When I was little, I loved horror movies. Creature Double Feature on Sundays was my favorite. The opening title showed grizzled, dead hand moved over the show’s logo, and I waited with anticipation to know which classic horror movie was playing that day: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die…there were so many chilling adventures to be had! No matter how the movie went, I knew it would have a happy ending most of the time. Good would win.
Fast forward to real, adult life. The monsters started shapeshifting. Instead of Dracula, Frankenstein, Jason or Michael, the monsters started looking like bills I couldn’t pay, people with ‘strong’ personalities (a euphemism for bullies), evil world leaders, terrorists, viruses, threats of war, health problems and even unnamed things that popped up their ugly heads as I navigated life. Many kept me up at night. I tried to avoid these monsters, but rarely could.
On old maps, there used to be notes saying ‘Here there be monsters’, or ‘Here there be tigers’, so travelers could avoid those places.
If only I’d had a map for my own travels.
There’s a reason most horror movies contain similar ‘tropes’, elements or concepts: good vs. evil; good triumphing over evil; the cross making the vampire shrink back; same with light and water blessed by prayer. These works of fiction have their footholds in truth.
The truth is, there is a real monster who lurks around us.1 Satan does exist.2 But not all of the ‘monsters’—the problems in our lives—come from Satan. Some come from others’ or our own choices. And sometimes there is no resolution or happy ending.
But take heart. While sometimes we may feel like we are Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Myers is never going to die, the truth is that we have a God who is like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, and Satan is like the little goat tied up near the bridge. And you know what happened to the little goat.
But what about our ‘little monsters’? Our trials and tribulations? The more I go through life and through these problems, the more I see the hand of God in each and every one; and the more I wonder how I ever got through life without Him. No matter what the monster is I have to deal with, He turns it into good every time.
And a lot of the time the answer is just in waiting, and in doing what I’m called to do, while I’m waiting: making art and writing.
1“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” —Ephesians 6:12.
2“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” —John 10:10.
Do you want to read more about the final battle between God and Satan in the end times? My graphic novel: ‘EMPIRE: End of the Age’ is a fictional story set in the real prophecies of Revelation, Daniel and the rest of the bible, about a young woman who is left behind in the coming worst time in human history. You can get it here on Amazon.
