Susan and Derek are young, in love, and beginning the biggest day of their life as a couple: their wedding day. It's a story we've all heard before. Derek promises Susan the life of her dreams. Susan swoons for the man she loves and is about to spend the rest of her life with. Derek approaches the altar, gleeful with anticipation of his bride to be. Susan gets hit by a meteor then grows ten times her normal size, splitting the church apart, sending the entire audience running for their lives.

Wait, that's not a familiar story. No, that's the extraordinary story behind DreamWorks Animation Studio's latest 3D animated flick Monsters Vs. Aliens, a comical spoof on a classic alien B-movie. Aside from it being in 3D, which is by far one of its coolest attributes, it's backed by a heartwarming story of being different, overcoming impossible odds, and trying to fit in.

After Susan's dramatic transformation, she is whisked away by government operatives to a top-secret facility where she is imprisoned with a ragtag group of unique aberrations of nature and experiments gone wrong. It is not long before Susan realizes that, like it or not, she is no longer just plain old Susan, but is now Ginormica, the newest addition to the monster team. From the moment she arrives in this prison for monsters she has one goal, which is to return to normal and go back home. She is not a monster like the others. She is normal human being who just happens to be very, very large. After several failed attempts by her new prison mates to return her to normal size, Susan is forced to face reality that she will never be a regular person again and she is going to spend the rest of her life in Monster Prison.

When a gigantic and menacing alien robot lands on earth, though, the fate of the monsters changes in an instant. The US government, at a complete loss as to how to defeat the robot, looks to the monsters to come to the rescue with their unique characteristics and powerful abilities. The monsters, however, do not feel up to the task. They feel weak and inadequate. With the chance of freedom hanging in the balance though, they team up to give it their best shot. When they first see the robot they are all, without exception, completely terrified. The robot is huge and powerful and they are no match for such a strong being.

After some quick strategizing, they split up and Susan tries to run away and hide from the robot, but is unsuccessful. Wherever she runs it seems the robot is always right behind her, ready to attack. When she turns and finally faces her fear and the dreaded alien being, for the first time she looks inward and taps into her new enormous strength and manages not only to defeat the robot but also save hundreds of lives in the process. Afterward she is amazed by her own abilities. She never thought she could ever do anything that incredible.

Our experience when we look to Christ in our fear and weakness is very similar to Susan's. At first, when faced with an impossible enemy, we often crumble and run and hide thinking there is no way we could ever be successful against such a powerful foe. The truth is, all by ourselves, we never could succeed. Just as Susan could only defeat the robot as Ginormica, and not just plain old Susan, we cannot defeat any enemy just as our plain old selves. It is only when we look inward to Christ in our hearts that we truly have the strength to face anything. We want to defeat the enemy so badly because we know true freedom lies on the other side, but without Jesus we are simply too weak to do it. He is the only one who can grow us to ten times our normal size and give us the strength and power to defeat anything the enemy throws at us. With Him fighting for us and through us we become a Ginormica with enormous strength and the ability to crush anything in our path, even gigantic alien robots.

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