I ordered Harry Potter 7 online from Amazon, and was guaranteed to get it the day it came out, which was last Saturday. Since seeing "Goblet of Fire" at our local movie theatre, my wife and I wanted to know more. It took that long to catch on the Harry Potter, but within months we had bought all six books up till that point, and purchased the first four movies.

The best memory for me of this whole series is reading the books to my wife. I got a pretty good British accent down, and have a voice for all the characters. Never thought I could pull it off, but it's fun :)

So, we anticipated The Deathly Hallows for some time. We waited all say Saturday for the book to come, but it never did. Needless to say, months of anticipation and ordering it online so we could avoid hassles in the bookstore, or overhearing spoilers shouted from some jerk. Well, it didn't happen.

What did we do? We went to Barnes and Noble anyway and found more than enough copies sitting in a stack by the door. Woot woot, now we in bidniss!

Two days later, we had read the final installment of the series, wholly satisfied. It is exciting for me, an aspiring author, to see books captivate an audience entirely too exposed to digital media that leaves nothing to the imagination.

When all is said and done, we have two more movies to look forward to, as well as a new theme park opening in Florida.

I have grappled with the question of Harry Potter's influence on people, and as a Christian I do tire of blind accusations that the books promote witchcraft. Yes, there are witches and wizards learning witchcraft and wizardry. However, what some Christians must understand is that real witchcraft is a negative spiritual force, while the magic in Harry Potter is a fictionalized form of magic that has no bearing or meaning in real life. Shouting "avada kedavra" at someone won't kill them instantly on the street corner. Parents must develop a sense of what's fantasy and what's reality in their kids, so that harmless magic in a book doesn't encourage pursuit of real magic that is against God's wishes for us.

I would shudder to think what would happen if we banned all manner of imagination. Magic in fiction has lent itself to the Potter books, but also to Narnia and Lord of the Rings, both written by believers in God. You'd have to count out most of the classic Disney movies, the entire fantasy section of the bookstore, and boycott most movies out there.

When all is said and done, though, I believe Harry Potter's legacy will live on for centuries, inspiring children to pursue what is good, and to define and oppose what is evil in the world. It will let their minds expand and perhaps lead them to think of applying the deeds in the book to benefit real relationships. At the very least, it can entertain child and adult alike to a great extent.

Thankfully, the final two movies are in motion, and we have quite a bit of the ride left to go. I salute JK Rowling for a phenomenal job, and she is an inspiration to anyone who seeks to use written word or any form of expression to inspire others.