His father never told him he loved him, and drank pretty constantly. So my dad grew up a bit wild and got tamed by love for my mother later on. After my brother got involved in drugs, my dad gave his life to God, knowing that he could not save the son he loved.

So little animated features like this make an impact on me. They are children's stories dealing with bigger issues of sin, repentance, redemption.

Or you could say instead: "...selfishness, selflessness and learning to love others as yourself."

May you be blessed to know love that surpasses understanding today, little kittens.

Amen.

Bring On The Bad Guys! [and see them change]

2011-03-01T09:35:00.008-06:00

Ever notice that when we want to create a villain in the comic book [or film] genre, we often end up with a bad guy being a bald guy?

Lex Luthor, Silvana, Brainiac, Mongul, Darkseid, the Red Skull, Egghead, Obadiah Stane, Hugo Strange, Nosferatu...

But lest any think I am aiming at them, the goateed guys are often villainous too: Count Nefaria, Ra's al Ghul, Vandal Savage [JLU], Mr. Spock from Star Trek's Mirror Universe... you get the idea.

So when you begin watching Megamind, it is ABSOLUTELY clear WHO the villain is. He's both [OK - almost] - and on top of everything, he is also BLUE - a color no normal human has.

And in mere minutes, you find a great deal of sympathy for the kid who just couldn't fit in - so he decided he'd BE Bad - and the baddest of the bad - since he was already good at being bad! [For a great review of this movie in full: http://amaliehoward.com/tag/megamind-minion/ ]

Better than any Johnny Depp sympathy-for-the-poor-damned-soul characterization though, is when the villain decides that there is SOMETHING worth fighting FOR - and it is love he never thought he'd have.

Love wins the day, even as the 'official hero' checks out of his job.

I don't want to give it all away, but let's just say heroism and sacrifice come from loving something or someone greater than yourself. Adulation and approval for doing good just don't cut the mustard. It has to be real and real deep or resentment starts in. You quit.

It is also a form of grace that enters, for the person who loves others unconditionally must have received that same kind of love AND perceived it.

All this came to mind as I am also reading Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages and C. S. Lewis's The Four Loves. One is teaching me WHAT people can hear when you try to love on them [their preferred 'love language'] and the other is teaching me what KIND of loves I need to be human and humane [some ouchy eye-openers, there.]

Back to Megamind - to the villain, his conflict with the city's hero is a long-standing game, to prove he's as good as [or better than] Megaman, hero of Metrocity. Lots of showmanship is involved, but no lasting harm is done. When Megaman is suddenly removed from play, the villain, like a dog chasing cars, does not know what to do with his unexpected victory.

Can you imagine how many conflicts would evaporate if you merely said "You win. Bye now?"

Here's some great dialogue from Amalie Howard's site:

MegaMind: In case you’ve noticed, you’ve fallen right into my trap!
MetroMan: You can’t trap justice! It’s an idea, a belief!
MegaMind: Even the most heartfelt belief can get corroded with crime!
MetroMan: Justice is a non-corrosive metal!
MegaMind: But metals can be melted, by the heat of revanche!
MetroMan: It’s REVENGE, and it’s best served cold!
MegaMind: But it can be easily reheated, in the microwave of evil!
MetroMan: Well, I think your warranty’s about to expire!
MegaMind: Maybe I got an extended warranty!
MetroMan: Warranties are invalid, if used beyond their intended purpose!
Roxanne Ritchi: Girls, girls, you’re both pretty! Can I go home now?

During his pyrrhic victory stage, he meets and falls in love with the supposed girlfriend of the hero. He doesn't mean to; 'fate' thrusts him into her arms - or vice-versa - and since he wants to please her, he begins reforming [on the sly of course; she must NEVER know that HE is Megamind]!

I'll stop there, because, frankly, a lot of us guys live there. We love the women in our lives, but we know too much about our own villainy.

We hide our true selves, lest anyone find us and reveal our evil.

But what makes us change? Love. It is not our wisdom or education, but the matters of the heart that ultimately make us what we are.

One of my favorite lines from The Big Bang Theory is when worldly Penny and nerdy Sheldon begin a 'war' with each other. Leonard tries hard to intervene and tells Penny, "Please - you don't want to get into it with Sheldon! That guy's only one lab accident away from becoming a supervillain!" [See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLr_cnPJ7VQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=82s ]

I laughed so hard I had to back up my DVD to catch the next lines.

[edit - added for clarity]
What gets Sheldon to make peace with Penny? A command from the only woman he loves - his MOTHER! [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkIsscEb77k&feature=related ]

Love changes us. Love tames us. But if we smell a fight - a threat to our ego - and yes, I am looking in the mirror here, watch out...

...we DO have 'an enemy within.'

Ask God to love on you and tame that beast before you set fire to the whole city or force your friends to play 'panty pinata.' ;)

Amen.

Jesus Chooses [His First Round Draft Pick]

2011-02-24T09:00:00.006-06:00

On Tuesday night we returned to the Gospel of Luke and, since we go section by section straight through, I was a bit stymied for discussion since all this passage said was Jesus went up a mountain, prayed, came down and chose his twelve disciples [out of the 70+ who were there]; we are then given their names, most of whom we NEVER hear from again.

Not very exciting, is it?

Then I began thinking about it. Then I saw what was going on in basketball this same week. So I wrote the following lesson.

It ended up being VERY encouraging to our group, especially the benediction in the end.

I've linked that so you can see what we saw. As the apostle Paul wrote later on, "God chooses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise."

And we are foolish, kids. Good thing God does not ask for competent men and women, but rather seeks to be glorified [i.e. 'made famous'] by grabbing up the most foolish of all!

Here's the lesson:

Jesus Names His First Round Draft Pick
Its basketball season and everyone is watching to see what fine player will go where, play on what team, and for how much.

I used to sneer at such pomp, but now I see it contains excitement and value to the fans. These players will, very likely, make the team they are on succeed or fail. They, as a unit, are going to change the face of the game for the next season. Their competitive abilities will make or break a franchise. And it is not just how well they can play but also how well they can work with the other team members. Personalities are involved, not just performance.

Before men chose their teams, God chose His, says Ephesians chapter one.

And also here, we are told, that Jesus chose His team – to preach and teach, to share the Good News and bring life to the dying; to cast out demons and set captives free.

The Twelve. What an awesome pick they were – because, as we learn, they were NOT awesome in and of themselves, but became so, because they were used by God.

Amen.

Read in the round

Luke 6:12-16
12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night
praying to God.
13 When morning came, He called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles:
14 Simon (whom He named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot,
16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

1) What action did Jesus take before choosing His crew? Where did He do this? What does it remind you of?

2) Is the number of men He chose symbolic in some way? [Read Genesis 49:28, Exodus 24:4, Exodus 39:14, Joshua 3:12, 1 Kings 18:31] What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle, if any?

3) How many times are there two disciples with the same basic name? Can THAT teach us anything meaningful about God? Why are their names listed, do you think?

Benediction
Deuteronomy 7:6-9

Additional Notes:

Various Thinkers and Leaders on Encountering God

An "impersonal God"– well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads – better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap – best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps, approaching an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband – that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion ("Man's search for God!") suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us? –C. S. Lewis
God is not who you think He is; He is who He says He is. –Clarice Fluitt
Since God created man in His own image how often has man endeavored to render a similar service to God? –Voltaire
You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand. –Francis Schaeffer
God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners. –Kierkegaard
I am so tried by the things said about God. I understand God's patience with the wicked, but I do wonder how he can be so patient with the pious! –George MacDonald

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. –Voltaire

___________________________________________

I hope this lesson helps you to see your value to God comes from His love for you, not your performance or abilities.

Amen.

Dwayne McDuffie, Justice League Writer/Producer Dies Unexpectedly

2011-02-23T13:18:00.010-06:00

I was just informed that Dwayne McDuffie, the premiere writer for the animated series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, has unexpectedly passed away following complications after surgery. It must have been something very routine, for he was scheduled the day after to appear for a book signing.

I cannot tell you how much this man meant to me. I would have an awful day - or just one full of challenges - and sit down, put a DVD in of the Justice League and find myself in moments enraptured in a classic, well-written good vs. evil story. The writer more often than not? Dwayne McDuffie.

Dwayne knew personalities too, and he was known for bringing real personalities from the Black community to life in the superhero genre. He pointed out that when you only have ONE black superhero in a group, that person is somehow representative for the whole community - and that not only limits the stories you tell, it gives a false picture of the community. He wanted to bring more diverse characters to life and put them up on stage for us all to see.

He did it so well, he won awards, esp. for 'Static Shock' [formerly the character of Black Lightning, for you old-schoolers][ EDIT: Mea Culpa. They have similar powers and I thought SS was a revised/updated form of Black Lightning. Not true. There have been nods to BL though, in one episode, SS tries on a costume similar to BL's... Sorry to misinform.]

But it was the Justice League, with John Stewart as the Green Lantern and a romance with Hawkgirl that made him a fan-favorite. [Sure, citation needed, but you know its true.] He grabbed our iconic characters and did NOT deconstruct them but DID show their weaknesses - and you knew them BETTER than before.

His portrayal of Superman as a good man who's getting too close to the edge of taking control 'for the good of the world' and of Batman as a lonely man who chooses to shut off his emotions to wage war? It was never seen on TV before. Or Wonder Woman who begins as a princess wanting to help and ends up an Amazon warrior who never quits? Wow. I can watch his portrayals 7 days a week and not get bored.

My biggest praise for Dwayne was the last Justice League movie he wrote: Crisis on Two Earths.

Dwayne knew how to write heroes. He knew how to skirt the edge but not cross it. He knew how to surprise you without cheating. He knew what made a great villain. He knew his community and he loved his people, and he made us older, cynical, worn-out geeks all sit down and become children again.

I will miss him. I never met the man, but I will miss him dearly.

May God comfort all his children in the McDuffie family for their loss today.

Amen.

Perception Is Reality, Pt. 4

2011-02-16T15:52:00.006-06:00

This is Black History month, and since I was born during the Civil Rights movement in Memphis, TN - I was 3 years old when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot - I thought I should share what I could about my family's personal reaction to the racism of the old South.

My father was a gunsmith, and, the day after MLK was shot, everyone wanted a gun, afraid a riot would ensue. It did not, and my dad decided then and there to only use his license privately for personal use. He did not want to fuel the hysteria.

My mother was so adamantly anti-racist that she left the denomination they grew up in due to the bigotry of her pastor. While we ended up going to an all-white church, not once did I ever hear any negative or derogatory comment about blacks there. [I'm old school, BTW - and so is the black pastor who ordained me - we say 'black' and 'white', knowing that in our generation, black was beautiful, black was a symbol of luxury, etc. I hope no one is offended.]

Since my mother grew up in the time of Jim Crow laws, after her 'full conversion' and dedication to Christ, she wrote a poem about her experience under them. She was a school girl.

Bus Ride ‘46

My thoughts had been on other things as
I hurriedly caught the late bus…
Quietly taking a seat, I saw
A lot more of them than of us.

Tired, discouraged, listless and dull
Why do they sway to and fro?
The straps at the top of the bus that they held
Were frayed from being used so….

I realized then that because of me
They couldn’t let go and sit down
I moved to the front as fast as I could
And was greeted up there with a frown.

The bus driver glared at his one white charge
The one white charge took the same tack…
Jim Crow appeased, the people sat down
And Satan laughed from the back.

by N. J. Carmon (c)2011

That was then. "Tired, discouraged, listless and dull.." wrote my mother.

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." Proverbs 29:2

What does it mean NOW for black men and women to have a black President? Or when Condoleezza Rice was Secretary of State? When most of the top athletes in the world are black?

It means hope. It means a lot of perception was changed in 50 years. Say what you will about the distance to go, but a lot HAS changed, thank God.

We tend to become the people we are expected to become. I'm sure there are a LOT of factors, but the way we perceive ourselves and how we are treated manifests in our motivations - or lack of - to succeed, to try to do well.

"When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Psalm 11:3

I believe that they way you treat a child and the expectations you have of him or her do a VAST deal of molding and crafting in their hearts and minds of what their actual potential IS. So many studies have been done on this and the results are stupefying. People can be 'brainwashed' using peer pressure and other familial/social factors to think of themselves as dumb, lazy, incompetent, smart, entitled, superior, etc.

I had my eyes opened to a very unusual Biblical passage because of this.

When God told the Israelites, who had JUST been freed from the oppressive regime of Egypt, that He would take them to the Promised Land and they would take it over because the former inhabitants had been incredibly wicked, you would have thought they would go "COOL! THAT'S what I'M talking about!!"

But even though they had SEEN God wipe out the Egyptian army, they balked when they heard how BIG the inhabitants were.

They considered themselves FAR too inferior to take such a land. "We seemed like grasshoppers to them - and in our own eyes!"

They had been brainwashed by abuse. It would take ANOTHER generation to rise up to their level of true ability.

Here's the relevant passage:

Numbers 13:26-33
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Numbers 14
The People Rebel
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

Did you see that the Israelites would RATHER have gone back to SLAVERY [their 'comfort zone'] than be free? They saw themselves as INSECTS?

They are not. They are people chosen by God. But on that day they failed to believe in their worth before Him.

I think we are now getting the TRUE messages and RIGHT messages to the Black community. (While I could not vote for President Obama due to his stance on certain issues, I am VERY glad to have a black President. Heck, if Condoleezza Rice ever runs for President, I'm voting for HER!)

But it took time. Sadly, the past does not disappear overnight.

And, like all injustices we have enabled in our country, let us not forget THIS time of American history, lest we repeat it.

Amen.

Perception is Reality, Pt. 3

2011-02-15T10:34:00.007-06:00

Yesterday I spoke on how we perceived God's love for us - and touched on how easy it is to get the wrong message.

A few weeks ago I taught our Tuesday night group on how Jesus was permitting the disciples to pick some grains and eat them on the Sabbath - which every Jew knew was forbidden - you are to REST and not work on the Sabbath. [Even today in Israel, Orthodox Jews are so meticulous in observing this command that elevators are set to AUTOMATICALLY stop on each floor in a hotel, lest by pushing a button - and creating a spark of electricity - you'd violate God's command to not start a fire on the Sabbath. [Exodus 35:1-3]

When we hear this kind of hyper-precision, we may laugh, but we have to admit that these Jews feared God enough to obey Him, and treat His commands as sacred.

Score one for them.

But, truth be told, they overdid it. And in Jesus' day, He showed them they were in the wrong.

My opinion is that God gave such strict commands in the Law to correct and guide a people who had NO country, nor culture, nor standards. They were ex-slaves out of Egypt WHEN they got the 10 Commandments. They did not know HOW to live, WHEN to stop, etc.

And so, God said "Don't!" Don't murder, don't steal, don't lie and for My sake, don't work 7 days a week. Take a break and recover - I stopped to enjoy My own creation after six days - you can too!

But it went from a sweet grace of enforced rest to a binding law that stopped anyone from doing even necessary kindnesses.

Their perception was that these disciples were BAD for 'working' on the Sabbath, when in fact, they are merely grabbing a little snack as they walk by.

And Jesus uses what would be an obscure anecdote to prove his point - that God understands 'exceptions' to a rule, especially when a man honors God and has ALREADY put Him first in his heart - like David did.

Their perception was wrong. They wanted rules and more rules to prove they were right, but God wanted our trust and companionship. When He is getting those - as our Lord Christ IS from His disciples - the rules fade into the background.
___________________________________________________

Jesus Teaches a Better Way to Honor God

The problem with good rules is that they can be perverted into bad rules or so re-interpreted that the reason for the rules has been totally obscured.

A legalist, a perfectionist and a compliant child all have this in common: they are under a great deal of compulsion to PERFORM without question, without understanding the merit of what is commanded.

Daily they pass the tests of life by knowing the answers, but are miserable because they never were told WHY the answers were good in the first place. They know the words to the song but not the tune; they exist without living, fearful of error – and angry when others ‘break the rules.’

We have to agree that we are not immune from Phariseeism simply because we have a better moral behavior: much of our obedience is still out of fear, not love. And fear tends to generate anger, once it gets past its initial shock. Fear you have been duped – that all your ‘hard work’ is going to be overlooked.

Well, it should be overlooked –our righteousness comes from Christ. We are not God; we are not even Lords. We are disciples – and that means we are learning – and we are never ‘soft on sin’ because of grace for we know what sin does to destroy human souls. Rather we try not to manage the world’s sins, but find those we can heal and release from Satan – any and every day of the week.

Amen.

Luke 6:1-11
1 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

1) What bothered the Pharisees about the disciples getting a little snack?

2) What did Jesus use as His reply? In what context did David commit his deed? Who does Jesus think He is?

3) What method does Jesus use to challenge the Phariseeic interpretation of the Sabbath? How did they react to Jesus healing a man on this day?

_____________________________________________________________

Rules are for children. Relationships are for adults.

When you know Christ personally, you understand the difference.

Amen.

Happy Valentine's Day, with the Father's Love Letter

2011-02-14T12:39:00.011-06:00

Valentine's Day was originally a holiday based on St. Valentine [c. 3rd century] but did not become 'romantic' until Chaucer got a hold of it in the Middle Ages I am told.

I think we celebrate it because we all need love. Not just desire it: NEED it. To live, to learn, to grow as human beings.

One of the biggest falling-outs in my life was when a friend took my anger at the mistreatment of a child as a lack of compassion to the incompetent mother. He misunderstood my fury. What I was angered at was how LITTLE the mother LOVED her child - a precious girl who had become a non-functional mute at the age of 8 from her mother's abuse [she had been kept locked up in closet and was found wearing in dirty diapers when child services intervened.] It was horrible.

Child abuse and parental neglect are common evils, I am afraid. So common, that many of us unwittingly ascribe these traits to God. When you hear the question "If God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world?" they do not want the answer: "Because we told Him to leave us alone."

If God seems angry in the Old Testament, you MUST realize the occasions are based on EVIL behavior by His people. They are to lead the world to Him - not lead them to false idols that cannot help.

God says "Do not murder" -and we murder; we also do it with gossip. We can even bully electronically now - "cyber-bullying" - and bring such pressure that a child wants to commit suicide. Will commit suicide.

Children are so easily victims. They do not automatically know how to chose right from wrong: they only know what feels good, feels bad. They have to be taught wisdom and discernment. They accept all messages even if the bearer is false.

We call addicts 'adult children' because of their 'do what feels good' behavior and lack of judgment skills. We know the source of their pain is often in their childhood, and a lack of loving discipline and false messages. We know God can heal that entire arena, but it has to be a 'trust event' - they have to believe God is Good and God Wants to Help.

Do I have research to back this up? I have only my personal experience - and the experience of about 10 million others.

And of course, holy scripture.

[ LOL! This IS how He makes us ALL feel! :) ]

So, if you are hurting this Valentine's Day - or just need a reminder - please watch "The Father's Love Letter" on YouTube.

And for those believers who grew up in rather strict Christian traditions [you know who you are] you may have gotten an overdose of your responsibilities to God, not His response or love to YOU -His amazing grace to YOU.

Please watch and be assured: God loves you. [YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKmdIdQg3Ks ]

Happy Valentines Day, children of God.

Amen.

Perception Is Reality, Pt. 2

2011-02-07T16:10:00.003-06:00

First, congrats to the Green Bay Packers, Super Bowl Champions! To follow up my last blog, it means to me that the Chicago Bears were beaten ONLY by the Best of the Best. Frankly, I think its crazy that the Packers won - they lost two MORE men to injury in the Super Bowl - and props to the Steelers - just like their showdown with the Bears, you were watching till the last minute. Again, a failed pass ended the hopes of the underdog.

This was the Packers year, no doubt about it. They lost star players left and right and still won the Super Bowl. Vince Lombardi has come home. Never was it more deserved.

And here in Chicagoland we are still looking out our windows at over 20 inches of snow sitting in piles and berms and double sentries at the ends of our driveways. After all that shoveling, I sat and watched Groundhog Day for the umpteenth time.

It was good again. And what made me cry all over again is how, after Phil's heart has changed, he tries to save an old bum from dying and he can't.

He has opportunity after opportunity to help this man - remember the premise? He's TRAPPED in this day and cannot get out - but it is the completing cycle of his "death to self" or "grieving process." He's gone through Denial, Bargaining, Anger, Depression, and on his upward turn towards Acceptance, he decides if he cannot live, perhaps he can help others. He can give life to a dying man.

He cannot. He does everything, but he cannot.

He's not in control. He can predict everything that will happen this day, for he's experienced it thousands of times but he cannot change the end results. He cannot change people. He can learn everything about them but he cannot do more with them than they are willing to accept from him [his failed attempt at romancing Rita, for instance].

I think all humans have a bit of this false perception: that somehow, with enough knowledge and wisdom, we can make anything we want to happen. That is the hidden agenda in much government and in our social circles.

This week I watched and heard how many people thought they would NOT be stopped by the blizzard we were certain to have.

Like Phil, they ended up stuck in places they did not want to even be in.

And like Phil, they will repeat that error ad infinitum until God releases them by revelation.

Pray to see, dear readers.

And to learn as quickly as possible.

I am.

Amen.

Frankly, his perception of us, as much as we may disagree, is accurate.

The Not-So-New Mantra: Perception Is Reality

2011-01-26T09:32:00.012-06:00

On Sunday, the Chicago Bears faced their rivals the Green Bay Packers for the AFC Championship for the first time in 70 years and lost after a near-miraculous comeback.

In the third quarter, their THIRD-string quarterback, Jacob Hanie, took the field with every intent to get the Bears out of their 14-0 deficit.

In mere minutes, he had made TWICE as many completions as their lead QB Jay Cutler made the previous half and even made the FIRST 3rd down conversion for the Bears ALL SEASON! That is, he did what the Bears had never done and was doing it better than Cutler. Impressive, no?

The game became 14-7. People stopped looking depressed. Moans were turning to cheers. Then, horror of horrors - an interception by a Packer nick-named 'The Freezer" for his large ungainly size - and a touchdown! The Bears were down again by two TD's - but they IMMEDIATELY responded on the return, driving down field and getting ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN! 21-14 now! And then began a nail-biting drive in the 4th quarter - would the Bears get ANOTHER touchdown and tie up the game? They were moving fast and the 2 minute warning had sounded...

...and Green Bay intercepted a pass poorly thrown and the game was over in the last 39 seconds.

What a shame. The Bears lost. They were losers. Right?

Wrong. At least, not in the end, they weren't.

Green Bay had put 14 unanswered points on the board in the first half of the game - unheard of! Even the Bears defense admitted, "We didn't do anything differently in the second half. We just did what we were supposed to be doing in the first place."

So they woke up late. It happens. But they woke up.

Furthermore, quarterback Jay Cutler wasn't dong well at all. If the Bears had gotten ONE TD in the first half, it would have been a tie. As it was, Jacob Hanie, their third QB almost single-handedly upset the game, even with two pass interceptions. My reaction: "Dang! We should have put this guy in EARLIER!"

But do you know what everyone was REALLY upset about? The fact that Jay Cutler left the field because of a knee injury. It wasn't really his decision - the coaches, the docs, the trainers all saw he was not doing well and he had to sit out. He was doing poorly that first half, but no one knew why. The reason became apparent: he was hurting -badly.

But because he was standing on the side lines, as was possible for him to do, many fans thought he "wimped out" on them. It began to circulate even among pro's that he "wasn't tough enough." All because of 5 seconds of video show him standing.

One player said it well on a radio interview: "Perception is reality to these people. These guys have NO idea what his injury was like - and those X-rays show a torn ACL - you CANNOT play on that! You can stand - I have - but you cannot be out there throwing the football and getting sacked like Jay was." Another teammate pointed out in no uncertain terms how unjust their judgment was of Cutler. "Tough? He's one of the toughest men I know! You get out there and play with diabetes - yeah, diabetes - and get sacked 82 times in a season!"

Another said this: "You cannot play when you are injured like that. You hold back your team because you cannot do your job." So Jay would have been hurting his team MORE to keep playing. His exit from the game was an act of humility and doing what was best for his team.

So much for fan perception.

I am proud of the Bears, even though they lost. Big props to Forte and especially Brian Urlacher, who captained beautifully the defense against the Packers. Notice that there were NO field goals in the entire game? Think what that means, knowing one TD was an interception and his guys were not on the field to stop it.

I watched the movie Rocky again the other night. I think it applies here about having the will to endure loss for a greater reason. Rocky says something poignant about not "kidding himself" about his chances of winning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7YmojUJagk&feature=player_detailpage#t=109s

"All I want to do is go the distance," he says. "Seeing that bell ring - and I'm still standing - I'll know for the first time in my life that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."

Rocky has been missing his potential all his life - and its the first chance he will have to show he is a fighter - a good one and not just a wanna-be - a bum, an enforcer for "a second-rate loan shark" a Mickey reminded him earlier before agreeing to train him.

Chicago started so badly this season, they should not made it to the playoffs.

Chicago also did so badly the first half of their championship game with a wounded quarterback, it should have been a total blowout by the Packers.

But in the last quarter, they were playing and playing to win. They were alive and fighting and throwing and running and doing what they had NEVER done before with a quarterback they barely knew.

They didn't win the game, but the Bears weren't no losers. The Bears weren't no bums.

They won in integrity, professionalism, faith, heart and soul.

That's something Chicago should be proud about. Very proud.

[I'll finish up later, 'cause there's something else I want to say on this broad subject]

peace
justice

Ain't It Cool News interviews V&V creators

2011-01-18T13:31:00.010-06:00

My fave RPG of all time is Villains and Vigilantes(tm) for its open-ended creativity and rules-lite style.

One year ago, almost to the day, I called up Scott Bizar of FGU and had a good conversation with him on the possibility about getting something published for V&V. I ended the conversation with "This is going to be the best year ever for V&V!"

He was little quiet after that statement. I think Scott might have thought I was either boasting of my own possible submissions, or was simply shocked that I was so confident.

Well it ended up being a very prophetic statement. And fulfilled in a way that COMPLETELY blindsided both me and him.

In six months, Scott began publishing adventures that had been sitting gathering dust for ten years - and brand new ones submitted by eager talent.

But almost at the same time, Jeff Dee and Jack Herman announced that they were now the sole publishers of V&V and were re-claiming their rights.

No one knew how solid a grip they had on this claim until a few facts came to light: that FGU was no longer incorporated, and on the day that happened, all rights reverted back to the original creators. That day occurred way back in 1991, says one document from the state of New York. [Insert SFX "My goodness!" spoken by Dorothy from Wizard of Ozhere.]

In the following interview by 'superhero' Kristian Horn for AICN, another reason Jeff and Jack have the sole rights to publish came to light: they only signed a contract for the First Edition of V&V, not for the ever more popular Second Edition. They were told it was not necessary.

Seems that it was. New rules and new writing and all that.

So that means they had the rights even earlier, if you get down to the legal nitty-gritty - back in 1982 or so.

[Insert SFX "Walll, GOLL-EE" from 'Gomer Pyle' here.]

Here's the interview: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/48121 . Just scroll to the bottom to see this quote:

superhero [Kristian Horn]: OK…so at what point did it begin to go off the rails? I’m not sure about the specifics, but I remember reading about some legal issues regarding who owned Villains and Vigilantes?

JD [Jeff Dee]: We started to become unhappy in the late 1980’s when FGU stopped advertising V&V, taking it to conventions, or even soliciting distributors. When it became clear that this situation wasn’t going to change, we started looking for ways to get our game back. But for years, it looked hopeless. The contract seemed to give Scott Bizar enough loopholes so that he could keep it in force perpetually with little effort, and attempts to purchase the publishing rights from him were met by outrageously high price tags.

As it turned out, there are a few problems with our old contract which we were unaware of until recently.

Our contract was with Fantasy Games Unlimited, Incorporated – which, we recently discovered, was “dissolved by proclamation” by the state of NY in 1991 for failure to pay state taxes. It no longer exists. And the contract clearly stated that if FGU Inc ever ceased to exist, then the publication rights reverted back to us.

But Scott never told us that FGU Inc was gone. He just kept calling himself “Fantasy Games Unlimited”, as if nothing had happened. Maybe he was afraid we would take our game and walk, or maybe he didn’t want to risk having to renegotiate the deal.

Furthermore, the only contract we ever signed with FGU Inc was for the original 1979 edition of V&V. Scott told us we didn’t need a new contract for the second edition in 1982 because it had the same title and authors. But that’s just not true. The second Edition is a separate work, and therefore legally required its own contract. So it turns out that FGU Inc never actually had the right to publish the V&V second edition in the first place.

So basically, Scott Bizar has been pretending that the corporation we had a contract with still exists, which it doesn’t, and that the contract we had with that defunct corporation covered the 1982 edition of V&V, which it didn’t.

When these facts came to light, we immediately moved to assert our legal claim to the publishing rights to our game.

Though Jeff Dee and I are ideologically MILES apart - he is a member of the Atheist Community of Austin, TX - I had a gut feeling that this rationalist, transhumanist would NOT move beyond the proper legal boundaries to get his creation back.

Just not his style. I've been criticized for believing that, but I knew Jeff as a man bound to follow the rule of law, no matter how tough it was. I respected that. I mean, you do REALIZE that some FIVE pages of the rules of V&V [a 60-odd page rulesset] are simply the legal codes for the state of New York and their consequences, right? What RPG asks you to play yourself and then GIVES you a breakdown of the legal system for the 'home state' of superherodom?

But for him to discover this legal right so late is bittersweet, I bet.

I bet.

Can I tell you something as a Christian? We have incredible rights that most of us are, like Jeff Dee, unaware of.

As a Christian, we have the RIGHT to be called 'Sons of God.'

We have the RIGHT to boldly approach a Holy God without fear, without shame.

We have the RIGHT to ask for wisdom, be given supernatural power and understanding, and to effectively deal with what is evil before us.

We have the RIGHT to eternal life as an unchanging, inviolate gift, not based on performance but on our trust in Christ.

We have the RIGHT to Consul/Counsel. We have a RIGHT to know the Truth and proclaim it.

We have the RIGHT and AUTHORITY to forgive others.

But we have those rights because Jesus paid for them.

Don't forget that. Don't let anyone take those rights from you by lies and/or deception.

You were created for a purpose; there is no one like you or better suited for the tasks assigned to you.

Praise God for that.

And, if you will, praise God that Jeff and Jack, two very creative men, have finally gotten their creation back.

Even as God got back His Creation as well -legally, through Jesus.

;)

Amen.

Inception Pt. 2

2011-01-10T11:53:00.007-06:00

SPOILERS SO BIG YOU NEED A HEFTY BAG TO CARRY THEM IN! Run Away if you have NOT seen Inception!

Don't argue - RUN!

OKaaaaayyyyy.... warned you twice....

A lot of people have been arguing about the ending of Inception, because director/writer Christopher Nolan ends with Cobb's 'tell' - the object that identifies if he is dreaming or not - is still spinning when the film ends.

If you listen carefully, you DO begin to hear it wobble - still, he cut the scene tightly enough, and it is so similar to the last time he saw his children, we the audience are left to guess if he is awake or dreaming of his return home. [ YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThtjdhAl-9U&feature=related ]

Why did Nolan do this? To leave it up to the audience? No. It seems he was saying something about Cobb's - and our human - heart, and one reviewer picked up on it.

From Screenrant [ http://screenrant.com/inception-spoilers-discussion-kofi-68330/3/ ]:

At the beginning of the film, after the first job Cobb’s team tries to pull on Saito, we see Cobb sitting in his hotel room alone, spinning the top and watching it intently, gun in hand. This is a guy who is ready to blow his brains out if the top keeps spinning, in order to “wake himself up.” That’s how obsessed and paranoid he’s become.

Throughout the film, Cobb continues to obsess about spinning the top and verifying reality – however, at the end of movie, he spins the top and walks away from it before he can verify if it stops spinning or not. His kids come running in and Cobb couldn’t care less about about the top or “true reality” or extraction/inception anymore. He just wants to be with his children, in whatever place he can be with them. That emotional connection and desire is “reality” enough for him.

Such is the danger of a wrong thought in our deepest hearts and what it can bring forth. Such is the power of achieving our dreams - we do not care anymore what reality is - we GOT what we desired.

I have done both in my life - had thoughts so poisonous that they ruined reality and had what I dreamed for ALMOST come true - and if I had closed my eyes, they would have - but I had to force myself to look at reality and not be ensnared by their beauty.

You too, I bet. Have you ever met a person you thought would complete you, make you whole, and be all you wanted? If they were a mortal, you asked too much of them.

That place belongs to God, maker of true reality.

I know some people who are very happy in their dreams - and they do not want to be woken up by 1) death, 2) loss and 3) personal guilt.

But those are the very things that awaken us that THIS world is not our home, just as Cobb was awakened in Limbo by Mal. [By the way, Mal, short for Mallory, is also an important name - 'Mal' means 'bad' in Latin. Or consider it phonetically: 'Mal' = 'maul' - to be viciously attacked and wounded by a beast - i.e. exactly how she acts in the end when rejected by Cobb.]

We are awakened from our poor dreams by such awful things, it is a crime to speak of them without compassion. Are they really necessary? Unfortunately, yes.

When a child is shot or a leader is assassinated, we weep and ask 'Why'?

When our heart is shattered into a million pieces and we are told we are no longer wanted, or needed, or desirable,too old, too unfit, we cry out at the unfairness of a world which makes promises it CANNOT keep, and ask 'WHY?!'

I do not want to detract from the joy of Cobb being re-united with his children in the film by saying it was another dream. No, I think he is NOT dreaming in the sense he is trapped in Limbo - because he went there to save Saito and DID confront Mal. He listened to Ariadne and HAD made a physical and emotional break with late wife.

He IS cautious when he comes awake, seeking confirmation it is NOT a dream.

But Nolan will not let you rest with ONE answer, and I suppose I won't either.

"Is this another dream that must end? Do you care if it is? That is, are you willing to face reality?"

While many Christians are accused of 'not facing reality' I am afraid that charge cannot be laid on them justly.

In Christianity, we say flatly these things:

1) This world is NOT as God intended. Corruption, sadness, pain and death are everywhere due to Man's original disobedience and current continuing disobedience.

2) There are many temptations to ensnare us in this world - and we are prone to listen to them. We want to avoid God and embrace temporary idols to grant us our desires and make us happy.

3) Knowing this, God sent into this world a Man who was His Son, directly connected to Him. Unable to be seduced or misdirected, loving the unlovable, understanding without condemning or condoning sin. He is the 'tell' for the world. He alone was perfectly sane and knew our hearts, inside and out.

4) In His sacrifice, and His work alone, we can have the power to BE sane - awake - non-dreaming. We can also be fearless of death - for we will awake and be put into our new homes with new bodies thanks to Him.

I think a lot of us need Him WAY before we realize Him.

That immortal gave us the 'kick' that wakes us all up. The baptism by water that makes us realize what we should know: 'We are dreaming if we think this world holds all our happiness.'

For Christians, the cross is our 'tell.' It keeps us focused on what we are here for.

And no matter what dreams may come, no matter how beautiful they are, here they must end.

But for those in Christ, losing a dream is not the end - they become our 'kicks' - our dying to ourselves - to wake us up, and bring us up and up - and out of the almost real into the Real.

Where God does indeed dwell and is in all. Where there is no deception - even self-deception - and love and joy never end.

Amen.

p.s. For further reading, read Revelations 21.

Inception Pt. 1

2011-01-05T11:32:00.006-06:00

If you have not seen the movie, stop right now. I am going to be dropping spoilers so fast you'd swear I had rotten apples in my pockets.

First, let's watch that awesome trailer again, shall we?

"Well, it's not strictly speaking...legal."

"I think I found a way home... and this last job is how I get there."

"I have it under control."
"I'd hate to see out of control!"

"You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."
BOOoooM!

O.K. Those quotes are worth the price of admission alone. PLUS and amazing ominous and beautiful score by Hans Zimmer, how bsed this incredible beat on a very, very slowed down version of a classic French...uhm.. 'swooner' song: Non, Je ne regrette rien ["No, I have no regrets at all"]. YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu6Kgp88 .

This song is used while the team is in France and under deep sleep in the dreamworld to warn them it is time to wake up. In a BEAUTIFUL double-entendre', the catharisis for our hero Cobb, played by DiCaprio, is him having to learn to let go of the woman he loved - even though he feels great guilt about her death. Cobb has regrets - and this song tortures him to let them go so he can live in the real world.

So THIS song is playing in real time, but what do our heroes and heroine hear down in the dreaming worlds they have entered? In dream worlds that progress in time at 1/20th the rate of real time?

Not the brisk Duh, de duhn, de duhn , de duhn joyful gallop of a love song, but "DUHNnnn - DUHNnnnn - DUHNNNnnnnn.." - bells tolling that the time to 'die' is here.

Oh yeah - to wake-up from the dream world, you have to die - you know how that wakes you up in real life? Or when you feel like your falling off a cliff? Both of those can wake a dreamer.

Normally.

In this scenario, Cobb and his team have taken a sedative SO powerful that to die is to drop into LIMBO - and be essentially lost in a vast wasteland of dreaming. It would take you - at THAT level - YEARS to escape. But as they get trapped, they find the only way out is the way THROUGH and so Cobb willing goes down to confront the subconscious projection - i.e. 'ghost'- of his late wife and rescue the team benefactor who was lost to Limbo. [lit. fans see an Orpheus & Eurydice reference here? I do.]

This movie has so many notable allegories, its hard to organize them.

Let me mention one I haven't yet seen on any review on the web. It's probably out there, just I haven't seen it yet.

Cobb and Ariadne are the architects of the dream world. She's even better than him, we are told.

Do you know where the name Ariadne came from? It's based on the myth of Ariadne, the "Mistress of the Labyrinth" who led the hero Theseus out of the Minotaur's maze. Since Ellen Page's character has to learn to build mazes and such, it's a nice touch from the filmmaker, no?

But did you know Cobb means spider? It's an Old English reference and where we get 'cobwebs' from. [See here: http://honkytonkhumunculus.xanga.com/142620535/item/ ]

So as we watch, Christopher Nolan our fine director is weaving and spinning a tale to knock the dust off of your brain, with a man trapped in a web of his own making and a young girl trying to lead the hero safely out of the maze of his heart.

More later.

peace
justice

The Immortal Wars Pt. 2

2011-01-03T22:07:00.006-06:00

As I left my last posting, I realized I need to point the reasoning behind my assessment of human mortality - and the possible consequences of future immortality. [Art from http://kashina.ru - go visit!]

You see, we were given limited lifespans to limit our suffering and our sin, according to the Bible. Death was God's form of triage to keep evil and suffering from becoming eternal and everlasting. You didn't know this?

Re-read this passage - and realize that Man is naked, ashamed and infected with a lie that he had "to know Evil as well as Good" [BTW, today people still believe this lie]. In response, God does what He has to, to keep us from becoming eternally - immortally - wicked.

Genesis 3:21-23
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

God locks away the tree of life - eternal life - AFTER He mercifully clothes them.

Theologians will point out that this was the first animal sacrifice - and the God who killed an animal so Adam could have clothing is the same God who sent His Son to die and cover us with His blood-bought righteousness. But by this action, God prevented us from having to deal with immortal Caesar's, Hitlers and the like.

But it also meant He had to find another way to give immortality to those who were right with Him - and we are told that comes through Jesus Christ: accepting Him as Lord and Savior and placing our hope/trust/faith and future on Him.

If you don't want to trust Christ, you will be given the option of trusting the anti-Christ - the "Beast" as shown in Revelations:

Revelations 13:1-4
1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

Why would a lethal wound being healed make the whole world marvel? We do a lot of that today in our sciences don't we?

If so, then this must be a healing on an order beyond science - or at least beyond our current scientific understanding.

And what would be the LAST thing to overcome for us humans, even if we solve all the other nagging problems like poverty, crime, disease, etc.? Yeah, death.

It's tempting to want that right here and now, isn't it? Without waiting or trusting God for a resurrection? Even Jesus was tempted to cheat death at the cross. We Christians are not immune to the siren call of staying on this level of life for an extended period of time, either. Just today I found this article in Christianity Today that questions what motivates us saints to live longer if our goal is to reach heaven, where eternity awaits us.

See here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/january/6.18.html .
Quoted from the first page online:

Molecular biologist Cynthia Kenyon, for example, has doubled the life span of the worm C. elegans by altering a single gene, the result of which mimics reduced food intake.

"I wanted to be those worms!" said Kenyon. She exclaimed that even a moderate increase in life span would be like having the body of a 45-year-old at age 90. "If our company could make a pill, everyone would want it," she said. Her company hopes to make a pharmaceutical that mimics the genetic experiment in humans and allows consumers to enjoy the longevity benefits of fasting without having to drastically alter their diets. Moreover, that longer life may include health and vitality, assuaging fears that lengthening life would only prolong old age's attendant afflictions.

Who wouldn't want that pill? But then, what would you do to those who resisted it? Would you eradicate them?

One thing for sure, whoever had the secret would also have a very unstoppable army. You could not kill them so you'd have to find some other way to immobilize them.

I think that scenario is also mentioned in the book of Revelations, chapter 9:5,6:

5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes.

6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

Why? Is it because Death takes a holiday, like that old film? No. I think we cracked the code of life - and so God has to bring in the angels to end everything.

I think that is the reason all has to be burnt up -because if that code has gotten into the entire biosystem, then everything is immortal, unkillable -and unable to end its journey and enter eternity.

Like in the movie Inception, you just don't wake up - or get out.

I hope this scenario doesn't happen, but I am afraid it will. Because I cannot IMAGINE how much money every nation in the world would put into it if a way to create immortals was known to exist. And who wants to see their loved ones perish if there is a cure?

Thanks for listening.

Oh - one last reason I think this 'immortal scenario' is correct before I go.

My favorite mystic, Oswald Chambers, wrote about what Christ means to you and me and then to the world; He was very insightful, not only about our human nature but also about God's style of operating.

But instead of buying into the common evangelical fanaticism about Christ's Second Coming - even as he was looking down the barrels of World War I [did you know Jesus is returning tomorrow?] - Chambers said God will let mankind achieve all it can before He returns so we will know in our hearts and minds we were wrong and agree with His judgment. I'll try to find the exact quote later, but I cannot escape the logic of God's mercy extending all the way to a final judgment that is utterly deserved [cf. Sodom and Gomorrah].

Be good; keep the faith; follow Jesus!

He's everything, you know.

Amen.

The Immortal War

2010-12-31T00:05:00.003-06:00

As promised, I return to the subject of immortality as a cautionary tale in fiction, and, I believe, will actually occur in real life - within the next hundred years or so.

Very briefly, let me caution the reader that God DOES want to give us eternal life - and that will include real, physical, corporeal bodies that will never grow old or age or die or suffer disease, hardship from environment, etc. According to the Bible we who believe in Christ and have trusted Him with our lives are to be given these bodies in the resurrection.

But that is a resurrection - and it is God chooses who lives and who does not. Not money, nor mind, nor mystic ability - just the Creator.

Well, we humans don't like making that decision. We want to. As Victor Frankenstein says in Frankenstein: The True Story, "I'd make a pact with the DEVIL if he would show me how to bring my [loved one] back to life!"

Indeed, as the story pans out, Frankenstein learns the secret and it is devilish. In his Faustian enlightenment, he brings a horrible curse down on himself and his wife and unborn child because of his brilliant mind, broken heart and lack of omniscience.

He destroys every one he loves by creating this 'Adam' who is a conglomeration of mind and spirit of different souls and different body parts. The Creature even quotes the Bible to find a name for himself "My name is LEGION for we are MANY!"

Now the fun thing about movie horror is that it is safely distanced from you. You don't have to deal with it.

But we will, poppets. We will.

From a controversial article by The Guardian, some data stands out:

The aging process is poorly understood, but scientists know it is caused by many factors. Highly reactive particles called free radicals are made naturally in the body and cause damage to cells, while smoking, ultraviolet light and other environmental factors contribute to aging.

The Harvard group focused on a process called telomere shortening. Most cells in the body contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, which carry our DNA. At the ends of each chromosome is a protective cap called a telomere. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres are snipped shorter, until eventually they stop working and the cell dies or goes into a suspended state called "senescence". The process is behind much of the wear and tear associated with aging.

So if you could stop the 'snipping' of the telomeres, we'd keep on going - at least further than we live now.

Many therapies are being hunted down, but the hope is that by extending our death date again and again, a form of immortality may be found to stop the process all together.

Say we can give you a treatment of certain drug therapies over the course of a year. Then on top of that we replace some of your organs - from ones we have cloned from your own body when it was younger. AS long as we have spare parts and a good hand, you can be rebuilt biologically. Like restoring a '57 Chevy.

I'd be all for this except for that fair warning I read in the Bible about the Beast being literally able to shrug off a fatal wound - and the WHOLE WORLD marveled. soon, he's got them all in his hand. You can't buy or sell without his mark.

Why? Well, folks, if this anti-Christ has the secret to immortality and gives it to you, you belong to him. But that's not all. By REFUSING to have his mark, you are saying you want to live a normal life. That means you will age and die and no longer be productive. So why should you be fed or cared for? You are part of the problem, not the solution.

You would have to be eliminated, you waster of resources you!

Oh -I have to go - it's getting to be be bedtime....

peace
justice

Frankenstein: The True Story & the War for Immortality

2010-12-22T23:59:00.008-06:00

I am fascinated by the concept of immortality in fiction. The idea of a man who can not die, who lives for ages and ages and is, by all human reason, unstoppable, relentless, familiar with many cultures and many great minds and has, by some mysterious power, outlived them all.

Duncan MacLeod, Casca, Ahauseurus or The Wandering Jew, Vandal Savage, and others -they are our attempt to explore what living forever would be like. But in these cases, it is a singular advantage they and they alone possess. They watch all the people they know and love die as age catches up with them.

Have you ever heard the saying "Death is part of life?"

It is not.

Oh, I know the wisdom they are espousing - in this world, you have to accept that what you love will die and go away - and it can even nourish the next life to come.

Sure. Got it. Thanks for the info. But strictly speaking, death is NOT 'part of' life - it is the ENDING of a life. Of a good life or a bad life, it matters not - it is the end. So it is not 'part of' being alive - as a NECESSARY element - it is the cessation of an organism. If it weren't there, I think we would be glad it were gone indeed.

Unless it ALSO meant suffering would never end. OK, I can see that. Who want's to be an immortal crawling on the ground his body wracked with cancer for eternity? Not me! Disfigured, disgustingly diseased and damaged, but unable to die? No. Too awful to think about.

But all of these concepts are wonderfully and horrifyingly played out in an old made-for-TV movie entitled Frankenstein: The True Story. A movie I saw re-played in 1976 or so, but stuck with me for over 30 years - I got to watch the entire 3-hour film on DVD last night. While it is actually a re-imagining of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, it does a great job of bridging several Frankenstein movies into a cohesive story that is a bit richer IMHO that Shelley's original work.

I thought the acting was superb - especially Michael Sarrazin as 'The Creature' - I truly felt the child-like pathos of the monster and could actually 'hear' the different personalities embedded in him [I missed this as a child], saw the anger and blasphemy that brought Dr. Frankenstein and his bride to their doom - IMHO, its a damn fine cautionary tale, well-played and inescapably tragic.

Does anyone know how Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, a 19 year old girl, came up with such a fantastic horrifying tale that outlasted her literary betters in print for so many years? I'm going to go out on a limb, here.

She knew her Bible and the God revealed there, like so many of her age. She had read the account of Adam and Eve and knew that if any man dared to replace God, only evil and death would come of it. I'm NOT saying she was a devout believer, but those who know the origin of evil know that God gave us humans a death sentence as a form of severe mercy to SAVE us. Just imagine if Hitler were immortal, or Stalin, or Jim Jones, or... well, you get the idea.

You see, God made everything Good - and it was GOOD. The Tree we were not supposed to eat of was the Tree of Knowledge of Good AND EVIL.

We got what we wanted. We got the "AND EVIL" part - and shame followed immediately. It has been passed down from generation to generation since. The First Adam failed. So the Last Adam came to bring us back.

Thus Christ was sent to save us - from our sins, from our own willful decisions, from our own greed, pettiness and spite, and yes, from death - but I am afraid what we want is not repentance and a resurrection but more time to HERE to do what WE want.

We want to live forever - without God's approval. We are already working on it in several life-extension programs.

And I think, if we are not careful, Frankenstein WILL become a TRUE STORY.

Because, this morning, I read Revelations 13 about the Beast who was wounded yet lived, and guys, I think that the Anti-Christ will be an unkillable man.

An immortal, if you wish. With the power to emulate life.

And if that is true, we would love him - and be damned by doing so.

[more next post]

A Coyote for Christmas

2010-12-21T00:52:00.014-06:00

I wrote this a few years ago as I was remembering one of the best Christmas gifts I ever gave to my mother before she passed away - and who really deserved the credit for thinking of it.

peace
justice
___________________________________________________

A Coyote for Christmas
When I was 15, I loved in a terrible co-dependent way my hometown of Southaven, Mississippi. To be fair, it was all I knew, and I didn't want to leave. But then my dad was able to use his seniority to land a job in Laredo, Texas and there - years before the rest of the United States would sample this fine cuisine - I was to discover the delectable taste of fajitas. Fajitas that had been marinated for hours and slow-cooked over mesquite wood. Yumm!

So we moved. From the land south of Elvis to the land south of El Paso.

I hated the very idea. I even used the Lord's name in vain. He didn't mind. He moved me anyway.

There my mom, my dad and I had to live in an apartment. I had a swimming pool, no yard to mow and was within walking distance to my school. Also that year: mom and dad had their 25th wedding anniversary, I made about a dozen friends, and I got a tan for the first time in my life. Life was good.

So score another point for Jesus. (I guess now is as good a time as any to say I'm sorry: Sorry, Jesus!)

But still, my mother was unhappy. She was a stranger in a strange place. I saw that. I would listen about her struggle to understand this non-egalitarian culture and how much she missed the green grass of Graceland (nee North Mississippi). The long shrubby grasslands of south Texas were certainly not very comforting to a woman accustomed to verdant scenery.

She was more homesick than either of us. But soon she found someone who lived in the arid climate whom she could relate to: a Mr. Wylie Coyote. Yes. You heard me right. The crafty cartoon canid who managed to screw up every single plan he ever conceived –and usually paid the price for his folly by a long fall ending unceremoniously on the hard desert floor.
[ youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz65AOjabtM ]

It was ridiculous, this teen and his mother religiously watching something so absurd every Saturday morning. Together we howled at his unquenched desire for the Road Runner, his intricate plans going inescapably awry. The sound no faithful follower can ever forget was the slow whistle of Wylie falling from some great height, once again so stupefied by the turn of events he wouldn’t utter a single sound before he hit the ground with a resounding thud. Wheeeeeeewwwww - POW!

You don't see that kind of quality entertainment anymore. Too violent, they say.
We didn't care. We liked the violence. We understood. He'd be all right. We'd see him again next week. So we laughed and laughed until tears came down our faces, week after week. We enjoyed Wylie. He was our friend.

So when it came time to get my mother a Christmas present that year in Texas, I decided to get her something memorable: I bought her a coyote. A stuffed Wylie Coyote. I wrapped it and placed it under the tree nervously, not sure if she would think it was too childish.

Later, I paced my room. I argued with myself about getting such a silly gift. More than once I thought I should've gotten perfume, even cheap perfume.

Morning came. As we stood around in our robes, I gingerly handed my present to her. "Here, uh, mom, I hope you like it." I held my breath. She opened the box curiously, carefully laying aside the wrapping paper.

Then my mother, a former business professional, portrait artist and vocal supporter of the Civil Rights movement squealed out loud. Note that word: squealed. Like a little girl.

"You like it?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh, honey! It's wonderful!" She cuddled the coyote. She kissed me on the cheek. She held him at arm’s length. She laughed. "Look at those eyes! Those crazy ears! Oh, thank you honey!"

I was amazed. I was expecting a tolerant laugh, but this was way above and beyond. If it had been a Tiffany diamond, I could not have gotten a better reaction.

There was some strange magic at work here, and I knew it wasn't just me getting lucky. I'm smarter than that. Something weird was going on. No way a 49 year old woman should be so excited over a stuffed animal. Uh-uh.

But Jesus knew what He was doing.

You see, we didn't know it at the time, but my mother had cancer. In less than three months, mere weeks after her 50th birthday, she would have to have a mastectomy.

That sounds bad, doesn't it? It was.

As we went to visit my mother in the hospital after her surgery, she had one firm request: "Please bring me my Wylie!" We obeyed. There she sat, this wild Irish woman, propped up by her pillows, brushing her coyote's ears and laughing.
I’ve thought about that a lot.

And I believe as she sat there laughing, God was filling her heart so she could run the terrible race before her. The proof of this was in her asking not for a legal will, nor last rites, but simply for the coyote she got for Christmas. From me. From Jesus.

He would sit beside her in that antiseptic hospital room, accepting Norma as she was, not as she wanted to be. With all her flaws and missing parts, loving her with an unspeakable love no man could understand. He would be fuzzy just for her. He would be silly just for her. He would let her hold him as closely as she needed to when she wept alone at night.

I'm not into heresy, but I think a part of Jesus was in that coyote. Maybe a small part, but a part nonetheless.

For it is impossible for a sixteen year old boy to get so perfect a gift in his own wisdom. No. No, it was Jesus I tell you. It was too timely, too perfect. I didn’t know Him, but He knew Norma Joyce. Jesus used me.

And a coyote for Christmas.

_____________________________________________

Amen.

The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man - on DVD!

2010-12-14T23:04:00.007-06:00

Dear children of the 70's, Uncle Justice has some AWESOME news for you - about two weeks late, but you can still get it before Christmas if you hurry.

After years of wrangling, The Six Million Dollar Man is available on DVD from Time-Life - all FIVE seasons, with all three PILOT movies and all THREE Reunion movies PLUS 90 minutes of interviews, commentary and even more coolness.

Ends up being FORTY DVDs of coolness. [insert bionic sound]
[Link for clip below: http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlcuiDUVyVQ&NR=1&feature=fvwp ]

I got to say this story inspired me to make my hero [from the novel I am writing] an astronaut who loses nearly everything yet keeps going.

It was the producer Harve Bennett who pointed out that what makes Steve Austin awesome is that he's got a lot of heart and compassion, even as he does his job. I think he's right - I think that darkness and coldness may have been what killed the reboot of The Bionic Woman. And that applies any movie where the hero lacks compassion: Daredevil, Ghost Rider, etc.

I myself have lost a lot of compassion for certain individuals and its hurting my ability to minister.

But Steve - he who lost most of his limbs, his fiance' and several other friends in the line of duty?

He keeps coming back.

In slow motion. [Link for clip below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJwPL5LkeaA&NR=1&feature=fvwp ]

Not only because it looks cooler, [it most certainly does] but because you and I want to savor every moment of action. Of victory.

If you've lost a lot of yourself this year, don't worry - you can come back. You can win.

A be better, stronger, faster than you were before.

Just don't give up. And trust that God is smarter than Rudy Wells as He re-builds you.

Amen.

Apologies for Two

2010-12-09T22:44:00.006-06:00

I have recently been shown that one of my recent super-heroic drawings posted on Facebook was a bit too 'graphic' or sexual for the general pop, especially for those who have struggled with the false expectations of their sex by such exaggerated human anatomy. There are those who are deeply hurt and offended by a Christian man portraying nude figures of imposing proportions, and I hear their pain.

I reply: But these aren't nudes. They are figures in spandex - but that is very close to a nude proper when done in line drawings, so I apologize for my poor visual interpretation.

So to all the MEN out there who were offended by the six-pack abs, amazing lats and triceps of this square-jawed paragon of manhood I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE.

I know that men who see this may find themselves crying themselves to sleep at night, begin binging and purging to somehow get down to the mythical 5% body fat and will spend countless hours in front of a mirror, applying makeup and false padding to increase their slim jaws to manly levels.

To these poor souls I say:

GET A LIFE YOU SCHMUCK!

[*ahem*]

Well, maybe I shouldn't say THAT, but the way to the exit door of self-hatred is usually a gentle slap in the face.

Now on to my second apology...

I have been informed in three different ways by the same individual that a corporation registers the rights to a trademark to protect the creators from outside theft of their identity.

That sounds noble and good.

Only, when those who are so protected want to use the trademark FREELY without that corporation's control, they are informed they cannot use it.

Well, they CAN use it - if they pay a lot of money. Somewhere between $45,000 - $70,000.

Those figures may be wrong. I am going by hearsay from one of the creators:

Jeff Dee writes:
A decade or so ago, when Jack and I were trying to get Scott to pass the V&V license to other, *active* publishers (R. Talsorian and White Wolf both made offers), Scott put a pricetag of $45,000 on the V&V rights. In an email exchange with me a few weeks before Jack and I re-released V&V ourselves, Scott raised that pricetag to "$50,000 to $75,000". Make of that what you will.

But if they are right - or if the offer was made, it sort of destroys the "I just registered it to keep you safe" argument.

In either case, one of two things are happening - false stewardship or owner's rights.

If they are holding the trademark to PROTECT the Creators and the Creators want it back, as in "Thank you for helping keep us safe - we'd like our trademark back now." and the answer is "No. We keep it FOR you. Safe." then we've got a problem. It is not a real stewardship. It's a false one - akin to the Steward of Gondor in LOTR.

If they offered the trademark for SALE, then they are saying "It's ours and you can buy it for $$$$." But then they are not acting FOR the Creators. Nope. The Creators are merely the most interested buyers [among others, theoretically] who's original concept is now being held hostage until a ransom is paid.

Well, I hope I don't offend anymore protective and corrective people who are writing me 1,000+ words to teach me what is right.

You don't need to explain so much. Keep it simple.

"If your right eye offend thee, puck it out!"

So if you do not like my drawing, DELETE it. Keep your heart safe, please.

"Do not steal!"

Hey - whose property is it anyway? Those who create or those who watchdog it? I'd say give it to the creators - and may God bless you for doing so.

That's it.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

peace
justice

Joseph the Righteous and the Pregnant Virgin

2010-12-06T22:24:00.007-06:00

You know the Christmas story, don't you? Mary as a young virgin was told she was to give birth to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. As I mentioned last year, this is why we call her the mother of Christ, not the mother of God - the divine part came from God, not Mary. She supplied the human part.

But someone is almost always overlooked in this story or even mocked - in medieval tales they made him out to be the 'cuckolded husband.'

Joseph.

"Joseph [was] a righteous man..." we are told. We are further informed that he had married [by legal document] the young Mary. He was a hard-working man as a carpenter.

A year was the typical between the time of the marriage contract and the actual nuptials. It gave the bridegroom time to prepare their home, finish business, etc.

If he died in this time period, the almost-bride would even be called a 'widowed virgin.' Unusual, but it happened. Thus, when she is found to be pregnant - and Joseph KNOWS it is not his child, he plans to 'divorce her quietly.'

Now you have GOT to feel this, so you don't blow past it: he's found out that his fiance'/bride-to-be is PREGNANT and he was BUILDING their home, all excited about his soon to arrive Lover - yes, fanboys, Joseph was a virgin too - and she's 'got busy' with someone else?!

I know of a case where the bride had sex with the Best Man - SO the next day AFTER the VERY ELABORATE ceremony AT THE $$$$ RECEPTION, the Groom gave to all the guests present photos of the act.

That was cold. Perhaps even vengeful. But, as Chris Rock once gleefully acknowledged, "I understand."

Joseph was not like that. Heartbroken, he was not going to punish Mary. He knew the shame and humiliation she would receive would be enough. And in this small village, who would marry her now?

No - he refused vengeance though heartbroken.

And then God through an angel comforted him...

"Do not be afraid! What is born in her IS of the Holy Spirit!"

Modern translation for the non-religious: "Its OK, Joe. She did NOT cheat on you! God is at work - like He was at Creation!"

Wow.

Now think... can you imagine him going over to her house to reconcile? How so many of the family were glaring at him, SURE that HE did it and wouldn't own up? Or that by not marrying her, they would have to live with the shame? [So their anger is really fear disguised?]

But when he sits privately with her and says "I had a dream... and an Angle told me...", I believe she started crying.

"So, Mary, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Yes...*sniff*... Joseph?"
"Is October 22nd still good for you?"
"...YES!....." [smiles through tears] ..it is VERY good!"

And then the families are relieved. They KNOW Joseph is being a GOOD man.

He is taking on his responsibility; OF COURSE IT IS HIS CHILD! Mary had eyes for no other - and he would NOT marry her if it was not HIS child!

That is what must have gone through their minds, for God only spoke to Mary, Joseph and Mary's distant cousins Elizabeth & Zechariah.

They thought they had him pegged. They were glad he was a good man, though.

But they were wrong, kids.

Joseph was not a good man.

Joseph was a RIGHTEOUS man.

And a righteous man surpasses a good man like a supersonic jet surpasses a biplane.

He's a man who did what was right and would sacrifice anything to make something that was wrong into something that was right.

By marrying the pregnant Mary, all her shame was transferred to him.

This is SO like Jesus, I cannot tell you.

That was his secret power and glory. His personal choices against all voices. Against ignorance, against cynical certitude - even his own.

Think about him this season and realize that Joseph was the man God hand-picked to raise His Son Jesus on Earth.

He was something else, indeed.

Amen.

Injustice, Inc.

2010-12-04T23:48:00.004-06:00

Sorry its been so long. I have had a hundred things hit me and between a wake to attend, snow to shovel, books to read and a house to clean, I am pretty much out of energy.

Oh I usually have so much I can keep flying but recently my heart was emptied at realizing I have spent 10 years of my life trying to get my favorite RPG, Villains and Vigilantes to come back to life only to find that now that it has happened, a dogpile of deceit has become attached to it.

Let's just put it this way: even though it is PERFECTLY CLEAR that the creators should ethically and legally have back their rights to both the copyright and the trademark, they are going to have to fight to make sure the original publisher - who's corporation disappeared 20 years ago - stops publishing materials that use the trademark they are using.

They own both legally. [Contract is clear and the conditions of their ownership have been met. When the parent corporation went defunct, they got all their rights back.]

They own both copyright and trademark ethically. [They created both. Then they got up and said "This is ours!" and then proceeded to submit the proper documentation. They have claimed both 'children' as their own. They made this public. VERY public.]

They own both morally. [This was not stolen from someone else. It IS their property. For over 20 years they were not aware that they owned it with the parent corporation becoming defunct. They found out at the beginning of this year and FINALLY, exercised their rights - oh, and they had been ASKING to 'buy back' their rights previously. Can you imagine the sheer ANGER they must have felt, discovering they were being asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars for something THAT WAS THEIRS BY LEGAL RIGHT? It boggles the mind.]

Unfortunately, human drama cannot be avoided because we all have an amazing capacity to justify our actions even as we point fingers.

That's injustice for you.

peace
justice

OFFICIAL GREEN LANTERN MOVIE TRAILER! [But Fans Know Best...]

2010-11-19T15:11:00.004-06:00

First, I LIKE Ryan Reynolds; I think he CAN pull off the serious, well-intentioned hero, but got way-too-many-girls-after-him attitude.

But when a superhero trailer STARTS OFF with sex appeal, I get worried. Sure, its there - but its secondary by far...

I also prefer a little more verisimilitude in their public heroic presentation. That means updating a hero's costume to look good on film - but not going SO far as to make it overly weird or complicated. Sorry to say, I'm not a total fan of the aesthetics of the presented suit - the mask is REALLY throwing me off - but I will withhold my judgment until I see it more in action.

[In my interpretation, all GLs where a form fitting bio-suit like the Freemen in Dune. The Green Vestiture is added over that to show their rank, species, and gender. The white gloves are like our Beta cloth protection gauntlets - those rings drip energy in EVERY spectrum and GLs need them on to be safe in most cases. And justifying the 'mask'? That's a retinal, nasal, voice print shield for officers wanting to remain anonymous. In other words, its FAR more than a mask - and its good at granting higher levels of vision and hearing as well!]

The heart of the GL Corps is that they are swashbuckling, never-say-die, cavaliers roaming across the universe to protect life and promote peace and justice. Let me show you the official trailer - and then a fan-made trailer that got everyone all excited.

See which one appeals more to you or leaves a more heroic taste in your mouth.

OFFICIAL GREEN LANTERN TRAILER [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuDSk2RPnAg ]

FAN-MADE TRAILER [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTiRnqnvDs ]

While Ryan Reynolds looks good and there is a lot of 'Iron Man' vibe and energy going on, I'm afraid the fan-made nails the epic grandeur we fans really want.

There's QUITE a bit of difference between Tim Burton's Batman and Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. Both are good but Nolan's really gets closer to capturing the fierce intelligence and driven attitude of an urban vigilante realistically.

Ah well. I think it'll fly.

peace
justice

Back from Memphis and Feeling Groovy...[plus church humor]

2010-11-17T11:40:00.005-06:00

I had a great time visiting my family and friends down in the Mid-South. A lot of things had grown and changed but perhaps the saddest thing to me was to see things or people that had NOT grown and changed.

We are all plants; we are either living and growing or dead.

I'll talk more about that later, I guess, but I got a 'Humor email' of various church bulletins where typos and misused grammar totally changed the meaning they were trying to convey. It was simply too good not to share.

Knowing firsthand the innocence, gentleness and simple naivete' that is so common to many of the good-hearted women in our smaller churches, I found myself laughing out loud over each one - not in ridicule as a cynical unbeliever, but in the absolute HORROR it would be for such sweet godly women to realize WHAT they'd said or had implied publicly. "Mortified" I think is the right word for how they'd feel.

[Mark Twain wisely said: "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between a lightning bolt and a lightning bug."]

Laugh with me if you will.

peace
justice

They're Back! Those Wonderful Church Bulletins!

Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services (Summer, 2007 Release).

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The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.
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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.
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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
---- ---- --------------------------------------------------
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
-------------------- --------------------------------------
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
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The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: 'Break Forth Into Joy.'
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
------------------------------ ----- ---------------
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
------ -------------------------------------------
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
-----------------------------------------------
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon
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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. is done.
--------------------------- --------- ------------------- ---
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
-------------------------------- ------------
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
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The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan: Last Sunday: ''I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours

The Key to the Fantastic Four Re-Boot, Pt. 2

2010-10-06T10:52:00.004-05:00

I got a couple of "Likes" from two of my published readers last week on the FF Re-Boot I suggested - all I can say is thank you! Approval by knowledgable peers [i.e. UBER-geeks] is a source of great satisfaction. ;)

We left off with Victor becoming the new monarch of Latveria, and it begs a question of how we could show this "CNN style" and get the audience to fear, respect and accept our super-science magic using villain as 'the real deal.'

With Victor as a master of robotics - and that would include robot tanks, robot planes, robot enforcers - he would not need a human army to hold Latveria. And since he would NOT appreciate our 'eyes in the sky' he'd probably either keep Latveria under a light cloud cover [using sorcery] or just scramble the snot out of any satellite above Latverian airspace, say in a 30 degee cone.

We'd grab some footage from the Iraqi War and just re-title it "Latverian Drone Fighter: footage supplied by Latverian Military Forces to CNN" and show the deadly precision of this and other robotic drone craft.

We would also see Stark as Iron Man meet with Doctor Doom - in front of U.N. and shake hands. "Latveria is a soveriegn nation - and America will respect her autonomy!" says Tony Stark. Real Reason: US is glad Doom is bringing SOME stability there and, like when Saddam Hussein was put in power, think it better to have Doom than no one.

Another reason: Doom has powerful EM generators and shielded electronic systems, enough to stop Iron Man cold should he dare cross their border. It's a bloody technological stalemate. [Stark whispers as he shakes Doom's hand: "Nice armor. Sure you designed it?" to which Doom would reply "You should have known I was your superior when I was at M.I.T., Stark. Pray you do not offend me now that I am a monarch."

And for a second, just a second, Stark's systems shut down. They re-boot and Tony says "Jarvis, what the hell was that?!" "I'm sorry sir, but I was given a command to reboot by you, was I not?"

Close-up on Doom's eyes behind his face-plate. They twinkle with malevolence. He speaks loudly to the crowd and newshounds while still gripping Iron Man's hand: "I, Victor von Doom, am proud to see we have clarified our new relationship with the United States and all of its... citizens."

"Farewell."

He rockets away and the TV cameras track him.

We turn OFF the TV and find ourselves with Reed and Ben and Johnny and Sue.

"He's been busy..." says Reed, shaking his head. Around him we see blueprints, a mock-up of a space ship, trajectory plans on a white board. Obviously, it s a think tank for someone planning on going into space.

"Yeah - well so are we!" grouses Grimm as he looks at the model spaceship. "Listen Reed, NASA ain't going for this privitization of spaceflight using the engines junior here's designed. I even talked to the CEO of Virgin Atlantic, beggin' him to just listen, and he ain't coming on board either, 'cept to say 'good luck'!"

"That and a buck will get you a cup of coffee at McDonald's," snorts Johnny who's doing some more 3D engine design on his laptop.

"Reed - we've just about run out of funds, HOW are we going to pay for this?" says Sue as she hand him some coffee and puts her arm around him - its CLEAR she loves her man.

Reed grins and gives her an over-the-shoulder smooch. "I don't know Suze... corporations do like helping corporations..."

He stops. He's looking at a picture of Times Square. He looks at a McDonald's logo. He looks at a Nike logo. He starts grinning.

"Listen up everyone! We are going to form a corporation! We are ALSO going to get sponsorships and sell stock - with enough investors, we will have the money. Johnny - what was that site that shows what everyone's doing by video? New Tube?"

"YOU Tube!" corrects Johnny.

"How about we show EVERYONE what its like to fly - LIVE?! They'll pay $10 for a LIVE video feed - and we will send them a copy later."

"Sort of Reality TV in Space?"

"Yes! And we will get sponsors as we build, sponsors for our launch..."

Even Grimm starts smiling. "We're gonna be famous." Then sighs. "But who will do the talking Reed? You get too high-brow all the time, and hotshot here..." Johnny responds with an obscene gesture; Ben returns it casually. "...he don't know when to stop!"

"Sue," says Reed. "She's great with people!"

Sue looks horrified. "I'd rather disappear! Reed! You can't put me in front of a camera!"

"Why not, sis?" smirks Johnny. "You DO look pretty good in front of one. Remember the ads you did for Sweet Sixteen? And how many guys came calling?"

"That was ten years ago!" she protests. "I'm big and fat now!" All the guys look at each other and just shake their heads. Obviously Susan has NO idea of how pretty she is. Reed starts laughing.

Reed puts his arms on her shoulders. "Susan, you'd be FANTASTIC. And we need you."

She scowls and looks around at the guys who both give her a thumbs up of approval.

"FINE!" she huffs. "Well, MISTER Fantastic, what would you call our corporation?"

QUICK CUT - SHOT OF LARGE GLASS-ENCLOSED OFFICE

FANTASTIC FOUR, INC. is in bold blue stylized letters on office door.

_________________________________________

We'll continue next week.

The Key to the Fantastic Four Re-Boot

2010-09-24T11:25:00.012-05:00

First, I have no idea who will deign to spend their good time reading this. If you are here, I will do my best to give you an entertaining view or an enlightening view of heroic fantasy - and how incredible it is to find it in the Christian faith as a real expectation.

I have a very personal view that the Bible contains almost every kind of story or tale that needs to be told and that by studying it, you could at the very least create a new piece of fiction for this generation, and they would 'oooohhh' and 'ahhhhh' and still have no clue that they were just getting an old tale re-vamped for the modern age.

So it follows that if I want to say "This is how we should re-boot the Fantastic Four" I am going to be doing some allegory or parallel from the life of David or Samson or Abraham or Jesus, etc. - right?

Not precisely - we get to mix and match too. Jealousy and hatred are as old as the story of Cain and Abel, King Saul and King David, the Pharisees and Jesus.

So maybe I should say all the archetypes and dramatic motives are there in the Bible.

The first thing to do is separate the story into 3 parts and reveal what the stakes are - what would gained or lost should our heroes succeed/fail: world, family, money, scientific advancement, reaching the stars, etc.

First, as Mark Waid has pointed out, the Fantastic Four is about family. Reed Richards is married to Susan Storm, and his best friend, Ben Grimm is their pilot. Johnny Storm, Susan's younger brother is a brash mechanical genius before they all become one fantastically empowered fighting unit who spends much of their time fighting Victor Von Doom.

Secondly, it should start as all great heroic tales with a great loss and something precious being destroyed. That precious thing is the friendship of Victor and Reed. As Victor goes further and further emotionally into the Darkness after his Big Error, Reed finds hope and [at least some] redemption in his love and friendship with his crew for his Big Error.

Thirdly, it should start when there was some hope that Victor would be a good kid and we need to make the audience weep for the villain even as we support the hero. [ Following images respectfully stolen from http://slaymonstrobot.blogspot.com/2009/09/marvel-1964-week-fantastic-four-annual.html. Go visit a cool blog! ]

By the way, I think Victor Von Doom was the dark reflection of Tony Stark or Reed Richards, and when Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created him, they were facing down the barrel of the Cold War with European dictators popping up as puppets of the Soviet regime. So this will start as a social-political theme and get more personal.

Victor Comes to America, Land of the Free
1) Reed Richards becomes roommates with fellow physics/electronic engineering major Victor "von Damme" - he survived the Bosnia-Herzegovina bloodshed as a child, though his mother died as a gypsy and a witch. His father, a more educated man who had fallen in love with her wild ways, took the boy into universities and tried to get him away from the superstition of his clan. War broke out and with the threat of racial cleansing, his father ran for his life. He was able to send Victor to America under the care of Boris, but died soon after. His homeland Latveria was re-formed as hostilities ceased, and he entered MIT.

2) With both losses, Victor stays isolated, unwilling to share his grief or pain with anyone else - who could possibly understand? Enter kind Reed Richards and Susan Storm. Sue Storm is a compassionate woman and deeply respects Reed, who's her senior by ten years. Reed is also a bit of a father figure to Johnny her little brother, and they try hard to get Victor out of the labs and dorm room and have SOME fun.

3) Reed ends up befriending another sour-puss named Ben Grimm, who's an astronaut wanna-be. Reed's theories on accomplishing FTL travel intrigue the gruff pilot - and after defending Reed from some local toughs, they become fast friends. "You ever need a pilot, buddy, let me know!"

Doom Is Unimpressed
4) Victor sees the brightest minds of the Marvel universe at MIT: Tony Stark, Henry Pym and Bruce Banner, and each one fails to impress him in one way or another. But Richards, he begins to respect. He is open to ANY suggestion and will think it through. When his father dies and his personal effects are returned - along with his mother's 'special diary' of witchcraft, he begins to see a possibility of merging scientific method with sympathetic magic at the quantum level. "Are not quarks 'magical'?" muses von Doom.

5) Eagerly, he explains it to his buddy Reed and no one else: Victor dreams of escaping the boundaries of space-time for exploration, possibly even to set his mother free from hell. With the proper equipment, Victor can even unravel the mysteries of quantum foam, including hidden dimensions and tap into their power source. "Think Richards! We could learn the very secrets of creation!"

6) Richards sees the cynical Victor begin to express hope for the first time - but 'such a hope'! He tries to reason with him, especially on this space-time formula that could rend their local environment uncontrollably. "It would be the equivalent of a runaway nuclear reactor, Victor - only it would be dismantling our universe! It's a great idea - brilliant even - but if this theoretical constant is not what you are guessing - if you've made one error..." "Doom NEVER makes errors, Richards!" Angered at Richard's wisdom, he moves out of the dorm the next day.

7) For weeks, no one knows where to find Victor - at the last moment, Richards does - in an old sub-basement of the particle physics lab. - and sees the portal grow, get unstable and BLOW UP in Victor's face. Victor flees civilization, going where no man can find him or see him.

8) "Science has failed me!" growls the angry young man. "I will now seek my answers elsewhere!" in weeks he's traveled from Eastern Europe to Northern India and from there to Tibet.

9) He learns self-control and mastery over his body and delves into magic whole-heartedly. [As a small joke, one monk says to another 'This white man is TWICE as angry as the LAST one.' 'I agree, my son.' Turns to another monk - "Brother Lotus, what was HIS name?' 'Wain. Broos Wain.' ;)]

10) With his wealth, Doom makes himself a suit of hi-tech body armor so he can return to Latveria. Sick of the hounding his family has received at their hands for generations, Doom plans and executes a full coupe using robotic soldiers.

Now the tyrant, Victor christens himself "Doctor Doom" and announces that Latveria is a sovereign nation unto itself.

We'll pick up from there next time...