Frodo: I can’t do this Sam
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights, we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Fordo, the ones that really matter. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy, how could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you… that meant something… even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something...
Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and its worth fighting for.
I just finished reading John Eldridge's little book Epic. Eldredge tells the Big Story, God's story, your story, God's plan, and your role in it. I've never read a line of an Eldridge book, but I've found someone here who thinks like me in the way he links stories like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Apollo 13 and Braveheart to the ultimate story, the Good News, or as he calls it, "The Story." Eldredge is no theologian--he is a story-teller. We need theologians for the reason J.I. Packer says: to flush out the waste of falsehood, like a garbage collector. We also need story-tellers who can stike the note of truth in story form.
For more on
Epic, click on www.epicreality.com
No comments:
Post a Comment