Narnia

Have you ever been asked if you could sit down and talk with someone (other then Jesus), dead or alive, who would it be? There's so many great answers but often I pick one man whose faith, testimony, and imagination have fascinated me for many years. C. S. Lewis.

A couple of years ago my parents gave me the Chronicles of Narnia on CD Since the only CD player I have is in my car it's taken me quite a long time to get through the books. As I listen to them though I find amazing gems of truth buried inside these stories.

One quote is from The Horse and His Boy. There's this beautiful scene near the end of the story where Aslan, the great lion who is a picture of Jesus, appears to the weary travelers that the story has been following. Aslan calls forward the horse, Bree, but the horse is too afraid to approach the lion. Trembling and afraid he refuses to go forward to the lion. Aslan's reply is simple but profound.

"Do not dare, not to dare."

In the moment when I heard this line it hit me. This is what God says to us about approaching His throne. We have no right to approach the throne of Christ. We are not worthy but we're still told to come. By refusing to go to the throne we're throwing the gift of God's love and Christ's sacrifice back in His face. That's not how I want to react! I want to dare to approach Christ with trembling and fear but also with thankfulness and gratitude that I'm even allowed to be on the very outskirts much less wrapped in the arms of my loving Heavenly Father.



In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader when the crew of the ship is sailing through a cave of that makes all of their worst fears come to life Lucy (who is my favorite character from any of the books) is terrified and she calls out to Aslan. A bird suddenly comes from out of nowhere and lands on the mast of the ship in that moment the bird says something amazing to Lucy.

"Courage, dear heart."

Courage. When you're in the midst of the most terrifying moment of your life take courage. Not because you yourself have the courage to get through what's going on but because you know that God is still in control. He's got this. He's got you and He will get you through whatever is happening. Have courage.

Dear heart. This is the other reason I like this quote so much. The bird, which I think might be Aslan in a different form but don't quote me on that, calls Lucy this wonderful term of endearment. Dear heart. Lucy is dear to Aslan as we are so very dear to the Lord. We begin to understand how dear we are to Him when we give our hearts to Him. Dear heart, because we are dear. That's something I often need a reminder of when I'm in the midst of a situation that requires me to have courage. I am dear to the Lord and He has not abandoned me.




A couple of times in two different books a variation of this quote appears. The time I'm thinking of is in the final book of the series, The Last Battle.
Just as the king and his faithful companions are about to ride into battle Tirian says something along the lines of this amazing quote.

"Let us go forth and take the adventure that Aslan has sent us."

Now from the title you can probably tell, they're about to head into a battle. A crazy, intense battle and they don't know if they'll live through it but they still go. Why? Because they know that Aslan has put them in this place, at this time, for this reason. They trust him so much they will ride into battle.

How often do we look at a situation and go... "Umm... I'm not so sure about this God... maybe I heard you wrong." What we should be saying is okay- this is where you put me so this is where I'm going to stay, or go, or do, whatever adventure it is you've given me.




So there it is advice from C.S. Lewis to encourage you in your faith given to you through the mouths of his characters. I hope it touches your heart like it did mine.