Vs

Two of my favorite comic book characters have always been Hulk and Wolverine. There's just something about them. Maybe it's the brute strength of the Hulk, or the cunning and fearlessness of Wolverine. The Hulk is gigantic and huge, muscles upon muscles. Wolverine is short but swift, smart, and doesn't back down. I remember one comic panel of X-Men where Wolverine put a cigar out on his tongue! (Tried that in high school one time with a cigarette...trust me, not a good idea). Maybe it was the brute strength of the Hulk that drew me to him. Maybe it was the awesomeness of the adamantium claws of Wolverine that could cut through anything. I was drawn to these characters and was fascinated with them.

And then, when Hulk and Wolverine would fight...boo-yah! Epic classic knock down drawn out fights of pure awesome would erupt. Perfect for any boy to glory in.

Of course, every boy grows up...for the most part I guess...and moves on. But there was still something about these characters that stuck with me. Why did I feel drawn to them, why did they mean something to me.

It wasn't until I started studying some developmental psychology that I began to put the pieces together (what? Psychology and comic books? Really? Yes).

The Hulk is pure unadulterated anger. That is how he is created. The classic line from the 70's TV show is "Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry." In the original story and again in the TV series, when Bruce Banner would become angry, he would turn into the Hulk. The story of the Hulk truly is a monster born out of fear. The Hulk story was created during the Cold War, during a time of worry and fear about science. It is science that made the Hulk what he is today. And it is the fear of the unknown, the fear of what we can't control that leads to the anger of the Hulk.

We try to hold in this anger, we really do, but it's hard. And instead of dealing with it correctly, we try to suppress it, hold it back. And that ain't good. You can't suppress the Hulk.

And Wolverine? He's an animal. In all the versions of Wolverine I've seen (Ultimate, the classic 90's cartoon, the recent Angels and Demons and Second Coming story arcs) he knows he is an animal. But he sees himself as a killer. He sees himself as one worthy of scorn and pain and for others to be shun. He expects it. He has issues to say the least.

And then when Hulk and Wolverine fight it is a battle of epic proportions! Both have extremely high healing factors, both are vicious, both will do what it takes to stay alive.

Wolverine and the Hulk are the elements of our soul we don't want to show others. We don't want to show our Hulks or Wolverines to people, yet they boil there under the surface of the deep.

Paul talks about this struggle with the Hulk and Wolverine

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Romans 7:15-19

Hulk and Wolverine are just fictional characters reflecting what is deep in our psyche and in our souls. It is the struggle of the control of our lives. One thing the Hulk and Wolverine will never know is peace. And that, we are told we may have freely in abundance.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

There will always be that struggle against the Hulk and Wolverine but we don't need to allow that struggle to overtake us in the process.

Being a Glue-Tawn

I recently read a blog post about the Seven Deadly Dwarfs...I mean Sins. To sum it up (spoiler alert) the blogger stated that the sin of gluttony is usually ranked last while lust is usually ranked first. To tell the truth, usually when we might begin discussing the sin of gluttony it's usually over dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and not after reading one of those blog posts on Yahoo! health of Eat This, Not That.

At the gym today, I came to the realization that I needed to confess to God my sin of gluttony. It's been a hard last few months. Back in March, I wrote about my struggle with anxiety and stress and how I dealt with it. This was especially so because of the circumstances that I was in. (You can check out that post here). I had been covering up the cracks of pain with Pilsbury Chocolate Frosting, using it as a mortar to try to build something substantial to hold me together. 10lbs later, I'm realizing that's not a good idea. It started innocently enough, but now that my stomach hurts from my pants cutting into it as I sit down to write this, I realize how vicious gluttony truly is.

The pictures above, to the left and below are from the manga inspired Anime show called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. (warning: The show does have violence, serious topics and language in it)Part of the premise of the show is that the seven deadly sins are personified in creatures called homunculi. Way too much backstory to get into right now. But suffice it to say that the Seven Deadly Sins live up to their names. The character Gluttony is a tragic figure.

He is so innocently evil. He has an all consuming never ending hunger and just wishes to eat. He is vicious but is so innocent at the same time. (Spoiler alert) It's hard not to feel sorry for him later on in the series when he dies. He is evil and is all consuming and in the end, he is consumed by a fellow homunculus. His final cries stick with you. He is so trusting of his fellow sins and is shocked when he is destroyed. It is a sad ending to a vicious sin.

The problem I've found with gluttony in my life is that it truly is innocently evil. It truly is all consuming. I've learned that I am a compulsive eater. But why is that considered a deadly sin? Each of the Seven Deadly Dwarfs...I mean Sins deals with something that in moderation and with limitations generally fuels our base instincts. Yet when it becomes the center piece of our very existence, it pushes Christ from our center and forces us to focus on something else instead for our only comfort in life and in death. For me, it became food. And it is still all consuming. It still is a struggle.

Is food itself bad? No. Is loving delicious foods and enjoying their flavor bad? No. But allowing it become my comfort in times of need isn't good and that is shown in my waist line as of yet.

So I push on. The last two weeks I've done straight cardio and am once again hitting the weights. Slowly but surely I will consume gluttony with health. I hope I might be able to create newer habits of dealing with my stress.

How about you? Has a coping method become something more consuming that it ought? How have you dealt with it?

Rockin' out--a Lenten Meditation

I like to lift to music. Loud music. Very loud hard rock Christian music. Something abut it just gets me going. I have my own play list too called Lifting Music. On it, I have Flyleaf, Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Pillar and many others. Each with a good solid base line, pounding drums, great guitar riffs. There's a couple of songs that just get me going when they come on.

Pillar has a song called Fireproof that just gets the blood flowing and the energy pumping. The guitar and base from Fireproof get me going, and then the words just spur it on even more.

Skillet has two songs from their Awake album that kick me into high gear. These two songs by Skillet are on the opposite thematic spectrum. Their song Hero is about the need for a savior, someone to help in times of trouble. On the other hand their song Monster is about our sinful nature wanting to come forth and how it feels like sometimes we have a monster inside of us, controlling us, moving us, leading us to where we don't want to go. Why do these get me going? I don't know to tell the truth. I think it's a combination of lyrics and music that pump my blood and I get that second wind.

At those moments, the world disappears, and it's just me, the weights and God. Nothing else but that.

I called this a Lenten meditation because these three songs are my favorite to work out to and they are amazing songs that exemplify what Lent is. Lent is the time looking forward to Easter, looking forward to celebrating Jesus' resurrection. But in order to get to the resurrection, we have to look at His death. Monster is the reason why Jesus died, because of that monster inside us all that just wants to rip out and destroy everything. That feeling you get when you hold it all back when someone says something just down right mean to you, yeah, that's the monster right there. Jesus died because of the Monster.

Hero talks about needing someone to fight for what's right, no one's going to die tonight. The monster is what causes the need for the Hero to save us so that we won't face death.

And then there's Fireproof. Because of our Hero defeating the Monster, we can't be touched, destroyed, hurt anymore by the Monster. Yes, the Monster will always be inside us, but it ain't got any control over us. Why? Because the Hero made us Fireproof against the Monster.

There's one more important part of my exercise routine and that's cool down. My cool downs are a lot different than my lifting. It's simple, quiet, slow. And my music matches that. I call it my Centering Playlist. It's soft, quiet praise music that settles me, calms me down. I walk around the gym for a bit or I peddle the bike very slowly, focusing, relaxing, calming my body down.

As we approach Easter, we have the Hero who fought the Monster and won. Because of Easter, we can slow down and be calm.

And yes, I actually think about these things while I'm lifting. It's just me, my music and God.

How do you see the coming of Easter through the eyes of Monster, Hero and Fireproof?

Fireproof


Monster


Hero

Finding meaning in it all

I one time reviewed my renter’s insurance. My State Farm renter’s insurance does not cover war, nuclear holocaust nor Acts of God. I’m not trying to be flippant, but I’m hoping no one in Japan has State Farm renter’s insurance.

I remember after the December 26, 2004 Indonesian Tsunami. In the aftermath, there were some Christian leaders calling the disaster God’s judgment upon an Islamic nation, God’s judgment upon those who were committing sins against God and each other. I’m thanking each of them for not saying anything so far about Japan.

But that does make me wonder. What’s up? What’s going on with all these earthquakes? Is it the “supermoon” effect? I doubt it. For one thing, everything’s been happening around the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean.

One thing I do know is that the earth is doing what the earth does. The earth is in flux, it is in turmoil.

Paul writes in Romans

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25

The whole creation is groaning. What imagery of pains of childbirth. Being a guy, I’m so not going to touch that one, but for women who’ve given birth I’ll let you describe what that pain feels like. The earth is doing what it does. It is in pain and looking forward to a time where it is no longer in pain. Like us, it is looking forward to Christ’s return. Until then, creation itself is feeling the effects of Sin.

So, how should we understand the earthquake and subsequent tsunami?

Jesus was asked a question like this. His answer:

“When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?" Luke 12:55-56

These are the signs of the time. I’m not getting all apocalyptic here. This is 2011 not 2012 and the Mayans have nothing to do with this. The earth is broken as I am, as we all are. And as the earth is groaning, so are we. We are groaning for a day where all things will be made new again. Where there will be no more earthquakes, no more tsunami’s no more destruction. But until then, we live out the kingdom of God here and now by helping and serving those in need.

For more information on how to help please check out www.crcna.org/japan

As we serve God in his kingdom, we say at the same time “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”

FORD Tough--Part 1 Finding the Problem

My brother recently told me that Ford stood for "Fix or repair daily." This is in reference to my pickup's last two issues (for my further whining, please click here and here). I'm starting to wonder if he's correct. On Facebook, I even posted this idea of Ford meaning "fix or repair daily" and I had a lot of Ford-haters comment on it (yeah, you know who you are!)Now, I'm not a Ford-hater. In fact, I don't pick one type of pick-up over the other at all. But I at least want a working one.

Now, this got me to thinking. This being a blog called Spiritual Musclehead and all, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into this. In order to fix or repair something, you need to know what the problem is in the first place. If you're oil's leaking, just putting more oil in it every other day isn't going to fix the problem, just alleviate the symptoms for a while. You need to find the deeper problem.

What about us? What about us human beings. I think we need to be fixed and repaired daily to tell the truth. I'm not okay. That's for sure. Everyone who knows me knows that as much. And to tell the truth, I really think that we're all not okay in one way or another.

So, you need to be fixed and repaired. Why? I have a one word answer for you but you're not going to like it: Sin. There, I said it. I know. I don't like that word either.

Let me ask you this though: If you're leaking oil something fierce in your engine, would you keep driving it like everything was okay? Or would you want to have it fixed? In fact, if you say that the oil leaking is going to cause an engine problem, that works for you, but I'm fine just pouring more oil in it. Are you deceiving yourself? If you keep doing it, yes, you can go for a while, but eventually the engine will fail (this is from experience--blew out an engine because of this. Huge stinking hole in it too..not pretty)

So, what do we do? Be fixed and repaired daily. Problem: oil leak. Solution: fix it.
Problem: Sin. Solution: Be repaired

Problem and solution:

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives...But if anyone obeys Jesus’ word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 1:7-10, 2:5)

So what does it mean to confess? And confess what?