I love reading heroic stories to my kids. I just finished reading The Book of Three, and the series which follows, to Ezekiel. There are so many good lessons about self-sacrifice, heroism, humility and, as Elizabeth Elliot once said, “Sometimes fear does not subside, and one must choose to do it afraid.” At the very end of the last book Taran, who had gone from “Assistant Pig-Keeper” to leading a war party as commissioned by the High King of the land was realizing that all of the glory that he had once sought as a boy was overrated in light of the sacrifice and personal loss that comes in the fight against evil. He was faced with abandoning one of his friends to certain death, or completely ruining his plan for battle and his friend said, “Leave me! Are you a war leader or an assistant pig-keeper?” Taran’s response was, “Don’t you know, friend? I’m an assistant pig-keeper.”
I was sad when these stories ended, but it meant that last week I got to start reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a book with which most of you are familiar. If you’re not, you should go read it and then finish this letter! We are still in the early parts of the story, but last night we read the part where Edmund, having just returned from his first trip to Narnia, decides to betray Lucy in his plan to help betray the other siblings to the Witch. Lucy had her hopes up that Edmund would corroborate her story, when he surprised her by saying it was all a child’s game of pretend. After Ezekiel went to sleep, still angry that Edmund would do such a terrible thing, I was meditating on what I know is eventually going to happen. Think about it, at the end of the book Edmund is sitting on a throne, reigning equally with his other siblings. He’s not a second-class citizen who just gets to be forgiven, he is utterly and completely forgiven and reinstated to equal kingship as the rest! This is the gospel that keeps us going when we fail, and that is absolutely worth giving up our lives to take to the unreached!
We’ve had a good visit with Amy’s parents, and will be headed back home in a few days. Thank you for your support and prayer as we continue the language-learning process, and work toward new gospel relationships that will turn into churches!
My generator needed fixed…this is what the generator repair shop looks like in Kampala!
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