{source}<iframe style=”float: Left; border: 1px solid #000000; background-color: #c0c0c0; padding: 2px; margin: 10px; -moz-border-radius: 3px; -khtml-border-radius: 3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; border-radius: 3px;” width=”400″ height=”225″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/fGPPfZIvtCw?Rel=0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>{/source}Kung Fu Panda 3 is the latest addition to the tale of Po (Jack Black), a large Panda that wants nothing more than to fit in with the world of kung fu but has a destiny that keeps calling him to something greater. The film opens in the Spirit Realm where Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), the wise old tortoise that first recognized Po’s potential to be the Dragon Warrior, is attacked by an ancient foe named Kai (J.K. Simmons). Kai has spent the last five hundred years stealing the chi from the various kung fu masters that inhabit the Spirit Realm, growing stronger with each chi he takes. Master Oogway’s is the final piece he needs to be able to re-enter the mortal realm. It is a quest Oogway warns will end in failure, which only makes Kai more determined to see it through.
Back in the mortal realm, Po continues to struggle with understanding who he truly is. His role as the Dragon Warrior seems great but ultimately proves insufficient for filling the hole left by his unknown past. However, that past returns to find him when his biological father, a panda named Li (Bryan Cranston), shows up one day to reclaim his son. When Kai emerges from the Spirit Realm and it becomes clear that Po must learn to master his own chi if he is going to be able to defeat his immortal foe, he sets off with Li on a quest to discover what it truly means to be a panda, hoping such knowledge will hold the key to unlocking his chi.
In many ways, Po’s quest is ours as well. Most of us struggle at one point or another with fully understanding who God has created us to be. Questions of identity often prevent us from fully embracing the Lord’s calling on each of our lives and from finding peace in our God-given purpose. And when we attempt to answer those questions by looking to ourselves or others instead of the heavenly Father from whom that identity comes, we are unlikely to find the answers we seek.
Like Po, each of us must learn to embrace the things that make us unique, understanding that God did not create us to be just like everyone else but to fill a specific role in his kingdom that was made for you and you alone (Romans 12:3–8). As Jim Denison once wrote, “God chose to make you, not because the world needed one more person, but because he did.”
So what role has God created you to uniquely fill in his kingdom? You will not find that answer by trying to conform to any preconceived notions about what it looks like to be a Christian. Rather, the answers you seek can be found only in embracing the person that God has created you to be and then living out that calling according to his will. God created you for a reason. Live like it.
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