I encountered C.S. Lewis for the first time in a bookshop in my home town. I was not a huge reader at the time (it’s still not my favorite activity) but I picked up Mere Christianity,  and it looked like an important book to know. Some books simply appear in your life, and seem specifically aimed at changing it. And that it did. I read it in a couple of sittings and decided that Christianity is meant to be taken seriously or not at all. I wasn’t familiar with The Chronicles of Narnia, or anything else by Lewis, so it was one of those “blank-slate moments” I was granted in order to discover what C.S. Lewis was all about, and that was to encounter someone who wanted you to know what God was all about. At that point of my life I needed an apologist with real personality, and I got one. I discovered that God could be talked about rationally, and therefore approached in a personal manner.

Later on, I became more fascinated with Lewis’s life as described in his autobiography Surprised by Joy, discovering that his life was full of “constant sorrow” yet borne with love, with Christ. I also was thrilled to hear his step-son, Douglas Gresham, speak about him in Chicago some years ago. All of this brought the humanity of his great genius to light and life. My love for reading has increased some over the years, but my love of God and desire to speak about Him even more. Thanks, Jack!

I celebrated the anniversary of C.S. Lewis’s death (N0v. 22, 1963, shared with JFK) with a re-viewing of “Shadowlands”.  A must-see…!