Up, Up and away, my spidey senses are tingling, Hulk SMASH, I have the power and Flame On! What do all of these have in common? If you said these are all things said by superheroes you would be correct; Superman, Spiderman, Hulk, He Man and Torch. These are just a few of over 10,000 superheroes! Yes, you just read 10,000, Marvel Comics has over 7,000 alone. Now they do combine the good guys and bad guys, but still, that is a lot of characters!

Many of the more well known characters allowed us as children to live out our dreams / fantasies with our friends for hours on end. Ever run around playing freeze tag as “Mr. Freeze” or “The Flash?” What about playing king of the hill and you are at top as Hulk? Jumping off the diving board arms held out like Superman so you can “fly?” Or chasing after friends in the Batmobile, aka your bike?

So many ways we lived through these characters and it was so much fun! To imagine you are the strongest, fastest or can turn invisible or shoot a web led to so many crazy antics for many of us of growing up.

But then that’s the problem, we “grow up.” We turn in our “powers” and become adults. Ugh, adults! Somewhere along the lines of flying through the air, we also began thinking about becoming a boss, doctor, lawyer, fireman and teacher. We thought about leaving home and not repeating the mistakes our parents did. We became…adults…gasp!! But, what about all of that fun, where did it all go? Why am I stressed, tired, angry, frustrated and so much more? You, and I, put our capes away.

It never ceases to amaze me watching a group of children play and the joy that they all seem to have. Many times they will play together for hours with no major arguments or fights. They just like playing, dreaming and using their imaginations. Creating scenes like dragons attacking the castle, being invisible and getting into the fort, flying over head and saving a plane full of people before it crashes! Ahhh – the good days.

This growing up thing is not for the faint of heart, yet we all do it. As we do it, our childhood dreams and fantasies fade away and realities seem to begin to replace them. My question is this: does all of that creative energy spent as a child really need to fade away?

I know that as adults we cannot run around all day, playing tag or kickball – after all we have bills to pay, we need to eat, families need things, etc. But I wonder if sometimes that as an adult we let that inner child die to “be an adult” and in essence we bury our childhood – all of it. What I mean by “all of it” is that many times during childhood, young adulthood, we have dreams and ideas that honestly could be of tremendous value to us, our families and possibly even in our careers. But “we have to be an adult.”

Yes, we need to grow up and put away the immature things, but I do believe that each of us should reach back into our childhoods and think creatively – forwardly. Yes I know, “forwardly?” YES! I know for certain I have a few friends that work in architecture and have built things accordingly because of childhood dreams and adventures.

I really doubt that people like the Wright Brothers waited until they were adults to even think about flying. But instead of looking at “famous” inventors that may have dreamed as children, I want to share with you a few current “superheroes” that imagined, created and some of these will become reality!

A fork that has a built in mini fan to cool off food, thought up by a 6 year old! How about the “pringles hook.” Created by an 11 year old to help people get to the pringles chips at the bottom of the can. The hook looks a bit like a shoe horn that is flat at the bottom and the chips sit on that flat space and you pull the hook up for chips.

Just a few more that may surprise you: Frank Epperson 11 years old in 1905 created the popsicle. George Nissen 16 years old in 1930 created the trampoline. Abbey Fleck 8 years old in 1993 patented “Makin Bacon” a rack that you can hang bacon on in the microwave allowing it to crisp and not soak up that fat! Philo Farnsworth at age 14 sketched the first electronic television.

So we can see that as children we can dream, create and invent. We do not need to stop that as an adult, in fact as an adult we generally have more knowledge of how to make things happen. What dreams or ideas do you need to go and raise from that childhood long forgotten? Maybe its a book to be written, maybe its flying toy for today’s youth or maybe you will create the next best gadget for the kitchen.

You won’t know until you try. Now before you even think about trying, a few thoughts: don’t let the world tell you “no”, your dumb, its dumb, it will never work, etc. CHALLENGE those negative messages – put your CAPE back on and SOAR to a new level in life.

I believe it is possible to not just act “young at heart” you can be young at heart and be an amazing adult! Not only do I believe this, I have watched my mom do just this – she is an amazing “adult.” Always surprising me with what she can be and do. She will turn 71 this year and you know what – she IS young at heart! I’m not going to say she has found some magic balance of adult vs child, but she does a great job of living life, being serious when she needs to be, but also being fun and carefree when needed to be as well.

Its a bird, its a plane its super YOU!

Well there you have it, another blog, another glimpse into my brain. So many thoughts, so many things bouncing around! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Thanks for stopping by the fire,

Pastor Dennis