Between the Panels

Not going to lie, Nightcrawler is one of my favourite X-Men.  For people who might not know Nightcrawler other than being the demon looking mutant might ask why I would like such a person?  To me, he is the embodiment of the phrase "you should not judge a book by its cover, but by his heart and deeds". Every time I think of this hero I think of 1 Samuel 16:7 "Man judges by the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." He may look demonic, but he is a man of faith and one of the most notable men of faith in comics (write in the comments below for who are some other ones...) Lately, I have been reading a series featuring our blue skinned friend that shows his impact on others in the mutant community; with the most common response that he is the "kindly one." Now you might not think that is a trait to have as a hero, particularly an X-Man in light of what they have had to face in the past.  But Nightcrawler is always known for being willing to hel...

Do you sometimes need something to give you peace in the midst of the craziness of life? Like, just put on some tunes and tune out some of the difficulties you are facing for a time.  It seems like this is what the Spider crew (Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and even Stan Lee) do!  Miles Morales listens to his beats while fighting crime, as if it gives him some clarity and focus.  One of my favourite scenes in Spider-Man: Homecoming was the fight in the library where Stan Lee has no idea of what is going on because he is just listening to his jam. Wouldn't it be nice to go through life like that? To have that peace of mind in the midst of our struggles that we just walk in absolute peace.  Well this is the kind of peace that God offers us in Psalm 46.  The whole chapter is really a demonstration that when everything else is uncertain and chaotic, God is the one who is in control.  Really it is summed up in this verse "Be still and know that I am God." (verse 10...

Now you may be looking at this and say to yourself..."What on earth is this thing?" This my friend is a 20 sided die or more often called a "D20" within the nerd world.  A D20 can be used in a variety of ways, but its most common use is determining if a character makes a successful action during a role-play game. For example: If you were a character in a game and you wanted to see if you could lift a heavy object (say a table), you would have to roll a D20 to determine how well or poorly you do this. And if you do very poorly there might be some consequences to your decision (character might get injured). In life we may not be making decisions or determine how well we do something via a dice roll, but we do feel the sting of failure.  Everyday can feel like we are constantly being asked to roll the die to see how well our efforts impact the world around us.  However, the Bible says that we are already at a failing roll or a critical fail (Romans 3:23) and that impac...

Captain America's shield is pretty incredible, but that vibranium disk is still not strong enough to stop the worst villain ever. I'm not talking about Thanos, Hyperion, Ultron, or Doctor Doom. Mankind's ultimate villain is Satan himself. There are many fun parallels between superheroes and reality, but when it comes to the devil there is no make believe. It's common for people to doubt the existence of God, but it is rare to doubt the existence of Satan. Scripture describes him as an angel of light that long ago desired to take God's glory for himself, resulting in banishment from Heaven. In retaliation Satan seeks to destroy God's most beloved: his children. So if Satan is stronger than us, what hope do we have? A 400 year old Christian devotional says this:  "Grace is called "the armor of light" (Romans 13:12). It is light for beauty, and armour for defense. A Christian has armour of God's making, which cannot be shot through. He has the sh...

Fred, is THE nerd among nerds! He is a guy who passionately loves comics, science, and the potential for science to make his comic imagination a reality.  However, the most wonderful thing about Fred is that he is weird, always having his head in the comic realm and connecting it to what is going on around him. Literally, nerding out about everything: so weird and yet so inspiring.  It is actually in seeing his vantage point on life that inspires the Big Hero 6 team to become superheroes. In Philippians 4:8&9, there is such a vision to aspire to in our lives.  It may not be comic oriented, but it is based on values we can see: truth, honour, purity, admirability, excellence , etc. These verses give us a push for something to have laser focus on that impacts our daily lives.  And in the midst of having that focus we can then be an inspiration to those around us and share our vantage point to help them. So be a Fred! Embrace standing by sharing how you see the worl...

 Mercy is the best support hero in Overwatch! There, I said it! But here is the reason why. Mercy's main weapon, really isn't a weapon; it is a ray wand that either boosts your team's fire power in the battle or brings major healing when they are getting hit. In fact, the only thing that is even offensive in her capabilities his her hand gun that is very rarely used. We should be a lot like Mercy as a support to those around us.  Jesus was like that and was really the demonstrator of that.  He was always healing people (physically, emotionally, spiritually), he was always aware of the needs of others and supporting them. After all, it was him that said, " Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." (Mark 2:17). And that comment was to the hardcore religious elite that were supposed to be doing this. So go out there, help those around you so you can say it like ...

The X-Men are mutants with special abilities that are often hated by the world. One reason is simply because people fear what they do not understand. In spite of this, X-Men do not hold the world's hatred in angst, instead they seek to save it from harm.  Christians are often hated by the world too. Living like Christ means Christians will stand out in a secular world. Once again people fear what they do not understand. In spite of this, Christians follow Jesus' command to "Love your enemies" and we seek to save the world from sin.  How about you? Do you fear what you don't understand? Or do you love beyond the hate?