#240 Sermon Writing Reflections

As a pastor, I write a new sermon nearly every week. With my working habits, the majority of my writing gets done on Friday. Some weeks my writing goes really well. I have a clear idea of what the Bible passage means and how I'd like to explain it and what illustrations I'd like to use to apply the passage to our lives today. But many weeks have at least a stretch where writing is difficult. I wrestle with finding the right words to describe who God is and what God has done and what that means for who we are and what we should do. Sometimes I need to walk a tight theological line to keep from falling into errors on either side. Sometimes finding a balance of different and relatable examples when describing our sinful tendencies or imperfect human perspectives requires a lot of careful thought so that I don't come across like I'm unfairly singling out a specific group or ignoring a significant problem. Writing can be a very tiring process for me. By the time I finish my sermon—thankfully almost always still on Friday—I'm often worn out and can be a little unsure if it all makes sense and holds together.

On Saturdays I come back to my sermon in order to go run through it a couple times. Week after week, almost without fail, something interesting happens. I find that I feel much better about my sermon after I've practiced it. Now I'm sure we could come up for some psychological explanations for this. After taking a break from my work and getting some sleep, I'm in a better mood and feel better about things in general. I know Sunday is coming quickly and don't want to do the work of a major rewrite, so I'm more accepting of what I've already got. There's probably something to thoughts like that. But I think there's also something more going on. Week in and week out I pray that God would help me understand His Word and communicate it well, that He would use me as He speaks to His people. I certainly wouldn't claim that my sermons are divinely inspired or that each and every message I give is phenomenal. But I do think God answers those prayers. When I come back to my sermons on Saturday, I think it's easier for me to see how God has guided my work and thinking to produce a sermon that's coherent and relevant in proclaiming His good news. Preaching is tough work, but I believe God has called me to do it, and others have affirmed that sense of calling over the years. So I believe that God will equip and use me to do this work that He's given me to do. It won't always be easy, and I'm certainly capable of making mistakes. But if I'm diligently seeking to follow God and responsibly putting in the work, I'm sure that He'll be with me to help me. And, for whatever God has called you to do, I think you can be sure of that, too.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#239 Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

A little while back Packers legend Aaron Rodgers landed in some hot water. Before the NFL season, Rodgers was asked if he had received a COVID-19 vaccine. Rodgers affirmed that he'd been immunized, which led everyone to assume that he had gotten a vaccine. But, as we came to find out, Rodgers had not gotten a vaccine; he'd tried some other preventative measure that did not meet the NFL's standards. Many were quick to rebuke Rodgers for lying. Rodgers later tried to defend himself by saying that he never said he was vaccinated.

While Rodgers' defense is factually correct, that really doesn't mean he wasn't lying. We often equate telling the truth with being factually accurate and lying with being factually inaccurate, and in the vast majority of cases, that's right. However, lying is a moral matter, not a factual matter. If I say something that is meant to mislead whomever I'm speaking to, then I'm lying, no matter how accurate my statement might be. For example, if someone asks me if I watched the Packers' last game against the Rams (I was not able to here in NW Iowa), and I say, "The Packers won 36-28" so that the other person believes I watched the game, then I am lying, even though my statement is correct. My intention was deceptive, which makes me a liar. Understanding lying this way helps us understand just how much of a problem lying is for all of us. It's so easy for us to twist or slant our words or keep back part of the story to mislead someone and then pat ourselves on the back for being accurate. I know I've done this, and I'm guessing you have, too.

And on the flip side, being wrong does not mean someone is lying. If I truly think it takes 2 hours to drive from my house to St. Paul, MN, and I tell someone else that, only for them to discover that it takes more like 4 hours, then it would not be right for them to call me I liar. I meant to tell the truth, but I had the wrong information. Now certainly there can be serious consequences to be wrong. And if I am willfully ignorant but still choose to spread (mis)information, I am morally responsible for my actions. However, that doesn't mean I'm lying.

So when it comes to lying, it's our intentions, not our factual accuracy, that ultimately make the moral difference. In order to avoid the mess of tangled words and half-truths and omitted information, it's best for us to follow Jesus' advice (given in the context of discussing oaths). Say "yes" when you mean yes and "no" when you mean no. Keep it simple, honest, and easy-to-follow. There's a lot less chance of getting in trouble down the road that way.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#238 The Top 7 Reasons Why I Give Blood

About a week and a half ago I was giving blood, something that has become a pretty regular occurence for me while I've lived in Iowa thanks to the folks at LifeServe and their reminders. Now that I've moved to Le Mars, I was giving in a different location than before, so things felt pretty fresh. That got me thinking about why I give blood. So, without further ado, here are my top seven reasons why I give blood:

7. I'm not afraid of needles.

6. My veins are always easy to find. (Seriously. Sometimes I wonder why the workers even draw over my veins. They're practically popping out of my arm.)

5. It gets me out of the study.

4. My job gives the flexibility to easily make an appointment.

3. It gives me an opportunity to talk with some people I might not otherwise meet.

2. It's a pretty effective way to help others.

1. I get Smartfood white cheddar popcorn when I've finished donating. (You might think that I'm joking, but there's some truth behind every joke, and let me assure you, I am very serious about this popcorn. Have you ever had it? It is scrumptious.)

Grace and peace,

BMH

#237 Coloring

One of my favorite things to do with my daughters is coloring pictures. We have a whole stack of coloring books at our house, and there's several options for coloring tools: gel pens, markers, colored pencils, and a mountain of crayons. I'm a crayon guy. They don't need to be sharpened so often, and they don't make the mess that markers and pens sometimes do. Plus, we have more color options with our crayons, and I like to mix up my shades and color combos.

Anyway, the nice thing about coloring is that it's something I'm able to do with both Lanie and Mia at once. Having coloring books keeps us from needing to draw and worrying about our artistic ability. Coloring is simple and quiet—no complicated rules, no huge messes, no getting the tar beaten out of me by a wild toddler. I'm always interested in what colors the girls will pick. It's a lot of fun to watch them get better and better with age and practice. And honestly, I enjoy coloring, too. Nearly five years into parenting, I think I'm getting pretty decent at it. Now if I could just keep my kids from breaking all the crayons I want to use….

Grace and peace,

BMH

#236 Inside Info

I've been working on getting to know the members of Calvin CRC as I settle into my new job. I've been on quite a few visits and have been doing my best to catch different people and learn more about them after our Sunday worship services. As you'd expect, I've picked up quite a few things about the people I've had conversations with. But when I talk to church members I sometimes also end up learning things about other church members.

Before anybody gets the wrong idea, I wouldn't say my church members are gossiping about each other to me. I'm not getting comments like, "Did you hear what X did?" Nobody's airing somebody else's dirty laundry. But sometimes these conversations touch on topics that make one church member think about somebody else. So I learn things like "Oh, X has a daughter that lives there" or "X used to do that kind of work" or "X has this talent, but X is too modest to bring it up." I think it's a pretty fascinating way to get to know a community. I learn the things I ask about. I learn the things that each person wants to tell me about himself or herself. And I also learn the things that everybody else thinks of when think of a particular person. I certainly don't know everything yet, but little by little everybody's become a little more real and a little more three-dimensional in my mind.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. I've got a few more pics of Lanie with ice cream cone sculptures:

#235 Appreciation

We've reached the month of November, which means I'll start breathing a little bit easier. See, October is pastors' appreciation month, and every year October makes me a little uncomfortable. Now don't get me wrong: the people in the churches I've served have been wonderful to me overall. I've received nice cards with thoughtful notes and even gifts. It feels good to be appreciated. I don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm complaining about these acts of love. They are fantastic, and I'm very grateful for them.

But despite my gratitude, there's a few things that make me uncomfortable. For one thing, being a pastor is my job. I get paid to do this. It feels strange to me that I get this special honor once a year, but I doubt that my mail carrier or my auto mechanic or my dentist do. (At least I'm not aware of a special time of year when I should send them a card.) I don't think my line of work is better than anybody else's.

For another thing, I am far from the only person who does things at my local church. There are plenty of others who serve, and almost none of them get paid. I feel guilty that I get attention for doing my job while so many others get far less recognition for volunteering. I try to thank others for the things that they do, but the whole thing still doesn't seem quite fair to me. (I suppose I'm the person who should do something about that.)

Finally, I feel a little uneasy about pastors' appreciation month being this set and public thing. I really am touched that other members of my church appreciate my work and want to let me know, but I worry that some might feel sort of pressured to let me know that. Plus, the moment of "Hey, everyone, let's look at and talk about Brian" leaves me feeling uncomfortable. I understand that my job requires a fair amount of being in the public eye, but I think that if I'm doing things right the focus should not be on me.

I don't think we need to get rid of pastor appreciation completely. Again, I really am thankful for the affirmation and love I receive. But let's not forget to appreciate others, too. And please understand if the pastor feels just a little uncomfortable.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#234 Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow

My pal Superman's motto recently changed from "truth, justice, and the American way" to "truth, justice, and a better tomorrow." (This isn't the first time a change like this has been made. Superman was originally described as fighting for "truth and justice"; "the American way" was added later on.) I've been preaching from the book of Malachi for the past couple of weeks, and I spend a reasonable amount of time thinking about the prophets in the Bible, so as I thought about "truth, jusice, and a better tomorrow," I noticed that the elements of that motto are reflected in the kinds of things God's prophets talked about long ago.

When it came to truth, God sent prophets to His people to help them understand the truth about God and themselves and their relationship with God. The prophets would recall God's love and faithfulness to His people, particularly how He created them and saved them and claimed them as His own. The prophets would remind God's people of God's law, His instructions for what it means to live as people belonging to God. When the prophets spoke, the truth again and again was that God's people by and large weren't truly living for God. The truth was that God wanted obedience and love, not lip service and empty ritual. The truth was that God's people were breaking their covenant relationship with Him through their sins and wrongdoing, and God was rightfuly angry with their rebellion. God's people didn't deserve His blessing and favor. But God was also patient and merciful, calling the people to turn back to Him in faithfulness.

When it came to justice, God used the prophets to expose His people's injustice. Over and over the prophets railed against the wealthy and powerful who took advantage of the poor and weak. God condemned dishonesty and violence and greed and sexual impurity for the harm these sins did to other people as well as for how these sins broke His law. The prophets also spoke of God's justice. God would defend the oppressed and neglected. God would not ignore sin and cruelty, neither among His people nor among the nations. He would bring just judgment, punishing those who deserved punishment for their actions and attitudes.

When it came to a better tomorrow, God didn't send the prophets to only preaching judgment and destruction. Again and again, particularly at the end of the prophetic books, God gave messages of hope. Better days would come for God's people. After judgment, God would bring restoration. In His mercy, God was not finished with His people. He would forgive His people's sins. He would bring a remnant back from exile. He would purify His people and teach them to be faithful to Him so that they could truly serve His purposes. God would lead people from all nations of the world to worship Him and enjoy His blessings. God would set His broken world right, and His redeemed people would love with Him forever. God promised that life would be better than ever before as He carried out His good plans.

So I think Superman writers are generally pointing in the right direction in hoping for truth, justice, and a better tomorrow. We see God's goodness and wisdom reflected in all sorts of different corners of our world. But the thing to keep in mind here is that we need God's truth and God's justice, not our own human interpretations of what's right and good. And a better tomorrow can't finally come through human striving. Only God can redeem and restore His people and His creation. He does this through Christ Jesus, our only Savior, who fulfills all that God spoke through the prophets. Superman can't really save us, but maybe Superman can get us thinking about and searching for what we ultimately need from Jesus.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. Lanie and I found a few of the more out of the way ice cream cone sculptures this week. One of these weeks we'll have to take a trip downtown and get a whole bunch at once. But for now, here's a few more photos:

#233 Dead Leaves Falling to the Ground

My college cross country team had an informal competition that started around this time every year: as we ran through the Midwestern fall, we tried to catch more falling leaves than anybody else. There weren't many rules required for this game. As long as you were out on a training run,  encountered a leaf that was falling without your help, and caught it before it hit the ground, you gained a point. This may seem like a strange game to you, dear reader, but when you're running dozens of miles each week, this sort of competition adds quite a bit of variety.

Sometimes the game was easy. You'd be running along on a day with a gentle breeze, and a leaf would practically drop into your palm. Other times the game was endlessly frustrating. The wind would pick up and blow the leaf past you or calm down and let the leaf drop just out of your reach. Or the leaf might dance unpredictably or swerve towards traffic, leaving you grasping empty air or leaping back to safety. And since we would be out running as a team, dropping back or veering off to chase a leaf meant you'd have to do extra work to catch back up, whether or not you made the catch.

I was thinking about this game while I ran on a breezy fall morning this past Saturday. My run quickly turned into the kind of run we dreamed of for this competition. After catching a single leaf early in the run, I snagged three more from a single tree that was upwind of me on the trail. Four leaves is an impressive haul when you're committed to staying on your path at your desired pace. And wouldn't you know it, those four leaves helped distract me a bit from the humidity and my waning energy. Sometimes a little diversion is all you need to get through the miles.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#232 Brainwashing

A long time ago the Christian Reformed Church—that's the denomination I'm part of—said that church members should not go to the movies. A few decades later the CRC changed its guidance, deciding that an outright ban on movies was not the way to go. I remember talking about this history one day in seminary, and my professor said that by the time movies were given the okay again, most people had TVs in their living rooms. The big screen seemed less dangerous when small screens were everywhere.

Now I enjoy watching TV and going to the movies. I don't think we as Christians should avoid film and television altogether. But I do think those original decision-makers had some valid reasons to be concerned. As I've gotten older I've become slightly more aware of how movies and TV shape the way we think. Stories are powerful things. When we watch a show or film, we're meant to side with a certain character or group of characters, hoping for their success. Sometimes these heroes are pursuing noble goals: safety, justice, friendship, happiness. But many times those goals (or the means taken to reach those goals) stray into sinful territory: violence, extramarital sex, dishonesty. If we just absorb these stories, they can begin to affect the way we think, making us more and more comfortable with behavior that goes against what God wants for us, what God says is right. It's easy to switch our minds off when we're watching TV shows and movies. Without even realizing it I can start cheering for that dating couple to hook up or that main character to steal a car or that "villain" to be killed. On some level I'm being brainwashed into accepting the morals of the filmmakers.

And it's not just shows that shape the way we think. The news we watch can influence our perspective. If we hear one side of an argument over and over and over again, it becomes easier and easier to believe it or agree with the speakers, no matter how ridiculous their positions may seem at first. Advertising, too, uses short, crafted stories to try to convince us that we need certain products to be happy or to feel complete. In many ways, TV bombards us with more constant messaging than the movies.

So what do we do to combat this subtle brainwashing? I don't think Christians need to just avoid TV and movies altogether. They can also teach us things that are good and beautiful and true. But I think we need to watch critically. We need to think about the messages our shows and movies convey. Sometimes we should stay away from certain projects. I don't think I can give a hard and fast rule, but I think there are limits where a film or series can have so much graphic violence or explicit sexual content or rampant disregard for God and His name that Christians should simply avoid it. I think we should place limits on how much we watch. And finally, I think we need to root ourselves in God's story, the true story of the world, by reading the Bible and worshiping and spending time with other believers. If God's story is the main story shaping us, we'll be better prepared to evaluate and (when necessary) resist other stories. It's good to remember that our goal is not to conform to the values of movies and TV but to be transformed by God.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. Lanie and I continued our ice cream cone sculpture hunt this week:

#231 A Different Brew

My beloved Milwaukee Brewers clinched a division title on Sunday. I was ecstatic, bouncing around in celebration before picking up Lanie and Mia and Tess and kissing them one-by-one. In the first twenty seasons of my life, the Brewers did not win the division even once. Now they've won three times in the last eleven seasons, including twice in the last four years. It has been absolutely wonderful. The Brewers are more than just a sports team to me. They're my favorites. Their success brings me joy in a way that my teams in sports can't quite match. I often internally refer to the members of the team by their first names—Corbin, Willy, Josh, and so on—almost like they're members of my own family. After six months of games, the players pretty well feel like family.

This year's Brew Crew has worked differently than the other successful Milwaukee teams in my lifetime. Previous good Brewers teams have batted very well and used offense to cover up less intimidating starting pitching (though the 2011 squad boasted a few high quality starters as well). This year's offense hasn't been much better than decent on its best days, but the starting pitching is phenomenal. Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta all looked like Cy Young contenders for a while, and Burnes still has an extremely good case to take home the trophy. Meanwhile Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer have been sneakily good since the All-Star Break. (Poor Brett Anderson has battled minor injuries quite often and hasn't been as dependable as the others, but he's still been far from terrible.) The Brewers aren't World Series favorites, but with an elite starting rotation—plus a formidable bullpen—they certainly have a chance to go where no Brewers team has gone before. So when our postseason starts in ten days, I'll be watching when I can and rotating through all my Brewers gear for as long as the ride lasts. Claws up, Milwaukee. October is coming.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. Lanie and I crossed off another ice cream cone statue:

#230 Starting Again

I am just under a month into my time as pastor at Calvin Christian Reformed Church. In some ways, beginning ministry in a second congregation is much less intimidating than starting up the first time around. I have five years of experience now. I've learned a lot about who I am as a pastor and what my strengths and weaknesses are. I've developed some rhythms and learned how to handle a pretty good number of situations—sometimes learning the hard way, sometimes learning from conversations with fellow church leaders. So while my context is different, I have a better idea of what to expect and what to look out for this time around.

But again and again over the past few weeks I've found myself thinking of one thing that I can't bring with me from my previous work: my knowledge of the congregation. Starting up at Calvin has helped me realize just how much I knew about the people in Kanawha. I knew basic things like names and jobs of course. But I also knew about family trees and personal histories. I'd learned what was important to different church members, the things they cared about and worried about. I knew who liked to be visited and who didn't really like to sit and visit, which people were big talkers and which people needed a little more prompting to settle into a conversation. When I stepped into the pulpit and looked out at the congregation, I saw a group of people I really knew. Hopefully that knowledge helped me do a better job of preaching to them specifically. Lately when I get up to preach, I almost feel like I'm preaching to a group of strangers. Someday I'll really know the people I regularly preach to again, but this kind of knowledge takes time. So I'm back to work, making visits, listening to stories, taking mental notes during brief conversations after the service and around town. Remembering how good things can be gives me a little extra incentive to gather information and learn about these new people. I'm looking forward to knowing them, too.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. Lanie and I tracked down one more ice cream cone sculpture:

#229 Lanie's First Day of School

Lanie started preschool last week. After months and months of eagerly talking about going to school, she finally got her chance. Preschool must have lived up to Lanie's expectations, because one of the first things she said to Tess was, "Mom, I get to go to school tomorrow!" She's been playing with all sorts of new things, listening to stories, learning songs, and finding out how to get along with other kids.

As Lanie's dad, I'm excited for her. I look forward to watching her learn and develop. I'm eager for her to make new friends. I want her to continue to develop her own personality. Lanie starting preschool is a little bittersweet, however. Up to this point, Lanie's always been at home; she never went to daycare or anything like that. Now she's off away from home, having all sorts of adventures and making memories without Mom and Dad. I'm happy for her. I want her to grow up. But I am a little sad that I won't get to witness all the fun she's having. She'll just have to fill me in when she gets home.

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. Lanie and I found some more ice cream cone sculptures:

#228 I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!

Just under two weeks ago the Hofman family moved to Le Mars, IA. (That's why my blog has been pretty dead for the past month. We've been quite busy packing and moving and getting settled.) After five years serving in Kanawha, Tess and I felt God calling us to move on. I am now the pastor of Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Le Mars.

Le Mars is famous for being the ice cream capital of the world. Wells Enterprises, the company behind Blue Bunny ice cream, has its headquarters here, so more ice cream is made in Le Mars than anywhere else in the world. Getting settled in a new house and a new town is a process, and sometimes Lanie and Mia don't know quite what to think. So to help our girls get excited about their new home, we took a trip to the ice cream parlor on our first full day in Le Mars.

Lanie loved the birthday cake flavor, which has sprinkles and frosting mixed in. Mia didn't care which flavor she got; she was happy to share with both Mom and Dad.

Le Mars also has ice cream cone sculptures scattered throughout town, so Lanie and I are in the process of exploring town by looking for ice cream cones. Here's the first few we've found.

I'll keep you posted on how the great ice cream cone hunt is going. I'll also provide some more updates on our transition to Le Mars in the future that aren't all about ice cream. See you next time!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#227 WHOOOOSHHH! BOOOOOM!

Over the past month or so, Lanie has become really interested in my comics. It started with her discovering a couple all-ages series by Art Baltazar and Franco: Superman Family Adventures and Super Powers. We read through those collections issue by issue. Then we did it again and again and again. I did my best to use different voices for each of the characters—a slightly deeper and more heroic voice for Superman, a little higher and confident voice for Lois Lane, an arrogant voice for Lex Luthor, a gruff voice for Perry White, an excitable and somewhat timid voice for Jimmy Olsen, and so on. And, of course, I had lots of fun making the sound effects. You can't truly read comics without the sound effects.

From there things snowballed a bit. I got a new Superman book for Fathers' Day. Lanie saw that lying around and started flipping through it. Before long she asked me to read her some stories from that book. Then she started wondering about some other books I have. I don't know that she really understands everything that's going on, especially in the dialogue, but she does pay close attention. So now we read comics together pretty regularly. Lanie still loves the books geared toward kids most of all, but she is expanding her horizons a little bit.

I hope that Lanie continues to enjoy comics as she gets older. I'd love to read more stories with her, especially some of my favorites. Maybe we could even talk about them a little bit. But if she's not interested down the road, that'll be okay, too. At least we're having some fun now. Up, up, and away!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#226 Bucks in 6

The Milwaukee Bucks did it! They won the NBA Finals. For the first time in 50 years, they're the champs. I was gone to Bible camp last week, so I didn't get to watch the last game live, but once we saw the results I celebrated as best as I could. I jumped up and down. I pumped my fist. I picked Tess up and spun around with her. The high schoolers thought I was a little nuts. I didn't care.

The Bucks did it! It's still hard for me to believe. For most of my life the Bucks have been aggressively mediocre. There were some flashes of brilliance, particularly in the last couple years, but even as my hero Giannis Antetokounmpo blossomed into the MVP, the team still couldn't make it to the Finals. But this year everything came together. Series after series the Bucks simply overcame each challenge. There were a couple times where I thought Milwaukee was done for, but they kept coming back.

And Giannis. Giannis! If I blogged about the Greek Freak every week for the rest of the year, I don't think I could do the man justice. He was phenomenal. He was mesmerizing. He was unstoppable. The chase-down blocks. The domination in the paint. The back-to-back 40-point games. The block at the end of Game 4. The alleyoop at the end of Game 5. 50 points (including 17-19 on free throws!) and willing the team to victory in Game 6. Eight years ago, Milwaukee drafted an 18-year-old kid who became the NBA's Most Improved Player, then the NBA's Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. He had chances to leave, to seek a bigger market or flashier teammates. But he chose to stay. Now Giannis is a champion and a Finals MVP. No matter what happens the rest of his career, he's going to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. And he did it all in Milwaukee. Milwaukee! All my basketball dreams have come true. So thanks, Giannis. Thanks, Bucks. Miwaukee won. Nobody can take that away from us.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#225 Mia and the 1K

About a year ago,our local library challenged us to read one thousand books with Mia before kindergarten. (We did the same thing with Lanie if you want to look back to post #197.) Mia's still a long ways from heading off to school, but last night we completed the challenge. Here's a picture of us reading the last book, Guess How Much I Love You:

As Mia has grown over this past year, she has come to enjoy reading more and more. (That's why we finished quickly.) She doesn't really talk at this point, but she often comes over to Tess or me with a book in hand and grunts at us to read to her. We still haven't progressed beyond reading board books with Mia, but she's more than satisfied with these short, simple books for now. She especially loves special books: books that play music, books with flaps to lift, books with textures to feel, books with pieces to slide with your fingers. We've wondered Where's Spot? time and time again. We heard about how Jesus Loves Me over and over. We've kept track of the animals on Noah's Ark and sung along with Baby Shark and the Family Orchestra. When we finish reading, Mia likes to take the books and look back through the pages herself. It is a joy to watch Mia's face light up when we read. I'm looking forward to getting to more complicatated books with multiple speaking characters that will enable me to break out the silly voices. I am beyond happy to get to read with Mia so day after day. Hopefully Mia will enjoy reading and being read to for many years to come.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#224 Salvation and Sex

Thinking about sex and sexuality is one of the places where the morals and values of Christianity differ the most from the morals and values of the surrounding culture in the U.S. I think it's fair to say that American culture in general views sex as something that people deserve and even need. Having sex is viewed as part of what it means to be human. But Christian teaching disagrees. Christians believe that sex is desirable and good in its proper place, but sex is not something that people need. In fact, Christians would stress that sex is not for everyone.

This Christian emphasis is more important than we might realize at first. That's because of Jesus. I can confidently say that Jesus never had sex. Jesus wasn't married. The Bible is quite clear in teaching that God has designed sex only for marriage. The Bible is also quite clear that Jesus never sinned, never went against God's will. So, according to accepted Christian teaching, Jesus didn't have sex.

Now as Christians, we believe that our salvation depends entirely on Jesus, who is God the Son. A key part of our beliefs is that God the Son became fully human so that He could save human beings. If Jesus wasn't fully human, then His life and ministry and death and resurrection on His people's behalf doesn't actually apply to us, and we are lost. So if American culture is right, and people need sex to be fully human, then Jesus wasn't fully human. In that case no one could be saved. But the truth, as God teaches us, is that we don't need sex. Jesus was fully human, like us in every way—except He was sinless and perfect.

Please note that I'm not denying that Jesus had a human sexuality. I'm sure that He was attracted to others and had sexual desires. That is part of being human. But unlike all the rest of us, Jesus never had improper sexual desires and never improperly acted upon his proper sexual desires. Jesus assumed a complete human nature to redeem all parts of human nature. So Jesus must have assumed human sexuality to redeem human sexuality. Through the Bible, Jesus teaches us how His saved and renewed people should live when it comes to sex and sexuality as well as other areas of life.

I understand how it might look bad for me, a married Christian, to tell others that they shouldn't have sex in their current situation in life while I'm in a life situation where I believe I can—and to an extent, even should—have sex. But I'm not making this teaching up. This comes from Jesus our Savior, who lived a fully human life and who knows what it's like to desire sex but who never did have sex. Jesus calls us to turn from our sins and follow Him, offering us forgiveness for our sins and a new mission of living for Him. He wants to free us from having sex control our lives. He wants to teach us a better, more satisfying, more fulfilling way of life with Him.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#223 Game 7

On Saturday my beloved Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Brooklyn Nets in game 7 of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinals matchup. It was an intense game, with several lead changes and a lot of back-and-forth action in the second half. Totally caught up in the game, I don't think I sat down for more than about two minutes once the third quarter started. I nervously paced between the TV and the recliner. I pumped my fist in celebration after Milwaukee baskets and clapped my hands in satisfaction after defensive stops. I moaned in disbelief at ticky-tack fouls called by the officials. And when everything became too much to handle, I simply leaned forward and rested my hands on my knees. Overtime nearly did me in, but my Bucks gutted it out. When it became clear that the Bucks were going to win the game and the series, I nearly lost my mind in jubilation. I raced and jumped around the room. Screaming, I called my dad and dragged him out of bed. Tess rebuked me sternly, threatening me with her unbridled fury if I woke Lanie and Mia up. I didn't care. My hero, Giannis Antetokounmpo, had led the team to victory, squeezing out just enough points and hustle plays. It took me at least an hour to calm down after being so hyped up. The Bucks have won 2 series. If they win 2 more series, they'll be the champs. Let's hope my floorboards can handle the stress.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#222 Watch Along

The internet informed me that this past Saturday (June 12) was Superman Day. To celebrate I pulled my Superman t-shirt out of my dresser in the morning and fired up a couple animated Superman movies in the late afternoon/evening. I'm part of an online Superman fan club, and one of the members set up a movie marathon. Even though we were all in different locations, we all started the films at the same time and used a group chat to share our favorite moments, make witty comments, and wonder where in the world we'd encountered these actors before. It wasn't really the same as watching a movie with other people in the room, but with my family out of town for the weekend, it was pretty cool to "hear" from other people while watching a couple old favorites. It's always good to have something to keep me from talking to myself, and it was fun to experience some other people's perspectives. Plus, even though Tess is a very good sport, it was probably good for me to get my Superman-watching in when she was busy. All in all, it was a good Superman Day. Till next time!

Grace and peace,

BMH

#221 Lament

Over the past year or so I've been trying to practice lament. Lament is a type of prayer that shows up frequently in the Bible. When we lament, we call God's attention to evil, injustice, and suffering in our lives and in the world. A lament is sort of like a complaint and sort of like a protest. Laments are filled with lots of questions that begin with "Why" and especially "How long." (e.g. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Psalm 22:1] How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? [Psalm 13:1]) But lament isn't used so much to question God as to cry out for His help or move Him to take action. At first glance, we might think prayers of lament doubt God, but they actually express faith in God. God's people turn to Him with laments because we trust that He cares about the evil, injustice, and suffering in our world and that He has the power, wisdom, and goodness to set things right. Lament gives us a way to pray when other people wrong us or mistreat us or falsely accuse us. Lament gives us a way to pray for and with others who are abused or discriminated against or oppressed, especially when it seems we can do nothing about those situations. Lament gives us a way to bring to God the troubles in our world that we don't fully understand and seem helpless against: things like pandemics and terrible storms and widespread poverty and inequalities in our societies. God cares about these evils and the suffering they bring, so God's people should care about them, too.

Now lament isn't the only kind of prayer. Some wrongs in the world are clearly caused by our own sins. We hurt others; we make wrong and foolish choices. Then we need to confess our sins and wickedness to God and ask for His forgiveness. Laments in the Bible pretty much always lead to specific requests. After calling God's attention to some trouble, we ask Him to intervene—to heal, to restore, to strengthen, to guide, and so on. Laments often also go hand-in-hand with prayers of trust and praise and thanksgiving. We lament because we trust that God cares and will act. We confidently vow to praise God after He acts. And when God does act, we praise His character—who He is—and give thanks for His actions—what He has done. However, while lament isn't the only kind of prayer, I think it's a type of prayer we need, especially in the midst of broken world. Lately I've been trying to include lament in my congregation's worship services: usually alongside prayers of confession but sometimes as part of our more general prayer time (the "prayers of the people" or "congregational prayer" or "long prayer" or whatever you want to call it). I wouldn't say lament is totally natural for me yet, but I'm getting used to it. It seems to help me remember the world's troubles and remind me of the greatness of God's power and care. Lament helps me expand my prayers.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#220 I've Had It!

In our church's sanctuary there are a few chairs behind the pulpit. My daughters like to come up there and sit on my lap during the prelude on Sunday mornings, but Tess does not want to sit up front with our young, noisy, restless kids. So just before the service began yesterday, Tess took Mia and tried to lead her up the aisle to their normal seat in the back of the sanctuary. Mia's walking these days, so she started tottering along after Tess. However, about halfway, Mia decided she was DONE walking. She lowered herself onto all fours, buried her head in the carpet and started crying loudly. Tess tried to offer some verbal encouragement. That didn't work. A man sitting near where Mia stopped tried to come over and say hello. Mia just yelled even louder. Finally, with every head in the building turned toward Mia, Tess had to walk back a few rows and scoop her off the floor. But what did Mia care? She didn't have to walk any farther. I suppose it's nice to be a toddler.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#219 Still Ready to Party

Back in April 2019 (Post #124), I wrote about Party Mix, the playlist I'd originally made for my 25th birthday party. I've been listening to and expanding Party Mix for five years now, continuing to add new artists that I discover and enjoy as well new releases from artists I've been following for years. With a Spotify subscription and a personality that takes great joy in mixing up what I listen to in the hopes of stumbling upon something great I've never heard before, I have access to way more great music than I could ever listen to regularly. So I've found that Party Mix is beginning to act sort of like a living time capsule. It stores all the stuff I've been listening to lately, but it also holds treasures that I played on repeat three or ten years ago but don't throw on quite as often anymore. So Party Mix is always a fun listening experience, unpredictably toggling between my current jams and tracks that bring back great memories. More and more Party Mix is becoming my go-to when I'm driving. It's almost impossible to not be in a good mood when I'm  cruising around with song after song that makes me want to turn it up. Party on.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#218 Puppies?

Mia, my one-year-old daughter, really likes puppies. Whether from seeing dogs or hearing her family members imitate them, Mia has figured out that one of things puppies do is pant. When she sees a dog in a book or hears one around town, she'll pant and point. (Mia's not using words yet, and I guess barking must be a bit too difficult.) A couple weeks ago our family went to the zoo while on vacation. We pointed out all sorts of animals to Mia—giraffes, rhinos, alligators, monkeys, bears, seals, and so on. Pretty much without fail, Mia would look at each new animal and pant. It's impossible to know for sure what's going on in Mia's developing mind. I don't know if she thinks all animals are puppies or if she thinks all animals pant or what. All I can say is that Mia makes an interesting companion at the zoo.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#217 Hometown Hunger

My hometown, Waupun, WI, is the only place in the world where I can get my favorite pizza. Tony's Pizza has been a Waupun staple for three generations. Outside of my own family's dishes, Tony's is the taste that makes me feel most at home. Tony's is not a pizza for the faint of heart. The crust isn't exactly thin, but it's not terribly thick. A generous layer of rich red sauce is slathered nearly to the edge. And then there's the cheese. If you've never had Tony's, picture the cheesiest pizza you've ever eaten. Now double that amount of cheese. (This is Wisconsin pizza!) The amount of cheese on this pizza should probably be measured in pounds, but it somehow doesn't drown out the taste of the sauce. Any toppings are distributed generously to complete the blend of flavors. The whole thing is cooked to golden perfection, with the crust just beginning to crisp and the cheese on the edges just beginning to brown. Tony's is comfort food, filling every corner of your stomach. There are traditional pizza sizes, and then there's the party-size football. Look at this beauty:

The greatest works of art aren't framed -- they're eaten.
(Actual caption from the Tony's Pizza Facebook page.)

For me, piping-hot Tony's is pizza perfection. I try to get some whenever I'm back in Waupun. There's no taste like home.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#216 Holiness

Lately some of us at the church where I serve as pastor have been reading the book of Leviticus. Leviticus can be an extremely difficult book to read and understand. We've read through some very detailed instructions for sacrifices. We've read a lot of laws about ceremonial cleanliness that focus on things like skin diseases and bodily emissions. It's easy to feel lost in the weeds at times, wondering what in the world all these regulations are supposed to teach God's people today. I've been reflecting on this a lot, and I've consulted a couple resources written by people much smarter and wiser than me. So here's my take:

Leviticus shows us that God is holy. God Himself stresses His holiness several times in the book. God is perfect and completely separate from sin. God's holiness means that His people must be holy. We must be separated from sin and set apart for God's service. I think God gives laws about external cleanliness to teach us that we can't just come before Him however we want. We need to think about ourselves and the things we've done. The external laws are really meant to point us to internal cleanliness, the condition of our souls, our hearts. We are sinners. Using the Ten Commandments as a guide, our hearts are full of things like idolatry, improper worship of God, misuse of God and His name for our own purposes, unwillingness to trust and prioritize God, disrespect for and misuse of authority, hatred and unjustified anger, lust, greed, dishonesty, improper and inordinate desires. Our sins separate us from God. The sacrifices teach us that something must be done about our sins if we are to come before God, because our sins mean we don't have the right to just come into His presence. In Leviticus animals served as substitutes for human beings. Animals were sacrificed for the human's sins, showing God's justice and need to punish/deal with sin as well as His mercy and willingness to forgive sin. All those sacrifices point us to Jesus, the perfect substitute who died once for all the sins of all His people. As hard as Leviticus can be to understand, I think it reminds us that God is holy and just and that in love and mercy He reaches out to His people to cleanse us from our sins and give us access to Him. I think that's a beautiful perpective on what God has done for us in Jesus.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#215 On Track

I've spent quite a few hours of my life at track meets. Before I was in high school I'd go along with my dad while he coached high school track and field. Then I ran track all through high school and college. I always enjoyed track, but cross country was my true love. Especially in college some of the track meets just felt like they went on forever. We'd spend a full day or even parts of a few days at a meet as event after event after event went by. During those long spring days, a cross country meet with one women's race and one men's race sometimes sounded so nice.

But now it's been nearly nine years since my last track meet. I spent just a little time at a local high school meet a couple weeks ago, and I remembered all the good things about being at a meet with the team. Despite the long hours, there was always something going on, and usually at least one teammate could be cheered on. The grandstand nature of track added a little bit of nervousness as well as a dash of extra excitement as my own events approached and began. And during those stretches of down time, my teammates were always around. All that extra time made for a greater sense of community. Looking back, I have fond memories of dumb conversations we had on the bus, along the fence, in the infield, and over by the tent.  When the weather cooperates, I don't know that there's a place I'd rather spend a spring afternoon and evening. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe that somewhere a gun lap is just about to begin.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#214 Beep! Beep!

We have HBO Max for a month at the Hofman house, which has given me a chance to introduce Lanie and Mia to Looney Tunes. We've had some fun with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, Tweety and Sylvester, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam. We've briefly met Marvin the Martian and the Tasmanian Devil. At this point, Lanie's favorite character is definitely Bugs Bunny, which makes sense. He's funny, and he pretty much always comes out on top.

My favorites, however, are Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. Their brilliant cartoons are so simple: no dialogue (unless you count Road Runner's "Beep! Beep!" noises), just Wile E. Coyote plotting and failing to catch Road Runner over and over again. But I don't get sick of them. I get such a kick out of all the gags, from the fake scientific names (e.g. speedipus rex, overconfidentii vulgaris) to the unending supply of ridiculous Acme Corporation products to the never-ending ways in which Wile E.'s plans backfire. Just today we watched him dress up in a female road runner costume only to have about two dozen other coyotes start chasing him. Classic. Then there's my pick for the greatest gag: the painted tunnel. Check it out:

Simply amazing. I think Lanie's starting to roll her eyes whenever I fire up another Road Runner cartoon. But I don't care. Hopefully she'll learn to appreciate them someday.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#213 Some Christian Perspectives on Sex in Marriage

Picking up from my last post (I'd recommend going to read that one first if you haven't already), I'd like to share some things I've learned about how we as Christians should think about sex in marriage. I'm sure I won't cover everything, but hopefully this will be a helpful starting point.

First, sex is good, enjoyable, desirable, fun. Well, duh, Brian, you're probably thinking. I know that seems obvious, but I think it's worth stating. Sometimes we Christians seem to talk almost exclusively about how sex outside of marriage is wrong (and it is a sin), and so give the wrong impression that all sex is somehow dirty or at least only tolerable. But sex between husband and wife is a good thing. God designed us to enjoy sex, to desire our spouses, to take pleasure from physical intimacy. Sometimes I think Christians can struggle in marriage, especially early on, feeling like they shouldn't desire their spouse. But God wants married couples to enjoy sex. If you don't believe me, go read Song of Songs a few times.

Second, we as Christians should think of sex in marriage terms of giving. So often our culture portrays sex in selfish terms, teaching us to think about what we are getting out of sex. But I think it's much healthier for us to think of giving ourselves to our spouse. God tells us in the Bible that our bodies belong to each other in marriage. Each person should put their spouse first. We should think and act out of love for each other—there's no space for taking or forcing here. What does your spouse enjoy? What makes your spouse feel safe and comfortable? How often does your spouse want sex?

Third, I think we often wrongly try to think of sex as somehow separate from the rest of our married lives. But that's silly. As human beings we are body and soul together. We shouldn't expect physical intimacy to go well if we're having trouble sharing our feelings or communicating about decisions. Sex isn't off in some completely other dimension from things like eating together or helping around the house. All the parts of marriage are connected together. We can think about sex contributing to our marriage as a whole and also building on the other things we do togther as spouses. Sex isn't unimportant, but it's certainly not everything. We shouldn't expect to totally neglect physical romance, nor should we think it's all we need.

Fourth, I think we as Christians think more about connection and unity and not be overly concerned about passion or excitement. I'm not here to say sex can't be passionate or spontaneous or anything like that. But let's not confuse familiar with boring. To borrow what I think is a really helpful image from Lauren Winner, we as married couples can think about sex like comfort food. We're not less satisfied by mashed potatoes and gravy or chocolate chip cookies because we know what's coming. In fact, sometimes part of the enjoyment is knowing exactly what we're getting—an old favorite. Sex isn't about imitating couples on TV or impressing our partners but about coming together, being open with each other, caring for one another. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying married sex has to be repetitive or unenthusiastic. But there's nothing wrong with comfortable and familiar. Sometimes all we need is to be with the person we love and have promised to share our lives with.

Finally and most importantly, as Christians we should approach sex with the goal of honoring God. This is the point that holds true whatever our circumstance, both inside and outside of marriage. In marriage we have the wonderful opportunity to express our physical desires, but we still need self-control. We shouldn't forget that nobody needs sex to survive. So we work on staying faithful to our spouses in actions and thoughts. We thank God for the gift of physical intimacy. We don't manipulate or exploit each other. Our marriages are meant reflect the relationship and unity between Jesus and His people, the church. So we should use sex as a tool to strengthen our marriage and bring us closer together. As couples we should cherish and cultivate and enjoy God's gift of sex.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#212 Marriage Prep and Marriage Help

I've been thinking about sex quite a bit lately. No, not like you're thinking. I've been pondering how we as Christians think about sex, forming sort of a theology of sex. (Okay, I've also had some of those other kinds of thoughts, too, but that's beside the point.) I started reflecting on sex and what it means for Christians becuase my denomination, the Christian Reformed Church, is going to consider a study report on human sexuality at our next denominational meeting. Then a couple months ago I read Real Sex by Lauren Winner, which got my thinking about sex all over again.

There are so many things worth talking about when it comes to sex and sexuality, and I certainly can't cover them all in a blog post. Maybe I'll pick up some different subtopics in the future. This time I want to reflect on sex within marriage. I've been a Christian as long as I can remember. When I was growing up in the church, older Christians, such as my parents, explained that God has designed sex for marriage and so rightly taught me to wait for marriage to have sex. When I was twenty-two, I got married and stepped into uncharted territory. Suddenly sex was no longer something forbidden or something off in some possible future. But I really didn't have much of a framework of how to think about sex in marriage. Almost everything my fellow Christians had taught me had been about abstinence, and that didn't really apply to me anymore. Pretty much anything I knew or thought about what sex was supposed to look like in marriage I had unintentionally picked up from TV shows and movies, from my culture rather than the church. Finally I was in a place where I could appropriately express my sexual desires, but I had very little idea what that should mean for my marriage or my relationship with Christ Jesus.

Now I don't want to be too hard on my fellow Christians. I certainly didn't want to hear anything about sex from my parents. (I still don't, for that matter.) When I was a teenager in youth group, I don't think I was probably ready to really hear about how to approach sex as a married person. I'm sure it came up a little bit in premarital counseling, but we mostly focused on other things. As a pastor, I think working on communication is the most important thing to cover in that brief time. And again, most people probably don't want to hear too much about sex from their pastor or their future spouse's pastor, or the pastor they don't really know who happens to be officiating their wedding as the case may be. And I did hear some good things. The Christians around me did affirm that sex is good in its proper place, a gift from God. I did have some very basic understanding that sex brings two people together as one—and not just in a physical sense.

But I definitely could have used more instruction from a Christian perspective. I think we as Christians tend to drop the ball in thinking and talking about sex within marriage. We're generally not doing all the work we should do in preparing and helping each other to live faithfully as followers of Jesus. Probably what I needed was one or two Christians who had a little marriage experience and whom I trusted to pull me aside after I was engaged and talk with me about how to honor God when it comes to sex. And then after Tess and I got married we should've had some fellow Christians to talk with now and again. But I didn't have that, and—let's not let me off the hook here—I didn't seek that out either. We Christians are often not nearly as interested in accountability as we should be, and we're especially uncomfortable when it comes to sex. So we all end up trying to fend for ourselves and figure things out on our own, which makes us weaker than we could or should be. 

To state the obvious, sex is everywhere in our culture. And the vast majority of what we pick up on TV or online is radically different from what God wants for His people. Certainly God teaches us through the Bible and guides us through the Holy Spirit, but sometimes applying what God wants to our specific situation isn't easy. We shouldn't just expect to figure it all out on our own or leave others to fend for themselves. We Christians can't just be silent. We need to support each other, even if that means learning to talk about a topic that makes us uncomfortable.

I've got a few other thoughts, but this is getting long, so let's leave it here for now. I'll plan to share some general things I've learned from others (and maybe a bit from experience) in a future post.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#211 Madness

I've been mentally drafting a somewhat lengthy and theological post, but I'm running short on blogging time this week, so I guess I'll have to postpone that. (Stay tuned!) This week let's talk about the beauty of watching the men's NCAA basketball tournament in 2021. I have been beyond satisfied watching college hoops the past few days. I love that the broadcasts always show what's going on in any other games currently going on. Those little boxes are fantastic, and they even count down when the clock is running elsewhere. So if the game I want to watch goes to a commercial break, I can flip over to a different game that will show me when my game resumes play. That's amazing. We have YouTube TV at our house, and it makes switching back and forth between games a breeze. No remembering channel numbers or worrying about which network will come up when you hit the back button. On Friday and Saturday I could easily toggle between four games and alway know exactly where I was going. Now all of this stuff will be pretty unnecessary when the tournament comes back next weekend, but for now I'm grateful to have been able to have complete control as I savor the madness. After losing the tournament last year, I'm just so glad it's back.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#210 Alphabet Soup

This post is not going to be very serious, but I think it's still important. Lanie is now four years old, and she's starting to learn about letters. She has some alphabet flash cards that she likes to look at once in a while. So we talk about the names of the letters and the sounds they make. I'd like to a file a formal complaint about this letter: W. We call that thing "double u." That's a terrible idea. Never mind the fact that in most people's penmanship and most fonts it looks more like a double v. Calling that letter "double u" tells nothing about the sound it makes. There's no "wuh" anywhere in there. We should call it "wee" or "way" or—if you don't like that those suggestions are already English words—"wub." Then our poor children might have an easier time associating the letter with the sound it makes.

And while we're at it, I'd like to complain about a couple other things, too. G should never make a sound like J makes. That's what the letter J is for. I don't care if English shares its alphabet with other languages or if some of words are imported from other languages with different rules. Let's standardize our own letter sounds. JIANT and JIRAFFE might look funny now, but we can adapt. Let's help out the people learning English, especially those poor souls who have to learn it as a secondary lanugage.

And don't even get me started on C. Why do we even have this letter? Sometimes it makes a K sound and sometimes it makes an S sound. So let's just use K and S. I'm all for talking about SIRKLES. Actually, let's make that SIRKELS or even SURKELS. Then's it obvious how to pronounce that word. If we absolutely need to hold on to the letter C for the sake of history or because no one wants to redesign or keyboards or whatever, then let's have it make a "chuh" sound instead. That's a distinct and useful sound. Plus, it'll shorten the spelling of a lot of our words. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sit on my KOUC.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#209 Not Boring

From time to time my blog doubles as a Superman blog. Superman is back on TV these days with a new show, Superman & Lois, so let's talk about Big Blue. When Superman comes to the big screen or small screen I get excited and look for news stories online. Inevitably I run across articles or comments complaining that Superman is boring. Superman! Boring! Today I am here to passionately object. Superman is a lot of things, but Superman is not boring.

First, Superman has a full set of superpowers, including the power of flight. He can do so many incredible extraordinary things. He can go anywhere. But I won't just tell you. Let me show you:

Look at that! I think that scene is so cool. Honestly I could probably watch an entire movie of Supes flying around like that. What's so boring about having super-strength or x-ray vision or super-speed?

But wait, you might say, that's what makes Superman boring. He has too many powers! Nothing is a challenge for him. But that's just not true. Superman faces all sorts of threats that he has to struggle to defeat. Writers will find ways to pit him against other survivors from his home planet or other aliens or monsters that can drain his powers. And there are other ways to challenge Superman, too. Throw a huge hurricane at a populated city, putting millions of people in danger. Superman can't just fix that in a moment. Or, have multiple disasters or villains striking at the same time. Even Superman can't be two places at once. How will he decide what to do first? How will he respond when he fails or can't save everyone? There's good drama there! That's not boring.

Plus, despite what you may think, Superman is far from invulnerable. Sure, almost nothing can physically hurt him. But Superman is also Clark Kent, and he has tons of ordinary people that he cares deeply about. Like any good person, Superman hurts when his loved ones suffer. I would argue that Superman is more connected to more regular people than a lot of superheroes. He has an everyday job as a newspaper reporter that he has to balance with his superheroics. He's not rich. He doesn't isolate himself. He gets involved in people's lives. Sometimes he lets his boss down or struggles in his friendships or worries about whether or not he really fits in when he feels different from the people around him. In those ways I think Superman is more human, more relatable than most other heroes.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I think that if you think Superman is boring, there's a decent chance you just haven't experienced a good Superman story yet. I can come up with a couple dozen off the top of my head and could probably give you a list of a hundred if you gave me a day or two. That being said, maybe Superman isn't for you. While I appreciate Superman, maybe you appreciate different characters or different genres of stories. That's okay. But after more than eighty years as a popular and frequently adapted character, I think it's safe to say that Superman isn't boring.

Grace and peace,

BMH