The Invincible Iron Man.....of faith? Part 4 - "From car battery to cutting edge"
*disclaimer: While I highly suggest you see Iron Man before reading, (since there will be spoilers.) I would also like to say that it is not totally necessary, and that you shouldn't let not seeing it hold you back from reading.*
-From car battery to cutting edge-
"Don't waste your life Stark..."
Yinsen
1st Peter 2:2-3
Hello there, welcome to my latest entry, I hope your day has been going well. I want to say how glad I am that you have stopped by to read, and I hope that you can come away with something new. Before we jump in I would like to thank God for helping me carry what sometimes feels like the weight of the world on my shoulders. I mean lets face it, life gets rough, especially these days it seems, and when everything feels like its going to crush me I am so thankful that I have God to help me hold it back, I just don't know how I did it without Him. But now onto today's entry, so far in this series we've looked at Tony Stark's life before and during his capture. How he was oblivious to all the harm his weapons were doing as they found their way into the hands of the bad guys, how he was nearly killed by one of his own missiles and left mortally wounded, and then how he then found himself in the clutches of the enemy, hurt and alone, but there was someone there to save him. Now given a second chance at life, we'll see what Tony Stark did about it, and what you could as well.
Upon waking on a cot in a cold dark cave, Tony was surprised to not only be alive, but to find he was hooked up to a car battery. Yinsen, the man who had saved his life, explained that it was powering the only thing keeping him alive now, an electromagnet which he had built right into his chest to keep the shrapnel he couldn't remove from piercing his heart and killing him. I can only guess how much of a shock that must have been, knowing your life is now depending on something other then yourself (and in Tony's case, a magnet hooked up to a car battery at that, lol). In some ways that is kind of how it can feel when you first become a Christian, especially if you come to Christ during a dark time in your life. The situation you might be stuck in can make everything look bleak to you, and now you've just handed your life over to someone you don't really know yet, it can be kinda scary. Tony must have felt the same as he tore off his bandages and saw this big hunk of metal lodged in his chest, but as you'll see, he didn't let that stop him.
Though it was doing its job of keeping him alive, the electromagnet that Yinsen had thrown together from spare parts wasn't exactly top of the line, or very efficient. Tony was forced to lug around a car battery wherever he went, he had big wires dangling from his chest, and it was prone to short circuiting if water came in contact with it, not to mention the battery itself only had about a week's worth of power left. And on top of all that, he was still being held prisoner and expected to make more weapons for the enemy, not a good situation at all. But now with a second chance at life, Tony Stark wasn't just gonna sit there and accept his fate, he decided to get busy and do something about it. With his incredible technological know-how, and the help of his new friend Yinsen, Tony first set out to improve the gift of life he was given. Using the stockpiles of Stark technology that was left to them to build more weapons, Tony and Yinsen were able to construct a much more efficient and superior power source for his heart, a miniature arc reactor.
We'll stop here for now and take a look at the Christian side of this picture. Just like Tony, we too start out with that crude electromagnet, which in this case is our (at the moment) underdeveloped, but yet to be improved, relationship with Christ. Now I'm not sure where you were when you first came to Christ, maybe you grew up with Him, or maybe this is the first time you've heard anything about Him, but either way, you'll probably have questions, and maybe even some doubts. One of the many awesome things about God is that He knows that, and its ok to have those questions and doubts, and He welcomes you to bring them to Him. It is very important that you put time and effort into developing your relationship with Christ. The Bible says in 1st Peter 2:2-3 that like newborn babies we must cry out for spiritual nourishment, and that is exactly what you must do. There are several places to find it, church, the Bible, prayer, or even a fellow Christian brother or sister, if you truly seek out God, He will find you.
Like Tony Stark, you too have been given a second chance at life when you accepted Jesus, but its up to you what you will now do with it. You can choose to just sit back in your spiritual cave and let the world pass you by like normal, I mean sure you'll still go to heaven when you die, but you'll only be cheating yourself out of all God wants to give, and do through you. Or you can do what Tony did, take the time and effort to build up and refine this new power source that is now within your heart, and be changed by what you see going on around you, so that you can not only escape the evils that once ensnared you, but to even fight back! Next entry we'll take a look at how Tony did that, and how you can as well.
-From car battery to cutting edge-
"Don't waste your life Stark..."
Yinsen
1st Peter 2:2-3
Hello there, welcome to my latest entry, I hope your day has been going well. I want to say how glad I am that you have stopped by to read, and I hope that you can come away with something new. Before we jump in I would like to thank God for helping me carry what sometimes feels like the weight of the world on my shoulders. I mean lets face it, life gets rough, especially these days it seems, and when everything feels like its going to crush me I am so thankful that I have God to help me hold it back, I just don't know how I did it without Him. But now onto today's entry, so far in this series we've looked at Tony Stark's life before and during his capture. How he was oblivious to all the harm his weapons were doing as they found their way into the hands of the bad guys, how he was nearly killed by one of his own missiles and left mortally wounded, and then how he then found himself in the clutches of the enemy, hurt and alone, but there was someone there to save him. Now given a second chance at life, we'll see what Tony Stark did about it, and what you could as well.
Upon waking on a cot in a cold dark cave, Tony was surprised to not only be alive, but to find he was hooked up to a car battery. Yinsen, the man who had saved his life, explained that it was powering the only thing keeping him alive now, an electromagnet which he had built right into his chest to keep the shrapnel he couldn't remove from piercing his heart and killing him. I can only guess how much of a shock that must have been, knowing your life is now depending on something other then yourself (and in Tony's case, a magnet hooked up to a car battery at that, lol). In some ways that is kind of how it can feel when you first become a Christian, especially if you come to Christ during a dark time in your life. The situation you might be stuck in can make everything look bleak to you, and now you've just handed your life over to someone you don't really know yet, it can be kinda scary. Tony must have felt the same as he tore off his bandages and saw this big hunk of metal lodged in his chest, but as you'll see, he didn't let that stop him.
Though it was doing its job of keeping him alive, the electromagnet that Yinsen had thrown together from spare parts wasn't exactly top of the line, or very efficient. Tony was forced to lug around a car battery wherever he went, he had big wires dangling from his chest, and it was prone to short circuiting if water came in contact with it, not to mention the battery itself only had about a week's worth of power left. And on top of all that, he was still being held prisoner and expected to make more weapons for the enemy, not a good situation at all. But now with a second chance at life, Tony Stark wasn't just gonna sit there and accept his fate, he decided to get busy and do something about it. With his incredible technological know-how, and the help of his new friend Yinsen, Tony first set out to improve the gift of life he was given. Using the stockpiles of Stark technology that was left to them to build more weapons, Tony and Yinsen were able to construct a much more efficient and superior power source for his heart, a miniature arc reactor.
We'll stop here for now and take a look at the Christian side of this picture. Just like Tony, we too start out with that crude electromagnet, which in this case is our (at the moment) underdeveloped, but yet to be improved, relationship with Christ. Now I'm not sure where you were when you first came to Christ, maybe you grew up with Him, or maybe this is the first time you've heard anything about Him, but either way, you'll probably have questions, and maybe even some doubts. One of the many awesome things about God is that He knows that, and its ok to have those questions and doubts, and He welcomes you to bring them to Him. It is very important that you put time and effort into developing your relationship with Christ. The Bible says in 1st Peter 2:2-3 that like newborn babies we must cry out for spiritual nourishment, and that is exactly what you must do. There are several places to find it, church, the Bible, prayer, or even a fellow Christian brother or sister, if you truly seek out God, He will find you.
Like Tony Stark, you too have been given a second chance at life when you accepted Jesus, but its up to you what you will now do with it. You can choose to just sit back in your spiritual cave and let the world pass you by like normal, I mean sure you'll still go to heaven when you die, but you'll only be cheating yourself out of all God wants to give, and do through you. Or you can do what Tony did, take the time and effort to build up and refine this new power source that is now within your heart, and be changed by what you see going on around you, so that you can not only escape the evils that once ensnared you, but to even fight back! Next entry we'll take a look at how Tony did that, and how you can as well.