Hopeful

I thought about the end of John Bunyan's book Pilgrims Progress when Christian and Hopeful arrive close enough to see the Celestial City.  The following below is an excerpt from the book as retold by Gary D. Schmidt.  (Thanks to Dawn for her help finding it for me.)   

...The path ended abruptly in a deep and dark river that flowed swiftly.  Hopeful and Christian could see no bottom.  They looked up and down each bank.  They could see no bridge.  Across the river, two Shining Ones appeared, one sitting on a large, round stone marked with a broken seal, set before an open cave.  "Is there no way across?" Christian called out to them.  "There is no bridge," the Shining Ones answered.  "Is there no other way?"  "None for you.  You must go through the waters or you cannot come to the gates."  Christian and Hopeful walked down to the water that swirled against the banks.  "Is it deep?" Christian called to the Shining Ones.  They shrugged.  "You shall find it deep or shallow, depending on how firmly you believe in the Owner of this place."  Then the two Shining Ones vanished. 

A look of determination filled Christian's face as he and Hopeful stepped into the waters.  At first he kept his eyes on the gates of the Celestial City, and the bottom of the river seemed firm.  His feet were hardly wet.  But then he looked down to the water, and suddenly he remembered Apollyon's charge that he had been disloyal to Emmanuel.  And he remembered all the times that he had left the path.  Then the river seemed to rise up against him in foaming waves, and he felt the bottom slip away.  Desperately he looked up to the City, but a mist had come up from the river and hid it from him.  "This is the River of Death," he cried, and then fell under the waters, into the darkness and horror.  Hopeful struggled to pull Christian's head above the water.  "I shall not see the land of the Celestial City," Christian sputtered.  "Do not despair!" cried Hopeful.  

"I see the gates already, and the Shining Ones standing on the shore to receive us."  He pulled Christian through the waters.  "It is only for you that they wait," insisted Christian.  "You have been hopeful since I have known you."  "And you as well.  Be of good cheer.  Remember: 'When I pass through the waters, Thou art with me.'"  "Thou art with me," repeated Christian.  "Thou art with me."  And as he remembered the Owner's promise, the waters stilled, the river bottom came back under his feet, the mist cleared, and Christian saw the gates of the Celestial City again.  Together Christian and Hopeful waded across the rest of the river and reached the shore of the other side...

God is with you.  Cling to His Hope.   

Dave  Engbers