Narnia

I have been in south Florida for the last week and a half, relaxing and doing a lot of reading. I actually just finished the last of the seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. If you have never had a chance to read these classics, I highly recommend that you check them out. A movie adapted from the second book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, will be hitting theaters in December.

Although these books were written for children, they are very entertaining, and have so many deep and symbolic truths locked away in their pages. Lewis is a masterful story-teller, and makes the land of Narnia seem so real that you feel as though you are a part of the story. It is awesome that the same man who wrote these books also wrote Mere Christianity and several other great Christian works. The Narnia books are very much Christian alegory, with the Lion Aslan being Lewis' representation of Jesus Christ.

I could go on about the books forever, but for the sake of time I will leave you with two of my favorite passages.

From the fourth book, Prince Caspian: "He led them to the right of the dancing trees - whether they were still dancing nobody knew, for Lucy had her eyes on the Lion and the rest had their eyes on Lucy..."

The context of this passage is that Aslan is leading Lucy and the other children through an unfamiliar territory on a dark night. Lucy is the only one that can see Aslan. It struck me that we need to block out all distractions and keep our eyes on Jesus, because others have their eyes on us, and many times, we may be the only ones that can see where to follow.

I cannot find one of my other favorites quotes right now, but I remember in one of the earlier stories one character asking another if Aslan was a tame lion. The response was, "Tame, no. But he's good."

This theme of Aslan not being a "tame" lion is reinforced throughout the stories. Many times in life, we look for things that are tame. We want a life we can predict and control. The life Jesus has planned for us is not that way. It is not tame, but it is good. If we look at the life of Jesus it is the same, and He promises that to us. Just like in Narnia, where characters constantly speak of "accepting the adventure Aslan sends our way," we need to accept and embrase the untamed and adventurous life Jesus sends our way.

Well, I have more books to read, and I need to get the house picked up. Tomorrow, I am securing the hurricane shutters and heading north. I would kind of like to stay and ride out the Category 5 Wilma, but I have work to do in Kentucky. Oh well, maybe some other time.

Dios les bendiga,

Josh