Repeating Christmases, the Joy of Giving, and Everyday Miracles: A faith- based look at two relatively new Christmas movies.

Hello, welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience! 

First up, a very merry Christmas to everyone! Here, as with the entry I made last month, is an idea I’ve had for quite a while, but have been too busy to put up before today.
I love Christmas, everything about it! I adore Christmas movies and TV specials, of all sorts, both the familiar and well- loved (i.e. ‘A Christmas Carol,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’), and also the more obscure (i.e. ‘Olive, the Other Reindeer,’ the "Batman: The Animated Series" episode ‘Christmas With the Joker’). They can make me laugh, help me to see the holiday in a new light, and enable me to become a better person in general.
Last year, I came across not one but two that were brand new, and each taught me an important lesson about living for God year- round. Most of you probably haven't heard of either of them, but they're worth a watch.

The first I shall be looking at is a Hallmark Channel movie called ‘Pete’s Christmas.’ As the title suggests, it centers around a boy named Pete (Played by ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’’s Zachary Gordon), the second of three sons, who goes through the worst Christmas ever in his house, in which pretty much everything goes wrong. He’s the only one who doesn’t get a present, he is humiliated at a football game against another family, Christmas dinner is ruined so the family goes to a restaurant to eat and gets food poisoning, and finally the day ends with Pete’s quasi- estranged grandfather (Bruce Dearn) abruptly leaving because he feels unwanted. 

Then, however, similar to the Bill Murray film ‘Groundhog Day,’ Pete finds that this disastrous Christmas keeps repeating itself over and over again. He falls asleep each Christmas night, then when he wakes up, it’s the same Christmas morning all over again. When he gets over the initial shock of this (At first, he thinks his family is pulling a prank on him to somehow punish him for the parts of the ruined Christmas that they have blamed him for), he decides to try and use this, the advance knowledge of what happens, to make things better, initially in rather selfish ways. As time passes, though, and the day keeps repeating, Pete begins realizing that he should use this to help others. He uses the repeating Christmases to better get to know each member of his family and start to see them in a new light, teaches himself to play guitar and uses that to make the day more special for everyone, befriends a lonely girl named Katie (Bailee Madison) who just moved in next door, and finally realizes that he should try and set right all the things that went wrong this Christmas. He uses his knowledge of how the football game unfolds to ultimately become its MVP, ensures that Christmas dinner is saved and proves to be a big hit, and each time learns something new on how to make things better. He eventually comes up with what really needs to be fixed in order to reconcile his family and end the repeating Christmases.

            ‘Pete’s Christmas’ does a marvelous job of driving home the message that it’s better to give than to receive. When Pete first tries to take advantage of the repeating Christmases for his own selfish purposes (i.e. arranging so that he gets a present that originally went to his younger brother but that he had wanted all along, settling a couple scores), he soon finds that this gets boring quick and doesn’t satisfy him. He gets to know each member of his family and Katie, begins to see things from each of their points of view, and finds ways to do right by each of them. As Pete uses his knowledge of how the day unfolds to set things right, you can see how making others happy makes him happy too. As it says in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others as better than yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” Pete learns this lesson in spades, and you know he will emerge from this whole incident afterwards a much better, kinder person.

Zachary Gordon is quite effective as Pete. You feel for him all throughout the film, and can see the reasoning behind everything he does. Bailee Madison (A young actress I’ve long been a fan of) is very charming and likable as Katie, and also deeply sympathetic when you learn how lonely she is, and the fact that it stems from more than just her being new in town. Bruce Dearn is wonderful as the grandpa, grumpy yet funny and good- hearted deep down, though he can have a hard time showing it. The writing is pretty clever for a Hallmark TV movie, with humor and good character development.

That sums up “Pete’s Christmas.” By Hallmark TV movie standards, it is VERY good and worth a watch to help us learn, as Pete learned in the very end of the film, “Life is like an empty box; It doesn’t matter what you get out of it, what matters is what you put into it.”

The second is a film which came out in theaters, but only on a limited release. It is a film called ‘The Christmas Candle,’ based on a book by renowned Christian author and pastor Max Lucado.

This film takes place in 1890, in an English village named Gladbury, in which one of the local landmarks is a family- owned candle shop with a fascinating legend to it. Every 25 years, on the first night of Advent, an angel visits the shop and blesses a single candle there. Then, whoever lights that particular candle on Christmas Eve and says a prayer after doing so will receive a miracle.

Into this village comes a new pastor, Rev. David Richmond (Hans Matheson). He doesn’t have a lot of faith in divine intervention and miracles, preferring instead to motivate others to act as God’s hands and feet to those in need, to be their miracle. He’d very much follow the philosophy of “Be the change you want to see.” As you can guess, he isn’t impressed with the story of the Christmas Candle. He quickly clashes with many of the townspeople as a result, and especially with the candle- shop owner (Sylvester McCoy, best known for playing the hippie wizard Radaghast the Brown in the “Hobbit” films), who is himself going through some family troubles.

When David learns about some of the miracle- requests that the townspeople may have if they should get the Christmas candle (Everything from a woman whose house has a wall in need of repair, to a mute boy who wishes to be able to speak, to a rather homely woman who wishes to get a husband in time for Easter, among others), he tries his hardest to find ways of meeting their needs directly, either through his own personal actions or through encouraging other townspeople to help them. David finds an ally in a lovely yet skeptical young woman named Emily (Samantha Barks, best known for playing Eponine in the 2012 ‘Les Miserables’ film), and together they seek to help bring Gladbury into the modern age, both through the pastor’s teachings that people should try to help shine God’s light to others through their own good deeds rather than through hoping in the Christmas candle or other divine intervention, and also through him making a controversial decision to install electric lights in the church at a time when electric lights were a relatively new and at times mistrusted invention. By the end of the film, the Christmas candle is lit, the miraculous and human collide, many miracles come to pass, and the village of Gladbury has probably the single most memorable Christmas in its entire history.

‘The Christmas Candle’ is a very good film, especially by Christian movie standards. The performances are all great, especially Matheson, McCoy, Barks, and a nice breakout role from renowned singer Susan Boyle as one of the townspeople. The writing is great, including drama, inspiration, and a good amount of humor as well. The scene in which the Angel appears in the candle shop to bless the candle is stunning. Considering that Christian films generally don’t have the budget for very impressive special effects, they make do very well with making this scene visually beautiful. The changes and arcs that each of the major characters go through over the course of the film all fit very well and make a lot of sense. The only minor issue I have with the film is that it’s a shame we don’t hear Samantha Barks sing much in the movie. She showed in ‘Les Miserables’ that she can be a quite talented singer, but in this, the only time she sings is in the very end, when she and the rest of the cast together perform the quite beautiful song ‘Miracle Hymn,’ and even then, it’s largely Susan Boyle whose voice steals the scene.

This film has absolutely wonderful theological messages. It deals with how Christians should balance their trust in God to work miraculous things through divine intervention with their own responsibilities on Earth and how God has called them to do His work on Earth through their own actions of kindness and love. That is a very important message for us as Christians to keep in mind, finding an appropriate balance between the two. Trusting in God’s providence and working to help those around us who are in need are both bedrock elements of the Christian faith. Just one or the other isn’t good for a whole lot, as seen in Ephesians 2:8-9 and James 2:14- 26, but through both of them together, truly extraordinary things may be done for God’s Kingdom.
So, there we have ‘The Christmas Candle,’ a marvelous Christmas film which I believe will become part of my traditional holiday viewing.
That’s all for this edition of ‘The Nightcrawler Experience.’ See you next time, merry Christmas, happy New Year, and God bless you all!

He lives! A faith- based look at the death and return of Nightcrawler.

Hi everyone, welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
This is an entry I’ve been working on writing off and on for quite a while now, and my first foray into comic books in this blog.
             As I pointed out in my blog’s first edition, I named this blog after one of my favorite superheroes, the X- Men hero Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler. He was cool, funny, brave, and a dedicated Christian. In fact, as seen in the picture above, my best friend a couple Christmases ago gave me a vintage action figure of Nightcrawler because he knew what a big fan I am. In late summer of 2010, however, Nightcrawler was killed off in an issue of the comics, dying a hero’s death to protect his friend Rogue and an important young mutant named Hope from falling victim to the evil cyborg Bastion. His death was quite sad, as was his funeral in the next issue (One memorable line from the funeral was Professor Xavier saying that “He was the student I taught the least, yet who taught me the most.”).

 I figured that they would bring him back eventually, both because Marvel comics superheroes generally don’t stay dead for long (Especially members of the X- Men; Pretty much every major character in that team has died at least once, and usually come back in no more than a year or two), and because in Nightcrawler’s funeral, the priest presiding over the ceremony cited the story of Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones from Ezekiel 37:1-14, which I saw as the writer’s way of hinting that Nightcrawler would return to life as the dry bones did. However, for three and a half years, no such return happened. An alternate- dimension version of Nightcrawler showed up for a while, but he was a mean- spirited and cynical version that possessed none of the qualities that made the character so endearing for me.

Then finally, earlier this year, what I had waited years for happened: Nightcrawler returned! Issue #1 of the new ‘Amazing X- Men’ series began a 5- issue storyline involving how Nightcrawler would come back to life, and he got his own series as well.
So, I thought I’d give my thoughts on the comic book storyline which featured his return, entitled, simply enough, “The Quest for Nightcrawler.”

Amazing X- Men #1 gets started setting up his eventual return. Mutant heroine Firestar is seen arriving at the Jean Grey School for the Gifted (Kind of a spinoff of the Xavier School that was the original home of the X- Men), having been offered a teaching position there. We see some good interactions and exchanges with the various characters, such as a hilarious debate between Wolverine and Storm as to whether taking the kids off- campus to view a kung- fu movie marathon at the last minute during exam week would be considered an approved field trip, and Beast expressing pure, unadulterated fury over the theft of his beloved coffeemaker. We see that the Bamfs (A group of rodent- like creatures who bear a noticeable resemblance to Nightcrawler and have taken up residence in the Mansion) stole his coffeemaker and various other electronic devices around the mansion to build some kind of mysterious machine.

 While all of this is happening, we see that Nightcrawler is in Heaven, but he remains lingering at the very edge of it. He does not feel that he should go deeper into Heaven, even though it is everything that he, as a man of faith, had hoped it would be and more, because he feels that he still has unfinished business on Earth. At this moment, Heaven is abruptly invaded by Nightcrawler’s father, the evil demon Azazel. He and his demonic minions are in the process of kidnapping righteous souls from Heaven and not- so- righteous souls from Hell for their own foul purposes. They attack from strange celestial pirate ships, each captained by the soul of a different historical fiend (i.e. Jack the Ripper, Billy the Kid, Caligula). The Bamfs’ device ends up opening a portal to the afterlife, which several X- Men get sucked into, Wolverine and Northstar being transported to Heaven and then to Limbo, while Storm, Iceman, and Firestar find themselves in Hell. Beast also eventually comes into there, leading to both a funny scene in which he fights Azazel and some of his crew (i.e. A great moment in which he manages to use his knowledge of math to take out several pirates with one blow), and a quite scary scene in which he goes almost completely feral for a while. Eventually, Nightcrawler is reunited with all his old friends, and they mount a massive assault on Azazel and his remaining henchmen. Nightcrawler ends up sacrificing his own eternity in Heaven to pull both himself and Azazel to Earth, thus saving/ freeing all the souls that Azazel has captured. While this means Nightcrawler is now back on Earth and reunited with the X- Men, he now is left without knowing if he’ll ever be able to return to Heaven again.

There a lot of good Scriptural lessons to be learned from this storyline. One of the foremost that sticks out is Nightcrawler as an allegory for Christ. Like Jesus, Nightcrawler wasn’t content to remain comfortably in Heaven while those he loved were in mortal jeopardy. It says in Ephesians 2:5-8, “ For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.” Like Jesus, Nightcrawler set aside the comfort of Heaven to save innumerable souls. Most obviously, like Jesus, Nightcrawler died sacrificing himself for another (As it says in my favorite verse in the Bible, John 15:13, “There is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friends”), and eventually rose again. Like Jesus helping to redeem His disciples and restore their faith after the Resurrection, Nightcrawler refused to give up on any of his friends that came into the Afterlife with him. He is determined to reunite all of them again, even as they’re in opposite sections of the Afterlife. As I said earlier, Beast momentarily goes feral in an issue and attacks Nightcrawler, yet Nightcrawler patiently helps his old friend regain his former state of mind by reminding him of a happy memory they shared.
The storyline as a whole is quite a great read. The artwork is absolutely wonderful, the characters’ portrayals are all spot- on, it has great amounts of action and humor, and I liked the way it handled each of them in their parts of the Afterlife (i.e. Wolverine makes a poignant observation upon his glimpse of Heaven and struggle through Limbo, and there’s a great scene in which Iceman pushes his powers to the limit to fend off an army of demons in Hell in a way that gives new meaning to the term "When Hell freezes over"), and the action sequences are thrilling. So, ‘Amazing X- Men’ issues 1-5 are definitely worth a read, for X- Men fans, and especially fans of that incredible blue elf.

That’s all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. I promise there will be some new entries more frequently over the next couple months. See you next time, happy Thanksgiving, and God bless you all!

Hated and Loved: A faith based look at 'The Bride of Frankenstein.'

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
I am so very sorry it’s been so long since my last entry, things have been very busy.

It’s nearing Halloween, and so I have a faith- based look at one of my favorite classic monster films.

First, though, I just want to quick give my personal thoughts on something, and you’re all welcome to disagree with me if you feel differently:
There has long been a lot of debate among Christians as to whether or not it is morally right to celebrate Halloween. I am well aware of its less- than- savory origins as the pagan holiday Samhain, in which some genuinely awful things were done by people who served the Devil, and as such, I fully understand and respect the views of Christians who do not celebrate Halloween. However, keep in mind that both Christmas and Easter also started as pagan holidays, yet we have turned them into days to celebrate Jesus’s blessed birth and resurrection, respectively.
The way I see it, Halloween is one of the only cases in which the secularization and commercialization of a religious holiday is actually a GOOD thing. As a result, the darker and more reprehensible aspects of its early years (i.e. Human sacrifices, people being in genuine fear for their lives) are almost completely gone, and it has instead become mostly a fun and harmless time to wear costumes, go to parties, give and receive candy (Or buy gigantic portions of it at discounted prices the next day, as I do), and in my case, watch a ton of monster movies from all periods in cinematic history, one of which I shall now talk about.

I’ve always loved the classic Universal monster movies (i.e. ‘Dracula,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ etc.), and one of my favorites of them is unquestionably ‘The Bride of Frankenstein.’ This was, in my opinion, the first case of a movie’s sequel being better than the film which preceded it. It has a more complex plot, better special effects, mostly better acting (With the possible exception of Una O’Connor as Dr. Frankenstein’s obnoxious, shrieking maid) and more richly- developed characters, especially the Creature (I personally refuse to call him “The Monster”; The way I see it, the real monsters in this movie are the enraged and ignorant villagers and the scientists who try to toy with God’s creations). It also has a very nice religious subtext to it, with a lot of faith- based messages to it. The only real issue I have with the movie is that the title is a bit misleading: The Bride doesn’t even appear until near the end of the film.
When the villagers learn that the Creature survived the windmill fire that they believed had killed him in the first film, they once again become driven by fear and hatred, and set out to imprison or kill him. In real life, Jesus Himself and much of the early church knew what it was like to be the victims of a panicked, hate- driven mob. I’d imagine that even in the present day, Christians living in Communist nations and especially in nations under Sharia law are familiar with this, as well. Jesus said in John 15:18- 21, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong in the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours as well. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the one who sent Me.”

To add further to making this point and possibly even making the Creature something of a Christ- allegory, there is a scene early on in which the villagers capture the Creature and tie him to a tall wooden pole as a way to carry him to the village dungeon. Seeing that, I couldn’t help somewhat imagining Jesus on the Cross.
Probably my favorite scene in the movie (And one of my favorite scenes in ANY Universal monster film, for that matter) is when the Creature, while later on the run from the villagers, comes across the home of an old blind man. This man has lived a hermit’s life for many years, and as such, has hardly seen a soul in years, leading to him feeling intensely lonely. When the Creature comes to his house, the blind man not only is not afraid of him, but he is actually quite thankful to finally have a little company. He takes the Creature in immediately, feeds him, gives him a little bit of medical attention (The Creature suffered a gunshot wound to the arm earlier in the film), and even gives the Creature his own bed to sleep in. The blind man then says a prayer, joyously thanking God for having finally brought him a friend. Upon finishing the prayer, he weeps with happiness, and we can see the Creature tearing up as well. The two live together for a while, and the blind man helps the Creature to become more docile and develop his speaking skills a little. They develop a very nice friendship, and it seems hard to tell who is happier: The blind man for having at last found a friend, or the Creature for having found someone who not only doesn’t hate or fear him, but actually likes him and cares for him. Eventually, though, a pair of lost hunters arrive at the hut, recognize the Creature, and ruin everything.

The Christian symbolism of this segment is pretty much off the charts. First and foremost, the blind man demonstrates a true servant’s heart, offering his house, food, and bed to someone he just met and knew nothing about, who was in need, and showing Godly love and care for him. It’s pretty much the perfect embodiment of the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25- 37. Second, even though the hermit is physically blind, he is able to “See” and bring out what the villagers were unable to see; The gentle nature that the Creature possessed deep down. It brings to mind 1 Samuel 16:7, which points out that “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
            And so, that’s just a brief analysis of some of the Biblical messages that can be found in ‘The Bride of Frankenstein,’ a classic film in every sense, and one that is most definitely worth a look, if you haven’t seen it yet.
That’s all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. I should be back soon, as I have a couple great ideas for future entries. Until then, happy Halloween and may God bless you all!

Standing against evil; Some principles I've discovered...

Hello everyone, and welcome to another installment of the Nightcrawler Experience!
Sorry this one took so long to get up. As you can see, it's a big one.

I don’t plan on talking about horror- related stuff very often on this blog, but this entry is an exception.

Now, while ‘The Nightcrawler Experience’ is itself a family- friendly blog, the same cannot necessarily be said for some of the movies, TV shows, etc., that I’ll be talking about. Though, each time I’m about to look at something that maybe kids might want to stay away from, I’ll post a disclaimer similar to this one.

In this case, the topic is standing against evil. I’ll be looking at three examples from pop culture relating to people facing real, demonic evil, and how they react to it.

            The first example I’ll be looking at is a pretty well- known 2007 horror film called ‘Paranormal Activity.’ This “Found Footage” horror film I am selecting to help show what NOT to do when facing evil. It centers around a couple, Micah and Katie, who purchase a video camera to document strange occurrences that have begun happening in their house. It turns out that the source of these occurrences is an extremely malevolent demon who has followed Katie off and on since she was little.

Now, in horror movies, it is quite common for there to be at least one character who is not terribly bright, but Micah in ‘Paranormal Activity’ takes this to a new level; He is a complete buffoon in pretty much everything he does, he never treats the situation with the seriousness it clearly calls for, and he causes things to escalate rapidly. At times he even deliberately TRIES to antagonize the spirit (i.e. Early on, one of the first supernatural occurrences seen is their bedroom door slowly creaking one way then the other by itself while they’re asleep; Micah, upon discovering this, says something to the extent of “Ooh, a creaking door. Is that all you got?” Unsurprisingly, the entity starts to up its game after that).

They bring in a psychic to try and help, and while he of course offers very little help (As further evidence of how this shows how NOT to react to such a situation, they contact a psychic, yet it apparently never even occurs to them to contact a priest or minister), one helpful suggestion he gives is that they NOT use a Ouija Board or any other means to try and contact or communicate with the spirit; Halfway through the film, not only does Micah pick up a Ouija Board for that purpose, but he gets probably the scariest- looking Ouija Board I’ve ever seen (The result of this is one of the film’s subtlest yet scariest scenes, in my opinion). All throughout the film, Micah stubbornly insists that he’ll handle the situation and he is in control, which at one point leads to Katie snapping at him, “No, you haven't been having any progress, and you're *not* in control. *It* is in control, and if you think you're in control, then you're being an idiot!” Unsurprisingly, things don’t end well for the young couple, largely the result of Micah’s ignorance and pride.

As a second example from pop culture relating to people facing supernatural evil but helping to show a little of how to overcome it, there is a horror anthology TV show for kids called ‘R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour.’ There was an episode of it a few months ago entitled “Long Live Rock & Roll,” which concerns three teens who’ve formed a garage band. It mainly centers around a boy named Holden who acts as the band’s vocalist and lead guitarist, but at the start of the episode he’s not doing so well in the latter of the two roles. He insists it’s due to his guitar being a cheaper model that can’t stay in tune, but the others in the band think the problem may in fact be him not having the right talent for lead guitar.

Feeling upset over this, Holden meets a man known as “Sir Maestro,” a British rocker type who physically resembles the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. Sir Maestro has just opened a music store in town and offers to sell Holden a magnificent guitar that Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and Kurt Cobain had all used at some point in their careers. Its price tag is way out of Holden’s budget, but Sir Maestro says that he can have it on the conditions that Holden return to play for Sir Maestro at a later date, and sign a lengthy contract to finalize the deal. Eventually, of course, things start going bad, and it becomes clear that Sir Maestro wants Holden to play for him forever, as his eternal slave. The closest it comes to Sir Maestro revealing who he truly is (As if it wasn’t obvious already from how much of a “Deal with the Devil” vibe we got from the first half of the episode) occurs later in the episode when Holden notices something odd about his new guitar, asks Sir Maestro who he is, and the sinister store owner replies, “I’ve been known by many names over many thousands of years, but lately I prefer ‘Sir Maestro.’”

Things worsen when Holden’s two bandmates learn about Sir Maestro’s store and purchase new instruments of their own for similar contracts. Determined to save his friends, Holden returns to the store where he finds his bandmates playing their new instruments in a trancelike state, and challenges Sir Maestro to a guitar duel to try and win his and his friends’ souls back. At first, Holden barely holds his own against Sir Maestro’s impressive guitar skills, partly because one of the terms of the contest was that Holden has to use his old, out- of- tune guitar rather than the new one. It appears Holden may lose the contest, but just then, he gets an idea; He approaches his friends, who are still playing in their trancelike state, and reminds them of the good times they’ve had playing together in the past. This snaps them out of Sir Maestro’s spell, and they provide Holden with musical backup and a nice boost of confidence, which he uses to hold out and win the contest. The good guys get their souls back, Sir Maestro vanishes back where he came from in defeat, and Holden realizes he doesn’t need a new guitar to be a better player, as he and his friends close out the episode with a catchy victory song.

I find this episode of ‘The Haunting Hour’ to offer part of a solution for how to face evil. Holden humbles himself, and realizes that he can’t overcome Sir Maestro on his own. He appeals to his friends by reminding them of what’s truly important (Their past friendship and experiences in playing together) so they can have a positive memory to snap them out of Sir Maestro’s spell, and by relying on them for musical and emotional backup, he gains the strength needed to face Sir Maestro and emerge victorious. The only thing missing was relying on God and His strength, but considering this is a kids’ tv show, it’s not surprising that part was left out.

The final example I’ve found on responding to evil, which I think does the best job of showing how to respond to it, is in the 2013 horror film ‘The Conjuring.’ Based on the true story of a case from the files of paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren (Whose work also inspired ‘The Amityville Horror’), it centers around a family that moves into a new house where very strange and often quite frightening things begin happening. It soon becomes clear that this house has a very disturbing history and is inhabited by a number of spirits: Some that are relatively harmless, but others that are extremely hateful and dangerous.

In desperation, their mother Carolyn goes to the Warrens for help. First, she sits in on a lecture they are hosting to ensure they are on the level, then afterwards she asks them to do what they can to save her and her family. Things ultimately come to a head when the most vicious of the spirits possesses Carolyn and tries to get her to murder her youngest daughter. Lorraine first helps to get her to stop by reminding Carolyn of a very happy memory she had with her family, to appeal to the humanity still left in her. This distracts the possessed Carolyn long enough for Ed to get to her and finish performing an exorcism, calling out the evil spirit by name and loudly calling on the name of God to get it out of her. It works, as the spirit leaves and Carolyn’s life and soul are saved.

As I said, I think ‘The Conjuring’ offers one of the best pictures I’ve seen on how to respond to evil. The family was humble enough to realize they needed outside help and to ask for it, and Carolyn first checked out the Warrens for herself to verify that they could be competent and trustworthy. A powerful, positive memory with a lot of love and devotion behind it is used to help the possessed Carolyn remember the kind and loving woman she still has within her. Lastly and most importantly, Ed calls on the demon by name (As Jesus did when driving Legion out of the man in Mark 5), and calls on the name of God to drive the demon away and free Carolyn and her family from its dark control.

While obviously most of us won’t be confronted with demons or devils, the fact of the matter is, we can still see evil all around us in everyday ways. Crime, substance abuse, domestic abuse, gossip, apathy; All of these are forms of evil that we as Christians are called to stand against in one way or another. I think we can learn at least a little about how to confront it from the examples I just cited. Avoid Micah’s mistake in ‘Paranormal Activity’ of being so proud and stubborn as to think you can handle it on your own. Like Holden in ‘The Haunting Hour: Long Live Rock & Roll’ and Carolyn in ‘The Conjuring,’ humble yourself enough to admit you need help, and seek it from those who you know are trustworthy, which is near enough to what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 6:2. Again like Holden and like Lorraine in ‘The Conjuring,’ cling to positive memories as a way of remembering what’s important. Lastly, like Ed in ‘The Conjuring,’ whatever you must do, do it in the name of God, and keep your desire to serve Him at the center of all that you do. By following all of that, I think we can stand against whatever evil the world may try to throw at us.

That’s all for now. I should have another entry ready for the Nightcrawler Experience in the next couple weeks. Until then, take care and God bless!

Creator and Creation: A faith- based look at 'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.'

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
I have a little devotional today, based on a new TV show that I have begun to really get into.
Those who know me well know that I for the most part have a deep hatred of reality television. It's stupid, it's exploitative, it's often unoriginal, it often blatantly encourages the worst in people (Check out any of MTV's reality shows and you'll see what I mean), plus back in 2002, 'Firefly' (aka one of the best sci- fi shows ever made) was cancelled midseason to make room for the despicable reality series 'Joe Millionaire.'
However, over the last few weeks, I have gotten really into a certain new reality show airing on Syfy, called 'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge.'
For those who are unfamiliar with it, the late, great Jim Henson (Best known as the creator of the Muppets and Sesame Street) had I believe two major workshops/ design companies he owned and used: His Muppet workshop of course, and another called Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The Creature Shop specialized in odd, fantastical animatronic creature effects for fantasy and science fiction movies and TV shows. Some of the movies that they made creatures for include the classic films 'The Dark Crystal' and 'Labyrinth,' the first two 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movies, and the 'Where the Wild Things Are' movie, among others. Some of its TV credits include the early- 90s prehistoric sitcom 'Dinosaurs,' the fantasy anthology series 'The Storyteller,' and the renowned sci- fi series 'Farscape.' All manner of strange creatures which defied imagination were brought to life by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Anyway, with 'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge,' 10 amateur creature- effects artists are competing for a shot at a permanent job working at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. In each episode, the contestants are given an assignment for a certain type of creature to create (In past episodes, some of the types of creatures they have been asked to make have included strange undersea creatures, creatures made out of junk from a scrap yard, and the heads of fantasy beasts mounted on a wall which come alive, among others), usually in groups, within a certain time limit. Then, when the time's up, they present their creations in a screen test in which a panel of judges who are experts in the field of creature- effects design (Including Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson and CEO of pretty much everything Henson- related) look at what's been made, and critique it. The judges decide among themselves who did the best job and is thus the winner of the competition, and the person who they decide was the least successful, in turn, is eliminated from the show and sent home. In the last episode, the final winner will be made a permanent, full- time member of the staff on Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
I consider this a very fun show to watch. I've always loved the work that Jim Henson's Creature Shop has done for movies and TV, so a show spotlighting that of course attracts my interest. It provides a quite fascinating inside look at what kinds of processes can go into making some of the wonderful creature effects seen in movies and TV shows. We see the techniques they use and the struggles they go through, everything from wondering how to pull a look off, to worrying about an animatronic feature on their creation malfunctioning, to arguing with team members on group projects. Then, of course, the screen tests in which the contestants show off their finished products for the judges are always fun. Plus, for the most part, I find myself agreeing with Brian Henson and the other judges on their critiques, who wins, and who goes home each week.
All of this leads me to the themes of this devotional. One of the neat aspects of 'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge' is, during the screen tests, seeing the delight and excitement on the contestants' faces as their creations, things they made with their own hands from foam, metal, electronic components, etc., come to life before the judges. I realized that this, nice though it is, cannot compare to the joy and delight that God must have experienced when He created each and every one of us. Unlike the contestants, who often are not able to make their creations as fine- tuned as they had hoped due to time constraints and not having the right materials, God made us exactly how He wanted us, to fulfill specific roles He established just for us. Psalm 139:14 says that we are all "Fearfully and wonderfully made" by our Lord, and I know that to be true.
I can think of a couple other similarities, too, involving Jesus and certain episodes. Like the contestants in the 'Scrap yard' episode, Christ can take all the junk and discarded stuff in our lives, and rebuild us into something beautiful. Like the contestants in the 'Heads on a wall' episode, He can take what was once dead and give us new life in Him.
We are God's greatest, most beloved creations, and He loved us enough that He sent His Son to Earth to die for us so that we might be reconciled to Him.
'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge' is airing new episodes on Syfy at 9:00 pm on Tuesdays, and it is currently rather regularly running marathons of all the episodes that have been aired so far, so it shouldn't be hard to get caught up.
That's all for this edition of The Nightcrawler Experience. Another installment should be coming soon. Until then, take care and God bless!

God is always faithful- My thoughts/ experiences on Megacon 2014

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
I have a report and a devotional for you guys today, relating to my experiences at the Megacon comic convention I went to a week ago.
Like with most of the comic book conventions I've been to in the past, I had a lot of fun there. I went there with my friends Jon and Andrew, and other than Jon being annoyed at how long he waited to get Stan Lee's autograph, they both had a good time, too. Earlier that morning, Jon and I started what I think will likely become a new tradition for our get- togethers: A morning Bible study. Considering that we first met and became friends through a Christian club on our college campus, it seems right that we should "Get back to our roots," so to speak, and spend at least some of our time together learning more about God.
 A couple notable media guests at Megacon that I met and got the autographs of were Allison Mack (Who played the intrepid Chloe Sullivan on the TV show 'Smallville') and Rob Paulsen (Voice actor extraordinaire, playing such roles as Yakko Warner on 'Animaniacs,' Pinky on 'Pinky and the Brain,' and Carl on 'Jimmy Neutron'; I got him to do a little of his Yakko voice when I met him). It was seriously crowded, especially as the day wore on, and due to my size, I would often have to act as a kind of "Human bulldozer," clearing a path through the crowds for my friends to get through.
I got the autographs of plenty of comic book writers and artists, as well. One of them, artist/ writer David Finch, took an insanely long time, because so many of the people in line ahead of me wanted him to do sketches for them (Which has long been a pet peeve of mine at conventions, due to how much it can slow down the lines), and he was particularly painstaking about each one he did. Fortunately, the guy ahead of me in line was kind enough to hold my place in line while I went off and did some other things. I was able to get a free Captain America pin, which is now proudly attached to my travel backpack, and a couple other small souvenirs, though I didn't buy a whole lot of things there. When I go to comic conventions, I'm usually more concerned with getting the things I already own signed by the writers and artists who worked on them than I am about getting new things for my collection.
However, there were some disappointments associated with Megacon as well. One of the guests I had really been looking forward to meeting, cult movie actor Ron Perlman (Known for playing, among other roles, the titular superhero in the 'Hellboy' films, the villainous Slade in the animated TV show 'Teen Titans,' and the brutish Stabbington Brothers in Disney's 'Tangled'), abruptly cancelled his appearance at Megacon due to a scheduling conflict less than 10 days before the convention started. Then, as if that weren't enough, a comic guest that I had SERIOUSLY been excited about meeting, Mark Waid (Comic book writer who created 'Irredeemable' and 'Incorruptible,' the latter of which I'm a big fan of), cancelled his appearance at literally the last minute, less that 24 hours before the convention started! According to a convention employee, the previous day, Megacon staff were frantically looking for Waid for quite a while before hearing from one of their contacts that he had cancelled. I had a lot of things I wanted to have him sign, so to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.
From this, though, I was reminded of an important truth about God and mankind: While men can disappoint us and let us down the way Perlman and Waid did by cancelling on such short notice, God is always faithful, and will never let us down. This is why we as Christians are to put our faith and trust in the Lord, rather than trusting simply in our own devices or those of other people. People, even good people who are well- intentioned, are fallible and can occasionally do things that aren't right. It's why in 1 Samuel 8:4- 22, God used Samuel to try and warn the Israelites not to appoint a king over themselves, because He knew that their giving that much unchecked power over them to a fellow fallible human simply because they wanted to be like other nations was a bad idea. Instead, we should keep our trust in God, as He will always be with us and seek our good. Psalm 33:4 says that "For the word of the Lord is right and true: He is faithful in all He does." God is always there for us out of His incredible love for us.
And so, that's my experience at Megacon 2014. While it wasn't all that it could have been, I still had a great time, as did my friends, and Andrew has already talked about the possibility of us doing it again next year!
That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. I should have another entry up soon! See you then, and God bless!

Faithful in the small things; Remembering Mimi.

Hi everyone, welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last entry, I’ve been extremely busy. I’ve got a couple ideas for future entries which should be coming out in the next few weeks.
This particular devotional is on a very somber note. My grandmother, Dorothy “Mimi” Lind, passed away this last Saturday morning at the age of 92. I’ll miss her so much, but I have no doubt that she is with Jesus at this moment. If she didn’t hear “Well done, good and faithful servant,” then no one will. This devotional entry is dedicated to her.

            One of Mimi’s last requests was for me to give the eulogy at her funeral. While I will not be relying on my gift for combining faith and pop culture there, considering what a serious occasion it is, I do have an observation in that regard that I will share here so it doesn’t go to waste.

            Shortly after I heard of her passing, there was one movie scene which I kept thinking of, from the film ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.’ For those unfamiliar with the story, there is a group of Dwarves who are planning to set out on a quest to reclaim their ancestral home and the treasures therein from an evil dragon who usurped it from them many years earlier. They seek out the help of the incredibly powerful wizard Gandalf to aid in their quest, and he in turn enlists a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is one of the last people you’d think would be chosen for a mission like this; He’s not a warrior or an adventurer, he’s generally content to just stay in his home and live comfortably. However, he has a good heart, and soon finds his courage over the course of the journey.

            Anyway, about halfway through the film, there is a scene in which Gandalf meets with several other very powerful figures in that world. One of them asks him why he chose Bilbo for the mission, and Gandalf’s response is one I’ll never forget: “I do not know. Saruman (Another very powerful wizard) believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid, and he gives me courage.”

            I thought of this because “Simple acts of kindness and love” were what Mimi was known for. She was always kind and caring, always lending a hand in ordinary ways to help those who were in need. From letting my family and I stay with her the night when we were on our way to Canada, to preparing whatever we wanted for breakfast the next morning, and countless other ways of showing how deeply she cared for other people. She refused to let her age stop her from living her life to the fullest and being a servant to others.

This is what the Lord called us to do, as our own way of letting His light shine to the world. We don’t have to do large and grandiose things to impress Him and help change the world; Just demonstrating simple kindness and goodness in His name towards others and setting a good example in that regard are what He has called us to. Matthew 25:23 has the Master in Jesus’ parable of the servants and the talents telling his faithful servant that “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Through proving to the Lord that we can do well in small, everyday things, He will often entrust us with larger and more important tasks, and give us greater rewards in Heaven. A lot of regular people helping each other through simple deeds of kindness and righteousness can indeed help change the world, though they may not know it at the time.

That’s all I have to say at the moment. Rest in peace, Mimi, you’ve earned it a hundred times over.

I’ll talk to you guys again soon, I promise. In the meantime, God bless you all!