Good and Safe?

At church yesterday Pastor-Lou reminded us of C.S. Lewis’ ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and the conversation between Mr and Mrs Beaver and the children about Aslan the lion, the God figure.

Lucy asks if Aslan is safe. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “…Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King…”

Yesterday…

…Chatting with Ian about his grandchildren – twins that were born prematurely. Last week they came home from hospital, good and safe, but still very vulnerable. Their parents certainly have their hands full!

…Chatting with Nick about his youngest daughter. Last week Nick had the privilege of officiating at her wedding. All had gone well and the family are delighted. We all hope and pray that the marriage will be good and safe.

…Chatting with Jim about writing wills and discussing them with our respective children. Families and money, life and death, past, present and future… Life is good for us now. Our faith gives us security in an unknown future.

Last Night…

Rachel and I had been talking about the coming week. We went through diaries, exchanged plans and information. All seemed good, well-organised and pretty safe

Later, in bed, I had a series of weird dreams that blended the reality of our plans with scary fantasy.  All our plans were turned upside down; good became bad, safe became dangerous. I encountered a series of events that certainly wasn’t in our diaries!  

Returning to Aslan…

Mr Beaver explains more about Aslan through an old Narnian rhyme:

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

Mr Beaver continues: ‘You’ll understand when you see him.’ Which, to me, encapsulates the mystery, the hope, the goodness and safety of faith in the Aslan-God.