My Pilgrim Journey

This post is inspired by and a reference to The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. A great read that I highly recommend. The book is a simple allegory yet so intricate you would have to read it slowly or at least read it over twice. I read it over with a close friend chapter by chapter and it led to very important discussions about our own journeys. The Christian life involves heart break and difficulty as well as grace and joy! Oh what joy awaits the Christian believer in that Celestial city, to be home with the Lord at last.

But yet, you and I are not there yet! I recently had this idea of where I am in my progress as a pilgrim and the following allegory came to mind and I acted in it by taking a leap of faith.

There is a section of the Way that meets a fast flowing river. There is no path to be seen at the other side. The Way seems just to end. This puzzles many along the Way. Some turn back. Others walk along the shore to find another route and are lost that way. At this place a young woman can be seen in tattered rags living in a makeshift tent among the trees. Her belongings strewn about for she has been there for some time. Her name is Standstill and she is well aware of the Way and tells many a pilgrim the right Way to go. "You must leap into the rushing river to wherever it takes you. For you do this by faith."
Many a Pilgrim take their leap, but she remains behind along the path. She knows what she must do but cannot seem to make the leap herself and so she remains where she is. Darkness keeps her company and holds her there. Whispering how she won't, can't take the leap. A gargoyle who speaks to her becomes her companion, keeping her stuck. He uses fear to keep her there. She comes to lean on his bad company.
One day a young man named Resilience comes along the Way and begins to speak with her. He encourages her to come along, but she cannot get up. She is unable to move. He pleads with her to join him, but she does not. He jumps into the river and again she is alone. The sun is fading and the forest is eerily silent. 
In her renewed sense of loneliness she stands up. Something is different. Something has settled in her heart and mind the way a long dead tree finally comes down in a storm, with a loud crash. She's leaving.
Her feet take her back onto the path and she turns towards the river. The familiar gargoyle begins his chatter, "Now where are you going? You don't know where that river goes. You could end up anywhere! How are you going to provide for yourself? How will you--?"
She can no longer hear him. Standstill grits her teeth and places her hands tightly over her ears. She has heard it all before and will hear it no longer. She cannot bear another word of his. She marches towards the river with haste, hands still over her ears. Reaching the edge of the river she stops and counts down quickly, shouting without any other thought in her mind. "5! 4! 3! 2! 1!" She jumps into the river and is gone. She is plunged into the fast moving waters and rises to the surface. So much joy and relief and almost unbelief she really did it. As she treads the water she laughs out loud and says to no one but herself, "I brought nothing with me!" She was in such a rush and had thought of nothing else. The river takes her along and she finds a log in the water and rests her arms and head upon it.

Standstill being plunged beneath the waters was a parallel to baptism. And wonderfully so, I (being Standstill) am getting baptized August 14, 2022. This post is being published the day after. As I am writing this it is yet to pass. There is nothing in my heart but joy at this coming expression of my faith!

When I returned to the Lord as a young adult, I was attending a church that preached that baptism could happen only once in a person’s life. I carried this belief with me wearily. I knew I was made new in Christ, but I had made the mistake as a child to be baptized just to keep up with my peers. It was just an act of tradition to me and not one of faith. At my current church I brought up the idea of perhaps being baptized again to a pastor and they greatly encouraged me to sign up because little did I know my church was holding a baptism service 13 days from that day and I filled out a form that day before I left.

I have come to know now that there are many Christians that get baptized a second time as adults with a renewed understanding of God’s grace and mercy for sinners. How great! That there is nothing God cannot redeem. He is merciful indeed!

Now there is a closing to this chapter of my short allegory…

The gargoyle stood aghast. "Well, damn...the girl actually did it."

And there at where Standstill was encamped, stands a sign for any pilgrim on the Way. 

"There was a young girl who stayed here in fear
learn from her ways and do not teary here
For she suffered and fought back many a night
She had made friends with fright
But God lifted up her chin and up she went
She jumped into the river and rose with such content
Find that same joy and relief when she leapt
For the Waters will catch you and indeed you will be kept"