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Pilgrim’s Progress (3)

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Still on the way to Losing the Back-Pack

     Bobby was busy setting the table and whistling tunelessly as he did it. “Did Uncle Jeff always like telling stories?” he asked his mother. “I remember when he was little we could never be sure whether he was telling us stories or things that had really happened”, she said, “Yes, he has always liked telling stories”.

After tea was over, Betty grabbed Uncle Jeff’s hand, and said, “Come over here Uncle Jeff, we want to hear more story’. When they were settled down (with Sarah not far away again), Uncle Jeff said, “Well, where did we get up to?” “ Pilgrim wanted to get rid of his back-pack but he didn’t know how to”, Bobby said. “That’s right, I remember now,” said Uncle Jeff and he carried on with the story.

Pilgrim’s  heavy back-pack seemed to be heavier than ever. Suddenly he saw another person coming towards him. This was Mr. Smarty-Pants and he lived in the village of Selfishness just around the hill out of sight. ‘What are you carrying that heavy back-pack for?’ he wanted to know. ‘I’m going to the little gate beside that Light over there, and they’ll tell me how to get rid of it’, Pilgrim said. ‘Why don’t you take it off yourself?’ ask Mr. Smarty-Pants. ‘I can’t budge it’, said Pilgrim, ‘Nothing I can do will move it’. ‘How did you get this heavy load anyway?’ Mr. Smarty-Pants wanted to know. ‘It came upon me while I was reading this book I have here’, Pilgrim said. ‘Oh, I know all about that’, Smarty-Pants said with a wink, ‘You shouldn’t have been meddling with things that you don’t understand. Who told you to come this way anyway?’ ‘A man called Evangelist’, he replied. ‘He’s a dangerous man that’, said Smarty-Pants, ‘He’s always telling people that there’s only one way to get to the Kingdom. He’s so narrow minded, he doesn’t know what he is talking about! You want to watch out for that Gate….the road through there is so narrow and hard, and there are lions and dragons ready to grab you every step of the way.’

  Smarty-Pants still hadn’t finished with Pilgrim and he told him to come and live in the same village of Selfishness where he was. He would be able to just think about himself there and everything would be so easy. Pilgrim thought this was a good idea, and he turned to go there while Smarty-Pants went the other way.      But the weather started to get dull and it began to rain. Then he could hear thunder begin to rumble. ‘Whatever shall I do?’ he thought as he put his head down and struggled on. ‘Hullo my good man”, he heard someone say, and he looked up to see who it was. It was Evangelist standing there holding a raincoat for him. ‘Here, put this on. What are you doing here?’ he asked, ‘Did you forget that I told you not to leave the trail?’ Pilgrim hung his head in shame. ‘Smarty-Pants said it would be an easier road and that I would lose my back-pack sooner’, he muttered. ‘You should remember what the King says to those who turn away…He says, ‘My soul has no pleasure in them! ‘ ‘Oh, I’m so sorry’, cried Pilgrim, ‘ Is there any hope for me?’ ‘Of course there is’, said Evangelist kindly, ‘There’s the path over there, just follow it to the gate and you will find help there.’

“He was a silly man, wasn’t he?” Betty interrupted, “He should have kept on the right path!” “Yes, he should have,” uncle Jeff said, “We can learn a lesson from this for ourselves, and that is to never give up staying on the right road even if it DOES seem harder than the other ways”.

Stories for Teens

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“When’s Uncle Jeff coming round again, Mum?” Bobby asked one day after school. “Well, as a matter of fact, he’s coming round for tea tonight”, Mum said. “Oh good” said Bobby, “I wonder if he has any more stories for us!” “You’ll have to ask him when he gets here”, Mum said with a smile, “I’m sure he’ll have something to tell you anyway!” She knew that Uncle Jeff loved telling stories and he was very good at it.

   After tea was over, and Uncle Jeff was sitting comfortably on the couch, Bobby went along and snuggled up beside him. “Can you tell us a story please Uncle Jeff?” he asked. “Oh, please”, Betty said and got up on the other side of him. Even Sarah pulled a chair up and pretended she was reading a book, but she was really listening to what Uncle Jeff was telling the others.

“Well, it’s like this”, Uncle Jeff said, “I picked up this book that I had when I was little like you Bobby, and I thought that it was a really good story to tell you children next time I came round”. “What’s it called?” Bobby asked. “Well, it’s what is called a parable story”, Uncle Jeff said, “That means it’s an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Here goes….

  ” There was once a man whose name was Pilgrim, who was walking along a road away from his house. He had this huge bundle on his back like a back-pack and he was crying and sighing a lot as he went along. He was reading a book as he went, and it only seemed to make him sadder than ever. ‘Oh, what shall I do?’ he cried out loud.    When he went home to his wife and family, he would wipe his eyes, and blow his nose and try to be cheerful. One day his wife said to him, ‘I know something is bothering you. What are you reading in that book all the time?’ ‘Oh my dear’, he said, ‘ It tells me that dreadful things are going to come on this world, and I don’t know how to be saved from them’. But his wife had seen him like this other times, and she tried to cheer him up.    One day, he was walking along the road again, when he met a man whose name was Evangelist. ‘Why are you so upset?’ Evangelist wanted to know. ‘This book I’m reading tells me that there are dreadful things going to happen and I’m not ready for them. I want to know how to be saved from them. This back-pack I’m carrying seems to get heavier every time I read this book’. ‘Well, you’d better get ready for this by going to that little gate right over the other side of this paddock. See that light over there? Head straight for it and you will find what to do when you get there”. ‘Oh, thank-you so much’, Pilgrim said and set off at a good pace for the light. His wife and friends saw him going and they called out to him, ‘Come back, come back’, but he started to run.

“I think we’ll leave it there for now,” Uncle Jeff said, “We want to have time for the meaning of it all to sink in, otherwise it will only run  off”. “It seems funny that he ran away at that stage” Bobby said thoughtfully. “Oh, well, we’ll find out what happens next time”, Uncle Jeff said, “It’s time for me to go and talk to the others now”. “Ohhh,” said Betty, “I can hardly wait!”