I Yam What I Yam

I Yam What I Yam

What do Batman, Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, and Wonder Woman all have in common? They, and many similar characters, are super-heroes—fictional ones, to be sure, but icons of our culture nevertheless. But long before these heroes were created there was an earlier one, so ordinary that he was in the “funny papers.” Remember Popeye?

Popeye the Sailor, or as he called himself, “Popeye the sailor man,” first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on January 17, 1929. He was only a minor character, involved in a get-rich-quick scheme thought up by Castor Oyl, Olive’s enterprising brother. Popeye was such a hit that he was given a major role, and many years later the strip was run with his name as it still does today. Most often he was depicted as a middle-aged one-eyed sailor with muscular forearms embellished with anchor tattoos, thinning red hair, and an ever-present corncob pipe. Though at times he seemed uneducated and without manners, Popeye was capable of coming up with solutions to problems that seemed insurmountable, using perseverance, his spinach-enhanced strength, and his perceptive abilities. On the other hand, when he was fed up, he sometimes just used his fists in the name of Justice! Such has been Popeye's cultural impact that a whole generation of kids grew up eating extra spinach, and the medical professionals sometimes refer to the biceps bulge produced by a tendon rupture as the "Popeye muscle."

One of Popeye's memorable phrases is "I yam what I yam, and that's all that I yam." This pretty well expresses the state in which most of us find ourselves: We just are what we are. We are much more, however, than what we would be on our own, without the continued working of God in our lives. Perhaps like John Newton, a slave trader before coming to Christ, we can say, "I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be in another world. But still, I am not what I once used to be! By the grace of God, I am what I am!" He echoes the words of the Apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” (I Corinthians 15:10 NKJV)

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
And Grace will lead me home. – John Newton

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

If you’d like to take a reminiscent look at Popeye and associated characters, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_The_Sailor

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com