The Magician's Nephew

There are some things that just strike you.
a beautiful sunrise-flowers blooming-dear friends-well written books...

One of the things on my summer "To Do" list is to re-read the Narnia chronicles. Last night I finished the first book in the series. It's awesome.
It took a little over a day to read the little book, what with work and other obligations, but toward the end I found it difficult to hold back tears.

Aslan creates the land of Narnia and chooses some of his creatures to be intelligent beings, to watch over Narnia. After he chooses them, this is what he says:

"Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters... Creatures, I give you yourselves. I give to you forever this land of Narnia. I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself... Laugh and fear not... You see, friends, that before the new, clean world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it; waked and brought hither by this son of Adam. Evil will come of that evil... and I will see to it that the worst falls upon myself..."

So Good... Probably more to come...

Mohammed

Today I went to Chico with a couple friends. We went to go to a Jazz concert at Laxon Auditorium and decided to go a few hours early to hang out. On the agenda was falafel wraps at Petra Mediterranean Restaurant. (so incredibly amazing!!)
So we're at this little place and the owner, Mohammad, is making our falafels, talking to us about our lives and his life. He is such a nice guy. It came up that we go to a christian college and then he asked, "you are Christians?" After we answered yes he began to ask all sorts of questions. Very good, but very hard questions.
I go to a bible school and I'm studying Theology, but I feel like I'll never be well enough prepared for things like this. Some of the questions were easy enough, (what is the difference between Catholic and Protestant? You mean Christians do not all believe the same?) but some of his questions were hard (How is it that you can believe Jesus is the Son of God and God himself, yet you only believe in one God...)

Sometimes I feel so ignorant...
Sometimes I wonder if Redding is too isolated...
Sometimes I think I'm too comfortable here...
Sometimes I think I'll never have these answers...

So, here is what I questioned throughout the remainder of the night, "What do I say? What could I have done differently? What can I store away in my memory bank for next time?? God, How do I reach this man, and his family... and an entire planet... who will all die and go to hell if I don't do something???!!!"

Two things came to mind:
-"it is customary for me, as a Christian, to pray to God for_________ (fill in the blank: lunch, friends, sickness, etc.) May I pray for you?"
- live a life people will be intrigued by and attracted to.

In one of my text books there is a paragraph about Australia. Apparently, ranchers in Australia don't use fences. The territories are too big to keep a fence repaired and in working order. Instead, they build wells in the areas they want their livestock to stay. If life giving water is readily available, there will be no need for the livestock to leave and the animals will stay close.
I'm sure you can make the connection...

...This all leaves me with one more thought: I am ignorant!!! ...and I've got so incredibly far to go.....