The Magician's Nephew

I’m sure most of you have read or at least seen the movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s classic book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you haven’t, you’re really missing out. There’s a reason the book is so popular. It tells the short but powerful story of four children who find themselves magically transported (via a wardrobe) to a land called Narnia and then proceed to have an adventure with a mysterious talking lion named Aslan. The book is not only witty and fun; it contains Christian themes and symbolism that make concepts like salvation accessible to children and adults alike.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was and is wildly popular, but it leaves the reader with a lot of questions. What exactly is Narnia? Where did it come from? Are there other worlds besides ours and Narnia? How did those four kids get to Narnia through a wardrobe anyhow? And what on earth is up with that lamppost in the middle of the woods? These questions and the success of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe led to the writing of a prequel to the book, entitled The Magician’s Nephew, and that’s the subject of my review this week.

Like its predecessor, The Magician’s Nephew features children as antagonist. Digory is the main character and the nephew of a crazed magician (thus the title) who is in way over his head. Through magic that he cannot even begin to understand, Andrew (the magician) sends Digory and his friend Polly into the “world between the worlds.” Here, they discover new places, meet a witch named Jadis, and eventually get to see firsthand the creation of Narnia.

The Magician’s Nephew does exactly what a good prequel should do. It tells a story that explains a lot of things about its predecessor, but it isn’t extremely in-your-face about it. The connection between Digory and the children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe isn’t explained until the very end. Narnia isn’t even mentioned until the second half of the book. The only characters the reader truly recognizes from the other book are Jadis (known as the White Witch) and Aslan. The book functions as a story in and of itself while also giving nice, subtle shoutouts to people who have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

One thing I wish the book had touched on was Aslan’s father, the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. He isn’t even mentioned in the book. Maybe more is said about him in the rest of the series (I haven’t finished re-reading them all yet), or maybe C. S. Lewis purposely left the character out of the rest of the series to keep the focus on Aslan, but I would be very interested to know more about the character, who obviously is supposed to represent God the Father.

But other than that, I have no complaints. The Magician’s Nephew does a great job of explaining the origins of Narnia and explaining why it came to be the way it was by the Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy showed up in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There is a considerable time gap between the two, as The Chronicles of Narnia, covers hundreds—if not thousands—of years of Narnia’s history, but there’s no confusion in going between the two books. And as a big fan of prequels, I appreciate that.

If you’ve never read The Chronicles of Narnia, you should give them a shot. The world that C. S. Lewis creates in them is just remarkable. I’m currently re-reading them for the first time since I was a kid, and it’s really cool to re-experience Narnia again. I may do more reviews of the books as I get to them, or maybe of the series as a whole when I finish, but until then, check out The Magician’s Nephew. Thanks for reading, friends, and I’ll see you next time!

It's Finally Here

The moment I’ve been waiting for finally came. Last night, I attended my first seminary class ever, and it was awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve daydreamed about being in the classroom spending all my time studying theology and God’s word. And now, it’s here. My dream has become a reality. I couldn’t be more excited.

I think there are a lot of pitfalls that a person can fall into when waiting for something that’s very exciting, and there are others that one can fall into once that exciting something comes. I’m trying to avoid these. Here are few things I’m trying to keep in mind as I’m transitioning into this exciting new phase of life.

Realistic expectations are key.

When you’re excited about something, it’s natural to spend a good deal of time thinking about it. Whether it’s a new product you’re buying, a new job, or (in my case) a new school, we spend a lot of time thinking about exciting things that are coming our way. And that’s perfectly fine, but a problem arises when we let our pictures of those things get out of hand.

If I came to seminary expecting to learn everything and have my life changed in one day, I would be disappointed. Or if I expected to be really, really good at it right off the bat, I’d probably fall short of my expectations. It’s OK to get excited about things we’re expecting and even to spend time thinking about what they’ll be like, but we have to keep in mind that we can’t fully understand what something will be like until we experience it, and letting our expectations get out of control can actually ruin the experience when the reality doesn’t live up to it.

Let yourself get excited.

The fact that something excites you means you care about it, and that’s meaningful. Some people are scared to let themselves get excited or attached to something because they’re afraid of being let down or rejected. I know I’ve been there before. But we can’t give in to that. We’re meant to enjoy the good things of this life, and we can’t let insecurity get in the way of that.

Get excited. Be proud of your accomplishments. Enjoy each moment. Don’t be afraid to live life to the fullest because we only get one.

This won’t last forever.

As cool as seminary is, and as long as three-to-four years sounds right now, I know that this experience is going to end in the blink of an eye. I think back on college, and I can’t believe that it was four years ago that I was starting my freshman year. That’s just crazy to me. And I know I’ll think of seminary the same way when I finish it. These next few years are going to fly by, and I want to make the most of them.

We tend to think that whatever life situation we’re in at the moment is the one we’re going to be in forever. So when we get something new or experience something new, we think it’s going to stay that way. But that’s not the case. Nothing in this world lasts forever, and we need to keep that in mind from the get-go. Our lives go in phases, and we need to enjoy the one we’re in as much as possible, because it’ll be gone before we know it.

Thank you guys for checking out my little list. These are some things that have been on my mind lately, and I thought I would share them with you. I hope this helps others who are in situations like mine, and I hope you’re all doing well. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you guys next time!

The Giver

I’ve been imagining what a movie adaptation of The Giver would look like ever since I read the book in middle school. It was one of those books that really stuck with me growing up because it made me think. I read it multiple times throughout my childhood. And so, when I found out that they were working on a film version of the story, I was ecstatic. I absolutely could not wait. And the movie did not disappoint.

The Giver is a dystopian film set in a post-apocalyptic future. It tells the story of Jonas, a young man who grows up in a community without color, emotion, or choice. Jonas and his two best friends, Asher and Fiona, come of age and are given their life-long Assignments, or careers. Jonas is specially chosen to be the receiver of memory, the person who retains the memories of the past (the world we currently live in) that normal citizens of the community are unaware of. Through his training, Jonas comes to see the brokenness of the system he has grown up in and has to figure out how to deal with that.

For what originated as a children’s story, The Giver is very deep. It touches on themes of freedom, despair, and ultimately on whether or not human nature is capable of doing any amount of good on its own. The message of the story is one that will connect with a lot of people, and it will hopefully make you think at least a little bit.

The differences between the book and the movie are numerous. The main characters are older in the movie than in the book. A lot of the smaller details (like Asher and Fiona’s assignments) were changed for the sake of the film. Several story elements were added in order to make the film full-length. And the defining characteristic that sets gifted individuals (like Jonas) apart from others was changed from eye color (which is difficult to convey in film) to a special birthmark on the person’s wrist. These differences were noticeable, but they weren’t necessarily distracting.

Really what this movie was trying to do was take a children’s book that made a huge impact and make it more concrete, something people of all ages might be able to access. It tried to be a realistic, fully-fleshed-out story, and I think it accomplished that while also staying true to the basic idea of the book. So I was happy with it both as a movie and as an adaption of The Giver.

They did make one choice that I’m conflicted about, though. In the book, there was almost no romance at all. The people in Jonas’s community didn’t have that. They were assigned mates, so romance wasn’t a part of their lives. Jonas had one fleeting moment of romantic feeling in the book, but that was it. In the film, a good portion of the drama revolves around a romance story involving Jonas. I understand why the filmmakers decided to do that (Jonas is older in the film than the book, it makes the movie more appealing, etc.), but I also sort of wish they had left it out. Not only was it just simply not based on the book at all, but it creates some issues for the future if they decide to make film versions of the book’s sequels, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. I really hope they make those movies (and there was at least one hint in the movie that they might), but if they do, they’ll have to reconcile the revisions they made to plot with the way the story plays out in the books. It will be interesting to see.

But overall, The Giver was a great film. I think it’s definitely worth seeing. It’s something that people of all ages can enjoy and connect with, and in that way, it’s just like the book it was based on. So check out The Giver in theaters, and let me know what you think about it! Thanks for reading, friends, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Ice Bucket Challenge

Hey guys! So my buddy Will Ortega nominated me for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and I accepted. You can watch the video below!

I want to stress to you guys the fact that this is not just some silly thing people are doing online. This is a movement to raise awareness (and money!) for ALS, a horrible disease that afflicts a lot of people. Take this opportunity to do some research on ALS, get informed, and spread the word!

Hello, Waco

So in case you haven’t heard, I moved! It’s something that’s been in the works for a while now. I decided last fall that I wanted to attend Truett Seminary after I graduated from Hendrix, and now the time has finally come! I’m all moved in to my new apartment, and I’m set to start classes next week. But before I get swamped with studying theology, I wanted to take some time reflect on the big move and what I can learn from it.

Until about a week ago, moving to Waco was just an idea inside my head. Sure, all the plans were made, but as far as I was concerned, it was never really going to happen. I was going to stay in Greenwood with my family and work at the church forever, or at least so I thought. I think we all do this from time to time. We get caught up in what we’re doing, and we assume that it’s never going to change. But suddenly, it was my last day of work, and I realized that things were about to be changing very, very soon.

And change they did. Wednesday night at church, everyone was wanting to say goodbye to me. I didn’t like it at all. It felt way too permanent. Too real. Every time I said goodbye to someone, it sunk in a little more that I was really leaving. I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I had to face the fact that the time had come.

My Thursday was dedicated almost entirely to packing up the stuff I would need for my apartment, and I had grossly underestimated how much I would be taking. I figured I would fill a storage tub with the essentials, throw my clothes in the back seat, mount my bike, and be done. But I was way off. I ended up filling my entire trunk and back seat to the brim with clothes, dishes, cleaning supplies, bedding, and all sorts of other fun stuff that I didn’t realize you needed when you have your own apartment. That day, I learned the consequences of underestimating just how big a project could be. It was humbling.

Friday was the day of the big move. I wanted to leave as early as possible because I knew the drive was going to be rough. So I said goodbye to my mom, had a quick breakfast with my dad, and headed for Waco. The first few hours weren’t bad at all. After I passed the halfway point, I started to get restless. The final hour was torture. I thought it would never end. I was so overwhelmed with excitement and homesickness and so many other things all at once, and I was just ready to be there. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I made it to my new home in Waco.

Unpacking was hard work, but I didn’t mind because it was exciting. I got to pick out where everything went and rearrange my room to make it exactly the way I wanted it. It was fun. I can already tell that I’m more invested in this place than I was anywhere I lived while I was in college. This is going to be my home for a while, and it feels good to accept that.

Since then, I’ve mostly just been settling in. I bought groceries, explored campus, and checked out the local movie theater (twice). Sunday, I attended Antioch Community Church, which was great, but also felt weird because I’m so used to being at my home church. It’s going to take some time before Waco truly feels like home to me, but I’m getting there one step at a time. This is a totally new phase in my life, a new adventure, and I’m so grateful for it. Thank you guys for your support as I take this next step. I’ll keep you posted. For now, I’m just saying hello to Waco and seeing what happens next!