Thank you Mama!

"Along time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...."

Thus began my all-time favourite movies when I was a kid ... and yes as an adult also! I still remember the first time that I saw a Star Wars movie. I got thinking about it today and it was when we lived in Tennessee so I would have been between the ages of 5 and 8 (though I'm positive it was closer to 5).

I remember Mama (my mother for all of those who aren't privileged enough to know her) kneeling in front of our old VCR and putting a movie in while Matthew and I sat on the couch. I remember one of us asking what she was putting on and she simply replied with that knowing smile of hers, "It's a good movie. You'll like it."

To this day I wonder if she had any idea how much Star Wars and Star Trek would impact my life. Now, I'm sure most people think by now, "Okay you're a certifiable nerd and there is no hope for you," but it is true. I have used Star Wars and Star Trek each in sermon illustrations, I am writing about them now in this blog, and they gave me hours of entertainment and heroes to look up to. It didn't matter that they weren't real; what they stood for WAS real.

Good and evil, right and wrong ARE real things. I remember sitting on that couch and cheering as the Death Star blew up for the first time. I would have written "spoiler alert" first but if you don't know about the Death Star being blown up the first time then I have to ask, "What rock have YOU been hiding under?"

"Stay on target"... good advice. Anyway, I remember how even when things seemed the bleakest, hope still prevailed. I remember when darkness seemed to have all advantages in its favour, that light still triumphed. I remember that a farm boy could become a hero and that no matter what you used to be, you could be someone and something special.

I still believe in these values taught to me by my mother and George Lucas. So many times through Star Wars especially, I see spiritual matters portrayed. Look at Return of the Jedi; it shows that no matter what you have done, no matter how far you have fallen, redemption is still there if you will only accept it and the forgiveness that you need.

It is in Star Wars that many people learn that there is more than just this life which we live. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." When we leave this life, we enter into eternity. Now, our final destination lies in our hands, but if we have chosen the Lord and the path of Light, then we will dwell in Heaven forever. We will have glorified bodies, and no longer will we experience pain, age, sorrow, or anything bad. That is more than we can possibly imagine.

You see that though the Dark Side may be brutal and strong, the Light will always banish the Dark. How like the Lord and Satan! The Lord, the Light of the World, has and will continue to triumph over the Prince of Darkness (by the way, Satan owned the title long before Ozzy Osbourne). Light banishes Darkness and God will always conquer Satan.

Star Wars shows the value of friendship and that helping each other combat evil is worth more than even Han Solo can imagine of wealth and riches.

Can you imagine if everyone lived by the way that we first saw Star Wars? Or at least how I first saw Star Wars? Can you imagine if everyone looked out for each other, or if friendship was more important than self or riches? Can you imagine if everyone sought to bring about redemption for their enemies rather than hatred?

Can you imagine if we all learned to lean on the Lord of Light rather than our own strength? I am so glad for the day when my mother sat me down in front of the TV to introduce me to the Universe of Star Wars. Yes, I'm still a geek, and I do own my own lightsaber (boo yah!), but really, the thing that I cherish the most is the memories and the lessons.

I cherish the fact that I remember watching these movies with my family, and that we have done so many times over the years. I cherish the fact that I learned so many lessons from Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia, Obi Wan, and yes even Vader, but all of these lessons were merely reinforcements of what my parents took the time to teach me when I was young.

Maybe Star Wars isn't your thing (may God have mercy on your soul haha), but find something to impact your children's lives or your grandchildren's lives the way that my parents did for me.

Thank you so much Mama for introducing me to Star Wars and Star Trek, and for always being there. I love you.

May the Force be with you! May God bless you, and may you walk in the Light always!

Benjamin Pass

A Brand New Day

Part of James 4:14 says, "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

Our days are numbered and believe me when I say that we don't have all that long. If you doubt that, stop for a moment and see how much you remember about last year. How about the year before that? Our time flies by so quickly! It is like the vapour that rises off the surface of the water in the morning and then vanishes away.

Though the vapour may be beautiful, though it may be something that you see often, it does not last. The beautiful vapour will vanish away with the coming day, and so will we all eventually.

It would be wonderful to be guaranteed a long life, yet even that would be fleeting in the scope of eternity. The fact of the matter is that we all have our days numbered.

Knowing that, it then begs the question: what will we do with the days that we have? How is it that we choose to live each brand new day? Do we live it for ourselves or for others? When others comes against us, do we retaliate or do we instead pray for them and try to live our lives as best we can?

Do we spend the days forging lasting relationships or adding to our friend count on facebook? What did you do yesterday? We live in a day and age where instant gratification is what we are conditioned to seek. "The satisfaction of a job well done" has become a joke! I honestly love the feeling of falling into bed exhausted from doing a good day's work though sadly I do not do so every day.

I guess the gist of what I am trying to say is this: as you read this, it is most likely morning. It is a brand new day; be sure to make the most of it. Make sure that at the end of the day, you have accomplished something. Maybe it will be something that you did to bond with your family. Maybe you will have made a decision to serve the Lord more diligently. Maybe you will have stepped out of your comfort zone and reached out to someone that normally you would have passed by.

Whatever it is that you decide to do, make sure that you don't waste this brand new day that you have been given. And faithful readers, enjoy this day. Have fun and don't allow the worries of life to constantly keep you down.

Take a look around you, this brand new day is yours to do with as you will. What will you do with the blank canvas that is your brand new day?

God bless!

Benjamin Pass

I Saw the Lord!

Isaiah 6:1-5 says, "In the year that King Uzziah died I then saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphs; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 


And one cried to another, and said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is [the LORD] of Hosts; the whole earth full of His glory.' And the doorposts moved at the voice of the one who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, 'Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, [the LORD] of Hosts.'"

This is such an amazing passage of Scripture! This won't be a long blog post, but can you imagine how we would all live, act and think if we truly saw the Lord like this? What would our response be? Would we cry out like Isaiah and be afraid of our sin or uncleanness? Or instead would we fall down and worship Him?

Would we recognize the Lord if we saw Him or would we attempt to reason to bring logical conclusions what our eyes were seeing? I'm reminded of the part of C.S. Lewis's "The Magician's Nephew." This is not verbatim by any means but long story short, the "Magician" Uncle Andrew, sees Aslan the Lion (representative of Christ) creating all the world by singing. He reasons to himself over and over again, "Lions can't sing. All I hear is the Lion roaring."

He does this until all he can hear is roaring of a lion instead of the song of the Lion. If we saw the Lord high and lifted up, would we truly recognize our God or would we just chalk it up to "the roaring of a lion?"

If you seek the Lord honestly, then you will find Him. When you encounter Him, allow yourself to be changed by the meeting with Almighty God. Don't just hear "the roaring of a lion."

God bless you as you seek His face!

Benjamin Pass

Lessons From Green Lantern

As some of my readers may know, I am a bit of a comic book fan. No, I do not buy every single new edition that comes out, nor do I collect the classics in their plastic cases so that the air doesn't damage them. I DO however enjoy reading certain comic books and tend to do so through comic publishers' websites or apps.

Recently, I've been on a bit of a Green Lantern kick. Now, I know that there are some people who are ready to close down this page by now, but I sincerely hope that you will read this all the way through. 

For those of you who are not that familiar with the Emerald Gladiator, Green Lantern is a character (in the DC Comics Universe) by the name of Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is picked to become the next intergalactic Guardian of his sector of space and most of his adventures focus on saving the planet Earth. 

He (Green Lantern) takes his name from a lantern shaped device that gives power to a ring that he wears which enables him to fight crime, whether on a local or galactic level, with creations (constructs) made solely out of a green light which can take on any form; solid or not. 

I've said all that to say this, when Green Lantern reaches the end of a 24 hour span, he needs to recharge his ring at the Power Battery (Lantern) and he recites an oath which goes like this:

"In brightest day,

In blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power---Green Lantern's Light!"

My whole point here is of course to bring in a spiritual application. We know that Jesus is the Light of the world, but we are to shine that light throughout the world every day! It shouldn't matter where we are or when it is, we should always be ready to give an accounting of the Lord.

1 Peter 3:15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"

It shouldn't matter if it is in "Brightest Day" or "Blackest Night", we should always be ready to shine the Light into the world. 

The next line of the oath is one that I find interesting. "No evil shall escape my sight." That's quite a statement especially considering the world in which we live today. We are encouraged, nay, commanded by the world around us to turn a blind eye to anything that we don't agree with.

We are told not to rock the boat, don't make waves, and just go along to get along. We are told to ignore the evil rampaging around us, yet I believe that we should NOT turn a blind eye. We should NOT let evil escape our sight. In a world that is choosing to be blind, let us see things as they are. 

Things ARE black and white when it comes to sin. Sin is sin, and there are no two ways about it. Anyone who knows me knows that I believe firmly in rejecting the sin but still loving the sinner. What I am talking about here is not just turning a blind eye and pretending that nothing is wrong. I'm talking about taking a stand against what is wrong and standing for what is right. 

The last few lines go: "Let those who worship evil's might beware my power: Green Lantern's light." We need to remember where our power comes from. Our power comes from the Lord, the true Light in the Darkness. We can't do it on our own. We need to get back to the source of our power regularly to get recharged, refilled, and renewed by the love of God and precious communion with Him. 

I want to point out though that when we are walking in the Light as we should be, and we are fresh and charged up by having spent time with God, then we should be ready to fight and work for Him. Yet so many times we want all the blessings that God has for us with none of the responsibilities. We want the power ring without the crime fighting. 

We sit back, enjoy what God has for us, and I tell you, Satan and all those who worship evil's might look at us and laugh. If you haven't been attacked lately, if everything is sunshine and roses and you never have to rely on God to get you through, then I can pretty much guarantee that you are not a threat to the enemy which means that you are not being of benefit to the Lord. 

It is time for us all to realize the great responsibility that we have as Christians. It is time that we start working for the Lord, fighting to do right and start shining the Light wherever we go. 

Now, I'm not suggesting that we all recite Green Lantern's oath. We know that according to Scripture we are not to take any oaths, but rather let our yes be yes and our no be no (James 5:2) but that also means that when we say that we will work for God, we need to keep our word. 

Our yes must be yes. Yes, Lord, I will work for you. We don't need any oaths for that, but I think that now and then we need to be reminded just what we signed up for, and just maybe it will spur us on to work more for the Lord.

The last thing I will say in closing is that Green Lantern needs to use Will Power to make his power ring work. If we don't have will power when it comes to the Lord, if we are not willing to make the decision to work for Him and stand by it, then we are not doing any good. We need to say, "Alright, God told me to do this, He'll help me and I'm going to do it!"

Be strong willed when it comes to following through with what God tells you to do! 

May God bless you and may your light shine brightly even in darkest night!

Benjamin Pass