Between the Panels

A couple of Sundays ago, I was really challenged by something my pastor was sharing with us in his sermon.  His challenge/statement was that if we are neglecting our time with God in private, everything else we do publicly is just a show . Let that sink in for a moment.  Our tendency is to look for big spiritual hype in large crowds, where there is already a vibe on a group level to have this experience. It can almost at times become a show of comparing who had the deeper connection with God that day (Sundays usually).  However, we don't ask each other "How has been your personal time with God been?" The big reminder in this sermon was that we need to get back to those personal times with God, where we meet with Him without anyone knowing it. It kinda struck me as I was listening that this was like Bleach (shocker, I know, I am connecting a sermon to something nerdy).  Bleach fans love the big battles that Ichigo fights (Mr. Urahara, Captain Zaraki, Byakuya Kuchiki,...

From the very start of my D&D gaming/roleplaying career, Wisdom has always been a very important player statistic for me to invest in my characters.  I could be playing a Barbarian (who is all about Strength and Constitution btw) and I will almost always strive to make his Wisdom on par or better than his main stats. Why does wisdom matter in a game setting like D&D? How do you even use it? Excellent questions, my inquisitive reader or listener of our podcast 😉. In short, wisdom is about seeing the environment around yourself or other players and knowing how to best address it. Related skills under the wisdom stat are: animal handling, insight, medicine, perception, and survival. This differs from Intelligence which tends to be focused on facts or Charisma that focuses on your contribution to the environment around you. Wisdom is a bit passive, but it's actively looking for things that can help your adventure party in a bind to react well or to process intentions of other...

Back a few years ago I got into fantastic anime series:  The Rising of the Shield Hero .  What made this show amazing and also frustrating was the treatment of the main character Naofumi . I say that it was frustrating because this guy is teleported from his world to a fantasy world, asked to save a kingdom from destruction, but is treated like trash because he is the "weakest" hero of the four noble heroes. Not only that, they frame him for some pretty awful stuff and run him out of the kingdom to fend for himself. Naofumi of course doesn't like how he is treated and at first is very vocal about it, but over time he resigns himself to just push through it and live with integrity. This guy legitimately looks to help the kingdom and serve the common folk, he is the best hero amongst them. Over time you find out that Naofumi was actually being oppressed in more nefarious ways by certain members of the monarchy, yet he still stands/fights for them and the country.  You reall...

Tony Stark is one heck of a genius. This is the only time you'll hear that from me. It's not for his different suits that he has built (93 in total...) or for his IQ (270 btw, which makes him a super genius). No what makes him a genius was the development of Jarvis : an A.I. that he has synced up to no just his suit, but in his very home. Jarvis is a wonderful font of knowledge and information that is ready/available to help Iron Man at a moments notice. Jarvis also watches over Iron Man and gives him the capacity to see things that we would not be able to through those tiny window slits on his face mask. Jarvis is the big resource that Iron Man really leans on and needs him be Iron Man. Let's not discount the importance of the helmet on its own. For obvious reasons, the helmet keeps your head safe from potential lethal attacks.  It also gives you protected vision for the road ahead (often through slits or visors) and would be secured on to you with a strap so that it wo...

Ok, you have to admit that you saw this one coming when your following along the Armour of God ( Ephesians 6:14-17 ) in connection to a shield. It's right there! Captain America is super iconic for his use of the star spangled shield and fighting to defend the world.  His shield over the years is made of various indestructible metals that allow him to go toe-to-toe with big hitting villains.  It can ricochet off of surfaces to be a weapon, not just a defense. And finally one of my favorite features of the shield is when something hits it, it absorbs the impact of the object hitting it without trauma for the one holding it. Literally no vibration shock! Looking back into Paul's time, this is not what the shield would be like.  He would have seen large shields that were rectangular and covered a majority of a soldiers body.  This curved wood panel was also covered in leather and would have been submerged in water for the leather to soak in (talk about heavy).  By...

If you have seen the latest Thor: Love and Thunder (sorry btw), you will have likely noted that one character definitely got an awesome upgrade.  Jane Foster: The Worthy Thor was, to me, worth the watch for her character development as well as being able to face adversity amazingly. Seeing Jane wield the broken pieces of Mjolnir and merging them together in battle: breath taking!  Did you know though that in the comics she uses another Asgardian weapon before she becomes the new Thor? This weapon is called Undrjarn: The All Weapon and Jane used this golden item when she was a hero by the name of Valkyrie. Undrjarn is a really unique weapon as it can change into any weapon that the wielder chooses.  Kind of a useful tool for any situation that you find yourself in, almost like the Swiss pocket knife of heroes. Like, I really dig how Mjolnir was used in the movie, but part of me wishes that they would have used Undrjarn as her weapon and show off how versatile it is. Hop...

Imagine you get called to war and you have to react immediately.  You have all the gear: Kevlar vest, combat weapon, belt with tools/supplies, helmet, and you are wearing flip-flops.... I hate to brake it to you, but you are not ready at that point to face anything that comes your way.  With 30 seconds of intense fighting, those flip-flops would be flip-flopping off and you are stuck with just your barefeet. Not looking too good eh? Looking at the Romans foot wear, not only was it adjustable for each soldiers comfort, but they even had small metal spikes under them for gripping into the terrain! These warriors need to be prepared for any kind of climate that they would face and they knew our Old Navy flip-flops were not going to cut it. When it comes to footwear, you gotta look at the heroes that are always on their feet and go everywhere with them. This is why the Scarlet Speedster ( The Flash ) is the best rep for the kind of footwear you would want.  Think about it; th...