I got an invitation to attend an honest to goodness Hollywood premier.

It was a once in a lifetime experience that I would have passed on as the trek from Hawaii to Los Angles to go to a movie is a bit much and frankly, I am not that impressed by celebrities to get all that fired up about it.

But since I have a daughter who is a freshman majoring in film and had some extra miles, I thought I would suit up and mingle with the elite so that she would be encouraged to purse her craft.

Maybe suit up is not the right word.

I don’t own a suit or a tie. I did have some new black jeans and a nice Aloha shirt, which I thought would be appropriate attire since it was the premier of a surf movie,  Soul Surfer, which was based on the book that I helped write for my long time friends, the Hamilton family. (And no, I am not getting anything for this effort other than bragging rights.)

So, with my daughter who was dressed to the nines in tow, we proceeded down Sunset Boulevard in search of the theater that would be hosting the premier.

If you’ve never been to Hollywood, please know that the glory days have been over for a long, long time. It is filthy, seedy, abandoned and littered with a wild collection of homeless, weirdoes and druggies.

But apparently there are shimmers from the past, for as we pulled up to the theater we could see that the streets were overflowing with paparazzi, media and loads of tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of Hollywood royalty.

As I wandered through the various levels of security that it took to actually get into the cinema, I took first hand note of how the caste system of popular culture works.

At bottom of the pile, the raw vermin, were the paparazzi, for they were rude, obnoxious and only in it for a buck. They screamed and cursed at my friend Noah (Bethany Hamilton’s brother) because he happened to step in front of their cameras when someone of “note” strolled by (I think it was Jack Nicholson).

I smiled because Noah did just what I would have expected him to do…he froze in place and then walked in slow motion in front of the cameras even longer to the swearing and verbal abuse of the vermin.

The next level of humanity was the rabble…those for whom celebrity tabloids are English literature and whose value goes up in their hometown because they were within twenty paces of a star.

There was lots of rabble that evening, many begging for an autograph.

Further up the scale were those of us fortunate enough to be granted a ticket to the premier. Not allowed onto the red carpet and scurried out of the foyer and into the theater, we did have access to the stars (well, sort of) but even better we got to be part of a big event and the after party. Plus we had all the popcorn and soda we could consume for free…mountains of it.

At the top of the pile were the actors…the people who make a living pretending to be someone they are not.

In this case they pretended to be surfers (well, a few did surf and the rest took lessons) they pretended to be devout Christians (again, a couple declared they had faith) and of course they pretended to be the people I knew in real life as friends.

The acting royalty was feted, photographed and sought out.

And, like most royalty, most had little interest in anyone who was of a slightly lower caste.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am NOT putting down actors. I admire the talent of people who have honed this craft into a convincing display of mimicking real people.

But it was a first hand reminder of the odd and twisted value system humanity has adopted.

Celebrities are a big deal…even in the Christian world. We create caste systems out of beauty, achievement, economics and such. But it seems to me that the Kingdom of Heaven turns this on its head. From everything I have read about it, those who are considered royalty and those deemed as great come by their titles via some different path altogether.

They get their royalty by grace and their greatness by their service to others.

I know this is a hard sell in a culture that celebrates people who pretend for a living (or throw a ball or take off their clothes), but just maybe it would be fun to throw a party and roll out the red carpet, get our own paparazzi and crowd clamoring for some simple souls whose main contribution in life is to love God and make others feel great.     

And as part of that party, I think we should have all the popcorn and soda you can consume…for free.