Since we’re beginning a new season and a new book, we thought it would be wise to introduce new listeners to the life of C.S. Lewis. To this end, we invited onto the show James Como, a founding member of the New York C. S. Lewis Society, to talk about his latest book, C.S. Lewis: A Very Short Introduction.
It is finally time… To celebrate Hobbit Day, today we begin Season 4 of Pints With Jack where we’ll be reading through The Screwtape Letters. In today’s episode we just talk through this season an introduce our new co-host…
To celebrate “Hobbit Day”, today we begin Season 4 of “Pints With Jack”! This season we’ll be reading through C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”. In this episode we introduce our new co-host and talk about what to expect this season…
My wife and I are trying to finish reading through the Bible in a year. At the moment, our Old Testament reading is coming from Isaiah and it put me in mind of this song from my youth by Daniel Bedingfield:
Can you see The honest questions in my heart this hour? I’m opening like a flower to the rain And do you know The silent sorrows of a Never ending journey through the pain
Do you see a brighter day for me? Another day? A day? Do you wonder what’s in store for me? The cure for me? The way?
Oh look down and see the tears I’ve cried The lives I’ve lived The deaths I’ve died But you died them too And all for me And you say:
“I will pour my water down Upon a thirsty barren land And streams will flow from the dust of Your bruised and broken soul You will grow like the grass Upon the the fertile plains of Asia By the streams of living water You will grow You will grow”
Do you know My story from the start? And do you know me Like you’ve always told me?
Do you see The whispers in my heart against your kindness My eternal blindness Do you see?
My faith came alive around the time this song came out and I remember that, as I listened to the album, when I came to this song, something seemed very familiar:
I will pour my water down
Upon a thirsty barren land
And streams will flow from the dust of
Your bruised and broken soul
You will grow like the grass
Upon the the fertile plains of Asia
By the streams of living water
You will grow
You will grow”
Daniel Bedingfield, Honest Questions (Chorus)
…and it finally clicked:
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. They shall spring up like grass amid waters, like willows by flowing streams
Isaiah 44:3-4
…which is itself alluded to by Jesus in John’s Gospel:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. 38 He who believes in me, as[a] the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
Continuing “Tolkien Month”, in today’s episode I spoke with John and Greta Carswell from “The Tolkien Road” podcast, focussing on Tolkien’s work, The Silmarillion.
S3E43: “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road (Download)
