Aslan's Meditations: Room for the King

I wrote the devotional for this week on Aslan's Country - enjoy! (: The actual post is here.

All three times that I’ve seen Dawn Treader so far, there is one line that particularly stuck out to me – not in an odd, awkward way – but that it was done very, very well, and it got me thinking.

When they are being taken captive by the slave traders on Narrowhaven, two men have Caspian’s hands behind his back, and he desperately yells to them:

“Listen, you insolent fool! I – am – your – KING!”

But they paid no heed: instead they bound him and locked him in a dungeon.

The slave traders didn’t know Caspian was their king. They didn’t know that he had come to set things right on their island and to bring peace. They didn’t know he was the one they should be following.

As the Christmas season approaches, it got me thinking – that’s what the Romans did to Jesus when He was born. Obviously He couldn’t cry out Himself, but the skies shook with the glory and celebration of the birth of our King and Savior.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:13-14)

It says ‘Look, world – a KING has been born. Your King, your Savior, the Messiah’

But as Christ grew and taught, that’s also what the scribes, Pharisees, priests, and mobs did to Him. Scorned Him, beat Him, refused to believe.

How obvious would it have been to the slave traders if they had taken a second look at Caspian? They might find a signet ring, Peter’s sword – maybe treasure, wealth, and fame. They could look at the way he dressed, talked, acted, and carried himself. All these things that would show them in a heartbeat that Caspian was, indeed, a great king.

It doesn’t take more than this second look to see this about Christ. Had the Romans really sought to find out just who this Man was – they might have found something completely different than the mobs and crowds seemed to cry.

Would the slave traders have seen Caspian differently if they were torn, broken, and living in poverty? The people of Narrowhaven did. In the battle on Narrowhaven, there are a few shots of the people – and you see in their eyes a kind of wide and awestruck wonder and excitement. I can just imagine them thinking “who are these people who have come to save us? And why?”

It is for those who humble themselves to look at who Christ really is that He saves.

Jesus says in Luke 5:32 - I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

So often, we treat God as though He’s just there to help us when we’re in trouble. Just there to be a powerful, magical force who cleans up after us and takes away our pain. Our culture has grown up with the idea that God is a being who needs our worship. Who needs our praise.

What a lie.

God doesn’t need us at all. We, like the people of Narrowhaven, are broken, tormented, and living in the poverty of the choices we have made and the sin that surrounds us.

Yet God wants to have a relationship with us.

Have you ever stopped to meditate on the beauty of that?

Because God is not just a being out there who comes when we need Him, fixes things up, and then leaves so we can revel in the glory of our own accomplishments. He’s not just a god who needs our worship to make Him happy – or a force that must be pleased with certain rituals in order to keep Him quiet and out of the way. He’s not a vending machine who gives us what we wants if we put the right amount in and push the right buttons.

In fact, He’s anything but that.

He is – GOD.

He is not only the one who comforts us in our pain, works out our problems, and requires our worship. He is so much more than that.

He is our Creator, Master, Father, Savior, King, and everything we ever needed. He is so much greater, bigger, and mightier than anything we could imagine. He is glorious beyond comprehension.

Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
² Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
³ There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.

Psalm 144:3

³ LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?

This God, this Lord, this Creator of all and majestic and high beyond all others – this is the One who humbled Himself to obedience – to the point of death as a human. (Phil. 2:5-8)

I can imagine Jesus thinking…or maybe even wanting to yell out to the world: “I AM YOUR CREATOR! YOUR SUSTAINER! THE ONE WHO DIED FOR YOU!”

Not only did Bethlehem have no room for their King when He was born, but the world didn’t either.

Like the slave traders though, the Romans disregarded whatever evidence there may have been for Kingship and beat, tortured, mocked, and killed Jesus – the very man who had come to save them.

And what about our world today?

Especially during the hubbub of the Christmas season – it’s so easy to forget about Christ – who He really is and what that means to us.

Christmas may not have been when Christ was really born – but how often do we get caught up even in the idea of “giving” or “helping” others – and lose sight of the real reason we live and breathe and do anything?

1 Corinthians 10:31 says therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Every breath I take, every move I make, should not only recognize Christ as my King and Savior, but proclaim it to anyone I encounter.

Puddleglum, in The Silver Chair, he emphatically states

"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."

Do we live as though we have Christ in our lives, that we acknowledge Him as King? Or do we trample Him, lock Him up under the excuse of “business”, “work”, “holidays”, “this is important”, or whatever other ideas we come up with?

When we hear Christ say “I – am – your – KING!” what does that mean to us? Do we respond by continuing about our normal lives as if Christ was never a part? Or does it move us to worship and bow before Him because He IS our King?

1 Timothy 1:17 - Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Images from AslansCountry facebook page and google images.

Has it really been 3?

First time seeing Dawn Treader (pre-screening with the brother)

And second time (midnight showing (!!!) with awesome people)

And third time (just this afternoon and with large amounts of awesome people)

And still as wonderful and magical as ever.

Would you look at that beautiful countdown on the left sidebar? It says NOW PLAYING!! wahoo! Go see it. :)

That'll Show 'em

OH MY WORD!

THREE DAYS UNTIL DAWN TREADER!!!

Excited, people? It's going to be so amazing!!!

Guess what else?

Michael Apted (director), Mark Johnson (producer), and other important people at Walden making this movie are going to make a decision about making the "Silver Chair" into a movie based on opening weekend.

That's right. We determine whether the movies continue.

Dawn Treader *almost* wasn't greenlit, and it took a LONG time for them to start on it because of how terribly Prince Caspian did in the box office. Dawn Treader is GOOD - and I (again) definitely recommend seeing it. On opening weekend. Even if you don't go with me. Or you don't live in Washington state.

Go see it. Opening Weekend. December 10-12.

Let's go show those producers that we care about this film.

Dawn Treader: My Review

Spoiler Free: (or sort of, anyway)

I’ve been, as I’ve said to many, “cautiously optimistic” about this film for a very long time. Hoping for a great movie, but not putting too much of my faith into it.

I was amazed. The effects were phenomenal, the storyline was great, characters were excellently portrayed, the music was awesome. The jokes and humor weren’t slapstick, but were actually funny. The action scenes were amazingly well done, and the depth of the emotion in the more serious scenes brought me to tears numerous times.

To those of you who worry about the witch: don’t. Although it seems at times that she appears, she never is actually real or alive. The “green mist” is simply an evil force that tempts them: added to provide a contrasting idea in which they must fight against.

Spoiler: (highlight to read)

They took the idea of temptations in the book and used that as the sort of “antagonist” in the story to provide clash, opportunity for growth, and a climax. While I found it slightly overplayed at times, it did not ruin the overall themes of the story, nor did it affect the characters themselves.

There are still things I don’t like, things that shocked me when I first saw them, but hey – every movie will have them, and it’s not a perfect movie. But it definitely rises above the episode before it – it captures the characters well and the overall themes in the story are well preserved.

The beginning and the end are especially enrapturing. I’ll say no more on that. ;)

Read the full post here.

Also, if you live in the Seattle area or you are going to be in Seattle when it releases, and you haven't already received the facebook invite, you are invited to come see Dawn Treader with me on December 10th!! I'm trying to get tons of people so we can get a really good group rate. If you want more info, you can comment or email me and I'll get you details. (:

I definitely recommend seeing this movie. I think Narnia fans will be pleased and enjoy it. I laughed out loud, sat on the edge of my seat, and cried…Definitely worth watching.

I should not be this easily entertained.

But you know I am anyway.

Remember this post and this post? I am here to present you with another PURPLE FOOD!!

It's a Chinese purple yam pastry. And it's soooooooo good. (:

In other news, Dawn Treader was AMAZING. And it is also SNOWING outside. That's right. Snow, in Seattle, in November, sticking on the ground. In fact, as I speak, there are extremely large flakes coming down at a very fast pace. ::grin:: I went dancing about the house today and then for a romp in the snow with my dog. No co-op! And I leave for my grandma's house tomorrow.

Life is good! [=

What we've been waiting for

DAWN TREADER COMES OUT IN 23 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!

But guess what??? I am going to see it in TWO days!!!

Hear that echo? TWO!

I honestly can't believe it myself. This entire movie has been nothing but anticipation for years. And all of a sudden I'm going to go see it. It's sort of surreal.

So you're probably wondering why I'm seeing it 20 days before the release - basically I was invited to a special pre-screening. I am basically excited BEYOND WORDS. It's going to be amazing.

In the mean time, Carrie Underwood's new song (which will appear in the credits of the movie) was released today.

I was pretty skeptical about it at first, but so long as it's only in the credits, I think I'll be fine. Dawn Treader is, in a lot of ways, extremely different from the first two movies - and I think variation in the credits music is okay too.



In other news, there is also a Narnia exhibit in malls across the US called the "Ice Palace", and last weekend they had the Grand Opening Ceremony at the Ice Palace in LA - and one of our mods got to go to it AND, get this, MEET Georgie Henley (Lucy), Will Poulter (Eustace), and Michael Apted (director). Anyway. That was pretty exciting, even though I wasn't there. :P We've got exclusive reports and videos on Aslan's Country.

And, stay tuned, I'll soon have a review of the movie for you. :)

AHH! Life is so exciting. DAWN TREADER! yeahhh.

Surprise for the Day

They've come out with a NEW Dawn Treader trailer!!

Okay, okay. I know you're probably dead sick of the endless posts about Aslan's Country, Narnia, Dawn Treader...bear with me. Only 63 days longer...then I'll calm down. (after I post a nice little review)

[WARNING: major spoilers!]



I love that we get to see more of Eustace - both as himself and as a dragon. There's a lot more of Dark Island, which worries me some because Edmund seems as if he's just about to give into whatever it is the White Witch is tempting him to do. In Prince Caspian, Edmund was the strongest against the White Witch's power - I'd hate to see him be so weak in this one.

The whole "searching-for-the-swords-to-save-Narnia" is pretty cheesy. Not ever Narnia book is about "the fate of Narnia rests on YOU!" sort of theme, but it seems like they've incorporated that into this movie. But if that's the only major change and they don't do any character changes, I think I'll be okay with it.

I'm loving Lilliandil. And Ramandu's Island - so far it's looking amazing.And the Magician's Island. We haven't seen very much of Narrowhaven except for fighting scenes.

Excitement grows!!

Life, by Me.

So, I thought I'd give you an actual update as to what I've been doing lately. Not that it's that fascinating or anything.

A couple weeks ago, I declared September 18th International John-Luke Day and took my brother out for the afternoon.

First, we went to Krispy Kremes (love!) for doughnuts.


Next we went to Gilman Village. Gilman Village is probably my favorite little shopping center ever, and if anyone wants to go shopping with me there, I would love you.

Took him into White Horse Toys, one of the many places I loved as a kid.


After several hours of discovery (John-Luke), reminiscing (me), and entertainment (both of us), we left to find things to eat. (PCC natural Markets)

Then we went to the Lego store (John-Luke's favorite) and spent an hour in there picking and choosing and admiring.

All in all, it was a rather tiring, but extremely fabulous day. (:

We also finally finished all filming for our movie, Deliver-E (which you can read more about Here)

This is the cast/crew of the last scene we shot: (minus John-Luke who is taking the picture)

Aside from insane amounts of schoolwork, life is good.

There are also two extremely exciting things that are quite possibly happening in the near future. If they happen, you will hear about it. If they don't....well. Then you won't. ;)

Oh! There's also a new poll on the sidebar. Mark Johnson, the producer of Dawn Treader, says he's willing to let fans decide what movie should be made next in the series.

Dawn Treader comes out in 65 days!!!