Sunday.....Christianity.....Curl Up With A Good Book?

Marylin had had enough with Tom. It seemed so innocent at first. Tom was going to church every Sunday. He had quit spending all hours of the night at the bar playing pool with his buddies. He seemed to be changed for the better and that was good, but it had gotten out of hand. She and the kids had gone with him as he looked for a church. The big Presbyterian church on the corner would have been OK, as would the Methodist church in town, but this wasn't good enough for Tom. He had to have a particular church where the people seemed to do nothing but pray and read their Bibles. She was sick of it. Their old friends no longer came over and the new friends were b-o-r-i-n-g!!! Tom had thrown the Ouija Board out and that was her nap time babysitter. Arguing about it wasn't doing any good. She called two of his old friends for help and they showed up at the house while Tom was about to get in the car and go to another bible study.

Jim: Hey Tom! Whats happening?
Tom: Oh. Hi Jim. Hi Bill. I was just heading out to a Bible study.
Bill: Tom. you are going way overboard on this religion stuff!
Tom: Thanks Bill.
Bill: Come on Tom. It's one thing being religious but you're taking this too seriously.
Tom: It is serious Bill.
Jim: What's so important about it Tom?
Tom: Jim. I know what I was like. There was no future in that, no happiness....true happiness anyway. I found out that it doesn't matter what a person is like, that God is a forgiving God.
Bill: What about your wife and kids, Tom?
Tom: What about them? I'm now a husband and father who wants to live as I should and hopefully my wife and kids will see this.
Bill: It seems to me like you are driving them nuts, Tom.
Tom: Jim. You and Jill are separated. What has this life gotten you?
Jim: I screwed up. I admit it.
Bill: These people are going to take you for a ride, Tom. Don't you remember how whacky those guys are on television?
Tom: I don't know about them Bill. I do know about me. I have a peace in my life for the first time.
Bill: And how about Marylin? It sounds like she is at war.
Tom: I have a lot to learn. I don't think that God is shaking me up like this just to dump me.
Bill: If you don't wise up Tom, Marylin is the one who will dump you.
Jim: Whoa. Hold on Bill. Give the guy a break. Jill dumped me and not because I became a Jesus freak.
Bill: Well Jim. You can have him. I got better things to do than argue with a Bible thumper.

One month passed and Jim went to church with Tom hoping that it would bring Jill back home, but it didn't work. The divorce came through and Jill was remarried within the week.

Tom: Hi Jim, ready for church?
Jim: Tom. I listened to you and what did I get. Jill was at least talking to me last month. When she heard that I was going to church, she knew she had a patsy and took me to the cleaners at court. I'm outta here.

This was a really poor modern interpretation of the first few pages of John Bunyan's book The Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan uses allegory: Tom would be Christian, Bill would be Obstinate and Jim would be Pliable who went along for a short distance until he found out that Christian's description of the Christian life was incomplete, the difficult times they both experienced labelled the Slough of Despond in the book. I just turned 60 years old and there is an aspect of Bunyan's book concerning age that hit home. Christian does not age in the book but the passing of much time is obvious. Time passes but we are still on the same journey with different stops along the way. We just dug ourselves out of a major snowstorm here in Pittsburgh and most of the bones in my body ache. I can feel 60 in my body but the purpose of life is the same. I can read The Pilgrim's Progress today and enjoy it as much as I did in every individual reading in the past. The Bible itself is like this. I remember seeing a 96 year old man interviewed on the television show 100 Huntley Street. He was frail in body but strong in his mind and made the statement that he learns something new in the Bible every day. If the winter is getting you down, or the news, or American Idol, I recommend you curl up with Bunyan's book and I can tell that there is a happy ending in more ways than one.