Spirit Flyer Series

Another book series I grew up with that impacted me greatly as a child was the Spirit Flyer series of books by John Bibee.  I remember getting to church early sometimes since my parents were in the orchestra/choir and wandering around the church library looking for something interesting to read.  They had a fairly decent kids section, but generally I would just be on the lookout for these eight books.

Yes, that's right, these are Christian kid's books.   The analogies they have for Christianity may not be as subtle as C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, but they're also not super preachy books either.

In the Spirit Flyer series, there are a group of people who have Spirit Flyer bicycles.  Old, ugly bicycles with big balloon tires that the other kids mock.  However, the Spirit Flyer bicycles (and the associated accessories), when properly used give kids strange powers like the ability to fly on their bike E.T. style or to get an early warning horn like Spider-Man's spidey-sense.  The trick is that the kids have to learn to trust the bikes and as they do, they start to learn more about the bike's creators (The Three Kings) and the Deeper war between the Three Kings and Goliath Toys (who aren't who they seem to be).

Each book follows a similar formula: the main character of that particular book gets a Spirit Flyer.  The kid starts learning about the bike's amazing powers.  The kid gets in trouble due to the Spirit Flyer (either they misuse its powers or are made fun of for having it).  They ignore the bike and start following Goliath's Toy's current evil plan.  They get into incredible trouble.  Their bike, the Kingson, or other Spirit Flyer owners come rescue them.  They learn their lesson.  They help stop Goliath Toy's evil plan.

Yet, even knowing that formula and that it holds true pretty consistently, it doesn't really matter.  There is plenty of action, real-life issues kids deal with, and the quotes from The Kingson are so memorable that I still use them to encourage myself to this day.  Sure, they may not be direct quotes from Jesus, but I feel like they are things he would've said.  "What I call worthy is worthy.  What I love  is lovable."

Leadership

Ever since moving to Monterey, I've been trying to get more and more connected to a church.  This is especially true after Pastor Bryan spoke on faithless action and faithless inaction.  Faithless action is when you strive so hard for something you want without putting God in the equation until at some point, that thing you are striving for becomes your god.  Faithless inaction is when you rely so much on God's promise to bless you that you do nothing, but wait.  God doesn't reward laziness.

After hearing that sermon, I finally got off my butt and got the courage to join a dGroup (Monterey Church's small group).  Then the following Sunday after going to church, I was invited to Easter dinner by the leader of my small group and met more people.  So I could immediately see God's blessing with just one tiny bit of action.  But still I was afraid to do much more for awhile.  There's been a constant call to help with children's church and setup/teardown of the theater we meet in before and after church, but week after week I would dash out of church passing those sign up sheets by.

Over a month later I wrote this and realized I was doing the same thing as before.  Letting my excuses control me.  So the next Sunday service I signed up to help setup since I figured I'm always up early anyway, I might as well do something good with that time before church.  So I sign up and then the following Saturday, I get an e-mail telling me what time I need to be at church for this.  Turns out my early (around 7:30) wasn't as early enough since I needed to be at church at 6 am.  I had also promised my housemate, Mike, that I would pick him up from Monterey airport at 11 pm the night before I had to be at church at 6 am.  So this was ample opportunity for me to come up with excuses that were actually somewhat legitimate.  But I remembered what I had resolved to do about excuses and did both like I said I would.  It was difficult, but it was worth it.

So I figured now I'm connected enough.  I'm doing some nice behind the scenes work for the church and I've got my small group and I've been going to church consistently.  Well I guess God's not done with me yet.  After small group this week, one of the other members suggested I become a small group leader myself.  Immediately I felt scared and I could feel the excuses coming up.  I've never really liked being a leader, I prefer the behind the scenes stuff.  I have concerns for meeting at my house since I have three housemates and I don't want to kick them out of the main room.  Etc.  Etc.  Blah.  Blah.  Blah.  After more discussion, our current dGroup leader, Pam, said she might be leaving for good soon.  She's still not sure, but if she did she wouldn't want the group to just fall apart.  So I'm pretty much getting all the signs that I should be doing this (I don't want to, but I feel I should; there seems to be a need; I seem well equipped to fulfill that need).  As a first step I'm going to teach a lesson (I guess next week?) at dGroup.  We'll see how God guides me after that, but I'm pretty sure I've finally gotten the hint.

The most comforting thing for me is Pastor Bryan has said on a few occasions that he also never wanted to be a pastor.  He too wanted to be a behind the scenes guy.  But he felt God calling him to being the pastor and I'm glad God did because Pastor Bryan was one of the biggest reasons I kept going to this church.