Office Help, Windblown Media and Prince Caspian

If you hear a new voice around Lifestream these days, that’s because we have a lovely college student filling in as my personal assistant this summer. Jessica Glasner is the daughter of some good friends of ours and is home from Westmont College for the summer. She’s agreed to come aboard helping with book and CD orders and other office needs that will free up my time. I’m really blessed to have her here, if only for the summer. It will take her a bit to get up to speed on everything, so please be patient.

And don’t forget the need in Kenya if you’d like to help those brothers and sisters. You can see my previous blog for the details. With that need, plus the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China, there is ample opportunity for us who have extra to share with those in the midst of tragedy. I hope you’re finding some corner of the world that Father wants to touch through you.

Also, Brad and I will be flying to New York tomorrow to finalize our new publishing partnership with Hachette Book Group, formerly Time-Warner books. They have opened a huge door for us, not only in helping keep up demand for THE SHACK, but also to make a fresh presentation of my books in the culture and to let us develop other projects. We maintain total creative control as well as deciding how our books are presented in the marketplace. They believe in our message and that there is an audience out there of people who are burned out on religion and looking for a real interaction with the Living God. Of course they see it more as a market and we see it as a mission, but since we are in control of the final product, we’re excited to add their expertise and wisdom to our passion. And we’ll be free to put our time and energy into content instead of production and distribution.

Finally, Sara and I were invited to a pre-screening of Prince Caspian on Monday night. This is the second of the Chronicles of Narnia movies being made by Walden Media in collaboration with Walt Disney Entertainment. A friend of mine works with Walden and invited us to the screening.

What a movie! I was a bit disappointed in the first movie of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It seemed to have all the right pieces, but didn’t connect at a heart level. I felt like I was looking through glass at some incredible pictures, but didn’t get personally attached to the story. It all seemed so clinical somehow.

But whatever they missed on the first one, they found with the second. Sara and I both enjoyed this adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ classic story. The action sequences are beefed up for a younger demographic, but the message of the book and the telling of the story are on point. The photography was spacious and beautiful and we enjoyed the performances. They also added some much-needed comic relief throughout that made the characters all the more endearing.

My only regret is that the movie didn’t have a bigger pay off at the end. Aslan, who is wonderfully depicted in the artwork, still seems a bit stiff and distant when he talks. It seemed hurriedly put together and there could have been so much more legitimate emotion in the children reuniting with Aslan and in having to say good-bye at the end. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been a lot more powerful. You won’t regret going to this one. There’s a lot of humor, action, and suspense with a powerful story line throughout.

And I so appreciated the improvements they made in this version over the last.

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