For over a decade the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a ratings juggernaut. Iron Man. Captain America. Spider Man. Ant Man. The Hulk. Thor. Captain Marvel. The Avengers. And more. They seemed like an unstoppable force. Like all fads, however,  they got old. Creativity sometimes goes downhill. Sometimes the crowd changes. Sometimes “watch fatigue” sets in. The man behind MCU was a smiling man wearing sunglasses who always had some type of cameo in the movie. His name was Stan Lee. Stan had a personal catch-phrase he used to sign off  with  in his monthly columns in Marvel comics for decades-the word excelsior. If you look up excelsior in the dictionary it has quite a history. Here is a brief explanation of its history:

Onward and Upward With Excelsior. In 1778 the state of New York adopted a coat of arms incorporating the motto “Excelsior,” Latin for “Higher.” Decades later, the motto sparked the imagination of the young Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and in 1842 he used it as the title of an allegorical poem of doomed idealism. (Merriam-Webster).

That is an interesting use of a term by Stan Lee. I have no clue whether he was a Christ-follower or not, that is not my purpose in this post. Instead, I prefer to take that word excelsior and apply it to the life of the Christ-follower. Stan once tweeted, “Upward and onward to greater glory! That’s what I wish you whenever I finish tweeting! Excelsior!” Again, I don’t know Stan’s eternal state, but those words strike a chord with me. Is that not what the Christian walk is all about? Upward and onward? Is that not what the Apostle Paul was expressing when he said, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things (to know Christ, the power of His resurrection and experience the power of His resurrection from verses 10-11) or that I have already reached perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and received the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling me.” (Phil. 3:12-14)  (The previously mentioned verses 10-11 were also from Phil. 3).

All that growth is possible because of what Paul also writes in Colossians 2:7: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”  Upward and onward happens when we go downward and deeper. I was recently talking to someone who was having to replace fence posts because the original were not placed deep enough and were breaking off. The same principle applies to a Christ-follower. Can you imagine the Empire State Building still standing if it had been built with a standard footer used to build a house? Think Leaning Tower of Pisa. For the follower of Christ He is our firm foundation. He is the rock on which we stand. Psalm 71:3 says, “Be my rock of safety where I can always hide. Give the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”

Where are you planted today? Remember Excelsior, but also remember that happening relies on your foundation.

{Note: All Scripture is from the New Living Translation}