Hunger Games.

South Dakota, not my most favorite state in the country to drive through. Something about the high winds, lack of anything remotely interesting to see on the interstate, and the almost 110 degree heat just doesn't bode well with my personality. However, living in the next door state makes it inevitable that we drive through it to get to the mountains. It was on the long and tediously boring ride through this particular state that I introduced my family to the Hunger Games on audiobook.

After you read this book, you simply must talk about it. It creates conflict in your heart, but especially the language you choose to use. For example,  How can someone who loves life, like myself,  even recommend this book to a casual reader with the words, "it's a story about kids forced to kill other kids?" We had a lively discussion about the characters and events of the book while crossing that blessed state. I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything.

Fast forward a while, and you find my family sitting in a theater at midnight anxiously awaiting the first installment of the Hunger Games loaded up on popcorn and pop. To say I was tense as a mom watching this book come alive on the screen with my babies was correct. In the book there are a few scenes played out in words that I would never want to "experience" in visual form, let along have my babies see it.

After sitting for the 2 hours and 22 minutes experiencing the book made movie. I came to this conclusion.

The story isn't about death. It is about life. 

As Christians, we are in the middle of Lent. A season of preparation for the upcoming holiday Easter. A day when we celebrate with much gusto as possible the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus. A man who died to save us all from our sin, so that we could have eternal life. Jesus was born into a system required him to defeat evil. He had to die, so that we can live. He was the ultimate sacrifice. If you have seen the movie Passion of the Christ, you know he died a horrible and unimaginably painful death.

Katniss was born into a system that she didn't agree with, and she got the chance to conquer the evil in order for others to have a better life. In this process, others had to die. Katniss is a fictitious character whose character doesn't even resemble Jesus one bit. Except that Katniss has to defeat evil for the one thing that is worth it all in the end.

Like life.

The movie, and book for that matter, do an excellent job at promoting life in the midst of evil. It may not look like it on the outside as a package, but the message is there that every life is beautiful. Go watch the movie, read the book, or even listen to it as a family on your next boring ride across South Dakota.. you will find it.  Oh and if you have never read the Bible either, go pick that up too. There is  whole bunch of good and true stories in that book to keep you busy until the next installment of the games comes out in theaters.