The Unlikely Pilgrim

Simon shut the door behind him and stared up at the night sky. Even in the faint glow of the city lights the stars sparkled, begging him onward, but to where? He rubbed his bare foot against the cement slab of the porch. He had begun this journey, but it wasn't too late to turn around. His bed still awaited him, and there he could burrow under the covers and live tomorrow as if tonight never existed. He could forget.

He rolled his shoulders and the backpack thumped his ribs. Man, was it heavy. The weight of it seemed to jostle through his body and land with a thud in the pit of his stomach. He shouldn't have packed so many books.

For eight generations his family had been taking their burdens to the cross, one individual at a time, just like Great-Grandfather Chris. (He'd packed the family legacy along with the rest of his hardcovers, but he could recite the Pilgrim's journey from memory.) Simon's turn at the cross came when he was seven. And eight. And nine. Then Pastor Williams of First Baptist sat him down and told him once was enough, God wouldn't forget. At twelve he was baptized. But the books on his back were in many ways heavier than the young sins of a seven year old, and the cross was somewhere behind him. How was it that he still carried a burden?

The solid chunk in his stomach grew heavier. He slipped on his shoes. Simon knew all about being prepared for long journeys. Isn't that what the apostle Paul instructed: Strengthen your arms and make level paths for your feet? It was the "throwing off of everything that hinders" that was impossible to do. Instead, those little hinderences seemed to him to stick like label adhesive on a recycled mason jar.

Oh, he was a Christian all right, his volumes of traveling companions assured him of that. He wasn't worried about making it to the Celestial City. What he wanted to do, was see God.

  

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O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah,

Behold your God!

Isaiah 40:9