Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello everyone, welcome to followHIM Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week’s lesson. John, we’re in Mosiah 25-29, or 28, this week.

John Bytheway: 00:14 28.

Hank Smith: 00:14 And I have a story for you from CS Lewis. They did a movie on The Chronicles of Narnia 10 years ago, maybe longer than that now, where it brings in this boy, Eustace, and he fits quite closely to Alma the Younger. Because Eustace comes to Narnia, which is this magical land, and you’ve got Aslan, this Christ figure. I know you know that part. But Eustace, he’s a difficult person. He wants to ruin almost everything. He hates the people there. He hates the other people. He came with his cousins. He wants to be away from them all. He’s very selfish, very prideful.

 00:55 At one point in the book, he gets away from the group, far away from them, finds himself in a dragon’s cave. And in this dragon’s cave is all sorts of treasure, and he loves it. He’s so excited to be so rich and to be away from these people that he’s with. He falls asleep, basically, in this dragon’s treasure, and Lewis writes, “He had greedy dragon-ish thoughts in his heart and he became the dragon.” So, when he wakes up, he’s the dragon. He comes down to talk to his friends, and of course he can’t talk because he’s a dragon, and they try to kill him. And eventually one of the friends, her name is Lucy, she figures out who it is.

 01:37 Here’s a couple of quotes from the story. It says, “An appalling loneliness came over him. It was very dreary being a dragon. He shuddered whenever he caught sight of his own reflection. He was ashamed to be with others.” And his friends try to help him, but they think, “We can’t stay here forever. We might have to leave him here. We might have to leave him on this island being a dragon.” I don’t think dragons can go on the boat with you, right?

John Bytheway: 02:07 They can. They just can’t breathe, because they start the boat

on fire.

Hank Smith: 02:11 Just don’t sneeze. Right?

 02:13 So they wake up one morning and he is back to his original form. He’s definitely a changed person, but he’s back to his original form. And they asked him what happened. Now, think of that with Alma the Younger when he wakes up and they asked him basically what happened.

John Bytheway: 02:34 What happened? Yeah.

Hank Smith: 02:35 What happened? So here’s what he said. He said, “I was lying awake, wondering what on earth would become of me, when I looked up and saw a huge lion coming slowly toward me. It told me to follow it. It led me into the mountains. There was always light wherever the lion went. So at last, we came to the top of a mountain and there was a garden there, trees and fruit and everything. And in the middle of it, there was a very big round bath with marble steps going down in. I thought if I could get in there and bathe, it would ease the pain.” He’s got a pain on his arm from one of the bracelets he had put on when he was a human, and now being a dragon, it’s really painful for him. “But the lion told me, before I could get down into this bath, I must undress first.”

 03:24 He said, “I thought dragons are snaky sort of things that can get rid of their skin, so I started scratching at myself and the scales began to come off. I scratched a little deeper and my whole skin started to peel off beautifully. I could see it there beside me, looking rather nasty, but it was the most lovely feeling. I scratched and tore again and again and more skin peeled off beautifully. I thought to myself, ‘How many skins do I have to take off?’ For I was longing to bathe. Then the lion said, ‘You will have to let me.'” Now listen to this, John, with Alma the Younger in mind. “The very first tear he made was so deep, I thought it had gone right to my heart. It hurt worse than anything I’d ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.” Right? You talk about sin. “He caught hold of me and threw me into the water. It hurt, but only for a moment, and then I found all the pain had gone.”

 04:30 Isn’t that just a great story of Alma the Younger type moment of, “I want to change. I truly want to change. Help me change.” You got to hear how CS Lewis finishes this story, John. Right out of the book, it says, “Great was the rejoicing when the restored

  Eustace walked into the circle around the campfire. No one,

least of all Eustace himself, felt any desire to go back for more treasure. It would be nice and fairly true to say from that time forth, Eustace was a different boy. But to be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy.” Then these four words, John. I’ve always loved them. “The cure had begun.”

John Bytheway: 05:16 That’s great. That’s a born again.

Hank Smith: 05:19 Yeah. I’ve been born again. I think that’s the exact phrase Alma uses. Right?

John Bytheway: 05:24 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 05:25 I have repented of my sins. I have been redeemed of the Lord. I am born of the Spirit.

John Bytheway: 05:33 CS Lewis. You know what he was talking about. And that’s why I love it. Because you listen a little closer because you know you’re going to hear that testimony in there.

Hank Smith: 05:42 Yeah. I long to bathe. I wanted to be away from my sins. How can I get away from my sins? Well, you’ll have to let me help.

John Bytheway: 05:50 Right. Okay.

Hank Smith: 05:53 Will it hurt? Yes, it’s going to hurt, but it’s going to be okay.

 05:57 Well, we hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called followHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re with Dr. Jenet Erickson this week, and she is phenomenal. So come join us over there and then come back here for another followHIM Favorites.