I was visiting my sister-in-law. Glenda was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, at a time when shunt operations were still experimental and nobody survived them. Her parents had decided not to approve the operation and pray instead. The water on her brain stopped being produced and her head stopped growing. She survived, and brought such joy to our lives during her 41 years. (I might write more about her in a later post.) Her reading level was about a grade 6 or 7 but her comprehension was around grade 3 or 4.
Somebody had given her the entire set of CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. I'd heard of the books, knew they were allegory, but had never read them. She saw my interest and said I could borrow them: "I'll probably never read them," she said. So I took them home.
For two weeks I devoured those books, one after the other. They transported me to Narnia, a mythical place where Aslan the lion was king, where the animals could talk, and where sons of Adam and daughters of Eve were kings and queens.
Shortly after that I discovered the 70's group, The 2nd Chapter of Acts. And I found out they'd done a tribute to CS Lewis' 2nd Narnia book, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." My favorite scene in that book is when Aslan rescues Edmund from the White Witch's clutches and talks to him. (Soon after, if you've read the book or seen the movie, Aslan fulfills his part of the deal to redeem Edmund - by dying for him.) So when I heard Edmund's song on the 2CA album, (ok - vinyl, that dates me) it touched something deep in me.
Here's the song -
I love that line - "I've looked in Aslan's eyes, now fears can't hide my lies..."
There is something about Jesus (we all know who Aslan is) that reaches past those fears, exposes the lies of life lived from the outside in (religion, in other words) and grants the simple joy of sins forgiven, erased as though they never existed. I need to be reminded of it. Often.
I can hear His roar of love.
