Keeping Focused: Getting Back to Basics
 

As I was shopping the other day, I came across a find of “new” graphic novels form the eighties that someone had discovered in a storehouse.  In case you don’t know, graphic novels are just comic books, but larger.  Of course, my inner child had to look through the box to see if there was anything that I just had to have.

As you might expect, there was.  It was a “Batman,” not just a regular one (which would of stayed in the box), but one in 3-D.  It came with the glasses that have one red eye piece and one blue one!  Now if you were to look through this book without wearing the glasses, you would end up with a whopping headache.  You would also miss out on one of the greatest discoveries of the last century (at least to me).

The pictures just jump out of the page at you.  Some of them seem to go inward a foot or two. Whenever I see affordable comics that are in 3-D, I usually buy them.  I don’t even care about the story; I like to look at the pictures.  It all goes back to my childhood, around 1953 and 1954, when my father would buy me 3-D comic books.  The fad ended almost as soon as it started…but not for me.  I keep most of those comics through the years.

My father also took me to all the early 50’s movies where everyone in the theater had on those crazy glasses.  I remember in the mid-seventies there were a few 3-D movies.  Claire, our sons, and I went to see them.  There were even some on TV where you could get the glasses from TV Guide. You see, without the glasses, 3-D TV, or comics, or movies would be out of focus.

Wouldn’t it be nice if life came with a pair of glasses so we could keep focused on the important things as we should?  Maybe there would be a lot fewer headaches for us all.  Yet, sad to say, there is not a super set of spectacles for us to get by.  And yet there is a guidebook that can light our path and put things in the proper focus for us.  We can use it to see just who we are and to get the proper depth perception on life.  Of course I’m speaking of the Bible, which tells us: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalms 119:105)  Not only are we told that the Bible will direct our path, but if we focus on Jesus, we will not be overcome by the storms of life.  It’s only when we take our eyes off of Him and focus on our problems that we sink, as Peter did in Matthew 15:25-33…

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straight way Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

When Peter was sinking, he lost his focus, but trusted the Lord to get him through and was saved. I could talk negatively about Peter, but at least he showed some faith by stepping out of the boat; that’s more than the other disciples did. In my life, I try to always keep in focus my duties as a chaplain.  Yet sometimes I see all the problems around me and take my eyes of the Lord by trying to fix things myself.   Of course, that’s when I start to sink.  But as soon as I get my focus back, I’m safe in the ship and the sea is calm.

                                                                                Dan Laterza