"Pick a star on the dark horizon, and follow the light."

When one thinks to begins a journey, generally one set a course that they will stick to, a fairly straightforward and well mapped course. However, this is not the only way to travel. And perhaps life is not so much of a journey, as it is a quest. You see there is a rather larger difference between a journey and a quest. A journey is something you embark on, the main reason being to get from a certain place to another. But a quest, a noble quest, that is so much more. It is not only about where you are going, but what you pick up along the way. For in a quest, when you arrive, if you have not gathered and learned and done all you could to prepare for what was at the end, then the trip is pointless, because when you get there, you will find that you have lost.

To paraphrase the great adventurer Bilbo Baggins, "step out your door and move your feet, or theres no telling where you might be swept off to." Does anyone else love to read books of great adventures in distant lands and find themselves for sometimes days and months dreaming of being there and having your own great adventure. I do. But then I remember that life is the most spectacular adventure there is. We are on a quest, an adventure. Never forget that. It is the greatest adventure of all, and if your missing it, shame on you. There is much we must pick up along the way. There are lessons that we each need to learn. There are so many different routes to take, so many different courses of action to pursue. They are numerous as the stars and they all lead to the same place. So pick a star on the dark horizon, and follow the light. And when you arrive at the source of that light and look Him in the face, be sure that you have all you need. It takes a lot to finish this quest. Much more challenging than it was for Frodo to throw away the ring, or for Harry to kill Voldemort, for Edmund to defeat the White Witch, harder than saving Fablehaven, than getting Artemis to truly change his ways, for Wendy to say good bye to Peter Pan. But it is more than possible. We have all we need. We are the divine children of God, taken at birth to be raised in a distant land, far away from our kingdom where we are subject to pain and trials and suffering and death. But we have found who we really are. And now we are on a quest to return home. It is a difficult road, but it is a good road. Its like Samwise said, "Its like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really matter. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't wan to know the end because how could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened. But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass, a new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out all the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were to young to understand. But I think Mr. Frodo, now I do understand. I know that folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't They kept going, because they were holding on to something. There's some good in this world and its worth fighting for."

We're in one such story. How incredible. What will your part be? Remember, extraordinary things happen to extraordinary people, are you doing the little extra? Do it for Narnia, and for Aslan.