a timely pilgrimmage.

This past week I spent an amazing 4 days with someone I've grown incredibly fond of, whose presence makes my moments of life more full of the richness found in real friendship. Amanda returned for a whirlwind visa run after having lived in Barcelona, Spain for nearly 6 weeks now.
Spending time with Amanda, as most all of you know, is one of the things I enjoy the most. I cannot recall a single time that we've been together when I didn't find an unforgettable memory in the making. We've gotten into lots of trouble together, but it's always been in good fun and with innocent intentions! Somehow, we just find adventure, and our recent time in Chicago didn't have an option of being any different.

For those of you who know nothing about me, one of the first things to know is that CS Lewis helped lead me to Christ, just as if he'd been alive, sitting there next to me on the plane to San Diego--the moment when I think I "believed God was God", as Lewis phrased it. I was reading Mere Christianity, after about....oh...7 years of sinful living with little proactive pursuit of God on my part. Having just been removed from a relationship gone bad which began five years earlier (judgement is lacking when one is intoxicated for years at a time), and having just graduated from college, I found myself all alone on a plane ride to a city where I knew one person, hoping to find escape from my pain.
And so, to make that long story short for all of you who know my verbose tendencies, I surrendered my life to Christ at the end of that trip to California: December 31st, 2002. Not a drop of former behavior (or substances symbolic of said behavior) has found its way into this jar of clay.

Coinciding with the recent release of Lewis' beloved classic onto the big screen, a certain fondness for my CS experienced revival. A few years back I made it a point to always be reading one Lewis book, amongst the 4 or 5 others I am usually tackling at once. Due to the backlog of suggested reading from friends, books bought for me to read from others, and my own personal reading list ever-growing and making itself more and more unattainable, I have reinstated this Loyal2Lewis rule, as I like to call it. I have begun with "CS Lewis: A Biography", published in 1990, written by A.N. Wilson.

It just so happens that, in the Acknowledgements section of this book, there is a hearty "Thank you" from Wilson to Wheaton College's Marion E. Wade Center, located in none other than "a suburb of Chicago". As I flew to O'Hare last Saturday, my eyes found this information quite "timely", and here the story continues...

What you are about to experience is a Chronicle of my pilgrimmage to the Marion E. Wade Center, documented in photo by my dearest Amanda. Join us in our journey to Wheaton, Illinois.


ashley, upon learning of the whereabouts of the original Lewis wardrobe, carved by grandfather Lewis for his 2 grandchildren--Jack and Warnie ashley, eating the bagel that nearly made us miss the train heading out of Union Station for Wheaton, Illinois. somewhere between this photo and the next, we entered our own narnia: the surrounding changed from tall buildings, brown and grey buildings, and factories on the outskirts of town to heavy woods laden with snow. for those of you who have seen the movie, you will appreciate the image of us on a train, traveling through a wood, to see a wardrobe
amanda's joy unleashed as we exited the train and began the part of our journey which required us walking through snow covered land
a brief glimpse into the side of amanda i find matched no where else
the entrance to wheaton college, home to alumni such as jim and elizabeth elliot, billy graham, and others who i don't know but i'm sure i'd like very much
i recognized the building from 2 blocks away. this is marion e wade center, where many precious pieces from the lives of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, George MacDonald, and others are kept
THE MOMENT: my first glimpse into the wardrobe lewis grew up writing stories about. on the door was a sign that read something like "we are not responsible for children lost in the wardrobe". i found this to be quite clever

the man of my dreams, receiving a kiss from one of his many fans

aslan sneaks up on amanda.

After receiving CPR due to the initial shock of such events, I enjoyed a quiet afternoon in the library where copies of all of Lewis' letters to his fans, family, and friends are transcribed and organized in a wall of 3-ring binders. Because I am a dork, and I know that in late September of 1931, Lewis had that late night dinner and conversation with Tolkien and Dyson, where he realized the imaginative component required to understand the "mythical story of Christianity" as the one myth that actually describes real events in history, and being challenged by Tolkien that to understand Christianity, one must exercise a keen imagination. I also know that 9 days later, Lewis, while on his way to the zoo with his brother Warnie, found that he did indeed believe in Christ ("when we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did"). Through this information, which completely exposes me as the supreme freak that I am (although I give you my word that I don't practice idol worship), I was able to find THE ORIGNIAL LETTER Lewis wrote to his best friend Arthur Greeves, tucked amongst about 79 other large black notebooks in the archive room of the library. Alongside my great friend, we jointly read the short but sweet version Lewis gives of these events.
How I held back tears was a gift from God, because he must know how hard it is to cry and read at the same time.

And so it is...

...I'm completely wacky.