Summer has been a magical season. I have many happy memories reading
Harry Potter with my David - Such wonderful moments. We also loved
The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. I treasure these brief moments of childhood-discovering our common love of reading. I always wished the stories would never end.
I loved David's missionary farewell talk. He spoke about personal conversion and quoted Lewis. "When we are lost in the woods, the sight of a signpost is a great matter. He who first sees it cries "Look!" The whole party gathers round and stares. But when we have found the road and are passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare. They will encourage us and we shall be grateful they are there." David said, "to typical converts a single signpost is like the gospel when they are lost and searching for the truth. However, to lifelong members of the church there have most likely been signposts along the way. The signposts in my life mark the subtle steps in my process of conversion and I have been grateful for them. They stand as a witness of God's loving hand in my life." He concluded, "my life itself has been my own personal conversion. My signposts have not caused me to stop and marvel, but I have gained a testimony because they were there. I believe in Jesus Christ my Savior, I feel his love and I know He knows me by name. I am grateful for the people that have influenced my life and testimony. At the end of Narnia, Aslan exclaims, "every chapter is better than the one before!"
Truly David has made every chapter better than the one before. He is off to Seattle this summer, working hard and perfecting his skills, discovering new places and new stories.
I too am drawn to the writings of C. S. Lewis. He speaks to me. What we desire most, said Lewis, is "the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have not visited."
Lewis came to believe that Christianity fulfilled and completed the ancient stories. "The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the Heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history...by becoming myth does not cease to be myth - that is the miracle."
Having found truth in myths, he decided to produce his own and shows us that we actually inhabit a world of fantastical, eternal creatures with noble quests to perform and stories that do not end. When we discover our true citizenship it comes with "a happiness..so great that it even weakens me like a wound."
"I have come home at last!" says a stunned unicorn at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia.
"This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now."
