Narnia

The last few days have just been a couple of glimpses I've seen in The Chronicles of Narnia. By no means do I claim to know that C.S. Lewis meant for these things specifically, and I am definitely not an expert on any of this. These were just my thoughts.

Garden to Garden

At the beginning of Narnia, the first human there is tempted in a garden, which is beautiful beyond description.. At the end of Narnia, everyone gets to live in that garden.

The earth began in the Garden of Eden. At the end of this world, there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth, which will be as beautiful as the Garden of Eden was. We will live in Paradise.

It's the End of the World As We Know It

Ever heard of Armageddon? The end of the world--the final battle between good and evil. Narnia has its own Armageddon in The Last Battle. Aslan's roar is all it takes for Narnia to come to an end. It's not a time-consuming, horrid end; it just takes a few moments for all the beauty of Narnia to disappear. It's something Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Digory, and Polly were all able to watch, but, obviously, they couldn't be in Narnia when it happened, or they, too, would have been destroyed.
All it took was the roar of the Lion. None of the great kings and queens and other characters of Narnian history did anything.
Let's look at our own Armageddon, or Har-Magedon, as may be a more appropriate spelling. The armies of the earth assemble, ready for the ultimate battle between God and the Devil. The armies march, the battle is about to begin, and, BOOM!, it's over. God does all the work. We don't even do anything. Just as Aslan's roar brought the end of the world of Narnia, God brings about the end of our world...when the time is right.

A Time For Everything

Okay, so I'll spoil it for you. Digory does not take the apple to his mother as he was tempted to do by Jadis. He does what he should, for the sake of Narnia, and takes the apple back to Aslan.
Aslan has him throw that apple, and, of course, like all things in Narnia that day, it fell into the ground, and a tree grew from it almost immediately. Guess what...it was an apple tree. Aslan does allow Digory to take one of these apples to his mother, though. The point is that a stolen apple from the garden would have done what it was designed to do...heal Digory's mother...but would have brought sorrow along with it. Now, with an apple that Digory was told to take, it will bring joy.

The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was not itself bad. It worked exactly as it was created to...giving knowledge of good and evil. The fact that it was taken when it was not allowed is what made it a sin. But just as in Narnia, another tree became the salvation of Narnia (for a time), there is another tree--The Tree of Life--which we will one day be allowed to eat of, and then, what rejoicing there will be, for we will eat of this tree in the proper time.

The Apple of Life

After the creation of Narnia, Jadis, the Queen of Charn (later known as the White Witch) runs off into the north, waiting for her chance to rule (and perhaps destroy) another world. Aslan states that even at the very beginning of this world, evil has entered it. If you know the story, then you know that Digory was more or less at fault for that evil entering Narnia, and for that reason Aslan charges Digory with helping him protect Narnia (at least for a time) from that evil.
Digory is to go retrieve an apple from a garden far away. When he arrives at this garden, Jadis is already there, and ready to tempt him not to take the apple to Aslan, but to take it home to his mother, who will be healed from her illness by it.
It kind of reminds you of another story about the Creation of a world, and evil entering into it, and there being a fruit tree in a garden, and of that evil tempting someone to do something with that fruit. Sound familiar?
Does Digory succumb to the temptation like Adam and Eve did? You'll have to read the book (or wait years and years for the movie to come out) to find out.

The Creation

In The Magician's Nephew, Digory and Polly (along with a couple others) have the very unique opportunity to witness to creation of an entire world. When they arrive in this world, initially everything is dark, not like the lights are out, but like there are no lights at all. Then the stars start to shine and then the sun rises. They hear a song, a beautiful song. It is from this song that everything is created, and this song is sung by Aslan himself. After seeing the connection between the Lion's song and the creation of things, Polly thought that all of these things must be coming "out of the Lion's head."
As the creator of Narnia, Aslan was an artist. As the Creator of our world, God is also an artist. He creates wonderful and beautiful artwork. It is only by the hands of men that this beauty has been destroyed...or rather deformed. We have changed the world from the beautiful thing it was into what it now is. Still beautiful, but not as God created it. one day, however, we will get to see the New Heaven and New Earth in all of its beauty, but I'll save that for another time.

He's Always There

When Shasta meets Aslan, Aslan asks him to tell of all his sorrows. Shasta tells his entire life story, of how he was brought up by Arsheesh and even up until the journey his is on at that time. Throughout the conversation, Shasta insists that he is very unfortunate, but Aslan disagrees. Aslan tells Shasta,
"I was the lion...I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to a shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

What if we could step out of time for a moment and have a conversation with God, where He explained our lives to us and told us all about why things have happened. I think God might say to us that He has orchestrated all of it, that He's always been there, guiding us, even when we couldn't tell and even when we were scared of the guidance. I think we might just realize that He is sovereign enough to fulfill His plans of our destination, and loving enough to allow us to choose how to get there.

He is always there.

Who's the Father?

Near the beginning of The Horse and His Boy, Shasta finds out that he isn't the son of the man who has raised him (more as a slave than as a son), which makes Shasta very happy. Here is a little of that story:

"The story about his own discovery in the boat had filled him with excitement and with a sense of relief. He had often been uneasy because, try as he might, he had never been able to love the fisherman, and he knew that a boy ought to live his father. And now, apparently, he was no relation to Arsheesh at all. That took a great weight off his mind. 'Why, I might be anyone!' he though. 'I might be the son of a Tarkaan myself--or the son of the Tisroc (may he live forever)--or of a god!'"

When Shasta discovers that he is not the son of Arsheesh, the man who raised him as barely better than a slave, he is excited and a whole new world opens up to him. The possibilities of who he could really be are endless.

Like Shasta, we discover that who we think is our father (the world) is not really true at all. We are raised by this world, and treated as this world would treat people, only to find that we have another heritage, one far greater than any that this world could give us. The truth is, however, that we are the sons and daughters of a king--The King. As Christians, we are the brothers and sisters of Christ, and coheirs with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now is the time to start living up to your heritage...you are the child of a The King, so live and act like a child of The King.

The Faith of a Marsh-Wiggle

In The Silver Chair, Puddleglum, a Marsh-Wiggle of Narnia, and his fellow travelers, Edmund and Jill, along with Prince Caspian, find themselves under the enchantment of a witch who is trying to make them forget all about everything they've ever known, except for the dark world which she has created.
Just as all hope seems lost, Puddleglum proclaims:

"One word, Ma'am, one word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. Four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia."

Sometimes, having faith seems like the dumbest, most unreasonable thing that can be done. It is in those times that having faith is really the smartest, most reasonable thing that can be done.

When life throws a curveball (and even when it doesn't), all it takes is the faith of a mustard seed--the faith of a child--the faith of a Marsh-Wiggle.

Blunders of The Silver Chair

Jill Pole, a girl from Experiment House in England, is caught up into the world of Narnia at the beginning of The Silver Chair. Almost from the very beginning of the story, she has a tendency to mess up some pretty important things. Initially, she accidentally knocks Edmund off of a cliff (don't worry, he doesn't die), and is given instructions from Aslan concerning the reason the two of them were called to Narnia. She is given four signs, and she manages to forget them several times and botch them up when she can remember them. Despite it all, the quest with which she was challenged is completed. It's almost as though Aslan gave her the signs, knowing that she'd mess things up, so that He could use her even more to fulfill his will.

I use to think that God had a perfect will planned for my life, and if I made one wrong decision, the whole thing would be screwed up and I could never get back on the right track, fulfilling His master plan for me. I don't think like that anymore. Yes, God has plans for each of us...He wrote our story long before the forming of the world and everything in it. However, I think this story is less like a novel and more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. God is sovereign, there is no doubt, but He gives us the choices to make. He allows us to choose which path to take. And guess what...even when we screw up, He uses those mistakes to fulfill His will. It's as though He's known all along when and how we'll mess up, and has already made the effort to rectify the situation and bring His promises to fruition. Oh wait, that's exactly what it is.

I Wish I Were More Like Reepicheep

Reepicheep is a talking mouse in Prince Caspian and in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He is most admirable, and always willing to do what is necessary.

When he was young, a Dryad spoke over him and said,
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.

Reepicheep's life was set on course by this verse, and throughout The Voyage, it moves him to continue on. Near the end of the book (I won't tell you the ending, don't worry), Reepicheep comments that he will go on. He vowed that he would ride the Dawn Treader as far as it would go, and when it could go no further, he would lower the boat and take it as far as it could go, and then he would take his own smaller boat (perfectly sized for a talking mouse) until it sinks, and then he would swim until he drowned, ever going East until he could go no further.

I wish I had such zeal in my life for my calling. Indeed, I do my best to follow my Savior, but to be so impressed by a calling on my life that would compel me to to go ever east until I died or reached the end of the world...this is true devotion.

Prince Caspian

In Prince Caspian, the second of the Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan really shows himself to be the guide of his children, as mentioned in the previous blog. He does so sometimes in person, and sometimes in dreams, and sometimes in visions, but he's always guiding his children to fulfill his purpose for them.

Aslan - the Picture of the Trinity

In the allegory of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Aslan, the great lion, is described as being the Christ-character because he sacrifices himself, though he has committed no crime, to save the life of Edmund.

Why is he just mentioned as the Christ, though? I think it would be better to say he represents the whole Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - not just the Son.

Aslan is described as the King. Mr. Beaver says at one point, "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." Aslan isn't safe, but he is good, just like my God. Aslan comes and goes in Narnia, and always at the right time. He does what he pleases, and what he does is good. Like my God, the thing he does is made good because he does it.

Of course, Aslan sacrifices his perfect life for a sinner, just like Christ. But there's more than that...Aslan was the active Creator of Narnia, just like my Jesus was the active Creator of everything which has been created.

Finally, Aslan is a comfort and a guide to his children, just as the Holy Spirit is to us. This is seen much more in the other books than in TLTWaTW, but it is still true.

Stay tuned for more ramblings on Narnia.

Thoughts from Narnia

So, a few days ago, Sarah and I decided we wanted to read the Chronicles of Narnia again. It's been a long time since I've read them (I think I was in middle school the last time I did), and I gave my friend Clint my copy of them a couple of years ago, so I went out and bought new copies of all of the books.

You may have been told that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is an allegory of Christ. I don't know for sure if that is how it was written or not, but I can definitely see it in the book. I just wonder, though, is it possible that the book wasn't directly written as an allegory for Christ, but that the storyline of the life and death of my Savior is just so awesome, that it makes for the best story ever told, and is used to retell other stories? Think about it...almost all of the great stories in the world, and I mean GREAT, not good, have a good king of some sort who must, in the end, lay down his own life to save that of his people. Isn't that what Christ did? And, since then, isn't it the greatest story ever told? So why wouldn't you use it as the plot for a book? Why wouldn't you steal the ideas from God and write them down?

I'm not saying C.S. Lewis wasn't an awesome writer, and I'm not saying he was a hack. I was just thinking how great the plot of Chris is, and how great a story it makes.

Over the next few days, I am probably going to be writing about insights and whatnot while I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia. Hope you enjoy.

The Most Awesome Anniversary Gift

Tuesday was mine and Sarah's 2nd anniversary. For her birthday last month, I bought her the complete Gilmore Girls series, so I toned it down a little bit for our anniversary. Sarah is a closet Harry Potter fan (I like outing her when I can ;-) ), so I bought her her very own Monster Book of Monsters plush book (as seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Guess what...that wasn't the most awesome anniversary gift though. Her gift to me was.
For the last few months, Sarah has been sneaking around behind my back taking pictures of different things and places from my past and hers. These include places at North Greenville, Converse, Summerville (yes, she drove to Summerville and back in a day just to take some pictures), Awanita, and others. Now, her friend Jen was going with her, and Jen is an avid photographer, so I figured her trips had something to do with pictures, but I just figured Sarah was putting together a photo album. That's not what it was! She actually spent hours on the computer organizing these photos and whatnot, and had them PUBLISHED IN A BOOK called "The Life of the Eudoxus."

HOW TOTALLY AWESOME IS THAT!!!

MY WIFE IS THE GREATEST!

Thanks, Sarah. I love you!!!

Anniversary

So, yesterday was mine and Sarah's two year anniversary. I finished student teaching last Friday, so we decided we'd take a mini-vacation from Saturday to yesterday. It was a pretty good vacation, only Sarah and I don't really feel like we got to relax much. We stayed at the Patricia Grand Hotel in Myrtle Beach. It's an older resort, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think they still had the original bed in our room. It was quite possibly the most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept on. But wait, there's more...
As we drove down I-20, Sarah commented that there were a lot of motorcycles on the road. As we passed Darlington, we realized that there was a race there this weekend, so we figured that's where all of the motorcycles were headed. Guess what...we were wrong. That's right. We stayed in Myrtle Beach, on the Grand Strand, during Bike Week. Motorcycles running until about 3:00 in the morning. That part was not fun at all.
As if that wasn't enough, I was sick the whole time. BLAH!
All in all, however, we had a good vacation. We got to spend time with our good friends Will and Diana and their new baby son Wyatt, and got to spend time together. And I think that's what makes a vacation a vacation. Getting to spend time with the love of your life. That's worth putting up with the world's worst bed and loudest bikes.
Anyway, we're back in town. Time to get back to regular life.

Student Teaching is Over

So, yesterday was my last day student teaching. On one hand, I am really glad it's over. One more thing crossed off the list of what needs to be done before graduation. On the other hand, I am really going to miss my students. I've had a great time getting to teach them and, to some extent, hang out with them. Being a student teacher gives the opportunity for a unique relationship with students. I think it's kind of like this: the student teacher is a cross between students and teachers (hence the name "student teacher"). I don't think any of my own classes in the future, no matter how great the students are, will offer the same type of relationship as that with my students this semester.
For those of you who read this, it's been great. Thanks for putting up with me. For most of you, good luck in college next year. For the rest of you, remember to finish strong. You're so close to the high school finish line, and you should never slack off at the end of a race. GO MAVS!!!