Superhero Reality Check

My roommate and I were leaving Forever21 last Sunday and she spotted this this tank top (above) and I thought it was pretty funny at the time, so I had her pose with it.

I Only Date Superheros.

It wasn’t until Tuesday morning, though, as I was getting ready for work, that I began to think “What would it actually be like to date a superhero?”  And despite the obvious bonuses – fresh bread and cheese hand-delivered from Paris in under a minute, protection from giant fire-breathing salamanders, dates on the moon, and trips swinging through skyscrapers – it came to me that the reality of it might be a little less glamorous than I had initially thought. It might actually mean having a boyfriend that was rarely around, could never focus on what I was talking about cause he’d always be distracted by distressing situations happening all over the world, could read my thoughts (ALL of them…), kept tons of secrets, and lived a double life. Plus, I’d always be the first target of my boyfriend’s enemies and I’m not the biggest fan of regularly lying tied-up on train tracks…so this is what I deduced…

Superheros are just like regular guys, I guess.

They will at times disappoint. There might be skeletons in the closet. (If not real ones.) They might not respond the way you expect. Things will get complicated. Messy. Real.

And isn’t this what I always do.  With so many godly and heroic-in-their-own-way guys around me, I can’t help but feel drawn to someone who might offer me something more. An invitation to an adventure. The fantasy.

The allure of the hero is strong.

I spent a good part of four years in jr. high and early high school obsessed with the television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, so I get it. (Dean Cain? Anybody? Ok. Just me.)  Who wouldn’t want to be connected to someone who has supernatural power? Who defends the powerless and fights for good in a dark world. Can be both tough and tender and is ultimately willing to give their lives for the world and specifically for me. Man, I know I would.

And I’m pretty sure you and I were designed to want this because this is something I forget…I forget it all the time…

There really is a hero. And he loves me.  And he did die for me.

Jesus has time to listen to all my worries, fears, dreams, passions, and cares.  He’s alive and reigning and always with me through the Holy Spirit.  Anti-Gravity? Changing the weather? Easy peasy. He’s the kind of hero that not only helps and heals the lowly and oppressed, but lovingly pursues his enemies.  Being fully man and fully God makes it possible for him to completely relate with everything I go through, and powerful enough to live like I should – perfectly. Better than other heroes, he chose to not use his power to save himself but to save everyone else – which is kind of more powerful than anything I can think of .  He conquered death itself.

When I get this reality – truly deep down – that I have already found my hero (or rather, that he found me) and the depths to which he loves me. Oh the depths! Then I can take the guys around me off the pedestal of being something not even a superhero can live up to.  I can cheer on their own attempts to image the true Hero.  Demolish the fantasy version and take them as they are.

Cheers to Forever21 (but really, Jesus), for giving me my super hero reality check.

Photo courtesy of  Nerdage blog.