God and Gundam

Psalm 139:13-14


For you created my inmost being;
    

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    

your works are wonderful,
 

I know that full well.

So as of late, I have been really getting into Gundam model making, or as the nerds who are into Gundam model making call it: Gunpla (Gundam plastic model for short I'm guessing).

First few SDs (Super Deformed) I warmed up on
Left to Right: SD Wing Gundam, SD Master Gundam, SD Super Gundam

Second batch of SDs were newer and slightly more challenging
Left to Right: SD Kshatriya, SD Sinanju

Anyways, I find myself at the ripe age of 32 getting back into childhood interests, like comic book/comic swag collecting, and I guess it was only a matter of time before I went deeper into the rabbit hole. I have always liked mecha. What kid doesn't have fantasies of driving a their very own robot to fight evil and restore peace to the galaxy? But I guess when I think about it, I was really into cartoons like Mazinga, Voltron, and Gundam when I was 3 or 4 and to alleviate my distress (shut me up) of getting on my first plane ride, which was my immigration to the states, my gramps gave me my very first set of Gundam action figures. This memory has been locked away in my mind until just recently.

I started to go to a bi-weekly collectibles warehouse in City of Industry called Frank and Sons (check out their website). This place is seriously NERD PARADISE, I guess the only place to top it would be...heaven. Anything one could ever want to collect: toys, comics, sports memorabilia, even Disney pins and Hallmark Keepsake ornaments; Frank and Sons has it.

Needless to say they have Gundam models. At first I was only going there to collect Funko Pop figurines and other blind box collectibles, but slowly those early childhood memories started to creep out every time I passed the Gundam booths. I am not sure why I resisted for so long. I realized that I have seen every Gundam animated series since 8th MS Team and G Gundam, which I which I will have to do a post on eventually since Gundam and the animated series have such a long and storied history. I guess I just realized that all the excuses I had before to not do it weren't there anymore:

1. I didn't have the patience and discipline to sit in one place and focus.
2. Memories of gluing and painting and fear of screwing up an otherwise beautiful model of the helicopter from Blue Thunder and incurring the wrath of my uncle. Which leads to...
3. Modeling was just plain hard.
4. I didn't have the money. Comics were a dollar a piece in the early 90's. Models...were not. Speaking of money, when you start a new hobby, just like any other investment, you need to forecast how much money you'll need for what you want (toy, model, comic), but also the materials you'll need to maintain the hobby. So in Gunpla's case, you're gonna need tools and perhaps paints (which I will also have to post about later).
5. I didn't mind being someone with an imagination who liked to have fun, but I wasn't ready to be a full on nerd. Nerdiness wasn't cool, and I needed to be cool. I guess I repressed my nerdiness for quite some time.

What the model looked like with more of him and less of me.

Make sure you budget for tools! Around $20 on Amazon.

This is where God comes in. I am so grateful for His grace. It's because He knows me so intimately that  He allowed these past fears to become non-issues.

1. I have much more patience and discipline now and I enjoy activities that involve me being still (I realize that may sound funny, and for those of you who know me, that stillness may come at a fault as I am usually eating while still and not exercising). But God has just taught me that you gotta pick and choose your battles; not everything is worth action or rather reaction.
2. God has made me much more confident through the experiences He has placed me through and screwing up doesn't scare me, and neither does revisiting my childhood even if the painful is sometimes mixed in with the good, it's worth taking a journey with the Holy Spirit to dig up those precious morsels of yourself. Besides, perfection is over sought and unattainable. My models just like me will always be WIP (Work In Progress). I'm in awe of a perfect God.
3. Gunpla technology has come so far since it first started over 30 years ago! No more glue, everything is snap fit! Not to mention they have so many different grades of difficulty to ease beginners in (yet another thing I will need to post about).
4. Jehovah Jireh (which upon starting Hebrew this semester I realized was wrong. the correct expressions is Yahweh-yireh since the Germans inserted wrong vowels onto the original Hebrew of Yahweh, but I digress) which means God will provide. And He has. Everything I am and everything I currently have, and everything I ever will have is from God and quite frankly is God's. That doesn't mean I haven't had to sell one item to get another. You can't always have everything in life with out some sacrifice. But ask me about my job, my testimony, my wife, you'll see. Speaking of my wife...
5. My wife has given me so much confidence in being exactly who I am and the way God has made me, which is obvious to see at this point, a nerd. She thinks I'm cool. She thinks I'm very cool. Praise God.
   All this to say, I dedicate my nerdiness and my newfound Gunpla making to God. This blog was created so that some how I could glorify Him who created me and knows me and allowed me to enjoy these things. May you be blessed in becoming acquainted with new horizons of nerdiness and a God who loves you exactly the way you are. 

What parts of nerd culture are you interested in? Do you see God in your hobbies? Would you like to know more about God? Comment below and subscribe!