Intersections

I came across a fact that made me feel old the other day. I know - what do I really know about that, right? It has been 15 years ago now since Iron Man came out. You know - the one with Robert Downey, Jr. being taken into a cave and somehow came out alive but with a bionic heart and a palpable need to avenge the wrong that had been done to him.   Now - look how much has changed, even just in how movies are made. How many of them are superheroes willing to do whatever it takes against evil, and well - usually maligned billionaires with trust funds and government contracts. But there is a sense of public good, a collective interest that is being imposed upon in these movies.  Iron Man is one of my favorite movies from the whole Marvel universe, as they call it. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't aged well, but what it has is a hero who gets a call, gets named, and then tries to bring about restoration.  I'm sure you all can probably guess by now, but as a kid growing up, B...

       Wandering can be good for the soul. As Shakespeare once wrote, “ All that glitters is not gold .” Put another way by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings , “Not all who wander are lost.” Tolkien was describing a character running from his rightful place as king. He knew his destiny, but it carried such weight he was not ready to fulfill his calling.        In my life, I have been a wanderer. After being involved in church during high school and looking to get into leadership, I was too self-involved or did not want to submit to the great weight of the role that I felt led toward, feeling not worthy of the responsibility, much like Tolkien’s character, although obviously not to that degree. I dropped out of many things in my early twenties and was suffering from undiagnosed anxiety and depression. It took another decade and, unfortunately, much more pain for me, not to mention therapy and healing, to get me to the point where I am in fron...