hero | NovelSisters

What makes a hero?

by lydiamhill

I’ve discovered that renting movies at the Library can be quite fun. Instead of paying a lot of money to see a movie once online, or keep for 24 hours from Redbox, I can borrow multiple movies for free and keep them for 3 whole weeks! This has resulted in me watching several movies that I’ve never seen but have always wanted to. Most recently it meant I watched The Amazing Spider-man 2.

Image result for amazing spider man 2 movie

Image Source

Now I grew up watching the Toby McGuire Spider-man movies and as a kid, and I loved them. When I got older, they didn’t seem as good as I’d remembered, but there’s still a lot of nostalgia going on when I see one. More recently the Amazing Spider-man with Andrew Garfield has released films and now there will be a third Spider-man because the character is owned by Disney. We even got a sneak peek at him in the Captain America Civil War movie.

All that to say, I don’t know which actor has or will do the best job at portraying Spider-man. But I really appreciated how Andrew Garfield pulled it off in this sequel. It wasn’t so much the flying acrobatics, or witty humor that got to me, though that was great too (at least compared with the original series). No, what really stood out to me was how this Spider-man did heroic things that normal everyday people can do too. Seeing him try to encourage someone and tell them they’re worth something and have value was so awesome. It reminded me of all of those videos on Youtube where someone does random nice things for someone else and you get to see a glimpse of people’s gratitude and joy. Caring for someone else is what being a hero is all about. And the great thing is anyone can do it.

Here’s an example of just one of those videos:

My favorite scene in the movie was when a kid was getting picked on by some bullies and then Spider-man swoops in to scare them off. But he doesn’t just leave. He stops to help the kid fix his school project and tells him how great it is and he even offers to walk the kid home. Anyone could do that, but it takes a hero to actually do it.

It reminds me of the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan.

Someone gets beat up and definitely could use some help but the people who see him are too focused on themselves to care. Maybe they didn’t want to get mugged too, or they had an important appointment to keep, or they thought there wasn’t anything they could do, so they just kept walking.

But the Samaritan stopped. He noticed and he did something about this guy’s problem. He bandaged his wounds, took him to a hotel (or inn) and paid for him to stay there.

I know it’s easy to go through life focusing on all the problems, especially your own. I’ve definitely done that, a lot. But if we stop to take notice of what’s going on, if we really follow Jesus’s example and value others above ourselves, we’ll see plenty of opportunities to love and care for others, and be the hero God wants us to be.

So I hope this little post encouraged you today.

Christian Life Movies

Big Hero 6 and the Importance of Relationships

by lydiamhill

Image Source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hero_6_(film)

I really really really wanted to see this movie and I got to go see it this past weekend. I usually love the animated Disney movies and this one was no exception. It had great characters, a well developed plot line, jokes and touching moments. Everything you would want in a good Disney movie. If you want to stop reading here and just go see it, that’s fine. Maybe you can read the rest once you’ve seen it, if you don’t want any spoilers.

But now on to my thoughts about some of the deeper messages in this film. One thing that stood out to me was the importance of friendships. It can be easy, especially in America to take the individualist approach and say I can handle it on my own, I don’t need help. The protagonist of the movie, Hiro, felt this way. But as the plot progresses, we see the importance of strong relationships. Not only are friends and family important in working through life’s difficulties, like grief, but they also help us stay on track and keep us from making mistakes that we’ll regret later.

In the plot of the movie, I really liked how close Hiro comes to playing a villain role, I think it shows that every person is capable of being a hero or a villain. Indeed Hiro and and the villain share similar goals; taking revenge on the person who was responsible for the death of someone they loved. But because Hiro has friends to tell him what’s right, even if he doesn’t want to hear it, he eventually becomes aware that revenge will not heal his hurt and he must let that desire go. He even tries to help the villain in this story see what he learned and stop the destruction, but it is too late for the villain and he continues down the path he has chosen.

These lessons of friendship and the ability in each person to be a hero or villain remind me of truth in my own life. As a Christian I know that I am a sinner, and that I am capable of horrible things and am no better than any other person, even a murderer. Just like Hiro, I have the capability of being a villain. But because Jesus has saved me, I can choose to follow Him, to do what is right and good, and be heroic. But I cannot do it alone, I need Jesus’s help and the help of a church family. It makes me sad to think that a lot of Christians think they can watch a sermon online or listen to some worship music and that’s all they need, when it really isn’t. Just like Hiro needed his brother, Baymax, and his friends from school to keep pointing him back to what was true and right, I need people in the church to remind me to follow Christ, to not give up, and encourage me when I’ve had a bad day.

So, that’s what stood out to me from this movie. I hope you’ll go see it, if you haven’t yet. I’d like to see it again, that’s for sure.

I’ll end with a preview.