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Posted in Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

TMNT 2014 (spoiler alert)

Posted on by Wick

It’s not often I have a half hour of time to kill directly after watching a movie, so today you get the benefit/torture of receiving my thoughts fresh from the experience.  So here we go….TMNT 2014.

I’ll begin with this: I really enjoyed this movie.  That’s a given.  Heck, I enjoyed TMNT III.  You know, the one where they time travel and become Samurai? So there.  You know I’m gonna love it.  It had all the requirements: 4 teenaged mutant ninja turtles, 1 wise ninja rat father-figure, and 1 evil Shredder.  Add some humor, some pizza being sliced mid-air, some dialogue giving shout-outs to previous movies, some tender brotherly moments, and a news anchor with red hair in a yellow jumpsuit…..oh wait. Megan Fox.  Eh…okay.Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_film_July_2014_poster

I do have several beefs.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s what surfaces easily:

1. Superhuman Strength? This is stated early in the movie, and seen as Raphael throws shipping containers like empty cardboard boxes.  I don’t understand why they couldn’t just be amazing ninjas.  Until we see #2

2. Shredder is a Transformer.  Ohhhh, that makes sense.  That’s right…Michael Bay (made the Transformers movies) had to get his awesomely creative, overly busy action scenes with lots of moving metal parts and blades.  He couldn’t be content with simply an amazing ninja who had to hide his face with a mask.  Which leads to #3

3. Shredder’s scarred face is shown, highlighted almost as a major plot point…but never explained or connected to the story.  We all know the scar originally came from Splinter back when they’d met previously when Shredder killed his master…but wait….#4

4. Splinter never had a ninja master who taught him everything he knows.  Nope. He totally found a “Ninja for Dummies” book floating in the sewer, and not only became an expert ninja warrior himself…but trained his turtle sons as well.  He also looks like a wise old Japanese rat…but his voice is everyone’s favorite OCD detective, “Monk”.  Huh?

Plenty of other points and sub-points that were way off.  But still….loved the movie.  Laughed several times.  Wanted to high-five the guys (we’re tight enough to call each other “the guys”), and wanted to yell “woo” for April O’Neil.  Wanted to…but didn’t.  Not only was I on a date with my amazing wife, but by using Megan Fox as the innocently attractive goofy reporter who happens to look great in a bulky jumpsuit….well….just didn’t seem so innocent.  And there was no jumpsuit.  Also…wait a minute….SHE saved the day and defeated Shredder?  Well…kiiiinda.

Close the movie out with a lead-in to a sequel, and cue the new version of a T-U-R-T-L-E-POWER hip-hop classic (everyone forgot about that one, and has been comparing it to “Go Ninja Go Ninja Go!”.  I actually liked “Shell Shocked“.  But all the things I’ve mentioned above are like the slices of a pizza that end up not looking perfect.  Taken as a whole pie, I enjoyed the movie and even look forward to the movie’s sequel if they end up making one.  Except wait…there’s no need for “Super Shredder” to return transformed by the oooze, because he’s already got a super-humanly strong transformer robot suit.  Perhaps that will become fused to his body and even larger in the next edition…

Posted in Adoption Journey, Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

Insanity of God…

Posted on by Wick

“I held tight to the psalmist David’s conviction that the weeping and tears might linger for the night, but that joy would come in the morning.  Sadly, after six years in Somalia, each morning brought only more tears.  For perhaps the first time in my life, I was dealing with something that I could not fix. Prayer and obedience and hard work and good training and Godly intentions and sacrifice – none of it seemed to make a difference.” – Nik Ripken, The Insanity of Godinsanityofgod

We are being reminded lately, that when you connect your life with the broken heart of God, it’s often heart-breaking.  It’s not a great sales pitch, and it’s not a great advertisement to convince a world that doesn’t know Jesus that we’ve made a good decision.  It’s not even a great testimony to convince other Christians we are, indeed, following God’s call on our life.  Heck, it’s not even a great assurance to ourselves as we lay our heads on pillows each night…wondering where God is.

The truth is, God’s people are suffering globally.  They are suffering in horrible and unjust ways. They are sold into slavery, trampled underfoot in the name of progress, cast aside for more important things.  They are thrown in prisons, beheaded, shot at, and sometimes – even made fun of in high school cafeterias.  Does this mean God has turned a blind eye to their needs?  Is God deaf to the cries of the suffering followers of Christ?  Why doesn’t He do something?  Lord of all creation, quiet in places that severely need His Words of healing and life.

I imagine the scene between Elijah and Ba’al, only this time it’s our God who is scoffed at, “Shout louder….Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling.  Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:27

These are some of the same thoughts we have, now over 2 years into an adoption process.  2 years, and still we feel very close to where we began.  Those who know about adoption in the DRC might be quick to say something like, “What’d you expect?”  Certainly when we began the process, we knew not much about our path was certain.  But we stepped out on faith that we were responding in a way that revealed the heart of God.  Even though at times, if feels we’ve nothing to show for it….I still believe these years have been growing fruit for the Kingdom.  Not that I’d choose the same road, if I could go back in time.

Nik Ripken found himself in a similar spot, after years of suffering in Somalia.  Crying out to God, and returning to the US to see what needed to change, he set out on a new mission: to find out what good God was in places of intense suffering.  What he discovered is enough to fill many books, and encourage the heart of any broken follower.  God, and the belief in God is accomplishing great amounts of light in the midst of a darkened world.  Stories that don’t make sense, but reveal the heart and life of a God I’d give my life and the life of my family to serve.

“..before we can grasp the full meaning of the Resurrection, we first have to witness or experience crucifixion.  If we spend our lives so afraid of suffering, so averse to sacrifice, that we avoid even the risk of persecution or crucifixion, then we might never discover the true wonder, joy and power of a resurrection faith.  Ironically, avoiding suffering could be the very thing that prevents us from partnering deeply with the Risen Jesus.” – Nik Ripken

There appear to be forks in the road, very near, as we continue responding to God’s call on our family to reveal His love to a broken world.  We’re not yet sure what it will look like, but we know what it will feel like.  Heart-breaking.  As much as we have many confirmations, that we’re right in the midst of where the heart of God is…..it’s still hard.  Even as I can smile at my family, knowing we’re laying foundations for a home God can, and is using to change the world….I hold them before God, continuing to believe that He’s able to do what He has not yet done here…bring redemption to this story.

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Bowles of Blessing

Posted on by Wick

In the past several years, we’ve been talking at church about the “Power of Blessing”, and the importance of a parent passing that on to their child.  Certainly we were blessed by many sources growing up, and this past week we said goodbye to a woman who understood how to bless quite well.  Dorothy Thula Sutton was born in August, 1917, and raised a family down in Tennessee after marrying Frank E. Bowles.  They became the “Great-Grandparents” everyone wishes they had.  Southern accents, southern cooking, and love that had been richly steeped in southern hospitality.

I have flashes of memory from growing up with my Great-Grandma Bowles. I remember her frail grandma-strength hugs, and southern drawl that made every word she said entertaining to listen to. The stories, both short and long, about what life was like. About things I understood, and about things I had no clue of. The reminders to pray. To love Jesus. To thank God. The long lines of card-tables set up for extended-family gatherings in their basement. I remember being that boy who stared in awe at the amount of money in my Christmas cards, and the humble loving reminder that came with the crisp $5 bill in every birthday card. I remember her pride as I performed at community theater events. I remember the Christmas bags of goodies that always came with Bubbliscious, Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Snowmen, and some large fresh fruit anchoring it all down.bowlesanderson

But most of all, I remember her steadfast presence in love in the midst of family chaos. When walls were coming down all around, and relationships were stretched thin, there our Great-Grandparents were. Humbly admitting they didn’t know all the details on everything that was happening, but that they loved us….and wanted the best for us. That they were proud of us. Reminding us that God was still God….and Jesus was still with us.

Even as I grew older, moved away to college, and into adulthood…those cards and reminders of their love came, and began to come to my wife and children as well. (Although I still smile as I remember the “quote marks” on either side of my name….as if it were a nick-name. My guess is the pen was held by grandma…but no doubt at grandpas approving southern-sounding nod.) Never requiring anything (but appreciating a 5-minute phone-call “Thanks”…and giving us the real gift – a reminder that they pray for us regularly), every birthday was celebrated with another crisp $5 bill. In my mind and heart…those cards will always continue to come. Our oldest daughter received hers 2 days ago….a couple days after Grandma passed. The love signed to that card was one of the last things Grandma passed on before joining Grandpa with Jesus.

I’m thankful for the stories, both known and unknown. The ones that will be told as family gathers to mourn and celebrate a life well and faithfully lived…and the ones that will be told as we remember them in gatherings in the future. But most of all, I’m thankful to be a part of the story she helped pen….the story that we continue to write in our family even now….