Moment for Reflection

Moment for Reflection – Roy Meares 11.08.26

Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ. My name is Roy, and I've been asked to do a reflection with you this morning. I want you to think back, for those who remember, when I first came to this church, I worked in the independent comic book and webcomic field. And I use the word work loosely because often taking one of those gigs was more costly than I was making, and so not a lot of money in comic books.

But I had a passion, and I was trying to make it in the superhero comic book biz. And one of my favorite things to write as a writer was the origins of superheroes. It is said that a good superhero origin will leave you in tears. If you're still dry-eyed by the end of a superhero origin, someone has dropped the ball, and they have done it wrong.

Just think of Superman or Spider-Man or Batman, right? Those are tragic tales. Now, why am I bringing this up? It's because Christians, like superheroes, have origin stories. You hear it all the time in Christian circles. Hang out with Christians long enough, eventually someone's gonna say, “What brought you to Christ, son?"

And they're looking for a story. And while you're telling the story, you can tell that they're waiting for the part where the bottom drops out. I'm talking about the part where your life hits rock bottom, and you're in disaster mode. And while I'm a little embarrassed to admit, I never had that kind of origin story, which both as a comic book guy and a Christian, I find deeply tragic.

I've had my losses, my mistakes, and my blunders. Oh, have I had blunders before. But I can't point to one that definitively brought me to Christ. For a long time, I thought I was missing something. Maybe my big moment was still in the mail. Maybe once it showed up, I could finally become a real believer.

Growing up, my best friend and I used to debate about God. He didn't believe, and I was a good Christian boy, and I had always been a faithful kid. And later, my friend would end up getting involved in gangs and eventually drugs and eventually going to prison. But it was in prison where he found Christ, and that's a miracle.

God bless him and amen. But here's the crazy part. I was jealous. I'd think, "Does he have a stronger faith than me?" I remember thinking, "He's so lucky that God destroyed his life only for it to be rebuilt by Jesus Christ," which is a pretty ridiculous thing to be envious about, right?

Many years later, I would end up in Pleasantville. I moved in with my mother, who'd been having some health problems. I was trying to make a go at life and in faith, and I remember when I was moving in her condo was this framed Catholic print, right? And I have no idea who the guy in the picture is, but it was this guy who appeared to be a hippie. And I don't mean a flower child.

I mean he was like a Bob Ross-like hippie, and he was surrounded by African children, big smile on his face. You know the type. He had the mullet and a mustache and a colorful golf shirt. I couldn't see his feet, but I bet if we panned back and we could see his feet, he was probably wearing something carefree like sandals. But the important part of that picture was the quote underneath, which had a profound impact on my life.

Now, I don't remember the exact words and, but I will attempt to paraphrase it right here and now. "I dreamed that God asked me what I wanted out of life. I told him I wanted a life of joy. He told me to serve. When I woke up, I served, and after a while, I learned that service is joy." I remember thinking, "What is this nonsense?"

I really had a good laugh. Eventually, I would end up here at this church, and I decided to take his advice. I closed my eyes, I jumped in, and I swam. I gave some of my time and some of my energy, and yes, some of my money. At first, it was just doing small things here and there that I thought I was able to pull off.

But eventually, I was in full service mode, and let me tell you, it has been an honor to serve. The guy in the picture, whoever he was, was right. I just shut up and serve, and my faith totally started making more sense to me. Through serving people and children and the needy, or maybe just being a smiling face to someone who needs it, you're not serving an institution, you're not serving a pastor, you're serving God, and that's where the joy comes in.

So I don't have an origin story. And I wanna make it clear, I am not saying the hippie in the picture was my origin story. What I am saying is that if you serve, you will be all that you can be, God will bring you joy, or you will find joy. Thank you. I have been Roy. You have been awesome. May God bless you and your loved ones, and may God bless the United States of America.