Superheroes

Well would you look at that! This is my 40th post since starting this blog over a year ago! Wow that feels like forever ago and just yesterday at the same time. Thanks to all my loyal readers who have stuck with me all this time and to any first-time readers, thanks for taking a look! There’s plenty of material to read if you’re interested! Today I want to talk about one of my favorite things, Superheroes. If you read my post a few weeks ago about my drive down to Ave Maria then you know all about my undying love for Superman. However, today we’re going to delve a little deeper into the genre. But first, an update on how things are going at Ave!

The team and I got to have dinner with two Ave Maria community members last week, Nancy and Randy. They’re such an amazing couple and they helped set up meetings with other community members last year us when we wanted to do some fundraising for our big conferences. I’m really happy to say that they’re going to do th same this year. Thanks so much to you guys for all the help and the delicious meal they fed us. Also, thanks for letting us take another great picture with the one and only, Pope Francis…..cardboard cutout.

Just hanging out with the Pope

Bible Studies are going really well. I’m leading two on campus this year: Beer and Jesus and then what I call my DinoStudy (long story) and I’ve got a consistent number of awesome students attending. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to dive into scripture with these guys. I love hearing their insights as we read the Lord’s word together. It’s always some of the best parts of the week when I get to sit down and crack open the Bible with these guys. I only pray that I can continue to be a good leader for this great group of men and that Go really speaks to them in the passages that we read together.

Beer & Jesus

Team life is great, discipleships are going really well and life in general at Ave has been great. I’m constantly reminded of how blessed I am to be at such a beautiful campus surrounding by the wonderful people here. Thanks be to God.

Now! Time to get into the Superheroes.  If you haven’t noticed in the past, Superheros in general are kind of an allegory for Christianity and Spiritual Warfare, Think about it: Great Heroes facing off with diabolical Villains while the fate of millions hang in the balance? The ongoing struggle of good against evil? Themes of virtue, peace, justice and truth? Sounds a lot like Christianity to me. Today I want to discuss three particular heroes are the perfect archetypes for Christians: Superman, Batman and Captain America.

First off: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s the one and only Superman. He’s the perfect example of a Christ-like figure. Just think: He was sent to Earth by his Father from the Heavens above. He’s human but also not human at the same time. Though he was treated like an outcast, he has the power to save humanity. He’s widely regarded as the most powerful superhero of all (in addition to one of the first) and the one who sets the standard for all others. The “S” on his chest stands for “Hope” and he stands for Truth, Justice and the American Way. Though he’s been tempted to cross over to the dark side before he’s never faltered and continues to be a beacon of light and hope. he;s a savior that as hard as other heroes may try, the’ll never be able to match the power of Superman. But even so, he inspires them to be better and never turns his back on anybody in need. If you saw Man of Steel there’s actually a few scenes where he’s actually has his arms outstretched like Jesus on the cross. Subtle right?

Next up we have Batman, arguably everyone’s favorite Superhero nowadays. Batman is a great example of the Independent Christian. He is purely human with no superpowers whatsoever. But what he does have is an incredible intellect and the will to never give up. He trains super hard and long to became the crime-fighting force he is. He’s got all sorts of fancy gadgets and tools that help him out. Sure he’s had a few sidekicks here and there but for the most part he chooses to do the most dangerous work alone. He’s a force of good, but it comes from a dark place. One of the reasons I think Batman is more popular than Superman is because his world is so much darker and grungier. Our culture is fascinated with all things doom and gloom because we find it intriguing, edgy and exciting while Superman (Jesus) is more the “goody two-shoes.” Batman is the kind of Christian who tries to do everything by himself. He’s fight for justice and truth but he tries to do it without any help. he relies for the most part on himself and his tools and likes to refuse the help of other heroes. As hard as he may try, he’ll never be as powerful as Superman.

Finally we have Captain America and he’s the perfect example of the type of Christian we should strive to be. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t now much about him let me just give you a brief background. Steve Rogers was just a super scrawny and weak guy from Brooklyn during. Despite being so, he had a pure heart and always stood up for what was right. He got beat up a lot but never gave up. When WWII started he tried repeatedly to join the Army but was constantly rejected because of how small/sickly/weak he was. But he kept trying because he wanted to fight for justice and to protect those he loved. Eventually he found his way into the Army by volunteering for an experimental super soldier program. He was injected with a serum that transformed him from the small and weak Steve Rogers into the powerful and agile Captain America an he leader of the Avengers. He became a Superhero.

Now listen closely. Steve is still human but part of him isn’t. Just like us. We are purely human but have an immortal soul. He was always just, brave, good and true but he couldn’t be super without some help. He needed the serum to help make him Super. Just like the super soldier serum gave him his strength and agility, our baptism gives us the Holy Spirit, which can help transform us. Make us stronger, more courageous and more faithful. He empowers us to be able to achieve great things.

So the moral of that story is to strive to be like Superman but recognize that we can’t do it alone. We need each other to support and build each other up. We need to be confident in ourselves and always work hard.  But most importantly we need to seek and rely on God. He created us and wants to give us to grace to achieve the greatness that we’re made for.

Well I hope you enjoyed that extended analogy. It really spoke to me when I heard it. And before you give me the credit, I didn’t come up with this. I heard it from my teammate Nick when the team was meeting with our student leaders for the first time. So thank you Nick for giving that speech!! Hope you all get something out of it. Just gearing up for this week now and it should be a pretty good one! Look for my next post to hear all about it and remember that as cool as Batman is, we should all strive to be Captain America.

Back In Business

Well it’s official! Things here down at Ave Maria are back in full swing! The past two weeks the team and I have been busy having meetings, planning events, getting to know students, giving out free stuff and starting discipleships and Bible studies. It’s been pretty tiring but so much fun. So far things are going great and it’s going to be a fantastic year if things keep going like this.

First off, the team and I got to help out a little bit with Freshman Orientation. Like we did last ear, we got to help move new students into the dorms. It’s a great way to meet people and have a chance to introduce yourself to the freshman. They remember the person who carries their expensive flat-screen TV from their car to their dorm. I got to meet a lot of cool guys who I’m hoping to start getting to know better this year. Nick, Maemie and I also had some fun times getting to know each other playing with a shopping cart.

Why, one of the pictures taken from that day actual got chosen to be blown up and hung in the cafeteria! Maemie and I are officially Ave celebrities! Seen by everyone when they walk in to have a meal. Thank you shopping cart. This would be a good time to say again how awesome the team is this year. I’m really thankful for my new teammates and I think we’re going to have a great year working together.

Maemie and I displayed proudly as you walk into the cafeteria

Well we didn’t just spend all of Orientation moving people into their dorm rooms. We also got to go to a lot of the Orientation talks and events. One of those events being a welcome back concert starring Ave Maria’s very own Chicken Tender Day featuring chicken tenders being served for a snack. Remember how last ear I kept mentioning how many musically talented kids go here? Well this just reminded m of it. Chicken Tender Day rocked the stage with a surprisingly awesome variety of music. Looking forward to more performances guys!

Chicken Tender Day

Ave Maria University President Jim Towey also gave a talk at the pub on Mother Theresa and Mercy that was absolutely fantastic. Not sure if I’ve talked about this before but President Towey was actually a personal friend of Mother Theresa and his stories about her are always amazing to hear.

Theology on Tap with President Towey

All great opportunities to meet new students. But you know, it’s also been really amazing to see all the students I got to know last year back on campus It’s crazy to see how much people can change over the summer. Not that anyone was immature, or drastically different, rather I’ve just noticed how over time they’ve grown into more complete people. It’s kind of a weird thing to describe. I guess this is how parents feel haha.

More Adventures In Shopping…I Mean Move-In Day

Since orientation we’ve just been busy starting up discipleship and Bible studies. So far we’ve tabled a little bit handing out root-beer float, iced coffee and watermelon in an effort to meet people and both times have been pretty successful. We also had a little dinner for all our Student Leaders on campus to welcome them back and to cast a little vision for the year. Nick gave a pretty awesome talk that I’ll be discussing in my next post, and I think all the student leaders are really going to set the campus on fire this year. It’s been great to see all my guys again and I’m s thankful for the amazing group of students we’ve been blessed to work with.

Anne, Nick and I tabling out on campus

I was able to get my Bible studies started up last week and I was really happy with how they went. I mean for a first meeting both group seem to be really interested in having good study and it looks like I’ll have a really solid group of students come to both this semester. I’m definitely looking forward to studying with these guys this year. Just praying that I can make it good for them every week and that they get some good stuff out of our meetings haha.

Patrick, Peter, Ellie, Carolyn and I at the Magic Kingdom

This past weekend was a rich, full one for sure. Friday night we went for some late night bowling and IHOP with students followed by a day of Disney World on Saturday. If you remember from last year, I got to chaperon the Disney World trip and it was the same this year! Just like last time around it was Disney World’s Nigh of Joy, their big Christian Music festival a the Magic Kingdom. This year I think was just a tad better because last year I had to fly solo and it was still before I really knew anybody here. This year in addition to being able to hang in the Magic Kingdom with students, Maemie and Anne were able to go as well! We all had a blast and got to ride pretty much all the good rides. My only complaint is that we had to leave before Skillet came on which is pretty much the only Christian Rock bad I am openly a fan of. But oh well, it was still a ton of fun!

Finally, last night the team and I went out for dinner with a group of students and we enjoyed some goo Mexican food and fellowship. This week is a pretty regular week for us, just the usual mentorships and Bible studies. Like I said above, I feel like things are going super well so far and I’m really excited to see all the amazing things that I think God is going to do on this campus this year. Prayers for me and my team as well as all the students here are always greatly appreciated! God bless and talk to you soon!