following a link trail...

I've been pondering on odd connections today. I was browsing around on James White's youtube channel, and very useful and edifying it was too. I happened upon some videos from when Mr White came over to England and did a programme on one of our Christian channels on satellite telly.

It was one of the better channels, unsurprisingly, Revelation, which, although still airing plenty which is somewhat eyebrow-raising, has a wonderfully fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach to live programming. The man who runs it, Howard, is searingly honest, and very passionate about his faith - and committed, to the point of pain, to doing what he believes God is calling him to do, and that always impresses me.

A couple of years ago, he had asked viewers to phone in with suggestions for guests for their live programming. Unlike a lot of Christian programming, the live programming on Revelation has a real focus on reaching the unsaved, and you will often see discussions about Muslim beliefs, Jehovah's Witness beliefs and so on. It occured to me that James White would be an ideal guest, particularly to deal with the phone-in style of programme, so I phoned Howard one morning.

He was the only person in the office at the time, tired and answering phones himself. We had a lovely chat, and I tried to be as encouraging as possible, sharing James White's website address and suggesting that he would be a useful guest.

I have no idea if that groggy phonecall is the reason James White eventually appeared, especially as it was quite some time later that he did, but I did smile to myself today, in the midst of feeling discouraged myself, to think about all the odd little connections that link together.

Pictures from the Prince Caspian Premiere.

I'm having a little trouble with my connection today, and I've only managed to get three pictures uploaded, but like I say, no red carpet shots anyway! This first one gives you an idea of the scale of the screen, and where we were sitting. It really was breath-taking.
This second one is my shot of the adorably mischievous Skandar, especially for my friend Sandra, who would very much like to adopt him.
And here's the really exciting one - two very lovely girls together!
And, as a bonus, this is what I looked like when faced with hordes of photographers..

Things to be thankful for.

My companion to London and sometime guest blogger just shared some wisdom with me that I thought good enough to share. She asked if she had been good today, to which I was thankfully able to reply with a 'yes.'

She seemed very happy with this, because, as she explained, she had prayed last night that God would help her with His Holy Spirit to have a soft heart today. She then took the time to tell me that she had been saying sorry for all the sins that she had committed but had forgotten about, because she realized that not saying sorry for sin was a sin all by itself, too.

She then said that she was very thankful that God answers her prayers.

I do like being a mum :-D

An extra-ordinary event (mild spoilers for Prince Caspian ahead)

*coughs politely* Readers might find it helpful to recall that I'm not the Associated Press, and that I use old-fashioned camera film when I take pictures. They came back this lunchtime and I'll try and get them uploaded for your viewing pleasure sometime in the next day. :-)

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Life has been not-so-delightfully difficult over the past few months, but this last day has been a little oasis of something very special indeed for Eden and myself. Conquering more than a few anxieties, we travelled down to London, to the former Millenium Dome (and golly, what an ugly piece of architecture that is), where we saw the UK premiere of Prince Caspian.

I don't think I've ever been quite so intimidated as I was walking down a red (and green, as it happens) carpet, faced with an enormous crowd of people and line upon line of photographers and television cameras. We were so flustered, even when I get the pictures developed, there'll be none of us on the carpet because we were terrified.

We travelled there by boat, which my husband will tell you is one of the things I cope with least well. We went on a little rowing boat in Stratford-upon-Avon on our honeymoon, and it was about as romantic as being dangled upside down over a vat of sharks - I do not cope well near water!

So, was it worth it? Well, we sat in front of the biggest cinema screen in Europe, in a crowd of about 10,000 people, and the atmosphere was electric. Watching such an exhilirating movie with that many people is quite an experience - it was very interactive, with lots of spontaneous applause.

The cast and director did a little introduction on stage before the show, and afterwards, through the joy of being in the right place at the right time, Eden had her picture taken with Lucy herself, Georgie Henley - and what a lovely, level-headed, kind girl she is (and a big thanks to her family for putting up with the requests for pictures and autographs.)

I was very impressed with the film itself, much better than the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. At first I was a bit cheesed off with the characterization of Peter, one of my favourite characters, and some of the decisions he makes, but actually, those misgivings disappeared as the events played out - I really think it's very in keeping with the themes of the book, and the series as a whole.

Edmund is absolutely marvellous, and I have no hesitation in pointing at his action with the White Witch as one of my favourite additions to the story. I don't want to be too spoilery, but I cheered out loud and it made sure you knew you were watching the same characters you saw in the first film - and that certain lessons hadn't been forgotten.

Susan has one of the most controversial plot additions, but I do think it's quite appropriate, given her eventual fate, even though it's a teensy bit predictable and too modern. If I'd criticise the film, it wouldn't be the plot additions, it would probably be that I think you need to know the story to follow along - the exposition is a little rushed and unclear in places. It is a little more violent in places that the first film, but I think it's handled well, and is appropriate to the tale. It's something I'd recommend checking first (as would be my advice normally anyway) if you know your children are especially sensitive.

There are some great battle-scenes, a couple of which work best with the element of surprise, so I won't spoil that for you, and special mention has to go to the dwarf, Trumpkin, in a marvellously sardonic performance by Peter Dinklage, and a very funny turn by Eddie Izzard as my favourite character, Reepicheep. The use of music is clever in some specific places, too.

I read a review this morning that obviously had a bit of anti-Christian axe to grind, calling the film an illustration that Christianity is violent and intolerant - quite a bizarre conclusion given that the folly of human schemes of violence is thrown into sharp and upsetting relief in some key moments.

From a Christian perspective, I was very impressed with the film, given that Prince Caspian is a slim volume, because it brought out everything that I think is a strong theme - notably the temptations of pride, and the foolishness of attempting anything in your own strength. This is all a bit moot to my American readers, who will no doubt have already seen it, but to all my UK readers, do see it, and go with an open mind, I don't think you'll be disappointed.