#305 Being Jimmy Olsen

For this post to work, you need to know who Jimmy Olsen is. Back in the 1950s, when The Adventures of Superman was on TV, everybody knew Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy is a photographer at the Daily Planet, where he works with Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Traditionally Jimmy is roughly a teenager, a little bit younger than Clark and Lois, who are both working adults. Due to the TV show, Jimmy Olsen became so popular that he had his own comic book, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, which ran for 20 years. (And then Jimmy's adventures were part of The Superman Family, which ran for another 8 years.) That might not seem unusual, but Jimmy Olsen has no special powers or abilities. He doesn't really fight crime. His claim to fame is that he's friends with Superman. Jimmy wears a special watch that emits an ultra-sonic signal so he can get ahold of Superman when he's in trouble, which happens a lot.

A few months back I had a conversation with a church member who was really struggling with some health challenges. We talked on what seemed to be a particularly tough day, and after our conversation ended, I was feeling down. I wished I could do something to make this person feel better. As I walked home, it occurred to me that I'm not and can't be Superman, but I can be Jimmy Olsen. See, I'm nobody's savior. I've never demonstrated any miraculous powers, and there are a lot of troubles that are simply beyond me. But I know Christ Jesus, who can handle any trouble. In fact, He calls me His friend. I don't have a signal watch, but I can pray. What's more, I can trust that Christ will hear me and that He is able to help out. Like Jimmy Olsen tells people about Superman, I can tell others about Jesus and, in a sense, help them contact Him. What happens then is up to Christ, but I know from personal experience that He is powerful and good.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#304 Look! Up in the Sky!

So… it's been a while since I posted anything on this blog. Three-kid life has gotten to me. But today I have something that needs to be shared. It's the third installment in my ongoing adventures with Superbabes. (Check the first and second installments if you haven't already.)

Before we begin, you may enjoy this record of our adventures more with some theme music, whether from TV's Smallville (top) or My Adventures with Superman (bottom). (They are both pretty short, so you may need to repeat them.)

And now, the adventures continue! Superbabes streaked to the rescue with his incredible power of flight:

Arriving on the scene, Superbabes caught the evildoers off-guard by bursting through the wall:

We encountered Bizarro, Superbabes' imperfect duplicate:

Thanks to new high-speed camera technology, we were able to catch evidence of Superbabes' fantastic superspeed. To the naked eye, he would only appear as a red-blue blur:

Superbabes demonstrated his remarkable freeze breath:

Superbabes quickly destroyed a huge robot that was threatening innocent civilians:

With the threat taken care of, Superbabes imprisoned the criminal mastermind in the eerie Phantom Zone:

After another day of heroics, Superbabes paused for an exclusive interview with Lois Lane (photograph courtesy of Jimmy Olsen):

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound, Superbabes is here to save the day!

Grace and peace,

BMH