Happy Birthday, Superman!

Seventy-five years ago today, a strange visitor from another planet made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1.  That visitor looked like a man, but he had powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.  He could leap tall buildings in a single bound (he didn't fly till a little later), he was faster than a speeding bullet, bullets bounced off of his chest, etc.  His name was Superman and he has become an American icon over the last 75 years of his existence.  The Superman "S" is one of the most recognizable symbols in pop culture today.  And, this is who I idolized when I was a kid. 
I loved Superman.  I don't remember the first time I saw him, but whenever it was I was mesmerized.  I loved his costume and his cape.  I remember putting on a red towel when I was a kid and running around the house, pretending I could fly.  I grew up watching Christopher Reeve dawn the blue suit with the red "s" and save the world time and again.  I even watched George Reeves in the classic Superman television show.  Anything that was Superman, I wanted.  Superman was the character that hooked me on comic books, which I still collect today. 
Two days ago, Boston (my adopted hometown) was rocked by two explosions set off by a madman.  Chaos ensued at the Boston Marathon which is supposed to be a great time celebrating runners and their accomplishments.  As I watched the news, I could not help but think, "I wish Superman were here.  He would find the person responsible and bring him to justice."  You see, when I was a kid, Superman was a hero.  As I have grown older I have realized what mesmerized me about Superman.  It wasn't his costume.  It wasn't his powers.  It was his heart to always do what is right.  He pursued justice.  He wanted to do right by everyone and that was why he was always known as the "Boy Scout." 
We still need heroes today.  None of us are strange visitors from another planet (although some of us might be strange).  But, that does not mean that we cannot be heroes.  Most of us may not find ourselves in situations where we will have to save somebody's life.  But, most of us are in situations where we can lead them to the One who can save them.  For too long, we have sat idly by and let the institutional church handle all of the spiritual matters.  We take our kids to Sunday School and trust the teachers to teach them about God and following him.  We take them to church and hope they don't make too much of a scene while the preacher is delivering the message.  Then, throughout the week, we get back to our daily routine.  We don't give them an example to follow.  We spend time with people outside of the church with no intention of leading them to Christ.  We get so caught up in our routine that we forget that we were saved to be Christ's ambassadors. 
People are losing hope in our country.  People are losing hope in our world.  I remember when Superman died.  He died in Superman #75.  He was killed fighting the monster Doomsday who wanted to destroy anything in his path.  Superman sacrificed himself for everyone else.  When he died, the other heroes did their best to take his place, but it wasn't the same.  People were losing hope.  But, suddenly, Superman returned.  He returned triumphantly and instilled hope in the people of Metropolis once again. 
We read these stories and are amazed by them.  We forget that a story very similar happened in our history and reality.  Superman is a fictional character who rose from the dead; Jesus was a real person who died on a cross and rose from the dead.  People compare Superman to Jesus and call Jesus their superhero.  But, Jesus is greater than Superman.  Jesus is God himself.  Jesus was not defeated by some monster.  He willingly gave up his life for us on the cross and then triumphantly rose from the dead.  This is the message of true hope.  We can hope beyond hope that an alien from Krypton will be rocketed to our world to be our Savior or we can trust in a real Savior who came to give us hope.  He came to give us a new life. 
In the wake of tragedy, this is the message we need to be teaching and LIVING!  You see, it's not enough to talk about it.  Talk is cheap.  We need to live our lives for Christ.  This means, every day and not just on Sundays.  We need to step up and lead people who are looking for answers to a true hero who rose from the dead.  We need to lead them to a strange visitor from another place who became like one of us in order to die for us. 

T-ball, here I come!

Recently, I became a manager.  I became the manager of the Instructional League Red Sox.  My son, Caedmon, is playing this year for the first time.  I have worked with him in the yard for the past couple of years.  He does pretty well hitting the ball and I am excited to see him on the field for the first time.
I grew up with a love for the game.  My dad instilled that love into me.  He always loved baseball and he passed that love down to me.  I played all my life and was blessed enough to play through college.  I always said that I would never coach my kids' baseball teams.  I would rather sit back and watch.  However, while talking with my best friend about this subject, my perspective changed.  He used to share the same perspective on coaching his kids, but he realized that if God has blessed us with the knowledge, experience, and talent to play the game, it would be dishonoring to him to not share that with young, aspiring ball players.
So, I decided to volunteer to be the manager for Caedmon's team.  We have not started yet, but we will soon and I feel a little overwhelmed at times about it.  But, at the same time, I am excited to pass down what I know to a new generation of ball players.
There is another, deeper element to all of this as well.  These kids are at an impressionable young age.  They are growing up in a world that is constantly changing and not necessarily for the better.  We live in a world where there is no guarantee that young boys will grow up with a great fatherly example.  There are young men who are growing up not knowing how to be men.  We live in an age where the age of adulthood is becoming older and older.  We are seeing young men who are having a hard time launching into independence because they don't know how.  We are seeing young men who are living like children rather than adults.
I think one of the reasons for this is because fathers have either been absent, indifferent, or lazy.  We have fathers who are pouring themselves into their jobs to the point that they are neglecting their families.  I have seen men in church who are sitting back and letting their wives be the spiritual leaders of their families.  Men, we are making the same mistake that Adam did.  We are sitting back and letting Satan grab a hold of our families.  This needs to stop.
Recently, for Valentine's Day, my wife bought me a piece of wall art.  It is black with three phrases written in white: Seek Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with your God.  She bought this for me because she said this is the kind of guy I am.  Wow!  I was humbled by this because all I can see our my mistakes.  This is the kind of man I am striving to be and this is the kind of man that God wants his male followers to be.
We live in a society where the differences between men and women are more blurred than ever in our country.  We need men who are willing to be all about truth and justice.  We need men who are not going to sit idly by and let the world raise their kids for them.  We need men who will humble themselves before God and be the spiritual leaders that they have been saved to be.  We need to grow up, men.  We need to grow up in the Lord and start being an example of what it means to be a godly man.  We need to start passing down what we know to the younger generations.  We need to invest our time in our kids and other kids so that we can show them how to follow Jesus.