J. Riley’s random thoughts

Some people have been asking for my mailing address, so I thought I’d post it on here.

I’ve been told time and time again these few weeks to “be safe”. I’m sick of that phrase. What if I don’t want to be safe? In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, you see the children asking the Beavers about Aslan. Here is the dialogue:

“”Is–is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion–the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he–quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,’ said Mrs. Beaver, ‘if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

“I’m longing to see him,” said Peter, “even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point.”"

I don’t take credit for knowing any of this information on my own. I haven’t even read the whole book. Derek Webb talks about this scene on his album “The House Show”. Aslan, the Christ figure in the story, is not safe. What can we take from this? God is not safe, but He is good, and He is the King. God, in His Word, does not promise safety. He does, however, promise that He will be with us wherever we go. Take Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was this situation safe? No. Did God ever leave him in this situation? No! Stephen preached the Word in his last moments alive then gave his life up for that same Word. God will get His glory whether in life or death.

But, I think my favorite part in this dialogue is Peter’s response. “I’m longing to see him, even if I do feel frightened when it comes to that point.” WOW! I absolutely love that response. He’s is longing to see Aslan even if it does make him frightened. This should be our attitude toward God. We need to long to be in His presence. It will cause us to see ourselves for who we are which should frighten us (Isaiah 6: 1-5) and show us how unworthy we are to be in His presence but thankfully we can be made clean (Isaiah 6: 6-7).

Wow, that was really long and a lot of ramblings.

Bottomline, I don’t want to be safe because following Christ is NOT safe, but it is GOOD!

I was at my home church today, Hillview Baptist Church of Franklin. They had taken up a love offering for me to go help me along as I go to Newfoundland. I came and gave a little brief synopsis of what I’ll be doing. Of course, I’m still not exactly sure what I’m doing. Anyhow, as I was leaving, my worship leader came up to me and asked if I had heard of the band Great Big Sea. I told him I hadn’t. He then went on to inform me that they are from St. John’s Newfoundland. He said I had to check them out before I went because everyone there will know who they are so I needed to know them. I came home and checked them out. I was jammin’ to the tunes of Great Big Sea then I hear these lyrics: 

Wouldn’t it be great, if no one ever got offended

Wouldn’t it be great to say what’s really on your mind
I have always said ‘all the rules are made for bending’
And if I let my hair down, would that be such a crime?
Chorus
I wanna be consequence free
I wanna be where nothing needs to matter
I wanna be consequence free
just sing Na Na Na Na Na Ne Na Na Na
I could really use, to lose my Catholic conscience
Cuz I’m getting sick of feeling guilty all the time
I won’t abuse it, Yeah I’ve got the best intentions
For a little bit of anarchy but not the hurting kind
Chorus
I couldn’t sleep at all last night
cause I had so much on my mind
I’d like to leave it all behind,
but you know it’s not that easy 
Chorus
Wouldn’t it be great, if the band just never ended
We could stay out late and we would never hear last call
We wouldn’t need to worry about approval or permission,
we could — slip off the edge and never worry about the fall

I wasn’t really paying attention to the lyrics until it got to this point “I could really use, to lose my Catholic conscience   Cuz I’m getting sick of feeling guilty all the time”  My heart broke into pieces. Is this the feeling of the people in Newfoundland? I can’t imagine living a life under all that guilt.

Thank You Jesus for the work of the Cross. No longer do I have to live under guilt because I am covered by the blood of Christ!