I have always been drawn in by fantasy stories (CS Lewis called them “fairy stories”). My Dad read The Lord of the Rings – the entire trilogy, plus The Hobbit, a chapter at a time – to my brother and I at bedtime when I was eight years old. And then followed that up with the Narnia tales.

I loved and continue to love The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. As a story itself and as a retelling of the Great Story that God has been telling since the creation of the world.

Aslan has become an important icon for Christ for me. So it should come as no surprise that I love lion images. I have a large black and white photo of a lion over the mantle in my dining room. When I saw it in the store, my father was with me and I grinned at him and said, “Look, Dad, it’s Aslan!” Then I bought the picture and brought it home. So that whenever I see it, I would be reminded of the One who loved me enough to lay down his life for me.

So on a day like today, a day that has been long and full of wrestling with difficult issues, I find an image like this comforting:

To me…this is Jesus communing with his Heavenly Father, who happens also to be my Heavenly Father.

Let me leave you with this declaration from First Peter:

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.

1 Peter 3:3-5 MSG

PS – I promise tomorrow I will be back to blogging about Catalyst!