The next time Uncle Jeff came to visit our family, Bobby couldn’t wait for story time. As soon as Uncle Jeff came striding down the path, Bobby quickly appeared from nowhere, and Betty just happened to be there too. Sarah heard voices and she quickly came into the room as well.

” I want to know what happened next,” Bobby said.

 Uncle Jeff said, “Where did we get up to in our story?”

Betty quickly piped up and said, “Pilgrim was stuck in the swamp and got covered in mud”.

“That’s right,” Bobby chimed in, “and Pilgrim kept on going, slipping and sliding in the mud. So how did he get out?”

“That’s right, I remember now”, said Uncle Jeff, “Well, as he got to the other side, a man called Help came and pulled him out onto solid ground.

‘Why is this swamp here?’ asked Pilgrim.

‘Well, it’s like this,” Help said, “ People like to think they can get through this swamp by themselves, and they keep throwing all the good things they do into here to make a solid path through it, but nothing works. It just keeps getting more mucky all the time. All the good things that people do, just keep sinking deeper and deeper into the filth. The King has put down stepping stones to get through safely, but most people don’t see them, and they just fall in thinking the good things they do will keep them clean. It doesn’t work,’ said Help.

‘Well, I wondered why it was called the  Swamp of Despair’, Pilgrim said, ‘I nearly gave up, but I’m going to keep going  now you helped me get out’, and he waved goodbye  to Help as he carried on.

      So Pilgrim carried on his journey towards the Light in the distance. His big 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.’ “Anyway, that’s enough story for now,” said Uncle Jeff, “We’ll carry on next time and see if Pilgrim got to the Narrow Gate and what happened then”.

“Oh no”, cried Betty, “I want more now”.

“It’s a long story’, said Uncle Jeff, “and  we don’t want to get tired and miss the important parts of it. It’ll wait….” and he got up and stretched himself, “I think it’s time for a cup of tea, who’s going to put the kettle on?”