Parshall Partners

Traveling a Pilgrim’s Path

         Thanksgiving always invokes conversations about Pilgrims. But I want to tell you about another Pilgrim. Some 50 years after the Separatists landed at Plymouth in 1620, a tinker living in England wrote a book that speaks to the universality of the Christian adventure.  It’s called Pilgrim’s Progress.

         Next to the Bible, it’s been ranked as the most-read book in history.  Though first published in 1687, it retains incredible relevance to modern believers.

         Pilgrim’s Progress reminds us that the Christian journey, from the moment we accept what Christ did for us at Calvary until our arrival in heaven (the “Celestial City,” Bunyan calls it), is a great adventure.

         Bunyan’s classic is a powerfully practical view of the trials and tribulations all of us encounter in our walk with the Lord.  It’s no glossy, “everything’s rosy” view of the Christian life.  It uncovers the warts-and-all truth about we “sheep” who struggle to follow the Good Shepherd.

         Each character in Bunyan’s story has a revealing name – Atheist, Faithful, Evangelist, Goodwill, Hypocrisy and many more.

         But the hero of the story is named Christian.  Married, with children, he lives in the city of Destruction at the start of the tale.  He eventually meets Evangelist, who gives him a scroll and instructions to head for the “narrow gate.”  Failing to convince his wife and children to join him, Christian sets out alone on his pilgrimage.

         Pilgrim’s Progress is the travel guide, but John Bunyan is the tour leader.  Born to a poor family near Bedford, England, Bunyan lived during a tumultuous period of history. Oliver Cromwell was leading a revolt against the Crown. Bunyan was recruited into the army, fighting on the side of the Parliamentarians.  He was described as a “very great, profane sinner, and an illiterate man.” But things changed dramatically when he met John Gifford, a Bedford pastor who had persecuted Puritans before accepting Christ as Savior.  Gifford introduced Bunyan to Christ – and the great adventure began.

         Bunyan was imprisoned on several occasions for believing the Gospel should never be compromised or restricted.  Once he was arrested in mid-sermon.

         His first imprisonment lasted 12 years.  Separated from his family, he languished alone in a dark, filthy cell.  As Bunyan pleaded with God in prayer and devoured the Scriptures daily, a vision of the Christian life formed in his fertile imagination.  His doubts, struggles, sufferings, and victories took on an allegorical life of their own.

         The seeds of Pilgrim’s Progress had taken root.

         As Bunyan began scratching out the story that would touch generations, he was doing something for us twenty-first century Christians.  He was instructing us that our journey here on earth really is a great adventure.  Like Christian in Bunyan’s book, we may find ourselves climbing the Hill Difficulty, or walking through Vanity Fair where shabby ideas are bought and sold.  We, on occasion, must fight the dragon Apollyon and might even find ourselves taken captive by the Giant Despair who lives in Doubting Castle.

         But we progress.  We press on faithfully – with a brave heart and a bold step, closer to that glorious moment when we “pass through the rivers” and find ourselves on the shore of that golden city.

         Christian eventually completed his bold, dangerous exhilarating journey.  He risked everything for the promise of the Celestial City – and he reached it.  And so shall we.

         What an adventure! And we shall live “happily ever after.”

         That’s my opinion.  I’m Janet Parshall.