For a few bright shining moments in 1977, a 9-year old boy named Dean Briggs sat in a darkened theater in Tulsa, OK with his jaw on the floor and his heart in outer space. I was watching something too real to be special effects, and too true to be untrue. That night, common cellophane became life-transforming metaphor. By the time my parents had gathered our family around my grandma’s little kitchen table to discuss the various layers of Christian meaning, I had already enlisted in the cause. Without reservation, I joined the Rebellion against the Empire—against a world system led by a fallen, dark lord. Even more than I wanted an Atari (and I really wanted an Atari), I wanted a light saber so that I could destroy minions of the dark side.

Luke became my proxy. Leaving his old life as a sand farmer, he told his new Jedi mentor, “There’s nothing left here for me now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.” We were both making this decision. READ MORE >>>