Transcript for Can You Un-Dragon a Dragon? • followHIM Favorites • May 27-June 3 • Come Follow Me

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, we're in Mozaya, 25 through 29 or 28 this week. And I have a story for you from CS Lewis. They did a movie on Chronicles of Nardia 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 Eustus comes to Narnia, which is this magical land, and you've got Aslan, this Christ's figure. I know you know that part. But Eustus is 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 all. He's very selfish, very prideful. At one point in the book, he gets away from the group, far away from them. finds himself in like a dragon's cave and then 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 these people that he's with he falls asleep basically in this dragon's treasure and Lewis writes he had greedy dragonish 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. 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, you know, being a dragon. I don't think dragons can go on the boat with you, right?

Just don't sneeze. They wake up one morning and he is back to his original four. 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. What happened? 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 the 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 it. 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. He said, I thought dragons are sneaky 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? 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'd 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. 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. 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 C.S. Lewis finishes this story, John. Right out of the book says, Great was the rejoicing when the restored useless walked into the circle around the campfire. No one, least of all, used his himself, felt any desire to go back for more treasure. It would be nice and fairly true to say from that time forth, use this 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 him. The cure had begun.

Yeah. I've been born again. I think that's what the exact phrase Alma uses, right?

I have repented of my sins, I've been redeemed of the Lord I am born of the Spirit.

Yeah, I long to bathe, right? I wanted to be away from my sense. How can I get away from my sense? Well, you'll have to let me help. Okay. Will it hurt? Yes, it's going to hurt, but it's gonna be okay. Well, we hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're with Dr. Janet Erickson this week and she is phenomenal. So come join us over there and then come back here for another follow him favorite.