Let me tell you a story about a pimp. Christy, myself, and a friend were on our way to see a movie. We drove through a less than awesome neighborhood and were stopped at a red light. In the middle of broad daylight, with many people around, a fly dressed man chased a scantily clad woman through the street while hitting her with a cane. The woman was yelling for help. People on the sidewalk kept talking to each other and laughing. People in their cars locked their doors. Nobody did a single thing while this man terrorized this woman. 

What do you do when nobody seems willing to do the right thing?  I've slowly been going through a series called Super to show that a lot of cool modern super heroes in one way or another have a lot in common with biblical heroes.  More importantly, I've been trying to learn how you and I can be heroes by following these examples.  So what do we do when nobody will do the right thing?  Let's take a lesson from the original sharp-shooting hero, King David.

The story of David and Goliath is extremely well known.  Here are some details that you may not have known.  The Israelite army and the Philistine army were camped near each other and ready for war.  They each decided to send out their best warrior to settle the battle rather than thousands of people on each side dying.  The Philistines send forth Goliath, a giant of a man.  He was either six and a half feet tall or nine and a half feet tall.  We don't know for sure, but the point is that he was so big compared to the ancient Israelites that every man in the Israelite army was too terrified to face him.  For forty days Goliath challenged them and they were too afraid to do anything about it.

Do you think any of the Israelites wondered what the brave, courageous, and right thing to do was?  It seems pretty clear.  Go face the enemy.  As I process this story, I can't help but think that every Israelite soldier knew the right thing to do.  They were just too afraid to do it.  The same goes for my pimp story.  I highly doubt there was a single person who saw that happening that honestly believed the right thing to do was sit back, watch, and ignore.  It's pretty obvious that the right thing to do is help that woman.  Everyone was just too afraid. 

I think 99% of the time in every day life, we know the right thing to do, we are just too scared to do it.  The question is not "What should I do when I see someone being bullied at school?" or "What should I do when my job wants me to do something shady?"  We already know the answer.  The question is "Will I bravely do what I know is right?"

So David, a boy too young to be a soldier, volunteers to fight Goliath.  Where does he get his courage? 

The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." -- 1 Samuel 17:37

He gets his courage from trusting God.  He knows the right thing to do and he trusts that God will help him do it.  That's hard to do!  When our friends, popularity, job, or whatever is on the line, it can be very difficult to trust God.  He doesn't promise to always work things out for us nicely and neatly as we know this story ends up.  Sometimes doing the right thing will cost us.  Will we choose to trust God anyway?  David did.

Another part of the story that is often missed is a funny wardrobe malfunction.  King Saul and his soldiers take David and give him the best armor and weapons to go and face Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17:38-40).  "Here David, a real soldier needs a sword and armor."  But the armor is too big and heavy and David can barely walk in it.  The sword is made for a grown man and David hasn't been trained with it.  Everyone around him ends up over-complicating things. 

David could have spent a bunch of time training with that sword before facing Goliath.  The guy had already waited forty days, what's another week?  He could have tried to have the armor fitted to him better.  Instead, he took them off, grabbed his staff and sling, and went to face the giant.  He didn't fall into the trap of over-complicating things.

It's easy to fall into that trap.  We know we should share the gospel with our co-worker or classmate, but we are scared and nervous.  We convince ourselves that we are not fully ready or equipped as an evangelist.  So first, we go read a book on sharing our faith and then attend a ten week Sunday school class on evangelism.  Those things are nice, but let's not over-complicate things.  Those things are ultimately not where victory comes from.  David recognized that.  He knew that at the end of the day, the battle wasn't won by swords, size, or armor.  He knew the battle belongs to the Lord.  David trusted that God had already given him everything he needed to do what was right.  So should we. 

We all know the climax of this story.  Shepherd boy David walks right up to the giant, dodges a spear, and fires one shot from his sling.  He hits the bullseye and the giant Goliath falls to the ground.  The original Hawkeye.  God comes through for David.  I'll say the hard thing.  He doesn't always wrap things up so neatly.  Many times doing the right thing will cost us.  But you know what else it does?  It inspires.

Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. -- 1 Samuel 17:52

When David did what was right, the entire Israelite army saw.  They went from a cowering group of wimps to a ferocious fighting force. 

So here is what I've learned from David on what it means to be a hero.  Don't pretend you don't know what the right thing to do is.  Trust that God can totally come through with power if that's His will.  Don't over complicate things.  Trust that God will provide what you need in the moment.  If we started doing those things, we'd inspire the people around us.

If you need closure with the pimp story, here it is.  I put the car in park, told Christy to lock the doors and call the police, and I went and put myself between the pimp and that woman.  I was pretty scared.  She ran off, I tried to talk him down, and I dodged a few swings of the cane.  The people around got a lot more startled when that happened and a few of them started calling the police and yelling at the guy to stop.  The cops showed up and the guy fled the scene.  Best of all, I think I inspired Christy because she ended up marrying me ;-) 

Here's some questions to think through:

• When were you scared to do what was right, but did it anyway?
• When were you scared to do what was right, and didn’t do it?
• Do you agree that most of the time you know what the right thing to do is? 
• What things do you know God wants you to do that you are overcomplicating instead of just doing?
• What’s the most inspirational thing you’ve ever seen anyone do? Or even just heard about?
• Imagine you inspire people with your life. What would you want them to say about you? Try to sum it up in two sentences.
• What can you do now to be that kind of person?

Wolverine was never one of my favorite characters from the X-Men, but he's hard not to like at least a little. He's tough as nails and always ready for a fight.  His instinct is to shoot first and ask questions later. . . or stab first in his case.  He is an independent warrior who has to learn how to play on a team when he joins up with Professor X and the X-Men.  He isn't used to following orders and his less than cool head make it difficult for him to obey.  Often this quality of Wolverine's gets the whole group into trouble. 

We can be a lot like Wolverine.  Maybe we lack adamantine claws and mutant healing abilities, but we all possess his stubbornness at times.  We have our way of doing things and don't want to follow the rules or someone else's orders.  We often act without thinking things through.  Whether it's our boss, teacher, parents, or anyone else telling us what to do, we think we know better at least half of the time.  But what happens when we get this Wolverine-esque attitude with God?  What do we do when we think we know better than the Almighty?

There is a man in the Bible who fits Wolverine's description rather well.  He is a warrior through and through, solves problems with fighting first, and has a defining moment that revolves around obeying his commander.

I can't wait to see the Hobbit!!!!

I'm a big fantasy nerd.  I love stories about elves, dragons, magic, and knights.  I have grown to love the Lord of the Rings trilogy through the movies and have only just begun reading the books.  And I've been eagerly anticipating the prequel movie that comes out this weekend.

Are you planning on seeing it?  If you are, keep your eyes open for some of the amazing Christian themes that run throughout Tolkien's stories.  J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian and wove loads of his beliefs into his writing in a masterful way.  As a refresher before watching the Hobbit, here is a quick look at some of those themes as seen in the first three movies.  There are Lord of the Rings spoilers below (but not for the Hobbit).

I used to love watching the X-Men cartoon when I was a kid.  Ok, I also watched them all on Youtube when I was in college.  There was one X-Men that I always thought was cool but simultaneously never really liked.  Storm.  She was just too cool.  She grew up in Egypt and was worshiped as a goddess by a native tribe because of her incredible mutant-granted powers. 

Her mutation allowed her to control the weather which sounds tiny until you realize all of the wild things she could do with it.  Controlling the wind allowed her to fly, toss enemies around like rag dolls, and even bring down aircraft.  Power over the clouds meant she could create spontaneous floods, blast her foes with lethal lightning, and blind everyone with thick fog.  Even when her enemies were unstoppable, she would blast them with arctic winds and freeze them solid.  The the X-Men had time for lunch and naps before they thought up a plan to stop the bad guy.  Storm was great.  Too great.  She was an "I win" button that made everything way too easy.

There is a man in the Bible who became that sort of legend and powerhouse to the people of God.  He too grew up in Egypt.  He too performed phenomenal miracles over nature that would cause Storm's powers to look like the magic tricks you see at a child's birthday party.  He too was an "I win" button and no situation the people ran into was unsolvable with him around.  But Moses didn't start out that way. The movies you've seen may have painted a very different picture than the truth in the Bible.  Moses actually starts off as a bit of a loser.  So what turned him into the hero we know?

Since the year 2000, hearing the name Professor X has drawn up images of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a wheel chair for people all around America.  We see him as the very powerful, yet humble, old, and balding leader of the X-Men.  But as X-Men First Class showed us, he wasn't always this way.

In fact, the comics that trace Professor X's origins reveal he was a slightly different man in his youth who hadn't yet received the hard lessons of life.  In his younger years, the chairless Charles Xavier was rich, intelligent, and even a gifted athlete.  With his psychic abilities that allowed him to read minds, see glimpses of the future, and even control other people altogether, Charles explored the world.  He was an adventurer seeking fame, fortune, power, and even love.  

One day, a battle of biblical proportions with an alien who was bent on destroying the world and appropriately named Lucifer left Charles a changed man.  An injured spine paralyzed him from the waist down and stuck him in the wheel chair he would become known for.  The powerful Charles Xavier had been humbled and seen just how short this life might be.  He decided to make his life count and spent the rest of his time on earth forging a legacy he could be proud of.  He founded Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and formed a team of X-Men with the goal of seeing man and mutant live at peace.

It's interesting how life experiences that knock us down can lead us to realize what really matters and guide us to make the most important decisions of our lives.  Joseph from the Bible was a young man very much like our mutant friend Charles.  He has a privileged childhood, a talent to see the future, and it takes some rough experiences to lead him to his calling in life.  Here's his story.

Hulk: The Engine of Destruction

If you've seen any Hulk movie or read any of the comics, you know what the Hulk does well.  SMASH!  In Marvel's Avengers, we saw this as the Hulk chased down Black Widow in SHIELD's flying fortress and ended up wrecking the whole place.  There are Hulk comics that end with the Hulk being the only living person left on earth after nuclear fallout has killed everyone else.  It's just him and the cockroaches.  There's an animated movie called Planet Hulk that starts off with Hulk being locked in a spaceship and shot into outer space because the Avengers realize the Hulk will destroy everything on earth. 

When it comes to superheroes the Hulk is definitely Super but the jury is out on the hero part.  He's just as likely to make things a hundred times worse as he is to save the day.  His blinding rage and anger consume him.  That's why almost all of the Hulk's stories end in disaster.  There is a man in the Bible who fits this description.  His name is Samson.

Have you seen Captain America?  It was good, not amazing, but pretty good.  Steve Rogers starts off as this scrawny nobody.  No powers, no abilities, nothing that makes him special in any way whatsoever.  He gets jumped in the alley and needs his buddy to rescue him.  He’s so weak that he tries to join the army and they won’t let him in!  Finally, he makes it and he’s a trainwreck.  He can’t keep up.  He’s no good.

But what he does have are his convictions.  He’s got the kind of convictions that lead him to charge straight into the enemy camp all by himself at the end of the movie.  And because of those convictions, he is given great power and leads the team to victory.  The Cap's story is a lot like the story of Gideon in Judges 6-7.  You may want to read these two chapters as I'll only be sharing a few verses.

Now that I'm back to writing after my break, I can finally write about some of the great movies that came out this summer!  Among them is Dark Knight Rises!  It's probably for the best that it's taken me time to get to this one because there are so many twists and plot points to spoil.  By now, the majority of you have probably seen it, but be warned, "There be spoilers ahead."

Batman Begins was a movie about falling to or mastering one's own fear.  Dark Knight was about justice and morality from the common folk on the street to the politicians we idolize and how even great men can fall.  Dark Knight Rises picks up right there with an absent Batman and a devastated Bruce Wayne.  It is a movie about rising out of the ashes and not letting anything keep us down.

Batman really takes some hard falls in this movie.  Just when you think things can't get worse. . . they do again and again.  When the movie starts, he is out of shape, has a bum leg, and is an emotional wreck over the loss of his love, Rachel.  His company is failing because he sunk its money into a supposedly failed clean energy project.  On top of all of that, the people of Gotham hate Batman for the killing spree pinned on him in the last movie.

But come on, he's Batman!  He picks himself up, does some push-ups, gets a fancy knee brace, puts on the Batsuit, and jumps back into the action.  He even picks up a sidekick in Catwoman.  There's nothing to it.  Right?