Thursday, February 11, 2010

"Not a Tame Lion"

Next on the list is "Not a Tame Lion" by Terry Glaspey. It is about the life, thoughts and legacy of C.S. Lewis.

As a boy Lewis experienced pain and grief through the death of his beloved mother and later in the horrifying tragedies of World War I. At that point he turned his back on God and it was many years before he grudgingly admitted faith into his life once more. At last, after long, earnest debates and discussions with his close friends, J.R.R. Tolkein and Hugo Dyson he came to belief and trust in Christ. In the years following his conversion he passionately defended Christianity and became one of the greatest Christian apologists of the 20th century.

Much later in his life he met Joy Davidson Gresham and began a friendly correspondence with her. After going through a painful divorce and stranded with her two boys Joy found that her passport was running out and she must return to America...or marry an Englishman. Lewis, out of compassion married her in a civil ceremony so she could remain in the country. Soon afterward she was diagnosed with a terminal cancer and was given mere weeks to live. At last, C.S. Lewis discovered his own love for the woman and wished their marriage to be acknowledged by the church so he brought in a priest and they were married by her hospital bed. He took her home to die in his lovely estate called "the Kilns." Miraculously, Joy went into remission and the couple spent three happy years together before her cancer came back and claimed her life. The grief Lewis went through at this time was truly deep, emotional pain, yet of a different kind than his earlier grief for his mother. The one had driven him away from God, the other drove Him straight into the arms of his Heavenly Father. His book, "A Grief Observed" deals intimately with the struggles he went through at the time and how he dealt with the problems of grief and sorrow.

C. S. Lewis wrote many, many books on all sorts of topics, mostly theological, yet his style was readable, understandable, enjoyable, humorous and pithy. He is perhaps best known for writing the "Chronicles of Narnia," a series of allegorical fiction, and "Mere Christianity," quite literally a discussion on what it means to be a Christian.

Personally, growing up reading or listening to the "Chronicles of Narnia," I fell in love with the story, the majesty and holiness of the great Lion Aslan and then discovered in Christianity the same wonderful, awesome (in the truest sense of the word), glorious Character. At first it was the action and adventure of the stories that appealed to me and the more confusing 'theological' books (like "The Last Battle") were less interesting, but now, Lewis' brilliant illustration of Heaven in "The Last Battle" brings tears of joy and longing to my eyes and I eagerly await the day when we will all run together up the bright green slopes, charge up sparkling waterfalls, tumble down steep, mossy embankments, pick ourselves back up laughing and unhurt to follow the cry "Further up and further in!"


"The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning...All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Context is Everything

Hello readers! I decided that my next few Blogs will be about books I’ve been reading. My book list of late has grown larger and my time to read grown less, but I’m still plugging away, one chapter at a time whenever I can spare a minute. Hope you enjoy!

First and foremost: Kings. In my Bible I’ve been reading through the book of Kings and boy were there some bad ones in the mix! At first I thought...”ok, what’s the point of reading about all these guys? How does that help me in my Christian walk or further my faith?” In the movie Collisions Doug Wilson at one point speaks about reading the Bible in context; reading the poetry books as poetry, prophetic books as prophecy, history books as history. All at once, it made sense. I needed to stop reading Kings expecting a doctrinal treatise and instead read it as I would any other History. Although to many people history is just a bunch of old dead guys, it can really be a useful tool in life. One of the best reasons for knowing your history is in order to learn from its mistakes. You can bet those Israelite kings made lots of mistakes, but it is fascinating to see God’s hand working through it and playing out His story of love and redemption. It is the same story He is writing now in my life...and yours. One of the primary purposes of these stories is so that we know how to live our own lives; imitating those who behaved righteously and being warned away from evil. Next time you find yourself slogging through some of the duller portions of Scripture and wondering how God is going to use it in your life, try thinking about it in context and perhaps it will make more sense.