Happy Birthday, Jack

In honor of C.S. Lewis’ birthday, it is only fitting that I pay tribute to a man who has been instrumental in my growth as a Christian.

My junior year in college was among the most significant times in my life. I was being faced with some of the most difficult trials I’d experienced in my life, and some harsh realities were being brought into the light. It was a time when God was moving violently in my life. What felt like destruction was actually His way of tearing away the things that stood between Him and me. God had shaken the ground beneath my feet so much that when it finally stopped, all that was left standing was the truth that Jesus was what I really needed. And it was at that point when I began to truly pursue a real relationship with God. It’s safe to say that it was one of the single best things that have ever happened to me.

As a result of God taking hold of my attention, I sought out sermons, and read my bible more diligently than ever before. And as I began to thirst for knowledge about God, the writings of C.S. Lewis became an addiction of mine. I fell in love with the way that he wrote. There was something about the way Lewis described God that ignited a fire in my heart. And C.S. Lewis was there when I needed help pursuing God.

Lewis was a professor of English literature. He called his childhood “blandly Christian,” but spent much of his young life rationalizing against God, professing devout atheism. Upon his conversion, he described himself as “the most reluctant convert in all of England.” He would go on to write some of the most popular books in all of Christian literature. And to his friends, Clive Staples Lewis was simply known as “Jack.”

Romans 1:20 states that creation screams of who God is, and I think few people have ever been so perceptive to those cries as C.S. Lewis. One of my favorite things about Lewis is his ability to compose illustrations that made truths about God so much easier to understand, and even pass on to someone else. Perhaps it was that ease of understanding that made me so passionate. Among his most famous works was the children’s fantasy collection, The Chronicles of Narnia. Although Lewis could write at the highest levels of intellect, through the Chronicles of Narnia, he made the principles of Christianity easy enough for a small child to understand and enjoy. His gift was helping people to understand who God was, and he could do it for people of all ages and reading levels. He certainly did so for me.

In terms of his doctrine, I find many differences between Lewis and myself. But in spite of those differences, Lewis’ words acted as sorts of road signs, pointing me on towards God. And he lit a fire in my soul with the poetic assembly of his stories and ideas. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lewis used a mouse named Reepicheep to show us that size and stature have nothing to do with boldness when pursuing God—that anyone can be courageous if our heart is set on God.

“My own plans are made. While I may, I sail East in Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I row East in my coracle. When that sinks, shall I paddle East with my four paws. Then, when I can swim no longer, if I have not yet reached Aslan's Country, there shall I sink with my nose to the sunrise.”

Chills. Every time. And since first reading his words, I have an inexplicable longing for Aslan’s Country.

Because of Lewis, I am more in love with Jesus than I was before I read his writings. I hope that when my life comes to a close, it bears that same mark—I hope that people will be more in love with Jesus because they knew me. It’s why I think I was put on this earth. Happy birthday, Jack.