Avengers 2: Re-Avenging!

Firstly, yes, there will be spoilers. I'll try not to have big ones, but there will be.

Sorry about the lack of posting. Been busy lately with a new job. Now working at Koorong's warehouse three days a week! Is cool. But, for now, Avengers!

So, I went to watch the second Avengers movie last night. And yes.

It. Was. Awesome.

As I think I have mentioned before, I am very much a Marvel fan, so I am quite biased. So keep this in mind.

The film launches straight into what we saw at the end of Captain America: Winter Soldier - with the twins and the sceptre. The Avengers launch an assault on the Hydra base holding the sceptre, and manage to recover it, though are a bit shaken up after encountering the twins. (For those who don't know, the twins were basically raised by Hydra, hate Stark, one can go really really fast, the other can do telekinesis and mind games.) They celebrate finally recovering the sceptre; but Banner and Stark happen to find something in the gem of the sceptre - what seems to be the key to unlocking AI. They debate, but decide to go ahead, the idea being that it will protect the world for them. But the simulations keep failing - until they don't, right in the middle of the party. The new AI, Ultron, hears that he has come to bring 'peace' - and sees the Avengers as bringing war, so they must be destroyed. So he crashes the party, with some drone friends - though first killing JARVIS. Avengers are caught by surprise, but they manage to get the upper hand. Only thing is, Ultron is an AI, not a body - and now he's on the Net. They track him down to another spot, where they find he's recruited the twins - to quite disastrous effect. Scarlet Witch basically makes a mess of almost all of the team, and leaves them pretty bad, so they take some rest time, where Thor gets a dream telling them what to do. (Okay, that is pretty bad.) Nick Fury also comes in and gives them a pep talk. Meanwhile, Ultron is trying to get a real body, and when Cap, Barton and Romanoff steal it back, the latter gets taken by Ultron. But in getting a body, Scarlet Witch is able to read his thoughts and see what he's actually up to (destroying the world). So they're now on the Avengers side. They come back with Barton, but that doesn't make people so happy, so everyone starts shouting at each other, particularly when it comes up that Stark is trying to finish what Ultron started with the body, except putting in JARVIS, who has miraculously reappeared! Thor comes back and with his dream, jump-starting JARVIS into the body, creating Vision. Yay, more superheroes! The Avengers then find out where Ultron is keeping Romanoff, and head over there to find out he's lifting up the whole city. Fury arrives in time to get everyone out, and they manage to save the day, of course. The movie ends by showing Cap and Romanoff looking at a bunch of new Avengers - Vision, Scarlet Witch, War Machine, and Falcon.

Phew. Okay.

What I loved about this movie was the character development, and the little stories. I loved Natasha's lullaby for Bruce, and the little play that they had happening. You also really see Barton develop a lot more - we meet his family! - and the interaction between Stark and Bruce was good. You also had a lot more tension happening within the team coming out. One thing that was also great was having characters from the individual franchises come in - first seeing them at the party, but then War Machine hanging around for a bit, and Fury/SHIELD dropping by was cool. Also liked the creation of Vision from JARVIS :D That was quite nicely done.

Admittedly, Thor's dream was a bit of a cheat there. So not entirely happy with that. Also, the Avengers seem to suddenly be traffic controllers, directing dozens and dozens of people out of the way and such. They had a bit of that before, particularly with Cap - but there seems to be more of an emphasis on that, especially at the end of the movie. Cap also now has a thing on his arm specifically to bring the shield back, just like it already magically did before! Doesn't stop him from losing it once, though.

Ultron is also portrayed very well - and quite interestingly, actually. If you've watched a lot of the trailers, he's a lot less serious in the movies, and there's a bit of Stark's humour in there (funnily enough, since he was made by Stark). Which was a bit surprising, but it's a welcome change to have something a bit different.

The next movies coming up are Ant-Man and Civil War - there wasn't any set-up for the former, but there was a bit of tension between Cap and Stark happening to foreshadow the latter. The mid-credits scene also points again towards Avengers 3, like Thor's dream and a whole bunch from Guardians Of The Galaxy.

All up, I really enjoyed this movie - but that's coming from an avid Marvel fan. If you have a different opinion (as I know many do), comment below!

An Easter Prayer.

Did you know that the Bible actually records a prayer Jesus made for us? It's true. You can find it in John 17:20-21, and occurs right before Jesus goes with his disciples to the olive grove, where Judas and the soldiers found them. The words are below.

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."

I love that Jesus' prayer for us was one of unity. Particularly when today, Christians are all over the world, and represent so many different ideas, beliefs, denominations - and we can focus so easily and so often on our differences. But unity is what Jesus wanted for us - and the sort of unity that he and the Father had, being so close as to be one. Each being in the other, together as one.

And I think that it's at times like these - like Easter - that we perhaps come closest to this. Because right now, all over the world, there are Christians celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter whether they're Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Seventh-Day Adventist, Indian, African, Indonesian, English, young, old, male, female - together, they commemorate and rejoice in this time. And I love that :)

Have a joy-filled Easter, everyone :)

The great debate!

This isn't so much a review - more just a bit of a response, I think.
A couple of weeks back, I saw the movie God's Not Dead.

If you're not familiar with the movie, the basic idea is that this Christian (Josh) going to university is taking this Philosophy class. The first thing the lecturer, Professor Raddigan does, is to tell all of the students to write the words "God is dead" on a piece of paper, sign it, and hand it to him; this way, they can skip all of the religious debate - which he believes is wasted, because the conclusion is already obvious. Josh, however, won't do it; so Raddigan says he's going to have to argue the antithesis - that is, argue that God's not dead. Josh manages to convince him that the class should be the deciding vote as to what is true; and the rest of the film centres around the debate between Josh and Raddigan, who is an atheist.

Now, there are some things that are done quite well in the film; I love the way that there are lots of different stories being told, and they all weave together towards the end. (Strangely enough, at a Newsboys concert, where the big song is also the title of the movie.) I also quite like that it shows the pastor as not being all-knowing, and not always getting it right - but in a more realistic light, as being human too. Which is good, because they are! I also liked some of the different arguments that were presented in the debate, which were often the more well-known ones, so it does give answers to those if you're not familiar with them.

What I didn't like, though, was how the film portrayed Professor Raddigan. For almost all of the film, he's basically made out to be the big bad guy. He's set in his ways, he's mean, and imposing - and there's really only two times we see this not being the case, maybe three. The first is when we see him with his girlfriend - who, interestingly, is a Christian. And he's quite nice to her; but the deal is, they don't talk about religion, and Christianity. Or rather, she can't. Not too long afterwards, we get a scene where he is quite putting-down of Christians in front of her to a group of his friends, and she leaves.
The second time is when he starts quoting some Scripture in response to something that Josh says - and then Josh asks him, "what happened to you?"

The moment here is probably one of the best in the film. Raddigan turns around and says, "When a twelve-year-old watches his mother dying of cancer, it's only natural to beg God for her life. And he'll promise anything to his make-believe Grandfather in the sky - including to love and worship him forever - if only he will spare her." There's a great exchange, and you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozBJgRCJgc

Here, for once, we can see past Raddigan's exterior, and see his inner pain. And this could have been an opportunity for Josh to talk to him, to speak into that - but instead, what do we see happening? In the last argument, Raddigan has decided to go up against Josh in a proper debate, rather than just pitching in at the end. And Josh isn't going easy here - he absolutely slams Raddigan; in the end, coming up to him and asking, "Why do you hate God?" This, repeatedly, insistently, increasingly louder. Until Raddigan finally answers - "Because he took everything away from me! Yes! I hate God! All I have for him is hate!" Josh replies - "How can you hate someone that doesn't exist?"
The class all say that God's not dead (yay, title!), and Raddigan walks out.

In the end, Raddigan is trying to get on to his girlfriend (now ex, because she dumped him); he figures out she's at the Newsboys concert, and starts to walk there. He gets hit by a car running a red light, that speeds away. At the same light happens to be the pastor, who gets out and talks to him - and in his last moments, he accepts Jesus into his life, and the pastor prays for him.

At the beginning of the film, I was following along with Josh; but by the end of it, I was feeling sorry for Raddigan. He was vulnerable with Josh, and then got slammed by him and ridiculed in front of his entire class (about sixty people or so). He's been on a ridiculous emotional journey, and all he gets in the movie to end up with is a deathbed conversion.

I can't say I'm particularly happy with that, to be honest. I think he deserved more of a look, and I think that his character was one of the deeper ones in the film. I think that Christians going to watch this will be encouraged - but atheists going to watch this could well feel quite discouraged, or angry at how they've been portrayed (incidentally, if there are any atheists who have seen the film who are reading this, I would love to hear what you did think about it - I could be wrong!). And I think, given the nature of what the movie is supposed to be, that that's really not helpful.

But anyway - that's what I thought. I think it's a good movie for Christians, or maybe agnostics - but not so much atheists. But what did you think? I'd love to hear your comments about this movie if you've seen it :)

My Flat Cap.

So. I have a few hats that I have accumulated over the years. But the one that I probably use the most - particularly in the last year or so - has been my flat cap. Picture below!

And my flat cap has a bit of a history, so I thought I might share that.

A few years back, when I was in my second year of uni, I got a job doing catalogue distribution. It had it's high points and low points. High - when it was a nice day, and you didn't have too much to deliver, it could actually be quite nice. Also, since my family was helping me collate it all, that was our unofficial 'family time' together each week. :P Low points: ...most of the rest of it. Low pay, took a long time to do (particularly for someone slow like me), and was not fun on days with bad weather. (Particularly rain, wind, or a combination of the two. Wind in particular would grab your catalogues out of your hands if it could, while rain would absolutely ruin them. Not fun.)
So, I had some weeks I really didn't like it. The other annoying thing was that sometimes we had quite thick bundles.

This was one such week. We had a sample that was included in the bundle, and because of that, it really didn't fit in letterbox slots for the most part. Circles were okay, slots were not. I was tired. And so I had started dropping them on the ground.

Someone noticed, and came up to me. Asked who I worked for. Said he'd be giving them a call, and I should clean up the mess I made. I was a bit startled, but I started to do that. I remember there was a kid playing in the streets there, and he asked me why I was doing it. "Because people don't like it like that," I said. "Oh," he said. I think he found it confusing why people would worry about something like that.
Shortly thereafter, I got a call from my boss. "Someone said you've been throwing catalogues." "Dropping them, not throwing them. They won't really fit in the letterbox slots." "Well...do what you can to fit them in. You can't just have them lying around in the streets." "Yep." "Bye." "Bye."

Not long after that, I got the peak cap. And I wore it on every delivery run I did afterwards. To remind me that, even if I don't like the work I do, I should still do it professionally. I still take it to work with me now, though I don't wear it. But it's a good reminder of that for me. And I'm also told it suits me quite nicely :)

So that's the story of my peak cap! Hope you enjoyed that.

Learning On The Job + Faith.

Life lessons are called that for a reason. You learn them by living. Through experience - often bad, unfortunately. It seems that those who have had the hardest and most difficult lives can often teach you the most about life.

As such, it feels like a lot of the time I don't have a lot to say. I'm a middle-class white guy, who has always had a roof over his head and food to eat, at the very least. I got to go to school, and university. (And TAFE and Bible college.) I've been able to work, and earn money. I've had incredible friends and family. I have had hard times and things that I've struggled with - things like emotions, and not having money, and people, and my own spiritual journey.

But I haven't had to deal with death. I haven't had to deal with starving, or being homeless. I haven't had to worry about what I say, in fear of the police or the government. I haven't even had to worry too much about peer pressure to do things like alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, or get piercings or tattoos.

And in some ways, I'm really grateful. Because it means that I can focus on helping people that do. But it also means that it's tricky for me to help those people - because I've never gone through it myself! Which is an interesting conundrum.

But one thing I got to talk about recently, which I think I have had some experience in, is faith. And I looked at the example of Abram, or Abraham. Looking at his life, I came up with three main things.

God tested, and Abraham worshipped. 

God promised, and Abraham believed.

God called, and Abraham listened.

And I think that those are the real markers of faith. Worshipping when you're tested, not just when things go well; believing when God makes promises (and showing that through what you do); and listening when God calls you (not listening to others, or to your fear, or to the world).

Think that's it for now. 'Til next time :)

Jehovah-Jireh.

So, I was struggling for a fair while, economically. I was proper broke for a little bit there, which was not fun. But during that time, I was getting help all over the place from different people that I didn't expect, which was really great and really helpful.

But now, God has come through :D Which is muchly awesome. And in more ways than I expected. And better ways than I expected. And all this sort of thing.

So, Centrelink payments just started to come through, I got my first one yesterday. Thought they would still be a couple of weeks away, so that's pretty cool :)

I also got some work from last week - which isn't great work, it's doing cold calls from a call centre (not as bad as I thought, but still not great) - so that's giving me some money as well.

But, more interestingly/importantly, I got some more work just this week, with a charity - someone had posted up about it on a page that I was following, and they were looking for creatives. So I thought, sure, why not. I met the guy this week, and he's pretty enthusiastic, and he wants me on board :D At present, it's not paid - though he's given me a little money to start off - but we're working towards a musical (yes, you read that right, a full-blown musical) in July (yes, this July), and after that I'll start to get paid. But it's pretty much awesome. It's using basically all of what I know and have learned, and lots of my different skills and passions, which is awesome. And I'm working from home - at least at the moment - so it's really flexible. And it's all going towards something that really matters. So it's a bit of a dream job, you could say. :)

It's made me realise that when you're in a fix and you cry out to God, he doesn't want to just get you out of that place. He wants to bless you, and put you in an awesome place. And yeah, he's really done that for me right now. So I'm pretty happy, as you might be able to tell :)

Yet Another Level.

A little while back, in the middle of last year, I did a post on my analogy of the well. If you didn't see it, you can find it here. Essentially, the deal is that when you're telling someone about struggles in your life, I was saying that there are three levels you can go to.

The first I like to call the lookout; it's from a distance, you can see that there are wells out there, you might have an idea of how many there are. This is where you tell people that you're struggling with things.

The second I call the tour; you take people around through the wells, and they can see down them. This is where you tell people how much you've been struggling with things.

The third I call the descent; you get out the ropes, carabiners and harnesses, and take someone down right to the bottom. I don't think that needs too much explanation.

Since then, though, I've realised that there's actually a fourth level, beyond that. It's what I call deconstruction.

Here, you need to imagine that the well is made of bricks. And in this one, you're not just taking someone down to the bottom and shining a light down there - you're taking out each individual brick and showing it to them. There's nothing they don't see. Absolutely nothing.

This is the sort of thing that you won't see happening too often; and it's also something that can really take a lot of time. Obviously, depending on how deep the well goes. I'd say that this is usually something between husband and wife, or that you might do with your mentor.

But for me, it's just challenged me again in how radically honest and open I am with people, particularly people that I trust and care about.

At The End Of The Rope.

I've heard lots of stories before from friends, who have been through really tight situations financially, and God has come through for them - often in unexpected ways, and when they didn't anticipate it.
Now, it's me who's hoping that God will come through.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I don't have many expenses, and I still live with my parents, so I have food and a place to call home. Which is really nice. And people is nice too. People are good.

But yes, money is very tight. It's not a position I've ever been in before. I've been close, but I've always had money coming in soon. This time, there's no guarantee; nothing that I know is happening. I've applied to heaps of things, thrown my CV around a fair few places, but nothing has really come good for me yet. It's not a fun feeling.

There's a bit in the Bible that says you're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. I can certainly see a lot of ways in which I've been blessed - and keep being blessed. Unfortunately, not too many involving finances. I've had some bits here and there that have been really great, but nothing that's really going to pull me out just yet.

Funnily enough, I just spoke on courage the other week. And I'm about to speak on faith in just over a week. They do say that before you teach something, you have to learn it. Looks like I'm learning it, all right. Hopefully, the lesson finishes in time so that I've got the other half of the story to share....

That's all from me for now. Hopefully there will be more before too long - maybe detailing a new job, for all I know!

Feeling The Summer.

Sorry that I haven't been posting much lately, folks. I've been quite busy! And that's actually a bit of what this post is about, in a way.

Last year, I got the opportunity to hear my then-mentor do a sermon on the Seasons of Life. It was about how we have different seasons in our life, and looking at how we can work with that rather than trying to fight it or not being aware of it. The seasons can be grand-scale, and over all of your life, but they can also be over particular parts as well, like in work, ministry, family, relationships, etc. And they always go in order as well, though not always for the same length of time.

In essence, the seasons are:
Spring - a time of new beginnings, of learning and trying new things. Starting afresh.
Summer - a time of work, of growth and making things happen.
Autumn - a time of harvest; of reaping what has been grown in the Summer. The peak period.
Winter - a time of cutting back, of letting go of some things. A fallow period, as such, to get ready for Spring.

To hear them in a bit more detail, you can listen to the sermons on each different one here.

Last year for me, I had a lot of different seasons operating at different levels. But overall, I think it was Spring; it was the start of something new, something fresh, something different. It was a time of learning and new growth.

This year, though, is coming in to a time of Summer. And that means work.

And I'm not just saying it's Summer because Summer is after Spring, so that must be next. I'm saying that because based on what I'm seeing and what's happening, I know that this is a Summer season. Historically, I have not been fantastic when it comes to Summer seasons. I'm not a fan of summer in general. It's very hot, and I don't like hot. I like warm, but not hot. Thankfully, this summer (actual summer, not what I'm talking about above) has been quite moderate - and even a bit wet and cool, so that's been nice.
But come Summer, I've often just rested on my laurels and sailed through fairly easily. Didn't need to do much to get by; and it only started catching up with me (as it inevitably does) at the end of high school.

And this Summer season, I know, is going to be quite important. I don't know exactly what it has in store; but I know it's going to be busy. I know there's going to be effort, and work involved. And I know that if I don't put in that effort and work, come Autumn, there won't be anything to show for it. And I'll have only myself to thank for that.

For those worrying that I'm going to overwork myself - I don't think that's possible. I'm a little too good with giving myself breaks. Which is good in some senses (means I don't get overworked), but not good in others (means I can get a bit pressured with deadlines).

So yeah, that's what this next season is looking like for me. Thought that you folks might find that interesting.

I Still Call It Home.

So, today is Australia Day. For those who aren't aware, I'm Australian. Living in Australia, Sydney(ish). Go back a fair way on both sides as Australian - I think nearly to the First Fleet on one side, with a convict who stole a watch. Think we had another who stole several lengths of rope.

I'm not particularly patriotic. For myself, I don't see the point - I didn't have any control over the country that I was born into. I'm quite glad that this is the country that I've been born into - there's a lot of great things about it - but it's not something I've really been able to do anything about, even if I wanted to. I still can't really move to another country (thanks, lack of job!) or anything like that. So for me, patriotism doesn't make a lot of sense. I think it's a pretty good country that I live in, in a lot of ways - it's got some beautiful wildlife and places, and we're a lot cleaner than some places out there. And a lot less crowded. We just have so much - space. It's kind of ridiculous. I mean, a lot of it is nearly uninhabitable desert, but you know.

But I think there are people who can be proud to call this their home. And that's people who have had the choice. People who have come here from other countries - particularly people who have come seeking refuge, seeking a place more peaceful than from where they came. When they come here, they have chosen to come to this place, because they believe it is better. Greater. And so, they are proud to call this place their home. And I think that's pretty awesome.

I also think that trying to keep people out of this country is just not Aussie. "For those who've come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share." This beautiful, massive space was made to share, not to try and keep to ourselves. Don't be so paranoid. People are people. Practice that good old fair go and mateship this Aussie Day, whaddya say?