One of my favorite shows to watch is “Heroes“.  Before that it was “Smallville“, and before that I loved anything that had to do with “Xmen“.  Still love X-men of course, and Smallville, well it got kind of weird and went into some craziness so I lost interest.  My love for these shows / movies all have one theme in common; plain, simple human beings that either develop special powers or discover powers that were already inside of them.

This interest and intrigue with “super powers” goes as far back as 8,9, or 10 years old.  It hasn’t been a normal child hood “dream” to be Superman or Spiderman, but a true desire to have powers so that I could save and change the world.  I know, it’s crazy, but even at age 10 or 11, I remember walking down the street at night, talking to God and asking him to give me the ability to fly so that I could help people.  I would literally run and jump in the air with my arms stretched out, hoping that by some divine or freakish coincidence I’d begin moving through the air and begin my new job of “superhero”.

I grew up with rough surroundings and a lot of my desire to help people and see change take place in people’s lives is because of the “trouble” I’ve seen growing up.  I’ve never developed the ability to fly or break through steel (go figure), but the desire to “give back” and “save the world” is still there.  It was multiplied when I had a life changing encounter with God in college and its what drives me everyday to do something “big”.

No one will ever develop the “super powers ” that we see in movies and in comic books, but we do have the ability to help change at least one life around us and become a “hero” to him/her.  We all have unique gifts and talents and God wants to use you to change the world around you.  Your ability to “fly” may be your ability to “make things happen” or bring the right people together for a specific task.  Your ability to break through steel might be your gift of helping someone break through barriers in their life.  And someone’s “xray vision” could be their “vision” and contagious ability to “dream”.

Be a hero today. Change a life.  Impact your world.  And if you have time, go for  a quick little flight around the earth backwards as fast as you can.  I’d love to see if that works to rewind time (see Superman the Movie – 1978)

Posted in Blogblog, Minstry Toolsblog, Personal Growth | No Comments »

This past weekend, my wife and I attended a surprise party for one of her uncles. My wife is Filipino and what that means in regards to parties is that there is enough food to feed about 5,000 people! Seriously, if you want to go to parties where it’s a given that you will take a bag full of food home, then go find some Filipinos to become friends with. You won’t regret it. White people, learn from the Filipinos and Mexicans. Stop having parties that only provide chips, dip, and one plate of tuna sandwiches and some cookies. You should be ashamed of yourself! ha. Sorry, I had to throw that in there. It’s all good. No hurt feelings, right? Just take your party food up to another level, please.

Well, this post is’nt about food or parties, it’s about a young man. While at this party, there was a young guy (we’ll call him Mike), maybe in his late teens, and from the time that we entered the house till we left, he spent most of his time off to the side with his head and eyes buried in a Nintendo DS. Of course I step out and address these kinds of people who try to hide out and avoid being social, but I was probably the only one who acknowledged “mike” (other than his parents). But even when I did, his response was weak and not full of a lot of life or enthusiasm. His hand shake was weak as well.

This encounter confirmed some thoughts I’ve had for quite a while about young people and the affects that technology has on them, particularly young men. This is a generation of young boys who are growing up under the care and teaching of a computer or gaming system, allowing technology to replace their need to be social through the most basic form we know, which is human to human. Technology is keeping our kids glued to a screen and universe that doesn’t require them to be truly social.  We call the use of tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace as “social media”, but anyone can type thoughts and pretend to be whatever they want online.  “Social Media” doesn’t require a lot of work or effort.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Blogblog, Minstry Toolsblog, Students | 1 Comment »