The Voyage of the Dawn Jammer

I have to admit, the title cracks me up. Having just finished the book and with the movie coming out next month, I couldn’t resist. I thought the book was okay. In any Narnia book by C.S. Lewis you simply have to recognize the symbolism. There were plenty in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” although, referring to the books, I enjoyed “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"” and “Prince Caspian" much better.

In any case, I didn’t really want to talk about the book or the movie (although I plan to see it once it hits the dollar show). I wanted to talk about a discussion we had at my Grace Group (Home Bible Study) last night.

Kenny Clark preached this past week and used an analogy of the rearview mirror, symbolizing the things Jesus saved us from, and the windshield, symbolizing the things Jesus saved us for. We actually took that analogy and each of us started writing down the things Jesus saved us from and what Jesus saved us for.

As you could imagine, the list on my rearview mirror was quite extensive. Actually, it didn’t even fit (although I did have a small piece of paper). Some of the people in my Grace Group became Christians when they were young children and can’t even imagine life without Christ, which I think is a beautiful testimony. Since I became a Christian in high school and didn’t really feel the affects until late high school, I could easily envision my life without Christ as it was.

My rearview mirror had in it things like, self, bitterness, depression, meaningless, bad company, bad girlfriend(s), bad relationships and an extremely destructive lifestyle of complete indulgence. Picture the parable of the Prodigal Son but the son never returning to his father. Yes, that would be me. It was a little depressing thinking about it. Although I’m thankful Jesus saved me from that road, it still weighs heavily on my soul to think about those days and what easily “could’ve been” (details notwithstanding).

However, once I started on the windshield portion of the exercise, I began listing what Jesus saved me “for,” which was no surprise, a complete contrast with what He saved me “from.” Namely, He saved me for service to others, peace, joy, purpose, amazing brother-like friends, an amazing wife, a productive member of the community of the redeemed, and a life-style that honors Him (sometimes anyway).

I wanted to take the analogy further and say that we (Christians) are headed towards the Kingdom of God. The closer we get to that destination the more things make sense to us. Also, the closer we get to the Kingdom, the smaller our past sins (and even our present ones) seem to be in the rearview mirror. The vehicle is the church and the fuel is the Holy Spirit (we’re not meant to ride alone). If we focus too much on our past we could stray off course. If we don’t check our rearview once in a while, old vices could sneak back up on us.

Furthermore, it’s Jesus who is doing the driving. We often think we’re driving, however, “a man makes his plan but the Lord directs his steps.” We get in trouble when we try and take the wheel. This analogy gets me excited about the journey.

In the book “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” the focus is as much on the journey as it is on the end goal. I’m enjoying my “Voyage of the Dawn Jammer” (this still cracks me up). There are certainly some rough patches along the way but that only makes for a more interesting book.

Here's the trailer of the movie for kicks: