31/07/2024 by Rev. Doug Walker 0 Comments
Comic Book
As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice
“Comic Book”
Comic books were at one point in my life a treasure. I never was much of a reader in that I never learned the joy of reading, basically because I’m a visual learner and kinesthetic learner. If I could read a little bit, then apply that reading to the task, such as repairing an engine, I learned. But with comic books, I could read the thoughts and words of a character and understand exactly what was going on.
When I was ten years old, my father was stationed in Germany. Living in Germany at that time, there wasn’t any Armed Forces Network, where broadcasts were made in English. There was only German TV. Of course, I didn’t know a word of German when the family arrived, so I quickly got into the comic book craze all the other Army kids were into. We would read them, and then trade them in a sort of value system. The ones most valuable were the originals like Superman, Spiderman, and Sgt. Rock. These could be traded for more than one other comic book. They held the highest bartering rate. If they were in good condition and not beaten up too bad, they would have a higher trade value. I’ve come to learn those early comic books are worth thousands of dollars now. Oh, that I had a few of my early Superman comics!
Even though we knew how things would turn out, we read every page of the comic book. The hero would be introduced, and the scene set. The villain would come shortly thereafter. A struggle would ensue with the bad guy losing in the end and good would triumph once again!
I wish we had a comic book attitude all the time! We need to look to the hero no matter what situation. The villain will always appear when things are going great and try to destroy what we have going on. There will be struggles, but in the end, the protagonist will prevail.
I never really thought much about the common theme of comic books and how they relate to the story of mankind. We had a good thing going on. God was the hero. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve on a daily basis. Mankind lived in the greatest and most beautiful setting one could imagine. Then the antagonist appeared and planted a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind, which was conveyed to Adam. They began to doubt the wisdom and power of God.
We are living in the “in between” section of this comic book called the “Fall of Man.” We are struggling against the schemes of the antagonist daily. As we get to the end of this chapter (the church age), the Hero will come back to save the day! The antagonist will be defeated, and all his followers will be vanquished!
No matter what you’re going through today, remember this: treat today like it’s a comic book. Smile at adversity, look for the hero, and take a page out of the hero’s playbook and help someone who is struggling today. If we could be a hero to others, we become more like Jesus every day!
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