Saturday Morning Theology

Tonight I went with Steve to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I'm going to get this out of the way: It was amazing. If someone tells you otherwise, someone is being too analytical and ignoring the fact that it is a freaking sweet revival of the single greatest franchise in history. Now, let's get down to business.

I grew up on stuff like this. Seeing it all in action again, well it just reminded me of all the things that I loved growing up and why. Sure, the dialogue is corny, the plots are predictable, but dang it I love it. At the end of the day, no matter how big and nasty Shredder's plans were, no matter what kind of secret weapon Krang had developed, it just didn't matter, I could always count on the Turtles to come through and win. It could sometimes be an intense 30 minutes, but when it was over, I always knew that the good guys would win. The only thing that I ever really worried about was finishing my cereal before it got soggy.

To be honest, I wish they still had those cartoons on. No matter how rough got for me as a kid, I always had Saturday morning to cling to, that wonderful 3 hours when the good guys were at their best. Working where I do, seeing just how terrible humans can be to each other, it'd be nice to have 3 hours a week where the good guys always win.

Today on the hour long drive back from church, I sat and went through the gospel story in my head. I know that sounds a little strange, but I just started to wonder, how often to we just listen to the story? Sure, we know how to break down individual pieces of scripture and make them say what we want, but how often do we just listen to the story and let it speak for itself? So I did just that, I considered the life of a seemingly ordinary human, and how he performed miracles, how he cared for everyone, loved the unlovable, and did everything possible to change the world, how he was murdered, how he came back from the dead. It's straight out of the cartoons man.

I'm serious about that; the gospel, it's a story that contains the same basic message as the stories that I clung to as a kid. It's full of hope, and of a very simple message: The good guys win. No matter how bad it gets, it pays to be someone who cares. No matter how bad the bad guys are, the good guys are better.

It's a message I needed to hear, maybe one you need to hear too. Cowabunga dudes.

(jake)