Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Manifest 828

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.



Earlier this week I sat down with my Mom to watch the pilot episode of "Manifest." A new drama with a time travel intro and very little else to catch my attention, aside from Josh Dallas of Once Upon a Time as a lead actor. What I found was more mystery than the trailers let on and a show much more focused on spiritual development than I expected. Sit down ladies and gentlemen it is time for some geek theology!

SPOILERS AHEAD

The show begins with a family getting on a plane. The family consists of 2 older parents, a son named Ben Stone (played by Josh Dallas) with his wife Grace (Athena Karkanis) and their twin children. Also along is Ben's sister, Michaela Stone, played by Melissa Roxburgh. As the family talks we soon see that the matriarch of the family is a believer, especially when she quotes Romans 8:28 while talking to Michaela about the guy who wants to marry her and other life stuff.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."          Romans 8:28
With the plane overbooked the family splits up with the older siblings and the brothers son staying behind for another flight. What we then find out is that the son, 8 years old or so, has cancer. Soon they are on the plane and someone else is working on a research paper.

With some interesting symmetry and connection, the flight they take is labeled as Flight 828. There was a major shift of turbulence on the flight but nothing else was unusual. Everyone on the flight is confused when they are held back upon landing. This state of confusion continues as they try to come back to life, family and friends. Although they left the vacation spot and went straight to New York, the flight has arrived late by about 5 and a half years. I have had late flights before, but that takes the cake.

We find out that Michaela is a member of the police force, as is her boyfriend who is now married. The twin sister is now five years older. The woman with the research work comes to find her work in a clinical trial for cancer treatment. That is not where the 828 issue stops. Through the show Michaela and then Ben each start hearing very clear instructions to do different things. Michaela helps a bus driver stop right before a kid runs into the road. They let 2 dogs loose after this constant push to "set them free" but later on, when going to apologize for the gate breaking with her Detective ex-boyfriend, Michaela finds two missing girls being held captive by the guy who owned the dogs. Finally, all the passengers find themselves drawn back to the plane only to watch it explode.

This show works on one single issue: can bad things happen for good reasons? As a Christian, I trust God to use all things, good and bad, for His purposes. But in life that that belief is consistently challenged. It often feels like just another platitude being pushed out to try and make me feel alright when so many things are so wrong. Here we find a mainstream show that is daring to ask that question. Is this just a platitude? They just happen to be using a thin line of fantasy in their questioning.

This is not surprising to many of us. Just like all fiction, fantasy and science fiction are all about the human experience. Why do we think this way? How would that change us? The show is not titled "Manifest" because of a list of passengers. It is titled "Manifest" because something is manifesting in the lives of the passengers to bring about change in a world that is hurting. What happened to the flight? Why did it happen? What will the result be?

I firmly trust that God is working for our good. I don't think He wants bad to happen, but when it does He makes better people out of us through them. I can tell you that when I was rejected by a girl in college it probably kept me from experiencing a bad relationship. Think about the crucifixion. It was the worst thing ever. The Son of God killed by His own people. Yet through that we find Jesus taking our sin on Himself so we can have a healthy relationship with God. He took a horrible thing and used it for good. Then He did the best come-back ever by resurrecting from the dead.

In this show, a time travel experience and a new power of knowledge are being used to ask if bad really can be used for good. Along with that, other questions seem to be getting explored about family, faith and destiny. While I don't expect a perfect Biblical lesson in each episode, I plan to keep watching and see where it goes. Will you be watching?

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

GrandCon 2018

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!


GrandCon 2018 was a success. Over the 3 days I connected with several faces I don't see very often who have been following Nerd Chapel for some time. I also met new people and some people I see a bit more often. This show has a special place in my heart. I consider it to be the flagship show for Nerd Chapel. For the first time I had buttons for sale and stickers to hand out.



All the games I hosted went over very well (Pandemic, Unauthorized, Commissioned). I also played 2 rounds of Coup and got to play Scream of Die, a new game just about to come out where you play as monsters that have become little kids and are trying to get candy.


Photo Credit: Katelyn Campbell

Photo Credit: Katelyn Campbell

For the Sunday morning service we had about 40 people, which is even more than last year. Definitely our highest attended event yet. Portal Dragon team members Jon and Liz Meitling led worship. They did a fantastic job. My buddy Darrin Ball led us in communion and brought us a devotional based on LotR. I spoke about Truth by using "Legend of the Seeker" and jumping around the book of John quite a bit to find different pieces of our discussion.

GrandCon is a different experience for Nerd Chapel than other cons as a community has built up. Most cons I have a table as a visible connection point but here we have a combination of the table, games where people interact and the service on Sunday morning. This is happening naturally so nobody has to push it.



I also had the pleasure of  help from a new ally. One of the team members for A'Campbell Consultants joined me just for one day of the con. Katelyn Campbell was a great help and company. Glad to be able to serve with her.

This was a successful weekend indeed. Next I will be at Fantasticon in Fort Wayne, IN. This show will just be a table but it is always a good time. This is one of the shows I know Nathan Marchand will be able to hang out with me at.




Thursday, September 13, 2018

DragonCon

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!



A couple weeks ago I made a trip down to Georgia for DragonCon. I am trying to get out of the Great Lakes region once a year to network and explore and this year I felt this would be a good stop. I have been connected with the Bridge, a Christian nerd community that has been involved with this con for years) on FB for a while now but I had not met many of them face to face before so this was a chance to do that.

In short it was an amazing weekend. My time with the Bridge included helping with the table, walking with them in the parade, attending the Sunday service, and a few opportunities just to sit and talk. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with Hector Miray, who writes the Faith and Fandom series of books. I was surprised to find a panel on the Catholicism of Skully from The X-Files and I attended a panel on Christians in Dark Fantasy. This was an amazing time.

Along with all of this, I enjoyed panels for Warehouse 13, the Librarians, Doctor Who and a panel with Lou Daimond Philips and Mitch Pileggi.  I also got some photo-ops with a few actors. 

DragonCon is a lot to take in and figure out. It stretches across many city blocks with 5 hotels hosting a variety of events as well as 2 other buildings hosting gaming and the exhibit area. It felt very chaotic but it was a lot of fun and has way more opportunities than you will be able to take advantage of. I did not do any of the gaming at all but I did walk through and take a look at the gaming area.

This weekend, Sept. 14-16 I will be at GrandCon in Grand Rapids, MI and the next weekend, the 22-23 I'll be at Fantasticon in Fort Wayne, IN.

Here are some pictures from DragonCon but there are many more on Facebook if you find the Nerd Chapel page.