Have you ever wondered why there have been more comic-book superhero movies showing up in the theatres than almost anything else? Are there any superheroes left to be wooed into the movies? Maybe Aquaman, or my favourite, the Flaming Carrot (yes there really is a Flaming Carrot).

“The Dark Knight” and “Ironman” were the biggest blockbusters of this past summer and the Hulk seems to have redeemed himself as well—despite his unwillingness to practice anger management. Batman, alone, has made a billion dollars since its release. Obviously superhero movies are made because they make money, but why are superhero movies watched?

Part of the attraction, I think, is simply that our society is afraid. Our culture has become a culture of fear. Fear seems to be everywhere. Listen to the news and you’ll find fear behind every story. Fear of the unknown. Fear of terrorism. Fear of global warming. Fear of job security. Fear of a failing economy. In a nutshell, we feel out of control and that scares us.

So, we want a hero that can rescue us. We want happy endings. We want to know someone is still fighting the bad guys. We want to know that, no matter how dangerous or how big the threat is, someone can still restore order. And, since no one really feels that way in real life, we go to the movies.

It has become increasingly difficult to be unaffected by the culture of fear. It surrounds us. We feel ill at ease. We worry too much. We think too much. We speculate too much and our imaginations repeatedly focus on a long list of ‘what ifs’.

Ten or fifteen years ago, we hardly ever heard of anxiety or panic disorders, but now these conditions are common, if not epidemic. I want you to think about this seriously for a moment—have you experienced some sense of fear, anxiety, or worry recently? I was afraid you’d say that!
As Christians, what do we do with all this fear? When the world seems so chaotic, dark, and dangerous what do we do?

One of my all-time favourite passages in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah 6. Isaiah writes about his commissioning as a prophet: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1).

King Uzziah had reigned in Israel for fifty years. By all accounts, his rule brought stability and a time of tremendous prosperity and growth. For as long as anyone could remember life had been good, but now the king was dead. For the first time in fifty year massive change was on everyone’s mind. What was going to happen? Could they weather this storm? Was life, as they knew it, over?

As you read on in Isaiah 6, the vision of God only seems to bring more anxiety to Isaiah (v. 5), but ultimately nothing can be further from the truth. Isaiah’s vision of God seated on His throne in the Temple may have shaken him to the core, but it also put everything else into perspective. King Uzziah may have died but the Eternal King was alive and well. On the one hand, life was completely different, but on the other hand nothing had changed—because God was still on His throne.

Paul, speaking of Jesus, reminds us that: “… by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)

Is your life ruled by fear? Do your worries worry you? Is “panic” your middle name? Do bully’s kick sand in your face and steal your girl? Forget the superheroes and focus on the One who has already defeated the biggest villain of all. If Jesus is the one who is holds all things together, don’t you think He can hold you together as well?

Things can get a bit scary, that’s expected and it’s what having faith is all about, but God remains on His throne. Why not turn off the news and tune in to a clearer vision of God? Make the only secure investment there is—invest yourself in the unshakeable, unchanging, eternal plans of God.

This past summer we had a group of thirty high school kids and sponsors from LifeSpring Christian Church in Cincinnati stay with us at Keele. They came to Toronto looking for a multicultural experience and a chance to help us serve the community.

It was a wild and busy week. Many of our youth, including my kids, bonded with the Cincinnati group - so much so that they camped out with them for most of the week and lamented their leaving. It was encouraging to see the friendships and fellowship flow. It was also great to have the group help our youth with a door-to-door food drive for the local food bank. The food drive was a big success and it helped to stock the shelves of the food bank at a time when their supplies were critically low.
On the multicultural front, one of the highlights of the week was a visit to the new Hindu BAPS Swaminarayan Temple. To say the structure was impressive, inside and out, is an understatement. I’ve never seen this level of craftsmanship before—period! There are no metal supports or concrete in the complex. In fact, there is not even one nail in this enormous structure. It is made entirely of interlocking stone based on the old school temple building ways perfected in India centuries ago. Each stone was hand-carved in India and then shipped to Toronto where the entire structure was then assembled and finished by volunteers. It took 5 years and untold man-hours, not to mention $40,000,000 to complete. As you can see from the accompanying photo, the work continues even now.

Equally impressive to me were our young tour guides. I would say they were 13-15 years-old, and like any kids you’d run across in Toronto, maybe a bit better behaved, but you know what I mean, they were Canadians through and through. Yet they were also tour guides for the temple and part of the religious community represented by the temple. Their skill in explaining their culture and religion was impressive. Their style was simple, friendly, and matter of fact. It was strange, and quite frankly disturbing to hear them talk so casually about worshipping idols. At the same time, their sincerity was obvious and worthy of respect.

I particularly liked the part of the tour in which they talked about some of the Indian symbols that were carved into the various pillars throughout the temple. They explained, for example, the significance of the elephant. The elephant is powerful, but also a vegetarian, thus it stands for power in the context of non-violence. My favourite symbol was that of the lotus flower. The lotus flower grows in swamps and thus it is an image of purity and beauty growing in the midst of decay. So, the lotus is a symbol that reminds us that it is our duty to have a beautiful life in a world that is often decaying and corrupt. I realize this is a Hindu symbol but, man it preaches!

Toward the end of the tour, our guide talked about how each stone was placed and cleaned and polished by volunteers. The entire community built this impressive structure together. He showed pictures of mothers, fathers, and children, washing and tending the stonework. I couldn’t help but imagine the sense of community, belonging, and identity this sacrifice of time and effort brought to the congregation at this temple. It was a powerful testimony and reminder to me about what’s possible when people get together, work together, sacrifice together and focus together on a united dream. When that happens the results are always impressive.

I walked away from the temple with mixed feelings. There was much to admire, but much, as a follower of Christ, that disturbed me as well.

The thought that I keep coming back to, though, is simply this: What if the Church were as serious about sacrificing, serving, participating in, and uniting over the common goal of building the Kingdom of God as this group of believers were in building a Hindu temple? What if we took the same pride and care in building something that would last beyond our years. What if we were about leaving a legacy that would inspire those who come after us? What if we were just as clear in communicating in natural, simple, effective ways, the importance of our relationship with Christ? What if we all saw ourselves as a lotus of beauty in a world of decay? What could we accomplish together, with all hands polishing and cleaning? What if we were more serious about allowing God to build us into His temple? Now that is a dream worth pursuing!

“Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:20-21, NLT)

It was a cold day. The snow had a layer of fluffiness over a harder, crunchier, icier bottom. The inlet from Lake Ontario was frozen. Ducks had given up swimming and taken up their less-than-graceful equivalent to skating. The ice was full of greens and blues. White-greyish lines, where the ice had cracked and healed and cracked again, crisscrossed the surface like an alien roadmap.

After watching the comedy of “Ducks on Ice” for a while, I decided to go down to the lakeshore. There I found ice-covered driftwood and huge clusters of breakwater rocks covered with inches of ice as each crashing wave contributed its own thin coat.

At one point I was going to venture out onto the pier that marked the entrance into the inlet, but then I saw ice everywhere and I changed my mind. I didn’t want to slip and fall. I didn’t want to drop my camera. I didn’t want to get wet. OK, I was being a wimp. (I prefer to call it “being wise”, if you don’t mind.)

As I walked further down the shore and looked back I couldn’t help but be impressed by what I saw. The railing of the pier had been completely covered with ice. I’m not just talking about ice around the railing, I am talking about sheets of ice that went down the sides of the railing; connecting the horizontal supports with the handrail above them.

Such a sight was “cool” enough but there was “icing” on this cake–the lake was expressively expressive! As the waves hit the pier with considerable force, they came up against the side of the pier and swelled to what can only be considered Hawaii 5-0 proportions.

As I watched the beautiful form of these waves come, one after another, I took the photo that accompanies this account. Note the top of the head of a small boy that is just tall enough to be seen over the handrail. There he stands, in a place I was too wise to venture. Ah the hubris of youth! How reckless! How irresponsible! Kids!

The only problem with my irresponsible kid theory, though, was that this little guy was standing, hand-in-hand with his grandfather. Grandparents! Granddad must have lost it! Maybe he didn’t like his grandson? Maybe his grandson was a holy terror? Maybe he wanted him to “wave” goodbye—literally? Somehow though, they looked like they were having a great time together, don’t they? Ice all around. Waves so close you could almost touch them. Spray everywhere.

As I look at this photo now, I still hold to my initial assessment of the danger of standing where they were. I was right and they were wrong. I was wise and they were foolhardy. Still there has to be a lesson to be learned somewhere in all this, don’t you think? What do you think the lesson is? The one thing I DO know is that the lesson doesn’t have anything to do with a little kid and an old man being braver than anyone else!

I think the lesson is simply this–it’s not where you are, it’s who you are with. Even a dangerous place can be safe if your hand is in the hand of someone bigger who is able to protect you.

It seems to me that there was once this guy named Peter who got a bit scared because of the waves that surrounded him. He had a good reason to be scared. The waves were high and he was starting to sink! But, just as he started to sink, Jesus reached out his hand and everything changed. Notice though, that the waves weren’t calmed until Peter and Jesus got back into the boat. Peter was still out in the waves. So what kept him above the water wasn’t a safer environment, it was simply that his hand was in the hand of someone bigger who was able to hold him up (Matthew 14:29-32).

It’s not where you are, it’s who you are with. The next time you are afraid, think about who you’re with. Or, more correctly, think about who is with you!

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)