Cheap imitations

As I read through Augustine's Confessions, my soul stirred reading so intimate and passionate a love letter of one man to His God.

My mind had been released--from dreams that ate at it, dreams of pride, of greed, of filth, of lusts inflamed with scratching. I was giddy with addressing you, my purity, my riches, my rescue, my Lord God.

Wow. Within the pages of Confessions, Augustine explodes with adoration for God and what He has done in his life. He experiences, and shares, the deepest love a human can know, the restored intimacy between the creature and his Creator. It is a love that surpasses the familial, the fraternal, and the marital. There is no draught as deep, as delicious, and as satisfying.

And it is only a glimpse of what we will know when we see our God and Savior face to face.

That is why I am disappointed with the end of the film version of Prince Caspian. Most reviews have been favorable (to include those of my chil'uns). Some have not. In full disclosure, I have not yet seen the film but most certainly will.

I have read The Chronicles to my children a number of times. If you are a parent, you will thrill the hearts of your kids if you read these wondrous tales to them (be sure to use different voices). While Prince Caspian is not the best in the series, the end of the book is superb behind only The Last Battle and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

**SPOILER WARNING** For those who have plowed through these books, you know full well that after the climax, the most poignant part of the book follows, the home-going of the Pevensie children. The heart-ripper is that Peter and Susan know that they will not return to Narnia. With that knowledge, departing from the majestic Lion is more than they can bear. As they are about to cross over to their own land, they stop and tear back to the mighty King and embrace Him with their whole being. I've not read a more vivid account of wholesale agape love than this.

The problem is that it is missing from Prince Caspian. In its place? The consummation of flirtations between Susan and Caspian throughout the film. Before stepping through to her dimension, she runs back and plants a big wet one on Caspian.

When I heard that, my heart broke. Once again, we have substituted a cheap imitation for the real thing. Our appetite for Turkish Delight is never satisfied, and that is the problem.