day 933: Marvel Superpowers

"With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation"

Last week I went to see the new Spiderman movie in 3D.  This is not a movie review, but I will say it was pretty cool and I felt like I was 10 years old for the two hours and that the imagination that I had at 10 years old was more than satisfied.  The Marvel Comic movies haven't come about just by accident.  Years ago I had the privilege to sit in the room with the senior executive team of Marvel as we listened to them talk about their assets and how they were going to expand their catalog of 4000+ characters into many different and new mediums. Unfortunately, we didn't have the foresight (or imagination) to buy the company then and there on the spot for a few hundred million dollars (Disney bought them for $4 Billion just a few year later).  What Marvel has done is take a few simple lessons and stuck with them and become a huge success - and they didn't need real "superpowers" to get there.  The three lessons they recently laid out for Wired Magazine were: 1) Embrace all mediums, both new and old: Marvel didn't abandon retailers or their core business when they moved to digital and movies. Instead they used the new mediums to make their comics cool again.  2) All customers can be treated equally: Marvel didn't penalize those who bought from the newsstand versus just treating their subscribers well.  All purchasers at retail stands got free digital access and promotions to other deals.  3) Make an ecosystem to create value: Marvel has just scratched the surface of stitching together all of the offerings across their traditional and new outlets.  Expect to see much more that will allow all of us to access and experience the Marvel Universe in ways we can't even now imagine.  Good lessons for all of us from what was once just a comic book company.

As we consider what lessons we can bring to our own lives, let's not forget that God also gives us His superpowers if we only remember to go to the source to establish and renew them.  Like many of the characters in the comic world there is a place where their powers are drawn from.  In our spiritual life we have our own fountain of power to draw upon continuously. If we desire the superpower that God wants to give us they are not far from us right now - they are found in His Word, in prayer and in fellowship with other believers.  What's holding you back today from tapping into His power source?  There are many around us that need to have something in their lives that they can marvel at to trigger their belief in our Savior.  Can you be the one today to demonstrate His superpowers?

Reference: Isaiah 12:3 (New Living Translation)

day 140: Watchmen

"Watchmen", the movie, just came out. It is based on the popular graphic novel of the same name. Like the themes of many comic books and superhero movies you have a group of people with special powers who because of their past experiences and influences use these powers for good and the protection of society from evil. Or sometimes they get all tangled up in themselves and they end up on the side of evil versus good. The reason that this theme is so powerful and works over and over is that we all have something in our past that we would like to overcome or some experience that has shaped how we think of helping others and we want to fantasize every now and then that we have our own special powers that we could use for the good of others with an alterego that could live out the hero's life. To me this is how we are at work a lot of times. We come to work with our capes and shields on and try and be the superhero who can save the day against the "evil competition" or "forces" that are working against our company's collective good. And the halls of the workplace are filled with egos and superegos dashing, flying, teleporting themselves across the globe to conquer. It's a funny image if you imagine a set of superheroes and you put the heads and faces of those you work with on the bodies and costumes of the superheroes and place them around the Board Room table. There is an element of the superhero mentality that God does want us to take to work with us. He wants us to be the "watchmen" of our time. In Isaiah 62:6 he tells us the type of watchmen we are to be when Isaiah prays for Jerusalem: "O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray to the Lord day and night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray". Watchmen on the walls was the way of protecting a city and throughout history we have many examples of the watchmen who walk the walls to protect those inside. Isaiah pulls on this metaphor to find the watchmen who through their prayer and relationship with God provide protection over the people of Israel. These "watchmen" were true superheroes. Is God not asking us to be the "watchmen" of our day and to walk the walls over our workplaces and be the ones who through our prayers, our everyday life example and our striving to live out our purpose in our work, be the watchmen over the other believers within our workplaces? We all have a little superhero in us and shouldn't we be bringing whatever those special powers and talents to work with us to do His super work?

Reference: Isaiah 62:6 (New Living Testament)