I remember being on my bed, finishing up C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity for the first time. That was 1994; I was 17 years old. In my childhood I was introduced to Lewis through his Narnia series, but Mere Christianity was my first foray into deeper Lewisian waters -- I was not disappointed.

Lewis' words struck a chord with me. The "latent Christianity" (his words) that infused the world of Narnia, was now blatant Christianity. His words pierced me and illuminated me; the Holy Spirit stirred me through his words.

I think the word epiphany would describe my thoughts and feelings as I finished the book. I'll never forget the last three paragraphs:

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

Yes, epiphany.

For the next couple of years, I ate Lewis' books. I digested them. They became part of me. To this day, I count Lewis as a friend. I feel like I know him personally.

Within a year of reading Mere Christianity I was submerged into the Holy Spirit culture of Highland Baptist Church. I was still a sinner, living a double life in so many ways, but several forces were chipping away at my soul: My childhood faith, my newfound love for C.S. Lewis, and the stirrings of the Holy Spirit within my heart. I was incubating.