Living the Kingdom on Earth
Allegory (Page 3)
As JT walked along the coast he came up on a fishing village. It looked as if there had been quite a storm recently. Most of the fishing shacks had damaged roofs on them. There were quite a few men and boys working diligently to fix them. All of them were under repair except for one.
In front of that one there were three men sitting playing dice with money in the middle between them. They seemed totally unconcerned about the damage around them.
JT walked all that day, spent the night in the forest and came upon another town by the coast. It was getting pretty lonely walking here and there all by himself. He thought it would be nice to have a friend. He could not remember the last time he had fun with friends.
As soon as he thought this, a group of boys came running past him chasing a dog. In the dog’s mouth was a string of sausages. Six boys were running for all they were worth, but they were no match for the mongrel dog they were chasing. He easily outran them, and in the distance, the dog disappeared around the corner. The boys stopped running and leaned over with their hands on their knees trying to catch their breath.
JT found a town with a long wharf. Tied up to this wharf were many, many fishing vessels. As he came upon them, he noticed there was a crowd building and quite a commotion.
Once upon a time there were 3 brothers. When these babes were born they were given certain gifts or talents. All had been given these gifts to use to the benefit of all.
JT walked for a few days until he came close to the ocean. As he came close he saw people pulling carts full of firewood past him.
It was not odd that only firewood was in the cart. However, it was strange to see so many carts that had nothing else but firewood. Normally people would come to town selling fish, vegetables, livestock or firewood. This was just firewood, and it all seemed to be traveling the same direction.
JT walked all that day and the rest of the week until he came upon another town. It was unlike any town he had ever seen. There were dumps in between all the houses. At a distance it looked like a normal town, however the closer JT came, the worse it began to smell.
JT had been finding so many people who acted in ways that he did not want to be like. He had found a few he wanted to be like and was glad to learn from their lessons.
A little further down the road he found 2 walls, one on each side of the road. They were close to the road and at one spot there was a big barred gate for each of them. He could see towns behind each of them. Further down the road, just beyond the wall, was a very small settlement.
JT left that building and continued walking around the town. As he came to the edge of town he found a man laying by the side of the road, he obviously had been robbed. As a small child, he wasn’t sure what he could do but he began to approach the man.
A man in rich priestly robes, with an entourage, passed by the man lying on the side of the road smirking. Waving at the man, he said haughtily, “Oh leave him, he probably had too much wine and fell in with bad company. We don’t have time for him. I forbid any one of you to help him!” Some of the man’s followers looked sadly as they walked by; but they followed their leaders’ direction and went on down the road.
JT walked down the forest path and wound up in another town. This town was much larger and had some quite elegant buildings. In addition, there were also structures that were little better than shacks. It was easy to see some here were rich and others quite poor.
When he got to the center of town he found a simple but imposing building. He saw quite a long line of people in front of the building. They ranged in ages from children to quite elderly. The older people stood leaning on canes.
JT Walked down the dusty path for many hours and soon he could hear the running of water. As he looked he also saw a few houses and now he could see a town. At the end of a very short main street he saw a large dock with many people milling around.
“When is it going to come, we’ve being waiting forever?” One brightly dressed woman exclaimed to the others. There appeared to be 10 ladies dressed up in finery, it was hot and dusty, yet they stood waiting by the dock.
