Something Spiritual

While contemplating what I would like to write about for this week’s blog post, I realized that I hadn’t written anything related specifically to my faith or the Christian life in a while. Being a devoted Christian and future pastor, I tend to think and talk about faith often. It comes up a lot in my writing on this website. So I decided that this week, I wanted to write about something “spiritual.”

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I got a bad feeling. “Something spiritual,” huh? What does that even mean? Do I have to force myself to write something directly about God, even if that’s not how I feel led this week? Are my other blog posts less meaningful because they’re not “spiritual?” These are the questions that came to mind.

I think these questions are the result of a false dichotomy that has taken root in American Christianity today. Christians often want to draw a line between what is “sacred” and what is “secular.” If a song is created by musicians who aren’t Christians, that song is “ secular” and not appropriate for certain contexts, even if it is a wholesome, challenging song. A blog post about an experience I had when I was 15 is considered “secular” because it doesn’t mention God. I admit that I’ve fallen prey to this mindset before, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to see that the world isn’t as black-and-white as some Christians would like it to be, and many of the things that we reject as “secular” can actually lead to real spiritual development if we let them.

The truth is that everything I do—whether it be writing a blog post, singing a song, or anything else—is rooted in and influenced by my faith, which is the central element of my identity. Yes, I’m spiritually awakened and challenged by worship music, but I can be equally drawn to God by a song by a non-Christian band about the need for social justice. Many (if not most) of the things we consider secular have spiritual value to them. The problem is that we try to strip them of this value, and therefore we don’t see it. But if we open ourselves up to seeing God everywhere, we’ll find him in places we never expected.

I would like to make something clear. I am not saying that every single thing in this world has spiritual value. There are certain things in this world that are evil and completely empty of the presence of God. These are things that should be avoided. I’m not suggesting we break down the barrier between good and evil, just the one between sacred and secular. I think there’s a huge difference between those two distinctions.

So yes, this week I did write “something spiritual,” even though I didn’t quote the Bible or offer any theological observations. If we truly believe that we can see God everywhere, we’ll find him wherever we look. So if my blog post about a life experience I had touches someone spiritually, I’m not going to complain. Even if some would call it “secular,” I believe it still has spiritual value. Everything we create has the potential to touch someone’s soul because we’re exercising our God-given gifts to reach out to others, and I think that’s pretty amazing.

Marvel Phase Three

In case you haven’t heard, I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel Studios has been putting out some amazing superhero movies lately that have really made a splash. But the best thing about the Marvel movies is that they all share a connected, coherent universe, and despite the fact that they’re created by different people, they are all telling one big story.

The MCU started back in 2008 with Iron Man and ended its first phase with The Avengers in 2012. Now, we are nearly through Phase Two of the MCU with only Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man remaining, both of which will be released next year. With the MCU expanding into TV series (Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter) and five different Netflix shows, Marvel fans have started to wonder what the next phase of films is going to look like. But we don’t have to wonder any longer. This past week, Marvel announced the full slate of their Phase Three MCU films, and it looks amazing.

Phase Three will consist of nine films total, which is more than either Phase One or Phase Two, but the Phase Three movies will be released over only three years, from 2016 to 2019. This means that starting in 2017, we’ll be getting three MCU films every year. That just blows my mind, and I cannot wait for it.

Phase Three will start out with what will probably be the final installment in Chris Evans’ Captain America franchise. It will be called Captain America: Civil War and will feature Tony Stark (Iron Man) and a new superhero for the MCU films, Black Panther. Civil War will pit Captain America and Iron Man against one another in a political battle over superhero rights. It sounds like a pretty cool concept to me, and I’m excited to see how it plays out on the big screen. Captain America: Civil War is set to release May 16, 2016.

Next up is Dr. Strange. There has been a lot of speculation over who will play the Sorcerer Supreme, but Marvel did not confirm anything at their announcement. All we know for now is that the movie will be released November 4, 2016.

After that, we’ll be seeing the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy. If you haven’t seen the first Guardians, do yourself a favor and go see it. It is hilarious. It’s very different from any other MCU film, but it still somehow manages to move the overall plot along. I’m excited that this one is getting a sequel, because there are still a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the first film. I’m not sure exactly how they plan on tying in the Guardians with the superheroes on earth (or if they even will), but I enjoy the Guardians anyway. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (which will probably get a different title at some point) drops on May 5, 2017.

After that is the third Thor movie, this one called Thor: Ragnarok, on July 28, 2017. Since the word ragnarok is Norse for “the end of all things,” I think it’s safe to say that this will be the final Thor solo film. It looks to me like Marvel is creating a structure of solo trilogies within the MCU, and I think this structure works pretty well. Ragnarok will give Marvel an opportunity to wrap up Thor’s storyline, especially when it comes to his relationship with is brother Loki, before Chris Hemsworth’s contract runs out. I’m excited to see what direction they take that story in.

Then we’ll see Black Panther, whom we will have already met in Civil War, get his own film. Black Panther was the first African American superhero, so it makes sense that he would be the first African American superhero to get his own solo Marvel film. I don’t know a lot about this superhero, but I think it’s cool that Marvel is giving us an opportunity to get to know him in Civil War before his own movie comes out on November 3, 2017.

And now comes probably the biggest surprise from the Marvel Phase Three announcement. The third installment in the Avengers franchise will actually consist of two films. They will be called Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2, and they will release on May 4, 2018, and May 3, 2019, respectively. While I’m skeptical about the idea of splitting films into two parts, I do think this may have been the right move for Marvel. They’ve been building to the showdown between the Avengers and Thanos over the Infinity Gauntlet since day one, and that story is going to take more than a couple of hours to tell. Infinity War will be the end of the first stage in the MCU, and I think things will look very different for the Marvel films once Infinity War is over. This is an opportunity for Marvel to tie all of their characters together into one epic storyline, and I think it will be cool. Infinity War Part 2 will wrap up Phase Three and probably set the stage for a very, very different Phase Four.

But between the two Infinity War films, we’ll be meeting some new Marvel characters. Captain Marvel, the first female-led MCU film, will release on July 6, 2018, and Inhumans, a movie about genetic superhumans, comes out November 2, 2018. I don’t know much about these characters, but I know comic book fans are really pumped about seeing them on the big screen, and I’m looking forward to meeting them, as they’ll probably be big parts of the MCU after Phase Three is over.

I know that was a lot of information. I was pretty overwhelmed by it when I saw it, too. But it’s all really exciting stuff. To recap, here’s what Marvel has in store for us between now and 2019:

• Avengers: Age of Ultron - May 1, 2015
• Ant-Man - July 17, 2015
• Captain America: Civil War - May 6, 2016
• Doctor Strange - November 4, 2016
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - May 5, 2017
• Thor: Ragnarok - July 28, 2017
• Black Panther - November 3, 2017
• Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - May 4, 2018
• Captain Marvel - July 6, 2018
• Inhumans - November 2, 2018
• Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 - May 3, 2019

And of course, Marvel is putting out some stuff for the small screen, too:

• Agents of SHIELD - current (ABC)
• Agent Carter - January 2015 (ABC)
• Dardevil - May 2015 (Netflix)
• Jessica Jones - indefinite date (Netflix)
• Iron Fist - indefinite date (Netflix)
• Luke Cage - indefinite date (Netflix)
• The Defenders - indefinite date (Netflix)

There is a whole lot of Marvel to love, and I’m loving every bit of it. If you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too, I’d love to chat with you about it. I’m always happy to discuss this stuff because I find it so interesting and exciting. Thank you guys for reading my post this week. Get pumped for the future of the MCU, and let me know what you think of Marvel’s Phase Three announcement. Have a great weekend, friends!

Regret

The year was 2007, and I was 15 years old. Those were simpler times, back before I drove or had a job or really had any responsibilities at all. My life was basically carefree. I had just started high school, and I was about as nervous as a kid could be. But my best friend decided he wanted to join a club at school and asked if I’d like to join with him. I said yes, not so much because the club interested me but because I thought it would be a good way to get involved and make friends. And that it was.

Before the first meeting, my friend and I went to have breakfast with his sister and her friends, who were also a part of the club. Like I said before, I couldn’t drive at the time, so I rode with him to the diner. We had to park across the street because the restaraunt was busy and had very little parking. It was my first time to ride in the car with someone my age, it was my first time to meet these people, and it was basically my first real high school experience. The whole thing was new to me, and it was very exciting.

Now we’re at the moment of my biggest regret. If I could go back in time, re-live any one moment of my life, and do things differently, it would be this one. I remember it like it was yesterday. As I was getting out of the car, I saw a girl waiting outside the restaurant for us. I had never seen her before, and the moment I laid eyes on her, all I could think was, “Wow, that girl is really pretty. I’d like to get to know her” Not, “Wow, I’d like to date her.” Not, “Wow, she’s hot.” There was no agenda. There was no judgment or evaluation. Just a sense of awe. It was the most innocent, most genuine moment I can remember experiencing, and I think about it from time to time.

Obviously, that’s not the part I regret. I’m glad I had that feeling. The part I regret is what I decided to do about that feeling. Because I did nothing about it. Even though I genuinely cared for this girl, even though we came to be very close friends, even though we spent a lot of time together that year, I never told her how I felt. I was too young, too scared, and too insecure to do anything about my feelings. And that’s something I deeply regret.

The truth is that girl should have been my first girlfriend. She was wonderful. She was kind to me, she loved the Lord, and I would find out later that she actually felt the same way about me as I did about her. I had every opportunity to tell her how I felt, including the best New Year’s Eve party I’ve ever been to. But because I was passive and never worked up the courage to tell her, it became a missed connection—one that would bother me to this day.

Now, here’s what I’m not saying. I’m not saying this person was my soulmate. I don’t sit around missing her and wondering what our relationship would have been like. I’m happy with my life, and I’m pretty sure she’s happy with her life, too, and that’s great. It’s not so much that I regret that we didn’t date. I just regret the way things happened as a result of my passivity. I had an opportunity for my first dating relationship to be with a close friend who truly cared about me and to be based on that genuine, innocent feeling I had when I met her. I wish I had taken that opportunity. Instead, my first dating relationship was with a different girl who I hardly knew and who didn’t have a positive impact on my life. That relationship set some negative precedents for my future relationships that would take me a long time to correct, and I think all of that could have been avoided if I had just had a little faith in myself and been honest about my feelings when I had the chance.

I’ll never get that innocent, genuine moment back. It’s sad, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever be in a place again where I can look at a girl and appreciate her beauty without evaluating whether or not we would work as a couple. That was a unique, beautiful thing that I can never experience again. And when I think back on it, I kick myself for not doing anything about it. But at the same time, I’m so thankful for that moment. I’m thankful that even my regret can’t take away from how absolutely perfect that moment was. The truth is that I have so many more things to cherish than to regret, and that’s good enough for me.

Star Wars Rebels

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a review of the book Star Wars: A New Dawn, the first officially canonical Star Wars book. This week, I’m featuring the new TV show Star Wars Rebels, for which A New Dawn served as a prequel. But Rebels picks up quite a while after A New Dawn left off, and now, instead of focusing on a couple of characters on one planet, Rebels is telling the story of the original core group that would eventually become the Rebel Alliance as the travel across the galaxy on their ship The Ghost. Needless to say, it’s pretty cool.

I’m going to go ahead and address this from the start. Yes, Star Wars Rebels is an animated show that is geared towards kids and airs on Disney XD. Some people may be turned off by this. But I don’t think you should be. First of all, the animation aspect means that the writers can do some really creative and cool stuff that wouldn’t be feasible in a live action format. And the fact that the show is meant for a young audience doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed by adults. The show is still fun and comical, and it’s accessible to Star Wars fans of all ages, which I think actually makes it stronger rather than weaker.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the review. Star Wars Rebels is only a few episodes in, but it’s off to a great start. It premiered on Disney Channel with a one-hour movie called “Spark of Rebellion” and then moved over to Disney XD for its full first season run. The movie did a great job of introducing the characters and setting up the tone of the series, and it left viewers wanting more. But the show didn’t lose any steam after the movie, and it’s still going strong a few episodes later.

As I said before, Rebels tells the story of the original group that would eventually become the Rebel Alliance. The story truly begins when the group comes face-to-face with a young burglar named Ezra who tries to rob them but eventually becomes a member of the team. Ezra is allowed onto the team by the group’s leader Kanan because Kanan discovers that Ezra is unknowingly Force-sensitive. Kanan, a former Jedi trying to hide his identity for his own safety, decides to take Ezra on as a sort of unofficial padawan and train him in the Force.

Other members of the crew include Hera, the group’s pilot and the owner of the ship The Ghost, which serves as the main setting for the show; Zeb, an intelligent but wild-looking creature who is the group’s strongest fighter; Sabine, a Mandalorian artist and explosives expert; and Chopper, a moody astrodroid with a personality of his own. Needless to say, these characters are all pretty nontraditional, even for the Star Wars universe, and that makes for a very cool premise.

This show has so much potential to explore things about the Star Wars universe that we’ve never had a chance to see before. Personally, I’m excited to see what the relationship between a Jedi and his padawan looks like in a galaxy dominated by the Empire and void of the Jedi Order. It will also be interesting to see how the Empire deals with the knowledge that a Jedi survived Order 66, which sets up the introduction of the Inquisitor, a lightsaber-wielding warrior who is sent out by Darth Vader to catch Kanan once his Jedi identity is revealed. This all sounds really cool, and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

But just because all the main characters in Rebels are new, that doesn’t mean we won’t see some familiar faces. We’ve already seen some major players from the Star Wars films (including Obi-Wan Kenobi in hologram form) on the show, and I’m sure there are many more appearances to come. Word on the street is that Darth Vader will make an appearance in the ABC re-airing of the Spark of Rebellion movie this weekend, and I predict that he’ll probably show up again before the show is over. This show is telling a story that hasn’t been told before, but it’s still very much a Star War story.

Now is the perfect time to get into Star Wars Rebels. Only a few episodes have aired so far, so you can catch up in no time and follow the show as it progresses. Rebels has already been picked up for a second season, so it’s going to be here for a while. The story has a very interesting premise, and it promises to fill in some gaps that the two film trilogies have left us with. The Star Wars universe is alive and well, and I can’t get enough. Check out Star Wars Rebels on Disney XD and let me know what you think! And of course, may the Force be with you all.

How Are You?

It happens literally dozens of times everyday. I’m walking to class or sitting down for lunch or hanging out by the water fountain, and suddenly it happens. I see another person and one of us says, “Hey! How are you?” The other person replies, “Good! How are you?” And then that person responds with, “I’m good!” And then it’s over. That’s the end of the conversation. Each of us continues to go about his or her day. We’ll both probably forget that so-called conversation within a couple of minutes. And neither of us walks away with a sense of actual connection with another person or any idea of what the other person is actually going through. I know it may sounds like a small thing, but to me, it just feels so empty. And that is really starting to bother me.

Most of the time when we ask someone how they’re doing, we aren’t really asking out of concern for their person well-being. We’re just being polite. And that’s a shame. I’m as guilty of it as anyone else, so this blog post (like most that I write) is directed towards myself as much as it is towards anyone else. But this is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately, and I thought it might be worth writing about.

The problem isn’t trying to be polite. Politeness is a good thing. That’s why we teach it to children. It shows them how to act in a socially acceptable way and show respect to other people. That’s great. But it becomes an issue when it goes from trying to be polite to putting on a facade of caring about one another’s well-being when we really don’t. Or maybe we really do, but we’re not taking the time to really give the other person an opportunity to share how they’re doing and share with them how we’re doing. It’s become a socially acceptable lie, and I don’t wish to be a part of it anymore.

Because the truth is that I’m not always feeling good. The truth is that a lot of the time, I’m feeling sad, or frustrated, or anxious. But I would never tell someone that just in passing. I think that asking someone, “How are you?” and expecting them to respond with, “Good,” is a way of promoting shallowness and even inauthenticity when we interact with one another. We say we want people to be real, and yet we don’t really give them a chance to be. Instead of truly showing care for their well-being, we pretend that we do when really all we’re saying is, “Hello.”

I’m not saying this is done with bad intent. Sometimes, it can change the entire course of my day when someone simply asks me, “How are you doing?” And I try to make a point to ask people how they’re doing just in case there is something they need to talk about. But the vast majority of the time, the question, “How are you?” ends with a shallow, easy-to-forget interaction that doesn’t do much for either person involved. And maybe I’m crazy, but I think we can do better than that.

So here’s what I’m proposing. I’m going to attempt to do this, and if you’d like to try it, you can, too. From here on out, when I ask someone how they’re doing, I’m going to mean it. I’m going to give them a real opportunity to tell me how they’re doing, not just use it as a polite way to say hello in passing. And when someone asks me how I’m doing, I’m going to be honest with them. Now I’m not going to tell my whole life story to a stranger on the street, but I’m going to say something other than just, “Good.” When I’m happy, I’ll tell them I’m happy. When I’m stressed, I’ll tell them I’m stressed. I’m going to be real with them. And maybe that will give them an opportunity to be real with me, too.

Because that’s what we really crave. Real, authentic, meaningful connections with our fellow human beings. We want someone to truly ask us how we’re doing and mean it. So I’m choosing to mean it. And I hope you will, too. Thank you for reading, friends. I would love to talk with you and hear (for real) how you’re doing, so feel free to hit me up on social media anytime. Have a great week!