The Boy Who Fell To Earth: A Modern Pilgrim's Progress - Softcover

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

A young boy lay asleep dreaming, and in his dream he was falling into darkness. Above him he saw light receding. His heart yearned for it as clouds reached out and enfolded him and drew him down to earth. His fall ended softly, but he found himself in an unwholesome place, dismal and damp, and his heart was troubled. Everything he saw around him was unfamiliar, made of shades in motion, always changing form, hiding their nature and meaning. He did not know what manner of place it was to which he had come.

He remembered the light and looked up into the sky to see the place from where he had fallen. He called up to the sky, "I want to go home," but the light was hidden and the sky unattainable, and no answer came.

Returning his gaze to earth, he stared into the deepest shade and cried out, "I want to go home," but no response came from the somber darkness, which seemed only to regard him silently.

Voices whispered to him from the clouds that swirled around him, "This is your home, it is where you belong. Here you will remain, and here you will meet your end," then they laughed, and their laughter was full of malice.

"What will I do now?" he wondered, as fear crept into his heart.

A gentle breeze arose, and a still, small voice answered from the breeze, "Follow me."

The voice seemed familiar, and the boy asked, "Who are you?"

"I am the light you remember. I will lead you on."

"I want to go home," the boy said.

"You have just begun," the breeze whispered, "and home is ahead. You can only go forward; there is no place to which you can return."

"But I remember falling from light. I know it's my home, and I want to go back."

The breeze spoke softly to him, "Your memory of light and of home is a memory of me at the moment you began. It is the hope I placed within you, and its promise lies ahead."

"If you are light," the boy asked, "why do you not shine like light?"

The breeze answered, "I must remain hidden for a while. You will know me as a word until the time when you again see me as light."

The lying voices laughed from the darkness and engulfed the boy in discouragement and fear. Questions flooded his heart as loneliness and despair threatened to overwhelm him.

"Who speaks and laughs so terribly in this place?" he asked. "Is there any friend here for me? Little voice, tell me who you are. Tell me how long I will be here. Where is my home? How will I find it, and when will I get there? Why am I here?"

Again, the still, small voice spoke from the breeze. "You have a journey to make. I will accompany you, for your journey is my journey. Many of your questions will be answered as we travel together. Over time the answers will come to you in wisdom as you grow in understanding. For now, you follow me."

And then the breeze was gone.

The boy awoke and did not remember his dream.