Walking in the Path of Illuvatar and Jesus

Walking with Bilbo by Sarah Arthur
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you are looking to walk the path of spirituality derived from the Lord of the Ring or the Hobbit then for this book you better be a Christian. This book is written from a Christian perspective for Christians. THe only thing is that most Christians or die hard ones will get their spirituality from the Bible not a fantasy novel. Those who do derive lessons will have a diffrent spiritual orientation altogether. JRR Tolkien himself was a Christian and it no doubt bled into his works.

THe author goes chapter by chapter delivering forth a spiritual lesson to be derived from the chapter. Whethyer Tolkien meant for it to be that way is to dificult to tell. The author looks at the Hobit as a parable for Jesus and spiritual worker. THe Hobbit teaches via selection of Bilbo that Christ is looking for a few food people, people with hidden qualities, people who are humble and people who are willing to do what it takes. Often times like Bilbo we do not get a job description or at best it is very scarce and never really prepares us for what to expect. Are we indeed qualified. God only know as does Gandalf in the Hobbit. It is sheer madness to break away from the norm like Bilbo did in the Hobbioty. No Hobbit ever went on adenventures, Bilbo did and was judged for it. We too are judged when we quest for the spiritual. Often tiomes the Bible will ask us to be fools for Christ or God. When we have to travel on a spiritual journey or do God's work we oftn times have to travel light and leave behind many things we find comfortable. THe keyu to trabvelling success is traveling light. Gandalf comes and goes much like God does. Often on very difernt errands yet we are never totally alone we must fight the battle and yet when things get too tough Gandalf or God reappears for us. Things do not always go as planned at times it will go awry but there is a reason for that. It is part of God's plan not ours. In the face of disaster whenwe canot fix things we have but one choice and that is to move on and move forward. Things can seem difficult but help comesw when we least exct like eagles swoopiong form the sky to rescue us from orc and wargs this what Tolkien called a eucatastrophe. We can walk God';s path or our path. On Gods path we experience adventure that will build us up and on our opwn path we expereince misadventure which means bad problems.

THe lesson in this book are many. THe reader is taught about decency, honesty and the dangers of greed. More over we usually learn about how even the smallest person can be the biggest hero.

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