Not the Usual Hero

 So yes, I had to go catch the New Avengers, of course; since the opening scene featured the star jumping off our very own Merdeka 118, 2nd highest building in the world. And of course I wanted to 
find out why or rather what's so new about the legendary Avengers. Well, it's...new indeed. A more human/e angle to the super-heroes and heroines that Marvel has dished out over the years. "Disposable delinquents" was the term  the character Ghost called the team of misfits. And in the words of the lead star Yelena " You have the wrong people. We have all done bad things." (Ahem, haven't we all?!) Even the name they adopted Thunderbolts*  from Yelena's childhood sports team who never won a single game sets the mood for this movie - a bunch of ex-super heroes now turned losers all haunted by their own inner demons. 

Of course there's got to be a super-villain as well. Which comes in the form of a dark being called the "Void" morphed out of Bob, a guy with serious depression issues who had volunteered for an illicit, secret Super-Soldier experiment cooked up by a female megalomaniac Valentina. She succeeds  in "birthing" Sentry ,  intended to be the invincible super-hero to replace the Avengers. But the dark side of Sentry is Void, which terrifies with his ability to turn people into literal black shadows .

The movie is well-paced, witty, and action-packed, as any Avenger movie should be. But this one came with a lot of heart.  We get drawn into each character's dark past,  as Yelena puts it "there's something wrong with me... an emptiness, a void..."  Haven't we all felt that way? It  eats you up inside, coz your life is rendered totally meaningless, no matter what you do, and your past misdeeds haunt your days. 

That's a fact of life really. All of us have dark places in our hearts. Some never quite get out of the shadows that swallow and imprison us, individually as well as collectively.  Ever efficient Valentina disparages this rag-tag team as  "defective losers, antisocial tragedy in human form. I can't think of a worse group of people trying to work together." A contrast to how the Red Guardian Yelena's adoptive father sees it - as a group which  "Has Makings Of TEAM...That Can Raise To Glory! Bring Light From The Darkness!" How very "Christian"- Immediately I thought of how believers in Jesus Christ are to be God's team,  to be light of the world, salt of the earth, to bring glory to our Maker, Redeemer and Savior.  

I liked how Red Guardian comforted Yelena, who's stuck in her loser paradigm, "When I look at you, I don't see your mistakes." Again that's so....Christian. I am  reminded how a loving merciful Father in heaven looks differently at us. It's not that He is blind to our mistakes and our sin.  Just that He has done everything necessary  to wipe them all out through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That's how His light penetrated into and filled the dark void of my life. Turning emptiness into a new meaning beyond myself. 

Another very "Christian" moment was during Bob's fight with his dark side the Void, mocking him ,  “You thought you were going to be some great man? A savior? You can’t even save yourself.” Echoes of those who mocked Jesus  as He hung on the cross, saving all of humankind from the darkness of sin that's covered the whole earth, just like the creepy blackness that swept over New York city in the movie. 

The ending is such an apt "tease" into the next-to-come  movie, as Valentina cleverly turns her own downfall into a PR exercise, introducing the bunch as the New Avengers, losers re-branded as Avenger-z. Reminds me of how everyone, no matter how much of a loser we think or others think we are, can be transformed  into "more than conquerors through Him -Christ-  who loved us" (Romans 8:37)  

Blood Thicker than Water

My summation of Blood Brothers- Bara Naga, the totally Made in Malaysia by Malaysians movie : He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother, which is the title of an old Neil Diamond hit. Whether it's brothers related by blood or by friendship. Starring the same main actors as in the very enjoyable cop movie Polis Evo 3 and jointly directed by Syafiq Yusof (who also directed PV 3) and Abhilash Chandra, Blood Brotherslives up to all the hype of a block-buster.

Get a bunch of handsome hunks, dress them up in smart suits, let them loose as professional bodyguards forming an elite gang caught up in the throes of power and position and the result is 2 hours of solid entertainment. The craftsmanship is superb; with plenty of nail-biting fast and furious action, right from the opening scene. The violence is gruesomely real - lots of blood, gore and fighting - with bare fists, rods, knives, guns, bombs exploding cars, bodies smashing through glass. I cringe and gasp at the whole gamut of it all, since I don't particularly care for violence. But it certainly makes my eyes pop at the ways people can inflict pain on people. 

Interwoven with many unexpected plot twists, the story-line is most compelling to say the least. For it premises on a very universal theme - family. All of us come from families, none of which are perfect, all of whom disappoint at some time or other, some more than others. The film focuses on the complex relationship of the protagonist kid-brother Ariff with his 2 brothers. We are introduced first to  his adopted 'gang'-brother/mentor Ghaz and then to his real-life brother Jaki, estranged since young, who provides a touch of comedy in his bumbling ways as they re-connect. All are thrown together in (of all things) a wedding, which serves as the backdrop to a conspiracy of betrayal sparked off by jealous ambition to secure the top position as Boss of the Naga's, to replace a leader who knows cancer will kill him off eventually.  In spite of the heavy action, there are tender moments, as in the scenes of Ghaz and his lady- love. Especially touching were her tears as she voices her desire for them to get away from it all, just the two of them. What cut most was the guilt that he was confronted with, realizing that if only he had listened to her, if only he had chosen her way, her death could have been avoided. 

Surely we all regret decisions we made and decisions we didn't make in our lives. Especially when the consequences impact others adversely. I recall when my husband asked me one time , "Do you ever regret marrying me?" To be brutally honest, in my heart, I knew there were times I did regret. But after 17  years spent bearing him 3 kids, quarrelling and making up somehow, thru all the ups and downs of married life,  I couldn't answer him. In the midst of having to deal with his 4th stage cancer, how could I answer without hurting him more? The week before he passed on, he asked me to forgive him, and said he wanted Jesus. Looking back, I can only say, God works in mysterious ways; using our regret to convict and convert into a better thing - salvation.  Every wrong word spoken, every wrong action taken... All the "if only's" only serve to pile up the pain, the guilt of wrong decisions committed or omitted in the course of our lifetime on earth. But there can be release...For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death - 2 Corinthians 7:10 .

I remember a quote from the very old (1970s) movie, Love Story, "Love means never having to say you are sorry." In its context, it just means we don't regret loving, though actually saying sorry is very necessary in any meaningful relationship. It's certainly not the easiest thing to do. But true Love never fails. And in Blood Brothers,  love is what ultimately shines through for the 3 men, brothers by blood and by friendship. 

Love portrayed through unspoken heart-tugging moments. The pathos of love seen in the action of a young  Ariff handing out a drink to the elder Jaki, who lies flat out on the floor, all beaten up by their abusive father. And passing him a cloth to wipe off the blood. Both rejected, flung away, by the elder brother.  The younger taking the blows of an enraged father, when it was actually his brother who stole the old man's money. The (love) confession of Jaki that he lost everything when Ariff  walked out of his life, to follow a different path with a different brother...Ghaz, the one who chose to take Ariff  under his wings. And the cry of love  betrayed when Ghaz reminded Ariff who was the one who turned him from zero to hero. Emotional issues of anger, mistrust, disappointment can really mess up the loyalty and the love . Throw in disobedience, rebellion into the boiling pot, and in the words of Jaki, the odd-ball comedian - everything has been exploded. Though in the movie, he was then quipping about not having any cars left to escape in -"Kereta mana? Semua dah kena letup" So funny, in the most serious situation. 

Ultimately  it's a special love that not only reconciles but triumphs - a love that sacrifices and stays on  till the end, no matter what; even if it means the price is your own life to save the beloved.  So it's a fight to the finish. I am so glad it ended well; truth prevails as the villains are exposed. Love wins. In the words of  Neil Diamond's song: 

 "If I'm laden at all, I'm laden with sadness That everyone's heart Isn't filled with the gladness Of love for one another … And the load Doesn't weigh me down at all ..He ain't heavy, he's my brother"

Blood Brothers is a (darn good) story for a movie, but as I walk out of the theatre, I remember the amazing real-life story of Jesus Christ who literally loved to death, whose blood was shed not for relatives or buddies but for total strangers, total sinners, even such as I. He carried all our loads of evil, sin, wrongs on the cross. His blood that flowed speaks of a  supreme divine love,  which has conquered the last enemy of humankind - death itself. That brought about the ultimate reconciliation between man and man, and man and God. A real perfect ending, culminating in an empty tomb: a risen Christ. 

"By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers...let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth'" - 1 John 3:16,18 

TURNING 65

I usually don't bother to think much about my birthday, besides trying to decide where to eat with the family. Coz it's just another 365 days to add to my life...But this year, I noticed an interesting detail...I turned 65 on 6/5/25. For some, numbers are for buying lottery tickets. For me, sometimes it's God telling me something He wants me to be aware of. 

Even biblically, numbers are more than just figures . There's a discernable pattern of numbers being used repeatedly to convey meaning beyond their literal numerical value. It's called  gematria where Hebrew or Greek letters are assigned numerical values, and used in the analysis of biblical texts. Like 5 is the number of grace, 6 the number representing man. Straightaway I "caught" it - I am a human living by and in  God's grace. I am still breathing after 65 years purely by His grace. I bumped into a friend who lives behind my street during  my early morning cycle, and she told me her husband just had a heart attack. Too much stress and too much smoking (which he had hidden from her all this while.)  She was the one who alerted me about the sink-hole that appeared suddenly on one of the main roads, where she knows I regularly cycle. She tells me lately there was another sink-hole near some rich man's house. 

Recalling back that terrible mishap where an Indian lady was swallowed up by a sinkhole in a busy street right in the heart of KL city, truly our lives on earth can just be gone in the blink of an eye, whatever we may be doing in that moment, wherever we are doesn't matter. The ground can open up, planes can explode, accidents happen everyday, people can die anywhere anytime - in broad daylight, on the road, in their own houses. Man, life can get pretty depressing, scary even. We can take every precaution to keep ourselves  safe , healthy, strong, etc etc but actually we never know if today is gonna be our last day alive on earth. That's kinda morbid stuff to muse upon on a birthday. 

But I am not scared; living in fear of this, that or the other is no way to live. And so I choose to remember, my life is preserved by God's grace, and it cannot be taken away one second earlier than He decides. Not only am I truly safe; I am saved. I don't need to worry that all the bad stuff I do in my life on earth will condemn me to everlasting hell. So whether it's life now or life thereafter, I am truly held in God's loving and mighty hand. That's a most reassuring thought when I wake up every morning, not just on my birthday.  But there was more to turning 65, which added together equals 11. I see a picture; 1 Jesus, and 1 me, walking together. For me, it's so beautiful. God isn't somewhere  "out there"  (dunno where).  He's really with me, according to His promise, He never leaves nor forsakes me. How comforting to remember His word in  Isaiah 49:15-16 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she  should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands....: how precious: I am engraved on God's own hands. 

The week before my birthday, I went for a 3 days' overseas prayer gathering together with another sister. She was the one who booked our flights which involved 2 budget airlines across countries.  Amazingly for the first time in my life travelling by air, on our flight out, we were seated right up in front, at row 2. Those spots are usually reserved or need to pay extra . Yet the online check-in system assigned  them to us. Our return flight was another pleasant unexpected surprise. Our plane actually departed very early, since everybody was already on board, and we touched down in KL 40 minutes ahead of schedule - that's very good time . Coming from an airline well-known for their flight delays, even cancellations, this was really a very very smooth journey leaving and returning.

One day before the date, my son and a close friend wished me happy birthday. Somehow they got the dates mixed up . I didn't mind at all, but it did get me thinking. I was getting  advance greetings from not one, but two people.  And I heard the whisper in my ear - this is your season of favor, promotion and acceleration into new things.  God never fails to amaze me with His timing, for at the start of 2025, I had been asking what's in store for me this year? Only now, as I turned 65, He shows me so many things, seemingly unrelated, yet all adding up to advance blessings. 

Truly, the blessings had started even earlier before my birthday,  leading up from March into Passover season in April. Out of the blue, an invit came to learn the harp. Something I had always wanted to do, but never quite found the time or the means. This time was right. I didn't even need to buy a harp; for the trainer lent me hers. So 2 hours a week, over 6 Sundays, some 11 ladies plucked strings together. Although Passover is well past, the blessing continues for me, as I got to keep the harp indefinitely. I am now doing something I had never dreamed I could do so easily, so fast. For me it's a promotion into deeper worship, getting up close and personal with Jesus, the Lover and Beloved of my soul. And that's the greatest highest blessing of all. Beyond any fancy meal, beyond any expensive present, beyond what any human can wish or do for me (all of which I am most grateful for ),  it's only the true living God Himself who can and has indeed satisfied the deepest longings of this 65 year old heart.