The Wandering Soul

On fantasy worlds, formation, and the true Kingdom beneath them all

The shop is a cacophony of noise. The constant — click, click, click — of the sewing machines is punctuated by the pounding of copper rivets. A ten-ton press chops through leather hides — shlick, shlick, shlick — its motor creating a steady buzz throughout the space.

Off to one side, someone hand-stitches leather wallets, meticulously lined up, their holes punched slowly and precisely.

Another person measures across partially constructed bags, marking where holes need to be punched to attach straps and brass hardware.

I sit off to the side, working through the orders list and printing labels for all the leather creations people have purchased. At the same time, I listen to audiobooks and podcasts, filling my mind as we work to make.

I’ve done all of these jobs. Over six years, I learned, trained, and became the kind of person who could do any and all of them, and more. When I first started, I didn’t know anything. Slowly, over time, I learned to do them all with little effort — things that once took great pain to get right.

I learned a lot during this season. The slow process of mastering skills with your hands. Creating art. Crafting raw materials into beautiful and useful things.

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I mentioned that I used to listen to a lot of audiobooks. It was during this season that I fell in love with both reading and listening to books. I’ve probably gone through over 1,000 books in the last six to eight years.

A large portion of those books have been fantasy novels. I’ve always loved adventure, exploration, swords, and medieval history. The Lord of the Rings first captured my imagination with the worlds and peoples Tolkien created for us to explore, and that has never left me.

As I’ve read more and more, I’ve found myself to be a wanderer. And we know Tolkien’s famous line, “not all who wander are lost.” I am of that sort.

I am not lost. I am firmly rooted in the world of God’s Kingdom. Jesus is the center and structure of my being. As I’ve grown in intimacy with Him, I’ve found that He loves stories. He loves adventure and the long journey of becoming.

Through traveling hundreds of worlds and experiencing the adventures of thousands of characters, I’ve come to realize that I have journeyed with Jesus through all of those places.

For a long time, I felt like I couldn’t enjoy certain books or stories because they didn’t seem to align with “Christian” values or worldviews. And to be frank, there are some I still wouldn’t read, of course. But when it comes to fantasy, for example, there is often magic and other elements typically associated with “bad” or dangerous views within the typical Christian imagination.

Much of that caution exists for good reason. But what I’ve found is that the Lord teaches me just as much from the “bad” as from the “good.” These stories confront us with morality, belief systems and structures, character and desire, and so much more.

In that space, I’ve realized that the characters who capture my attention most deeply are often those who live with conduct and character that most closely reflect Christ.

Harry Potter has long been on the evangelical ‘no-go’ list because it centers on witches and wizards and magic. But isn’t it interesting that the primary villain is a serpentine man who speaks to snakes, and that the only way he can ultimately be defeated is through the main character’s death and return to life?

You see, the more you seek Jesus, the more you find Him. Though the world is often unaware, all creation groans and remembers who the King and Creator is. He slips into our minds, our stories, our songs, and our lives in ways we miss all the time.

All the great stories I’ve had the joy of wandering through contain elements that strengthen my faith, deepen my trust in God, and shape my love for His ways. Because even in stories, I can see that the fruit of good character creates the kind of world I want to help bring about — and live in.

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I learned a lot about being formed into the image of Jesus through learning a skilled craft. Leathersmithing has become a common way God teaches me and reminds me of sanctification and formation over time. The journey from novice to master takes time, effort, and love. The journey of becoming like Jesus is the same.

I have learned more than I could ever point out from the countless novels I’ve read, the people I’ve followed on adventures, and the cultures and worlds so foreign to our own. Through all of it, I’ve seen that there is no kingdom greater than God’s Kingdom. No world greater than God’s world.

Everyone is trying to become something.
Everyone wants a better life.
Everyone wants a world full of goodness.

But.

Not everyone knows what is worth becoming like.
Not everyone knows what a better life truly is.
Not everyone knows what a world full of goodness actually looks like.

So we find ourselves becoming what our shallow desires chase, building lives we think are better based on what broken cultures tell us is valuable, and trying to shape the world in our own image, which frankly — sucks.

There is only one adventure, one journey, and one pathway worth following in this life. And that is Jesus’ way.

Becoming like Him is worth it.
He is what creates a better life.
Jesus is what makes the world full of goodness.

If we are wanderers journeying through this life, it is worth considering where we want to go and why we want to be there.

The pathway of becoming is one we all walk, and the wandering soul is always searching for something to knit itself to.

That is why our world is obsessed with stories.
It’s why Jesus told so many.

My wandering soul has knit itself to Jesus, and now He goes on adventures with me — Wisdom for my feet to follow on the roads of this world, and all the worlds I journey through.

Maybe that can be true for you, too.

“Then Something Tookish Woke Up Inside Him, And He Wished To Go And See The Great Mountains, And Hear The Pine-Trees And The Waterfalls, And Explore The Caves, And Wear A Sword Instead Of A Walking-Stick”

J.R.R. Tolkien

Thanks for reading,

—Samuel

Photo by Vaidas Vaiciulis: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-in-the-forest-8514077/