Incredible

I was watching The Incredibles a while ago, and I think for the first time I caught on to the message of the movie. There are two kinds of characters, there’s Buddy, who wants to be Mr. Incredible, and then you have the kids, who are denied their right to be who they are. It’s funny how often we want to be someone else, and place our identity in that someone else. Or for some reason or another, we have to deny who we really are.

I also found it interesting how they threw marriage into the message.

We walk into church, or community, and lust after the talents and character qualities of someone else, some one who is loved and respected by others. Tonight when I was thinking about this stuff I was reminded of something I wrote a few weeks back at Wildwood:

I remember a friend once told me that you become an adult when you accept who you are. If there’s one thing I can say about my life is that at this particular moment…

…I am an adult. And in my case, I am a man.

I spent the first two days we have been here at camp as what most people would call an introvert. Besides the volleyball games and meals, for the most part I’m either by myself, or with a small group of people. I’ve successfully avoided the games room, where the constant banging of pool balls and screams frighten any soul like mine. The noise from the game room is so loud that it bites and eats away all the silence of my quiet area on the basketball court—I’ve turned the basketball court into my meeting place, my meeting place with God. The court symbolizes the courts of his kingdom, and here, we shall dwell.

In my past I never liked who I was. I never liked being this quiet person, a person who was afraid of groups, who couldn’t quite fit inside them. I think there were many reasons for this dislike. I felt unloved. I felt like there was a problem with me. I felt like I was supposed to be like the people in the loud games room. I was different from them, but like any person God created, I wanted to be loved, and I wanted to love.

I’ve never realized until now, well more likely I’ve never accepted it until now, that God created me to be like this. For some reason I saw the trait as weakness rather than uniqueness. I’m comfortable with walking through the dinning hall, and just saying a simple hi or hello to the people I meet around me. I also feel accepted, and loved, if no one talks to me. And the big one, I’m comfortable with sitting at the dining table, eating my meal even if I’m not apart of the wild conversations.

In the distance I hear yelling, a sustained tone that is repeated by others. One person just yelled, “O God,” in vain, and mockingly puts down another of Abba’s children. “Holy,” he screams again.

Yesterday we learned about God speaking in the silence around us. We learned that God breathes his spirit into us. We learned about controlling our tongues. We learned about many things.

And I learned that God has richly blessed me with a lot of gifts. A lot of gifts of godliness, because someone taught me to be bold and to ask him for all the gifts he gives, to ask with certainty, and to ask for big things. Tonight I acknowledge that God has indeed given me what I’ve asked for, and I will continue to ask him for more. It’s only his joy to give them to me.

Never force us to speak.
Never condemn us. For your condemnation is Satan speaking.
We only open our mouths when there’s something richly blessing to give.
We’re always thinking, listening, and feeling.
Listening to the voice of God speaking inside of us.
We’re learning to share his voice with you, but it takes us time.
Our goal is to become through grace just like Jesus.
Although for now, we’re just children taking after him…
following him…
learning from him…
…and being disciplined by him.

We’re truly adults when we appreciate who he is
Who we are

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