Batman v Superman (Part 2 - Hope?)

It seems like it was a long, long time ago now when I presented the first installment of my thoughts on the 2016 film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (just as I did last time, I’m going to shorten it to “BvS” throughout).  There was a time when I enjoyed this film, but as the years passed – with the general consensus of other moviegoers – I disliked this film.  Today, having recently seen the ultimate edition (the superior version) of this film on DVD, I appreciate it for what it is, but I am in no way declaring that this is the best superhero film ever made either. 

In part 1, I spoke about Batman in “BvS”.  While eventually I plan to return to my thoughts on Batman and his arc in this movie, today I want to talk about Superman.  The Man of Steel is out of character in this whole film, as I see it.  Please understand that I’m not bashing Henry Cavill at all. I think Cavill was a good Superman, but in “BvS”, he was not given all that much admirable content to work with – at least in my opinion.

Before diving in, there is one other thing I need to cover in this introduction: the concept of a multiverse.  The CW network presented a connected universe of heroes someone dubbed the “Arrow-verse” and the name stuck.  The idea is entirely separate universes, similar in some ways to ours, but in other ways, significantly different.  This concept really helped me to understand “BvS”.  For instance, the Batman of this “universe” may not have the smarts that other Batmen typically do (did Batman ever figure out Clark is Superman in “BvS”?), but in what has commonly been referred to as the “Snyder-verse” after Director Zack Snyder, that’s just the way he is.

That said, I still can’t get behind Superman’s attitude in this film.  They already established in the previous film “Man of Steel” (2013) that the S emblem on his uniform on Krypton means “hope”; yet Superman doesn’t radiate much hope in “BvS”.  In fact, there’s a scene where Lois reminds Superman of the family crest he wears and what it means, he basically shrugs it off, and calls it the dream of his father.  Now I get that Superman is inexperienced, mistrusted, debated, and manipulated all throughout the movie.  But no matter how dark the situation, I don’t believe that any Superman in the multiverse would ever say, “No one stays good in the world.”  The first time I heard him deliver that line, my jaw dropped.

Let me contrast this with another superhero film.  Until recently, I had not seen “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (2014) since that day in the theater 9 years ago.  The reason for this, in large part, was because I knew that Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) dies at the end of the film.  But I had completely forgotten what transpired after this sad development.  Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is devastated and broken-hearted.  But he decides to watch the speech Gwen had given at Graduation Day – he had originally missed it, of course, thanks to his duties as Spider-Man.  Gwen’s speech, in part, was as follows:

“It’s easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day like today.  But there will be dark days ahead of us too.  There will be days when you will feel all alone, and that’s when hope is needed most.  No matter how buried it gets, or how lost you feel, you must promise me that you will hold on to hope.  Keep it alive.  We have to be greater than what we suffer.”  Gwen’s hopeful words inspired Peter.  And frankly, they inspired me too.  They made me wish that Superman, even in his dire situation in “BvS”, rather than saying "No one stays good in this world" had instead said something like, “There’s always hope.”  But that wasn’t to be.

Despite all of this, I applaud Superman’s selfless act at the end of “BvS”.  Lex Luthor had created the ultimate weapon, he dubbed it “Doomsday”.  This creature was on a destructive rampage.  Contrary to some critics, no one was going to be able to stop it; not even Batman or Wonder Woman.  So Superman decided to act: he gave his life to destroy the monster, saving countless lives in the process.  I also disagree with those who contend this has moment no emotional impact, because he would just be resurrected next year in “Justice League”.  I confess I cried as I viewed the scene.  In that moment, whether it was intentional or not, I saw my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life for humanity on a cross.  “So that whoever believes in Him,” states the famous verse in John 3, “will not perish, but have everlasting life.”

To be continued!

Kevin     

Walk or just talk?

Earlier this month I mentioned that I recently heard a sermon where the pastor spoke of how a 62-year-old man in the congregation had passed away suddenly.  Another example of how we don’t know what a day will bring, and we don’t know when our appointment with death will be (that's not even my main point today, I just threw that in for free).

This pastor went on to state that, when he met with the family to help plan the memorial service and process their grief, this 62-year-old had a daughter who verbalized a tremendous compliment for her dad.  She said, “First and foremost, dad was a man of God; he not only talked the talk, he walked the walk.”  This pastor went on to muse that, if he had been the one who had died, would the same sentiment be said of him.  Then he asked the same question of his congregation.

As I heard this, this line of thought struck me as particularly relevant.  If I had passed away last month, when I was much sicker than I knew, would someone say of me, “Kevin was a man of God; he not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk”?  This has been a thought-proving and inspiring question.

This exercise can be looked at from a lot of different angles.  First off, know that I'm an inconsistent man, who sometimes falls flat on my face, metaphorically speaking.  Then I get up, and fall down again.  Don’t look to me as some superhuman figure.  No, I put my pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.  So I wanted to make that clear, first of all, even though my desire every day is to “walk the walk,” I’m not perfect.  And I won’t be until I enter the paradise of Heaven and see my dad again, the heroes of the faith, and most importantly, Jesus Himself.

Secondly, whatever praise I would receive, whatever verbal accolades there may be, I give God the honor and glory for it.  Because, whatever good and praiseworthy is ultimately not because of me; it’s Jesus in me and through me.  The Bible says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).  The more I walk with the Lord, the deeper I resonate with this truth.  I’ve regularly spoken of Pastor Rick Ferguson, who unexpectedly passed away at age 46.  In his last sermon, he stated that there are four words that define that Christian life: “Not I, but Christ.”

As I was putting this blog together, I heard a song on the radio that I had never heard before, but it resonated with me.  In the midst of this chapter of suffering and uncertainty, I was so blessed to hear this song from Bryan Fowler.  In the chorus, he says these words: 

“I need truth instead of answers; I need faith instead of sight; I need trust when I can’t find the reasons why.  I need presence over blessing; I need promise over proof; I need hope instead of healing in my life.  What I really need is You” (this is the title track from his 2019 album titled “What I really Need”).  

Fowler’s words invited me to take my eyes off of my circumstances and put them on my Savior.  It was a much needed reminder that in Jesus Christ I have everything I need.  He is hope, truth, and peace.  My desire is turn right around and to point you to Him – maybe even for the very first time. 

So, in conclusion, here’s the point; here’s the big question: am I just making all this up because it sounds good in a blog?  Is this just “talking the talk”?  No, what I’ve expressed (no matter how imperfectly I conveyed it) came from the soul of who I am. 

God bless,

Kevin

Three decades

In 1993, the Colorado Rockies baseball team was born.  While they have had fleeting chapters of success, they are regarded as an organization that loses more than it wins.  Weeks ago, when the Rockies 2023 season mercifully came to an end, their record was an abysmal 59-103; the worst record in their 30-year history.  Isn’t that scary (just in time for Halloween)?

Let me write out three of my favorite Rockies success moments.  To begin, I remember the first time the Rockies made it to the post-season.  Behind a potent offense of hitters like Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, and “The Big Cat” Andres Galarraga, Colorado enjoyed their first taste of playoffs baseball.  I can still vividly recall the Rockies commentator declaring, “The Rockies are celebrating.  They are going to the playoffs before their third birthday.”  Secondly, in the 2009 season, the Rockies posted their best record.  They won 92 games and made it to the playoffs that year. 

But my personal favorite was in 2007; this was the year that the Rockies made it to the World Series.  But it was also the memorable way that they did it.  Author Nick Groke wrote an article at Colorado Sun.com, on the 30-year journey of the Rockies; you can check it out in its entirety, if you are interested right here at this link.  Groke captures the magic of that 2007 season when he writes,

“For a month, the Rockies seemed unstoppable.  They won 21 of 22 games to reach the World Series, sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks to win the National League pennant, their first significant trophy.  But after a long wait to start the World Series, the Boston Red Sox swept them in turn, winning easily before celebrating in front of Rockies fans at Coors Field.  “Rocktober” as it came to be known, was one of the greatest runs in baseball history.”

However, hope for another World Series appearance has sadly faded.  A person could go on and on with the Rockies frequently wasted potential, or front office missteps, but Nick Groke, in the just-cited article on the Rockies three-decade journey, sums up where the Rockies find themselves as an organization today.  He quotes a Rockies fan who remarked, “If you want to see baseball played at a fairly high level, you can at least come and watch the other team.”

In the film “Back to the Future” (sorry for the proverbial sharp right turn there, but stay with me), Marty McFly went back in time thirty years, from 1985 to 1955.  I had a weird time travel scene play in my head.  I imagined how Kevin in 1993 would have reacted if Kevin from thirty years later appeared, and was told of what I am going through today.  

As I write these words, I find myself in one of the most unusual and frustrating seasons of my life.  I am on the sidelines, desiring to be put back in the game, but because of continual troubling physical issues, I’m still unable to do so.  Suffice to say, Doc Brown, the inventor of the time machine in “Back to the Future”, was right when he said no one should know too much about their future!  As disappointing as the Rockies have been (and don’t get me started on the Denver Broncos; a once mighty organization that now consistently finds different ways to lose), my hope isn’t in the Rockies or the Broncos.  My hope is in God.  The One who has the whole world, the entire universe, in His hands.  

In conclusion, I have long appreciated Danny Gokey’s 2014 song “Hope in front of me”, but after hearing it again, I can resonate with it like never before, and so I have a new love for it.  It is strengthening to hear him proclaim these words: “There’s hope in front of me.  There’s a light, I still see it.  There’s a hand still holding me, even when I don’t believe it.  I might be down but I’m not dead; there’s better days still up ahead.  Even after all I’ve seen, there’s hope in front of me.”  At the very end of the song, Danny sings directly to God; he states, “I still have hope.  You are my hope.”

God bless,

Kevin

"This is the day that the Lord has made"

It was a pleasant memory to recall that, periodically at my work, when someone would ask me how I was doing, I would answer, “It’s a great day to be alive!”  And after letting that sentiment sink in, I would add, “Of course, that’s every day, but you know what I mean.”  Now that I know that God is not done with me yet – even though a month ago I went through a particularly scary stint in the hospital – I wonder if I should say, “It’s a super great day to be alive.”  What did I say when I gave my teaser for this content earlier?  Something like I’ve been upgraded from grateful to grateful 2.0. 

Of course, I’ve started out today in a silly and giddy tone.  But the fact of the matter is, I find myself so grateful to God for the gracious opportunity to live this day.  Psalm 118:24 says, “This the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Longtime readers of this blog will know that every April, my family and I celebrate how God healed me from a vicious disease I had as an infant.  For years and years, my parents used to sing a song that Dad wrote expressing thankfulness to God for this momentous happening; one line states that God gave me “a future, to walk, talk and run.” 

In the same way, I will forget the feeling of relief and gratitude when I realized that, just as God had done for me in the past, once again He had spared my life.  Or, to use my dad’s line again, once again He gave me “a future, to walk, talk and run.”  The Bible states that every day we wake up is a gift from the hand of God.  Psalm 3:5 says, “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.

Psalm 3:5 is a powerful verse, and it’s even more powerful when we see the verse in its context.  Psalm 3 is a Psalm from King David, when he was going through the horrible season of running from his own son, Absalom, who sought the take over the throne.  Verse 1 of Psalm 3 reads, “Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!”  In context, this is an intense time of suffering for the king.  But David had hope in the Lord.  And so do I.

I can imagine that some may read my words and think that I’m the male version of Pollyanna, who only sees the good, and is absolutely blind to the bad.  Not so!  Believe me, I could detail the physical and emotional suffering I’m enduring, even now as I write this.  I still haven’t returned to my normal routine, and every day presents stresses and frustrations.  But, even in the midst of this trouble, I have hope; I have a heart of worship. 

We humans think we have such control over our lives, but take it for me, that’s nothing more than an illusion.  I’m pleased that God chose to spare my life, but there will come a day – perhaps at some point decades in the future, or maybe much sooner – that I will die.  However, when this happens, I will be “present with the Lord” in Heaven, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5.  Years ago, someone at a church quoted these wonderful words in Romans 14; they came to my mind again, as I was putting all this together: “For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.  For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord.  Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (verses 7-8).  It’s all in His sovereign hands.

Brandon Lake’s melodious work entitled “Gratitude” now has an added layer of relevance to me.  “All my words fall short,” he begins.  “I’ve got nothing new.  How could I express all my gratitude?  I could sing these songs, as I often do, but every song must end, and You never do.  So I throw up my hands, and praise You again and again…I know it’s not much, but I’ve nothing else fit for a King, except for a heart singing hallelujah.  Hallelujah!”

God bless,

Kevin

Waiting on God in the midst of a deferred hope

I. Introduction

In 2020, I wrote a three-part blog series on Proverbs 13:12, which reads, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”  We praise God when the desire does come, when the dream come true, and rightly so.  But what do we do when the desired thing doesn’t come to pass?  What do we do when that sickness lingers on, with no healing in sight?  What happens to our hearts when that prodigal child doesn’t come home, despite praying for decades?  What happens when your longing for a spouse doesn’t come to fruition; or you can’t have children?  These are intensely real questions.  And since this subject hits me a lot differently now than when I wrote about it in 2020, here I am talking about it again.

II. Reflections

To begin, I was blessed by the words of a got questions.org article.  If you find yourself resonating with this topic, I would encourage you to read the entirety of the article, which can be found here.  The author writes, “The term deferred in the passage means “to put off” or “drag out” as in a long, drawn-out process.  Hope deferred can look like many things: a prayer of salvation for a loved one that continues year after year, an agonizing job search filled with endless interviews and rejections, a long-term battle with cancer, or a heartbreaking string of miscarriages.  As we eagerly hope for something important, and it keeps being postponed, the longing we feel can make our heart sick.”        

Candidly, I resonate with the sentiments of that article.  To be transparent with you, I have unmet dreams in my life; I know what it’s like to feel heartsick over hopes long deferred.  So I want to write a few words about it.  In fact, in many ways I’m talking to myself as I write this, and if you are helped too, that’s great. 

One thing I continually learn is that a deferred hope needs to be kept in its proper context.  In other words, it should never become more important than God Himself.  That same got questions.com article gives these helpful words: “While getting what we desire can be an excellent thing, we must not allow the pursuit of fulfillment to become a temptation to sin.  Waiting is an opportunity to trust God and allow Him to work in our hearts and strengthen our character: “But if we look forward to something we don’t have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently” (Romans 8:25, NLT; see also Romans 5:4.)  We ought to see these long stretches as opportunities to turn to God and depend on Him in our weakness (Psalm 62:1,5; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).”

III. Illustration

I had the opportunity to re-watch the 2004 film “Spider-Man 2” (by the way, it was a month ago that I was released from that emergency room hospital; what a delight to be able to see this great movie again).  It’s striking that Peter Parker/Spider-Man learned an important lesson that is related to this topic.  Otto Octavius had the dream of creating a new form of renewable energy, by harnessing the power of a kind of miniature sun that can only be handled with four mechanical arms.  But the experiment fails, and the arms are welded to Otto’s body.  And they actually begin to take him over.

In the exciting finale, after Otto re-creates the experiment again on a much larger scale, it begins to go haywire, just as it had before.  So much so that many innocent people were in real danger.  So Peter reveals his identity to Otto and tells him that the entire project needs to be destroyed.  Otto refuses.  Peter tells him that the arms have turned him villainous.  “It was my dream,” Otto replies.  Peter answers with words that are precious to me: “Sometimes to do what’s right we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most.  Even our dreams.”  Ultimately, Otto repents, drowns his project, and in doing so, he selflessly sacrifices his life. 

Furthermore, Peter was willing to practice what he preached.  When Mary Jane, the woman he loved, learned his superhero identity, he told her that now she knew why they couldn’t be together.  Peter had resolved to give up his dream of being with her.  Of course, Mary Jane had a say in this.  And when MJ ran away from the man she was going to marry to Peter, and declared that she wanted to be with him, no matter the danger, Peter happily agreed (and thus we’re treated to an extremely happy ending).  But this is a layer of the film I didn’t catch initially: Peter and Otto’s resolution at the end of the film mirror each other.

IV. Conclusion

John Ortberg, in his fine book, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat” writes, “Waiting is a good thing for people like me.  It reminds me that I am not in charge.  I’m the patient.  I’m in the waiting room.  Waiting humbles me in ways I need to be humbled.  But in the real issues of life, we are not just waiting around – we are waiting on God.  Therefore we can trust his wisdom and timing.”  He goes on to say this, at the very end of the same chapter: “what we wait for is not more important than what happens to us while we are waiting.”

God bless,

Kevin

Coming soon to this blog in October

It’s been a while since I’ve presented a “coming soon” blog, where I give you an overview on what I plan to submit to this blog in the coming days.  I do this because I’m feeling tired today, but I wanted to present something, so you’re updated and will tune in for new content.  In no particular order, here’s what I have rolling around in my brain right now:

The conclusion of the Colorado Rockies 30th season

Back in 1993, Colorado got a professional baseball team.  I’m refraining from making a joke on the Rockies lack of success for these three decades, however the sad fact is, the Colorado Rockies have had more failure than success over the years.  Whenever I compose this particular blog, I don’t just want to document their losing ways – sadly that’s a given – but I also want to reminisce on a year when the Rockies were really good.  In fact, they accomplished something no one else in major league baseball had ever done, at that point. 

“It’s a great day to be alive”

Long before my recent illness, I used to say this phrase.  Even before I lay in a hospital bed last month, closer to death’s door that I knew, I was grateful for the great gift of life.  But because my life has been spared, I guess you could say that I’m grateful 2.0.  While I’m still on the mend and far from returning to my old routine, I must write a blog soon stating just how deeply thankful I am, first and foremost to the Lord.  But also to the health care workers, doctors, and nurses that brought me back to the land of the living.  

Continuing thoughts on “Batman v Superman” film

Of course, at some point, I plan to pick up where I left off with my “Batman v Superman” thoughts.  I will speak more about the story arc of Batman in that film, but also how – I’m sorry; forgive me, but I must say it – I didn’t really like Superman’s story arc in this movie, for most of the film.  I’ll dig into that eventually too.  And I’ll bring up at some point how I think the Lex Luther character in that film is, at least in my opinion, greatly underappreciated.

Thoughts on a “hope deferred”

In 2020, I wrote about a verse from the Proverbs that speaks about how “a hope deferred makes the heart sick.”  Months prior to all of my health issues, I began to consider picking up what I had written 3 years ago, re-package it, and give us all a refresher on the topic.  This never really got off the ground, but this notion is quite applicable in 2023, and I trust it will be for you too.  Furthermore (because I’m me), I plan to use a superhero film to illustrate a deferred hope from the world of superhero cinema.

An inspiring sermon point to contemplate

I recently heard a sermon where the pastor spoke of how a 61-year-old in the congregation had recently passed away.  When this pastor met with the family to help plan the service, and process their grief, this man's daughter commented that her dad was “a man of God; he not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk.”  This pastor could not get that line of testimony out of his head; he wondered if the same sentiment could have been said for him, or anyone in the congregation, had they unexpectedly passed on. 

This was particularly relevant for me, of course, as I continue to process the recent health crisis in my life.  Could the same be said of me as that daughter said of her father?  That Kevin “not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk”?  I don’t know.  I’m not sure the shape that blog will take, but what an inspiring challenge!

So, in conclusion for today, while I’m not sure which of these 5 doors I will look into first, as it were, that’s what I intend to write about in the coming days. 

God bless you,

Kevin