A friend of mine (batman), since the first day we met, equated my life to Spiderman. God blessed me with a special ability such as breakdancing. Likewise, Peter Parker was blessed with an ability Uncle Ben labelled as 'power' - with great power comes great responsibility. Similar to Parker, I used my power/ability to serve selfish ambitions. We both needed to loss friends, family, and opportunities to show us our internal demons. Sadly, learning the same things over and over again is the life-story for almost all people. In the Old Testament, after experiencing extreme supernatural events such as passing through the Red Sea, the Israelites began to doubt God three days after the crossing! After experiencing a near death situation where my car spun off the road and into a bus shelter, I obtained no cuts or bruises. The aftermath of the accident was that the entire driver side of the car was completely wedged in, glass was cracked everywhere, the bus sheltered tipped over, and a recycling bin flew into a plaza parking lot. Mind you... I was driving with no seatbelt. But the one thing I do remember is feeling as if I were wearing a seatbelt. Almost like a hand pushing against my chest preventing me from smashing my head against the window. The Israelites forgot God in three days. I forgot Him on the same day *sigh*. The apostle Peter walked alongside with Jesus and heard His teachings on love. Years later, he needed to be rebuked by Paul for his selective love against the Gentiles. I grew up in a Christian family. But I lived my entire life as if I had no family.
From my previous post, I talked briefly of what breakdancing did to my life. In brief, the gifted ability to dance in such a way was clouded by my own 'Venom' called pride. It destroyed parts of my life such as relationships and family. However, in November 2009, after seeing the carnage I did with the lives I was surrounded with, I surrendered to no other than God. I remember telling myself I didn't want to live with the guilt I carried everyday. I was ashamed and disgusted of the sins I had committed before God and people. I guess I found something worse than dying - to die in guilt. Urbana 2009 was my first encounter with the Lord. I saw before me a sea filled with my sins and the blood of my Lord and Savior covered it all. In 2:01 of the Spiderman Trailer, it shows a quick clip of Parker's struggle in peeling off the Venom that kept him enveloped. All this was done as the church bell rang! Here's another clip: bell scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjuEtEjeMSo). The scene reminds me of my struggling decision to be freed from the bondage of my past and flesh by allowing God to take president in my life.
See, it's easy to say "I believe in God." The difficultly I experienced is letting Him "lead" my life. What I did not realize before until now is that if I did not allow Him to lead my life, Venom was.
Venom is one of my favourite characters in Marvel. I think there is always a cost to great power and often the price of greatness in the kingdom is giving up our pride. I think rejecting the symbiote is also a form of pride. It's saying that you're better of without its ideas. Sometimes we feel that way about God. Sometimes people act like they have a plan and it's better than God's plan.
ReplyDeleteI think the challenge for a lot of people is just that. What if God wanted to change everything about you so you're not recognizable? Would you be ok with that? Peter Parker wasn't. It's interesting because in some interpretations of venom, he's (the eddie brock version) a good guy later on. Venom is a special symbiote. According to wiki, it's one of the rare ones that doesn't consume it's host but bonds with it. If we progress we will see that it looks like God wants to destroy us but he's really here to save us.
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
ReplyDeletePhilippians 1:20-26
Agree to enoch! It's indeed true that there's a danger in completely shunning away from what seems to be a 'sin' but is in fact a blessing from God. For example, believing that our ideologies are better than God's. I never knew that venom later turned into a 'good' guy! That's pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteHAHA... i remember that passage :p Thanks bern! So whether venom is a part of me or not, to live is Christ!
woah! You actually blogged about this spiderman 3 venom thing! haha awesome!
ReplyDeleteDude, you still soooo gotta watch the whole movie man! It's so good! And your testimony is so that story man!
Inspired by how another urban brother is going hard for Christ.