Last week, I was waiting in the pick-up line at my son’s preschool, and I was actually early! (So I could read a book in the car without feeling guilty.)

Another mom got out of her car and came to my window to talk to me. She saw my book and asked, “Whatcha reading?”

“Oh, this is a new book called The World According to Narnia. It’s great,” I told her.

“What’s that mean?”

“What’s what mean?”

“What’s Narnia?”

I inhaled very slowly. Is there a person on earth who hasn’t heard of Narnia? “You know, the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Those four kids that go into the wardrobe…into Narnia.”

She gave me a confused look.

“Well, there’s a movie coming out next month called ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.’ You’ll have to go see it, and then you’ll know about Narnia.”

“OK,” she shrugged, and then asked if she could borrow a diaper. Moving on to more relevant topics.

So, there are people in the world who’ve never heard of Narnia!!

But you — my faithful blog reader — you’ve heard of C.S. Lewis and Narnia, haven’t you? Last weekend in Nashville, there was a whole conference devoted to discussion of his life and works. It was called Past Watchful Dragons, held at Belmont University. Here’s an article in the Belmont University News and another one in Christian Activities.

One of the highlights of the conference was a keynote by C.S. Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham, who served as producer/consultant on the upcoming movie and also has a new book out, Jack’s Life (Broadman & Holman). In his speech, he said, “We talk carelessly about faith and faithfulness because we believe in Jesus Christ. Well, so does the devil, but that doesn’t make him a Christian. I would like to think a faithful Christian is one who lives out his duty to Christ every minute of every hour of every day.”

When he was asked what Lewis would have wanted the audience to take from the Narnia books and movies, Gresham responded that he thought Lewis would want people to “look at themselves as if they were in Narnia. Who would you be? Where would we stand if we found ourselves in Narnia?”

Here’s another set of interviews with Gresham in Christianity Today — part one and part two.

Oh my! I could link around forever, but I try to limit myself to blogging only a few minutes a day, and my time is about up. Stacy Harp sent out a newsletter for reviewers, and I discovered a blogger who is much more up on things than me. Check out Aaron Earls at The Wardrobe Door. He lists this site as a good one for finding out tons of information about Narnia. You can email him from his blog.

I don’t know about you, but we’re counting the days until December 9 when “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” movie comes out. Can you believe it? We’re living in exciting times. Our kids are going to grow up, and this is what they’ll remember from their childhood — the Chronicles of Narnia. Sort of like how it was for many of us when we saw the first Star Wars movie — or E.T. Because you know what’s going to happen — this movie’s going to be a huge success, and that means there are six more to come. Year after year after year!

I admit, it’s going to be very weird seeing an Aslan toy in a Happy Meal box, and that will definitely come. But I do hope seeing the movie will make the stories come even more alive for those of us who have always loved the books. And after the movie is released on December 9th, we’ll probably never again hear the question, “What’s Narnia?”

Tomorrow, I’m reviewing a great new book by a scholar who writes in a way the rest of us can understand. It’s called The World According to Narnia — you can see a picture over there to your left. See it?

I know it’s Sunday, our day of rest, but I was writing this quote in my journal and working through some things personally — and I thought — maybe I should type this into my blog.

Are there any of you out there who feel like you’re in a Waiting Place? Waiting on something BIG or NEW to happen in your life? Are you trying to pay off debts, and the weeks seem long from paycheck to paycheck? Are you waiting on starting a family — and wonder what’s taking so long? Are you feeling frustrated with your present job situation? Then this is for you.

I’m still reading THE BURNING HEART CONTRACT, and Day 6 is about waiting. Becky Tirabassi writes, “No one looks forward to waiting. Many of us jump at opportunities to do something adventurous, or even daring. But no one expects to move in an exciting direction, seemingly at God’s command, only to be disappointed or rejected or stalled or ridiculed.”

She continues, “Yet Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Elijah, and even Jesus stepped out, following God’s call…and then experienced delay, discouragement, and days — even years — in a desert, jail, pit, or wilderness.”

Here’s what I copied into my journal this morning, which I felt compelled to type to you. Tirabassi was speaking to me when she says, “We learn from their lives that the desert, the waiting place, is not a place of punishment. It is a place of preparation, testing, and developing a trust in God. It is a time for listening only to God’s voice so that when many other voices are present, we can recognize only God’s voice…It is a time of holding on to the invisible, the impossible, even the irrational and watching and waiting for God to bring rescue” (p. 63-64).

So, if you feel like you’re in a Waiting Place, could you also be in a season of preparation? A time of learning to hear God’s voice and trust Him? I pray for you, whoever you are, reading this. I pray that you would hear God whisper to you —

Be still, He says, and Know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).

There’s a really cool website that shows you the distance between any two cities in the world. It’s called How Far Is It? This can come in handy when you’re planning a trip or when you’re writing about a place you’ve been.

So, this morning, I discovered that I traveled 1,186 miles from my hometown to Glorieta, New Mexico, where God spoke to me. Yes, it took going that far! And I also learned that my elevation increased from 1,110 feet to nearly 7,500 feet. And that’s why I felt compelled to write about my mountaintop experience yesterday.

I went to the conference to learn how to become a better writer — and I must confess, to learn how to be more professional. Amateur writers can write whatever they want, and that’s fine. But professional writers can reach greater markets and earn a living at crafting words into sentences, and this is what I’m striving to do.

The first night of the conference, I listened to a dynamic speaker named Becky Tirabassi. She was all over the stage, like a jolt of energy — and she told us she’s 50 years old. Let me tell you, she has more zeal than a college cheerleader — and it’s contagious!

She shared how she used to be an overweight, frustrated youth worker — until she ended up at what she thought was going to be a boring seminar on prayer. But afterward, she was so moved that she pledged to devote ONE HOUR of her day to prayer — for the rest of her life.

ONE HOUR! Do you pray for one hour a day? How can anyone pray for one hour a day?

I listened to her and thought, Well, that’s worked out nicely for her, but I can’t do that. Who me? I’ve got way too much to do. I get up early enough anyway to write, and to devote an hour to prayer means I’d have to get up even earlier.

But the next night, God spoke to me. Two words. Burning Heart.

Oh no! I fought it! (Do you want to have a burning heart? The voice said to me. Then spend an hour with me every day.)

During her speech, Tirabassi talked about how she was inspired by reading about The Fellowship of the Burning Heart, a small group that began in 1947, at the home of famed teacher Henrietta Mears. The members of the group were three men, including Dr. Bill Bright.

Dr. Bill Bright! One of my heroes! At the time, Bright was a candy salesman — but he felt like God had called him to do something BIG with his life. Do you know what he ended up doing? He founded Campus Crusade for Christ. An organization that is responsible for sharing the Gospel with over 50 million people (including me).

An hour of prayer a day! The thought won’t leave me. I’ve bought Becky’s book, THE BURNING HEART CONTRACT, which is a 21-day challenge to begin this lifelong habit.

I’ll be talking about this more in the future, as I get into it. Here’s what she says in her introduction: “Those with burning hearts walk with Christ, hear His voice, receive counsel and instruction, love Him deeply, believe in His holiness, and are passionate to share Him with others.”

I want that. I really want that!

I like to keep up with what’s going on in the publishing industry through reading a free newsletter called Publisher’s Lunch. I enjoy skimming it to see what new books are coming out and what the trends seem to be. It also lists people changes at different publishing houses, and sometimes I recognize names here and there, so it’s interesting. The whole industry is like a revolving door — changes happen so quickly.

Yesterday, my eyes rested on one story — shocking I believe. Here, see for yourself:

Anne Rice, Born Again (Truly)

Newsweek finds out what’s next for Anne Rice. Her new book, releasing in two weeks (and her first since 2003), is CHRIST THE LORD: Out of Egypt. “The chronicler of vampires, witches and-under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure-of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself.”

She tells them, “I promised that from now on I would write only for the Lord.” They add, “It’s the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan’s ‘Slow Train Coming’ announced that he’d been born again.”
Newsweek

If you read Newsweek’s story, “The Gospel According to Anne,” you’ll be inspired. But it fills me with questions. What changed her way of thinking? Was it something she read, or did someone share the truth with her in person, and it at last broke through? She, who is the author of Vampire chronicles and other evil — will now be writing for the glory of God.

I checked on Amazon, and her new book is due to be released Nov. 7. I’ve never read any of her books before, but this is one I’d be interested in. The book has a white cover, which contrasts sharply with many of her other covers that are dark and scary looking.

I wonder how her fans will react. They’ve come to expect certain things from her. I hope she’ll take the time to respond to their emails personally — they’re going to have some big questions, and she’s putting herself in a vulnerable position, yet one in which she can make an incredible impact!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

It happened again. It’s uncanny, the timing of it all. But once again I had a difficult time getting to my Beth Moore Believing God study. And boy was I ready – I’d done my homework, kept up with the reading, filled out my info sheet, my head was brimming with comments – everything!

But the night before, my 2-year-old told me his stomach hurt. So, I did what any mom of many kids does and said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” I helped him get to bed, then I heard the sound that strikes fear in every mother’s heart…I’ll spare the details. But let’s just say that I had lots of laundry to do.

The next morning, he came down very early and climbed into my lap while I typed – and promptly showed me he wasn’t over this virus. (Once again, I’ll spare you the details!)

I was so disappointed – there was no way I could take a sick child to preschool – what if he passed it on to some other child? But once again, the four-letter word came up. BLOG.

“You have to go,” my husband said to me. “You gotta write about it in your blog.”

“But how?”

“I can work at home a while,” he told me. So, when I left the house, he held our son in the rocking chair, listening to him sing, “You are my sunshine.”

Well, once again, it was amazing – seeing how the Word of God works through different people, how it speaks to their hearts. I was in awe!

We didn’t watch a video this week – just talked. (And ate a little chocolate.)

What we talked about was the topic of FAITH. And what struck me most of all is how God gives us each other to be clouds of witnesses. He gave the Israelites a cloud of dust by day and a pillar of fire by night to follow Him. But us – He gives us each other. When I see faith made real in the life of someone else, it strengthens mine.

Here’s a really cool verse: Matthew 15:28. Look it up if you can! A lady in our group pointed out how this verse shows how our faith as mothers can heal our children. Our kids look up to us – they want to know that we’re strong, that we can’t be swayed. We know the truth. In this case, the woman’s faith brought healing to her daughter. What a wonderful thought.

Well, the best we can do as parents is to introduce our children to a relationship with God through our faith. It’s something we can work on a little bit every day — because if they grow up believing Him (not just believing in Him), then they’ll be more likely to follow Him.

I have so, so much to say – but I know you’re busy, and I do tend to ramble. I wish you all a happy weekend, and look forward to telling you on Monday about that hilarious book with those cute little baby bottoms on the cover. (Don’t miss it!)

Narnia is coming!

Walden Media and Disney Pictures will release “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” in movie theaters on December 9. So, you’ve got less than two months to read the book, if you never have before. This is so incredibly exciting! HarperCollins publishers own the rights to the books, and I read an article that said they’re printing 170 C.S. Lewis-related book titles in more than 60 countries — 140 related to ”The Chronicles of Narnia.” You can read the whole article here.

I was first introduced to Narnia in the fourth grade. One of the TV stations presented “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and our teachers asked us to read a script in class. I remember being fascinated at the thought of entering a whole new fantasy world through a wardrobe. Once I entered, I fell in love with the lion hero, Aslan.

On my tenth birthday, I invited the girls from my gymnastics team over for a spend-the-night party, looking forward to all the birthday trinkets they would give me. Instead, one of the moms took it upon herself to have all the girls pitch in and buy me a huge, stuffed lion. Of course, I named him Aslan, and he stood solemnly in a corner of my room all through my childhood years. Thankfully, he even survived my massive purging when I “grew up” and left home for college.

Now, my kids love that big old lion, although my younger daughter used to be scared of him. A couple of years ago, we lived in a small rental house where our three older kids all shared one bedroom. Every night, my husband read The Chronicles of Narnia out loud. They all piled around him, listening to every word, their imaginations expanding with each sentence. He read the whole series of seven books from the same boxed set he owned in boyhood.

When it came time for my then three-year-old daughter to choose a Halloween costume, she promptly said, “I want to be Aslan.” So, we found her the cutest fluffy lion costume and painted her face with whiskers. At her preschool costume parade, I noticed the other girls in her class all marched in sparkling princess or ballerina costumes. But Aslan paraded proudly among the shimmer, tail dragging behind.

That costume has been packed away in our basement until yesterday afternoon. At first, the girls fought over the golden princess gown. They both wanted to wear the dress Nana made from extra curtain fabric. Then my younger daughter (now five) decided she’d be Aslan again. Of course, the costume stopped at her hips instead of her knees, but her face peeking out from the caramel fur was too adorable!

They wore their costumes all afternoon and into dinner. Aslan sat at our table, dining on a plate of spaghetti, trying not to get any red tomato sauce in [her] furry mane. At bedtime, she wanted to sleep in her lion costume but decided she’d get too hot.

So, the true lion king is here at our house now. And will be everywhere soon.

Narnia’s coming. Are you ready to enter into the wardrobe?

I read an article a couple of days ago about the books people leave on the subway in New York City. I don’t know why they leave their books — did they mean to? Or did they forget? The Transit Authority collects these books in boxes and takes them to a room called “Lost Property Unit.”

Here’s a sampling of what they found recently:

A few Harry Potters, Huckleberry Finn, The Lord of the Flies, Curious George, a spy novel printed in Russian, The Firefighter’s Workout Book, The Glucose Revolution, many devotional books (some in Hebrew and some in Arabic), Life in a Medieval Monastery, and How to Meet the Right Woman: A Five-Step Strategy That Really Works.

They also boxed up ten cases of Bibles.

I find that interesting, especially the fact that people are reading devotional books and Bibles. Do you read a devotional book? I read Michelle Medlock Adams’ DAILY WISDOM FOR MOTHERS, as well as a few others. Everybody has been talking about Joyce Meyer, so I sometimes read one of hers as well. I also like Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, especially this new version I have that has an index in the back.

When I lived in Japan, I noticed many adults were reading comic books on the train — manga. I know comics and graphic novels are on the rise here now — but in our part of the country where everybody drives cars, I don’t know any adults who read comic books.

I used to ride the train home at night and see exhausted businessmen in suits, bouncing along with the rhythms of the train, hunched over thick comic books. I just found this so fascinating I signed up for a semester-long class at a university called “Manga.” It was taught by an American who was married to a Japanese woman. We had to pick a comic series and read it all semester. I read about a little girl named “Sasae-chan” who was sort of like a Dennis the Menace and always getting into trouble.

I miss riding the train and being able to see what people are reading. The closest thing that comes to that now is watching the other moms in the car rider pick-up line at the elementary school. Most are talking on their cell phones or reading the newspaper. A few read books, but I can’t see what they’re reading. Whenever I see someone with a book, I’m so nosy I really want to know what they’re reading. It will tell me a lot about their personality.

Well, I’m off to my Beth Moore study this morning. We’re going to be reading Believing God. I’ll let you know how it goes!