2017 Begins

Greetings Warriors and Scholars.

Today I want to look at the coming year. I am excited for a few things happening. Some are ministry details and some are just fun nerdy things. We'll look at fun stuff first.

As we continue what seems to be the "Decade of the Nerd" we have so many things happening on screen this year! I am not doing a "top 3" or anything like that because there is so much happening. The last season of Grimm starts this coming Friday along with a new, darker screen adaptation of The Wizard of Oz called Emerald City. I am very interested in how NBC's Friday night lineup these next couple of months will do. That will add to the shows I already keep tabs on (no, I am not going to list all of them). We also have Iron Fist and the Defenders coming for the Netflix MCU and 3 MCU movies this year! Also, we have Skull Island, both Wonder Woman and Justice League, Star Wars Episode 8, etc.

Boardgames? Well, I am not sure what games are coming out this year beyond the 2 I have coming from kickstarters. Unreal Estate is a card game about building a fantasy style city and Zephyr:Winds of Change is a cooperative game where you have a skyship that you take on missions. Honestly, I have not caught up with 2016 yet as I still have yet to play Scythe, Terraforming Mars, or Seafall. Gaming wise I am just excited to get back to Gen Con this year. I had to miss last year so I really don't want to miss this year!

In March I will be at a Christian youth convention called "Michigan Statewide Teen Convention" in Kalamazoo, MI. This will be my first time taking Nerd Chapel and 42:Discovering Faith through Fandom to a youth convention. It came about because I have been volunteering at this convention as a lighting tech for the main sessions for a few years now and they were interested in bringing a locally based non-traditional ministry to show students that ministry doesn't always mean working at a church full time.

I will also be at the Byron Rec Center Comic Con and Muskecon. These are both 1 day shows within driving distance of where I live that I'll have tables at. I do not have complete details on what shows I'll be returning to this year for Nerd Chapel. GrandCon is always a sound bet for me for a service. I expect to go back to Jafax, Midwest Media Expo with services and Fantasticon Fort Wayne with a table as well but we shall see what transpires.

Yes, I am going to be working on a sequal to 42. We have a direction to go in but we have not started the full writing process quite yet (although that will be soon).

Pursuing the Present

Greetings Scholars and Warriors.

How many movies are you looking forward to in 2015? How many movies did you see in 2014? New Years is a time of looking back and forward in the same moment. We enjoyed a lot of change in the Transformers movie verse and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) this past year. We have been watching as things are developing for 2015 with Jurassic World, the MCU, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and several other movies. We also look at other things in our lives, though. More practical aspects of life.

How interesting is it that we celebrate the Birth of the Saviour at this same time? We celebrate the one who gave the most for us and to us as we evaluate ourselves and our future.

Jewish leaders did not always put 2 and 2 together very well. They spent a lot of time looking back at scripture, but they were not looking for God to change them. They wanted a political change and were infuriated with Jesus for changing other things. Jesus defended Himself in John 5.

"You study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." John 5:39-40

These leaders were far more interested in looking back than at looking at their present. They certainly did not understand how the future was supposed to look (although we should admit that we don't understand the future well either).

Think about the disciples. They were a very different group from the Jewish leaders. They were "unlearned Galileans". They were fishermen with a tax collector following a carpenter who had put the religious leaders to shame with his knowledge at just 12 years old.

Jesus certainly did not disrespect scripture. In Matthew He said that not even the tiniest stroke of the OT would disappear. He wanted the leaders and the people to see that Scripture pointed to Him; but He was doing something new. Something they were not expecting. Instead of changing the world of politics and nations, He came to change the world of the heart; knowing that all worlds change when that changes.

As we change years, what are you looking toward? What are you looking back to? How is Christ at work in your heart right now? How can you cooperate with His work? Your best life will be found in Jesus, not in any other thing or person in your life.