Weary called out, "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light," Weary said to no one there.
Weary was concerned. Good Shepherd told him that a group of children would soon be joining him. Why?! He was on a mighty quest. How could he be bothered with children? How could Good Shepherd be bothered with kids? Weary had a long history of avoiding children. He saw them as a nuisance, a burden, and little people that were nothing like him. What was Good Shepherd thinking?
Soon all of Weary's companions roused themselves and prepared for their final march to the Sea of Trouble. There were so many companions that they could count off and sing ancient marching songs and a few of the decent shanty songs. Weary Christian started:
There were two lofty ships from old England came,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
One was the Prince of Luther, and the other Prince of Wales,
Cruising down along the coast of the High Barbaree.
“Aloft there, aloft!” our jolly boatswain cries,
Blow high, blow low, and so sailed we;
“Look ahead, look astern, look aweather and alee,
Look along down the coast of the High Barbaree .”
No sooner did Weary set foot on the beach when he spied a capsized boat grounded on the shore. Remembering his pact, he followed Love as they ran to the ship to search for survivors. All gathered around Weary as he tried to right the boat, but it was too heavy. From the edge of Uncertainty came taunts and squeals from the Evil One and his factotums. Now Weary fell to his knees and cried out to Good Shepherd, "Help me to help everyone that has survived this wreck."
While on his knees, Weary saw a small child's hand digging through the sand. Immediately, Weary began to dig with all his might, but he possessed little strength. Next, Weary spoke to the child's hand that poked out from under the capsized boat. It was a hand of a young boy. "Lad, I cannot move the boat. Can you dig your way out?" Weary asked. "No!" came a muffled child's voice.
To Weary's surprise, eight children's voices cried out, "Help us!" Once again, Weary tried to right the boat. Suddenly, two strong men appeared. They hadn't been there a moment before, but now they were. "Do you need some help?" one of the men asked.
"Yes, yes, oh, please help me right this boat. There are children trapped inside, and they must be freed!" Weary cried. In mere moments, the men flipped the boat, exposing eight young children huddled together. Looking up to thank the men, they were gone. "Thank you, my Good Shepherd." Weary prayed.
As the children stood up, Weary saw that they were stair-stepped siblings. When asked their names, they spoke one by one, "I'm Faith, I'm Goodness, and I'm Knowledge," the first three proclaimed. Next, Self-Control, Perseverance, and Godliness counted off. Finally, Mutual-Affection and Love called out.
Weary scratched his head. Standing beside him were Faith and Love. Turning to Truth, Weary asked, "How can Faith and Love be here and be as children?"
Truth grinned. Weary, these are your children. Good Shephard made them yours when you gave your life to Him. They will always live with you, and as you embrace them, they will grow stronger and taller, and they will be in you, but they grow in Good Shephard's ordained order.
As Faith grows, he helps Goodness to grow. You need Goodness, but she will only grow as you allow her to change you, so it continues through each child and then again. Each depends on their older siblings.
As you embrace your children, they will change you to be more like Good Shepherd. Isn't that marvelous?!" Truth said. Marvelous was not the word Weary would have chosen, but it appeared he was stuck with them and, somehow, they were part of Good Shepherd's plan, so he decided to follow Truth's recommendation.
Eight children on an adventurer's quest. Who had ever heard of such a thing? Weary and eight of Good Shepherd's friends continued his quest along with his eight new children. He had Faith, Goodness, Knowledge, Self-control, Perseverance, Godliness, Mutual-Affection, and Love. And he had his cloak, the cloak of "Contentment." My, how his adventure has changed since he left Familiarland and his brothers and sisters of Little Faith.
Weary called out, "We've had quite an adventure today. We will make camp for the night and break camp early for a fresh start tomorrow." About that time, a wanderer came upon their camp. "Hi there." called out Weary. "Hello, my friend," said Complacency. "We just finished our supper, but there remains some grilled fish we'd be happy to share with you," Weary said.
As Complacency sat on the beach, he began to tell stories of his great adventures as he greedily ate all the fish and everything else he could find. While eating, he spun tales and spoke as if they were true.
All could tell that Weary thoroughly enjoyed Complacency's tall tales. Complacency seemed to have been everywhere that Weary had dreamed of going. As the night fell, Complacency droned on about what he had done, where he had been, and who he knew. Finally, Weary told Complacency that it was far past the time when their camp settled into sleep, but Complacency took no notice of Weary's polite nudge.
Goodness tugged at Weary's sleeve. Weary ignored the first five tugs but finally relented. "What, Goodness?" Weary queried. We need to sleep, but Complacency is talking too loudly. It would be good if Complacency would go to bed so the rest of us could get some sleep."
Reluctantly, Complacency unrolled his sleeping bag and turned in for the night. But, before Weary could lay down, he felt another tug on his sleeve. Turning, he saw Compassion. "I think we have a problem," Compassion said. "What, now?" Weary asked rather testily. "Well, I see Peace starting to wander away, your children need to be fed in the morning, and you need to understand that Complacency is a bad influence on you. Weary, you must do what Good Shepherd has given you to do." Love spoke up, "We are all here for you, Weary, but what you don't know is that Complacency is a friend of Enemy. He is not here by serendipity."
Weary became angry. Wasn't he allowed any fun? Listening to Complacency's stories had been fun. Sure, he had exercised editorial license, but it was all in good fun; no harm was done. Suddenly, Weary noticed the sun beginning to rise above the Sea of Trouble. "Oh my." Weary said to himself, "I've had no sleep, I've not gathered food for my children, and I've not spent any time talking with Good Shepherd about what I am to do now that I've reached the Sea of Trouble. What am I to do? How could I have been so unreliable?" Continued ...