On Superman – What We Are

Greetings Dear Reader,

There is a transitional moment in my past.  It is April 14th, 1974.  I am at the FFA/FHA Camp in Covington, GA.  I have come to this place with a church group but under false pretense.   I hate my life at this time.  I have enough sedatives and the firmness of will to end my life.  My plan is to take the pills and begin the long swim across Jackson Lake.  As the pills claim me I will simply slip beneath the water whilst I am swimming.  One of the few things I have left is my love of swimming.

A man named Ray intervenes.  He talks to me in the wee hours of the morning.  Just a few hours before my appointed swim time.  He talks to me about Christ and faith and life.  He sees my pain and reaches past it to the boy who had love and hope in his heart.  The moment he does I remember the things that can be good.  In that moment I remember that God does love me and that he did many things to show it.

That night, under the spring stars of a Georgia night I determined to follow Christ and live for him.  In that damp night air I became something different.  This change is a forever change and no matter what followed I could no longer hide what I had become.  Who I am is who I am.  I have not always followed the truth of this but the truth does not change.  Once we taste this thing that is belonging to Christ nothing else can supplant it.

We can try to hide it but everything else merely counterfeits the satisfaction that is in Christ.  More importantly we daily either shape the realization of who we are or we try to take on an alter ego that hides our identity with Christ.   The latter always hurts us.  The latter always leaves us empty and dry.  Once we have taken on Christ this is who we are. We are born into it when we accept Christ.  We cannot be unborn.

As you know, I’m quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology…The mythology is not only great, it’s unique.

Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there’s the superhero and there’s the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone.

Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red “S” – that’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. – Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill Vol. 2

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store