Between the Panels

If you have hung out with anyone who is into gaming in anyway, you have likely heard of the game Minecraft . It is a fantastical game of creativity! Gamers love the game's capacity to build amazing structures and worlds.  Some people have even built whole worlds from fantasy fiction such as Middle-Earth (Lord of the Rings) and Hogwarts (Harry Potter). However, if you are playing survival mode, there is an element of danger where you need to build a place of safety .  There is a lot of strategy in building these forts that are safe from enemies at night and are housing of goods/materials you need to live.  You need a strong foundation and safe location to last long in this game . Psalm 18:2 really emphasizes that God is the rock , the fortress , and the saviour in whom we are to find protection in; the one who keeps us safe.  Jesus shared how the Word of God is the rock that we build our faith on that stands strong in the midst of the difficulties of life ( Matthew...

Having kids and being a nerd are fuel for some really fun and crazy events in our home.  Just this weekend I was able to watch Teen Titans with my kiddos and we get quite invested in the characters.  My daughter in particular was moved emotionally when Raven was feeling powerless and on her own in one of the episodes.  More than just intense entertainment that my kids connect with, it stirs into the hearts of  kids' imagination and sense of wonder .  Mark, my son, loves Spider-Man! For a time his adoration of the wall crawling hero encouraged his imagination to create his own version of Spidey and would lead to awesome chats about what super powers he wished he had.  The cool thing about those chats is that it shows me a heart that sees a world of possibilities; a world of awe and wonder.  I know as a kid, and maybe more recently than that, if I found a cardboard tube, I almost always transformed into a Jedi with a lightsaber ready to battle an evil ...

So community , might seem like a very odd adjective to assign to a nerd.  After all, they are more known for being a bit different from everyone, which can lead to them being socially excluded.  However, there is a weird phenomena that can turn this isolation into community.  Though a nerd's interest may segregate them from others, it actually can be a catalyst to finding groups that are into their same interests.  That's the whole reason why things like comic conventions even exist! But within these comic conventions you see something beautiful happen, you see support and encouragement amongst nerds .  Now, these nerds could be representing different fan interests, but there is a comradery in it. "We are all passionate about different things, but lets be passionate about them together!" is the under written motto of these events. And it doesn't end there. With the blessing of everything being online, there is even more easy access to these kinds of communities...

If you have ever sat with a nerd on a long bus ride or even brought up a differing opinion to them, you have likely learned two things: they are passionate about what they are into and they are often very knowledgeable ! How do I know this? My wife (was one of my friends in youth at the time) made the mistake to ask me what the show Smallville was about (we were just starting a bus trip from Hamilton headed to Hanover: 2 hours long ). Let’s just say, she could have written a doctrinal thesis with the amount of info I gave her on that bus ride…. Any nerd typically has not just that one area of expertise, but a rather large library of information to refer to in their heads because they like to research to be experts in these things.   After all, if you are interested in something, wouldn’t you want to be the known expert in knowledge of it ? Biblically, there is a drive to be a person of expert; particularly in the Bible itself.  If you ever want to see the implications of how ...