More Temptations on the Way.

“Can we go around to Uncle Jeff’s place this afternoon?” asked Bobby one Saturday. “If all your chores are done we’ll think about it after lunch”, said Mum, “So you’d better run along and get them done!” Needless to say, the chores all got done in double quick time, and when they got to Uncle Jeff’s place, they all settled down for the next part of the story.

“Where did we get up to?” Uncle Jeff asked. “Christian got away from the wicked town where Faithful was killed”, Bobby said. “Yes, and that man called Skitey Pants wanted him to go to that place where nobody told the truth”, Betty piped up. “That was the place called Fair-Speech”, put in Sarah, “and now he had Hopeful travelling with him”. “Right”, said Uncle Jeff, “I think you’ve got it all sorted, so here goes…..

After a while Christian and Hopeful came to a plain that was called Easy, and they soon got across it with no trouble. As they came to a small hill on the other side, a man came out from a cave there. This hill was called Silver, and there was a silver mine there. ‘Hoho’, said the man whose name was Demas, ‘Come and have a look at this mine. You might even see some bits of silver on the ground that you can take!’

Hopeful thought he might like to look, but Christian wouldn’t have a bar of it. ‘No, no’, he said, ‘I’ve heard how too many people fall for the love of money and do all sorts of evil things to get it. I’m not going to risk it’. So Hopeful decided to give it a miss too, and they carried on. Just behind them another man called Money-love  came up and Demas got him to go and have a look at the silver mine. He was very keen but he got too close to the edge of it and fell to his death into the pit below.

    As they went further along, they saw a white statue beside the edge of the road. ‘Whatever is this?’ Hopeful asked. They walked around it and then noticed a sign at the bottom of it. It read ‘Remember Lot’s Wife’. ‘Oh’, said Christian, ‘I remember that story. This is the woman that was supposed to escape from Sodom when God was going to destroy it for being so wicked, but she turned around and looked back behind her, and then turned into this white pillar of hard salt.’ “

Mum came into the room just then with a drink for each of them and a plate of cookies. “Here you are”, she said, “Take a break and have a drink”. “Ooh goody,” said Betty.  “Thank you Mum”, said Sarah and Bobby together as they reached for a cookie each.

“The two friends went on their journey”, Uncle Jeff continued, “and now the path was beside a smooth running river called the River of Life. The water was fresh and sweet and the two men were glad to be able to drink from it. Along both sides of the river were beautiful fruit trees and they were able to eat the fruit when they were hungry. They were able to get a good rest each night as it was perfectly safe to sleep here without any worry of being disturbed. They were able to take time to read from their books that the King had provided, and had many a good conversation about what they were reading. It was a very delightful and restful part of the trip.

   But after a while, the path turned away from the river and became stony and rough and went up a hill again. It wasn’t nearly so pleasant as the part they had just travelled over. The track levelled off a bit, and there was a stile on the side of the road in the middle of a hedge that the road was going by. Christian looked over the stile, and saw a sign saying ‘By-Path Meadow’.

‘This track is a lot easier than what we are going on here’, he said, ‘Look, there is someone else just ahead of us here, let’s follow him!’ ‘But weren’t you told at the beginning of this journey, to make sure you always stayed on the narrow path without getting off it?’ Hopeful asked. ‘We’ll follow this man and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble’, Christian said, ‘This way is much easier! Hey, there! ‘ he called out, ‘What is your name and where does this track go?’ ‘My name is Cocky’, the man said, ‘And this track goes to the Celestial City!’ ‘See!’ said Christian to Hopeful, ‘We’ll be OK if we keep him in sight’.

So they followed him all afternoon, and then it began to get dark. They kept on following him until they couldn’t see him any more. Suddenly they heard him cry out, ‘Help, help’, and then there was silence. There was a sudden flash of lightning, and then another one. Our two friends could see that there was a deep pit just ahead, and this was what Cocky had fallen into.

‘I wish we hadn’t left the other path’, Hopeful said. ” Please forgive me’, Christian said, ‘Let’s go back’. So they stumbled along the best they could in the heavy rain, getting more tired and discouraged all the way. Another flash of lightning showed them an open shed by the path so they went in there and lay down, falling asleep in spite of being wet and sore.”

“Ooh, what happened to them then?”  Betty asked shivering in anticipation. “You’ll have to wait until next time to see”, Uncle Jeff said, “We’ve had enough for now”. “I think I can see what this part is all about”, said Sarah thoughtfully, “It’s like when we leave off our morning readings, or going to church when things get a bit rough or when we are busy, and we find things getting really tough, and maybe make some big mistakes and know it is all our own fault”. “That’s right”, said Uncle Jeff, “We have to be on our guard all the time. It’s no use thinking we can stand and handle things ourselves without God’s help, because that is when we will fall for sure! Come on, let’s go outside.”