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I’ve thought a lot about how Greta Gerwig is set up for failure with this relaunch of bringing Narnia to screen because she’s never met Aslan. She’s seen a CGI mammoth with Liam Neeson’s voice and thinks that’s a starting space to build her version upon. Listen, my dudes, he is not a tame lion, but he is good. I don’t have a source for this, but I heard ages ago that Phil Vischer regretted the effect Veggie Tales had in softening the Gospel. It warmed people up to therapeutic moralistic deism rather than life transformation. This ties into my week, I promise.

What a full and beautiful – and cold – week I’ve had back home! Two houses viewed, and neither one will work, unfortunately, so I’m still praying for the right place. God has been so good to provide this buffer for me, and I’m grateful, but I also am feeling the crunch, and it’s a distraction I’d rather be done with.

Even with the distraction, I managed to get a lot of work done this week and caught up with a few friends and leaders as I prepped to launch into term three. I’m having my team meeting today, and I’m eager to see how we can be a part of encouraging young people to thrive with Jesus. I know it starts with me – my leaders can’t lead youth well if they aren’t healthy, and I can’t lead them well if I’m not healthy either. I’ve spent years learning how to take care of my holistic health, and I’m still not perfect, but I’ve learned a lot about how God cares about my mental health.

I also don’t want my youth group to be a place with warmed over self-help practices. I want to show practical tools that are encouraged by the Bible of how to live well and live in community and face difficult things together. I also lead a team of people I have to get on board with that vision to enact it. I have a couple on board, at least. I had my term meeting this afternoon, and I love working with these self-sacrificing Jesus followers, but I also want to make sure that they don’t lose their first love as we programme plan for the term. I don’t want my youth group to be a Veggie Tales version of the Gospel.

I’m a huge fan of Veggie Tales, and I actually do see a lot of value in the stories of the Bible told in funny voices acted out by animated vegetables that I could sing along with while I thought about the point of Jonah or the fact I could be friends with people who ate lots of popcorn. I also am more compassionate and merciful to people who are different than me (and yes that is the point). God wants to see lives transformed, and he invites me to be on the journey with others as that happens. So it’s not a total loss here.

But let’s look at that Narnia example again: Greta Gerwig is an incredibly talented movie maker, and she has next level skills in story telling. My concern isn’t that she’s not talented, it’s that she doesn’t know the story. Like know, know the story. She doesn’t know Aslan. I do. I’m not signing up to make a movie because I lack the skills and passion for that, but I am writing this blog here to tell you Aslan, in this world, has transformed my life. And he is on the move.