
My wife and I went to Houston to visit friends about two years ago. On our first night there my friend and I decided to go to breakfast. We had stayed up talking and it had gotten really late so we decided to finish it at Denny's (I think). We got there at about 2a.m. so we pretty well had the place to ourselves. I don't remember most of the conversation, but one exchange stands out. I had just re-read the Chronicles of Narnia and he had never read them so I was telling him about one of my favorite parts in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Its a conversation between the beavers and Peter, Susan, and Lucy. The beaver tells the children that Aslan is a lion and Lucy wonders if he's safe. The answer to that question is one of my favorite descriptions of God. The beaver replies, "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.

So, now that that's out of the way I'd like to tell you about my favorite example of it in my life. I read The Catcher in The Rye my senior year in high school, and to this day its one of my favorite books. In the book the narrator tells about a dream he has, in that dream kids are playing tag in a huge rye field. The problem with the field is its on the edge of a cliff. Every now and then one of the kids accidentally runs out of the rye and over the cliff. The guy in the book thinks the perfect job for him would be to be the guy that stands in the field on the edge of the cliff and catches the children before they fall off. He wants to be the

That image had become such a big part of the way I related to God that it took a long time to rework it. When I (or the Holy Spirit in me) did my entire perspective changed. God is not on the cliff. He's standing at the bottom, and he is huge. In my mind the cliff comes up to about his shoulders. It seems like a small thing, but the implications (to me) are far reaching. Now God is bigger than the danger. More importantly, the fall is now as safe as the game. Not where I intended to be, but safe. God still has plenty of time to catch me. In this knowledge the fall itself is exhilarating. Not exactly fun, a little unsettling, but exciting all the same. I am never out of God's reach. Never lost. Never without hope.
6 comments:
My favorite so far.
The night you first shared this story with me, I thanked God for hearing my prayers. God is faithful!
i think your missing the point of "The Catcher in the Rye." When he pictures himself standing on that cliff, the cliff represents childhood along with the kids who are care free playing their games. While the cliff represents adulthood and what Holden connects to death. He dosnt want to reach adulthood, or fall off the cliff, but by the end of the book he relizes that he eventually has to grow up, and he cannot try to keep on saving himself, and the kids, from reaching adulthood
my bad, i meant to say the field represents childhood
I can promise you I get the point of "The Catcher in the Rye." This is not a book report. (I made an A on the one I did in High School on it). This is a report of the way God works in my life. I appreciate your taking the time to read the post and explain the symbolism, but I'm afraid that if you're here looking for literary analysis your going to be disappointed.
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