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By Nick P.
















What do you do when you're walking outside and you hear that engine sound way above your head? You know it's a plane flying over. What do you do? Keep walking and going on with your day or look up? I personally try to look up every single time. Though I am acrophobic, I can't get over the thought of tons of metal flying in the air miles above.
 
And then there are the times when the plane is too far above. I can hear it but I can't see it. There are also the times when I will see a pair of helicopters. We live near some dam power lines and groups of helicopters used to fly over and check them from time to time. I also remember jets when I was younger and watching that streak they left behind in the sky.
 
I am afraid many of us don't appreciate what wonder there is. The first time the Morse system was used to relay a message,  the message was "What hath God wrought?" Every wonder that man creates actually points back to the wonder of his creator.
 
I thought about this outside at work today taking a moment to take it all in and thinking about all I saw. The cars are amazing assemblies of metal. They weigh a lot and yet can transport us where we need to go. The buildings show the architecture we have.
 
Let us not forget what is directly from God either. Seeing the clouds in the sky showing the handiwork of God. A small shadow goes on the ground and one looks up to see a bird flying overhead. Then we have little children running by. These are the results of sexuality, a very beautiful part of creation where 1 + 1 = 3 as 2 bring in an extra.
 
Blake once said that "The naked woman's body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man." As a man, I personally do think the female form is the most beautiful of God's creations I know of. I am sure the women would agree but that form must hold wonder.
 
This is the problem with things like pornography. One can no longer look at a woman and wonder about her beauty. One can only wonder about her body and when that is done, her soul is gone. This is one reason a lady should guard her beauty and a guy should treasure it as well.
 
Might I suggest that one reason we've lost such wonder though is that we've become too realistic. Now I'm not saying we should believe outlandish stuff but am suggesting what G.K. Chesterton said, that we should live with one foot in Elfland. We should keep in mind the fairy tales we grew up with.
 
I realized that maybe one reason I've kept this wonder is that I never grew up past those fairy tales in many ways. I still play games and read books at times where the fantasy world is a big part. Even if you're not into fantasy-adventure there is always fantasy of some sort in sci-fi shows and movies.
 
Picture our children. We worry about their imaginations sometimes but I think children really do know fantasy from reality. I think children can watch a group of teenagers morph into the Power Rangers and dream about that for themselves but they know that it isn't real. Because I watched the Ninja Turtles when I was young never gave me an urge to grow a shell.
 
And while we don't dream of "Morphing" today we can think of other things. I picture being outside at times and just feeling the wind blow on a nice warm day. I will often just stick my arms out and close my eyes slightly and look up to the heavens and feel the wind blow and although I am afraid of heights, picture what it would be like to be flying with that wind blowing on me.
 
That is a wondrous feeling and it might be because there will be something beyond that someday. There are worlds better than we can dream of. In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, (Which when I beat I will write a review of.) the main character gets warped to a fantasy world. While it has dragons and moogles and magic and cool weaponry, he misses the way his friends once were and he misses his family. He longs to go back. Thank goodness, there will be a world that will be so fantastic we will never want to go back.
 
My thoughts are going to the place where I think we are sometimes trying to protect our children but killing their imaginations at the same time. Chuck Colson and Steven Arterburn are both strong Christians endorsing series like Harry Potter for instance and suggesting that we use them as doors. Let the children see something wondrous and then point them to something more wondrous, the God of all creation.
 
Indeed, some kids are already getting into works like the Chronicles of Narnia afterwards. Christians have tried boycotting and quarantining themselves and it really doesn't work. The world doesn't improve and start to listen. Why not take what we can from the culture and then go from there to make it better? Use the sense of wonder and work to the real wonder.
 
Now as for me, I think I need to go fight evil in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
 
In Christ,
Nick
















Email the author at ApologiaNick@wmconnect.com