“Far, far away, where in wintertime the trees bloom and the fruits ripen, where there is so much that is beautiful - such flowers as you do not dream of - there, in far away Africa, the swallows had a great gathering and council. “It was a beautiful gathering. All the swallows had previously washed in the dew. They had brushed up their coats like velvet; their black eyes shone; their rosy little vests, their white breasts and skirts with a long train - like some great lady - were in perfect condition. “They flew together to this gathering from far and wide, by the hundreds, yes, by the thousands. As soon as they were all there, the meeting opened. They began with song and prayer. After that, when all were quiet, they were told
that since it was time to leave Africa and return to their old homes, they would now have a consultation as to
what day and hour the expedition should start. They were also told that exact laws and directions would be given to them about how they should behave on the way. “Then, with one accord, the swallows selected elders and managers from among themselves, and when that was done, they became quiet so that they could listen to them.“‘Tomorrow on what people call the first of the month,’their instructors said, ‘all of you must come to the yearly place of gathering. All who are late must stay in Africa.“‘First we shall fly over beautiful landscapes till we come to the great water - the water that is called the sea. All must stay in exactly the place assigned to them, because those that will not keep together will not be safe from birds of prey. Those
robbers are afraid of thousands of swallows, but one or two flying alone are easily scooped up.
“‘While we are still flying over the beautiful countries, you must obediently follow every command. We must rest often and long. If there are ever so many flies all around you, you must not overeat, so that you do not get too heavy, for that will hinder your flight.“‘When we arrive at the seashore, we shall have another convention. There we will commend ourselves into the hands of God because there will begin the dangerous part of our Journey.
“‘For a long time you will see around you only water - nothing but water- and you must not stop flying, because there will be no place to sit down. “‘It is all thus arranged by our Maker; therefore only those swallows will succeed in flying over the sea that will obey the laws given us by God and pray much. Let us
pray now also.’ “Well, then they prayed and sang, and the gathering ended. “On the following day everything was black on the shores of a great and beautiful river because of all the swallows that were
there. First came hundreds, then thousands, then five thousand, then ten thousand, then a hundred thousand; and then there were so many that no man could count them. “Among these crowds flew gray swallows, keeping order; they were named the leaders. There were also white swallows, so white
and clean that it seemed as if no earthly dust came upon them. They flew among the divided groups and admonished them to pray and obey the Holy Creator, the living God. “Because among the swallows there are boys and girls also, the boys played with each other, measuring their wings to see who had the longest and would be able to fly the farthest. They calculated that to fly over the seas was nothing -
they had no idea of the extent of the sea. They got acquainted with each other and even fought together, presumably so that they would know how to fight the robbers. “‘Don’t do that,’ admonished the old gray leader. ‘It is not for us to fight. To make it home safely you have to ask God’s help, believe, and fly. If you should fight with every bird of prey, you would never reach the goal.’ “The girls whispered among themselves about the kind of dress each had one had the smoothest combed head, the whitest breast, and the longest train of skirts. “A white swallow flew among them and said gravely, ‘You better think of God and of the long trip ahead of you. Beauty will not keep you from perishing, and if any of you fall into the sea, she will perish with all her beauty.’ “The old swallows passing around looked over their particular groups of boys and girls, and groomed them all, especially the boys - some of which were all disheveled - so that all would be prepared to go. “They had a prayer, a song, and then ‘Goodbye, Africa!’ sounded from thousands and thousands of throats. “The sun was darkened by the black cloud that rose from the
shore. The people stopped working and, looking at the cloud, said, ‘The swallows are returning home.’
“How pleasant the trip was over the beautiful countryside on the way to the sea. It was interesting also because of the many new acquaintances which the swallows made among themselves. At the command of the leaders, they often stopped and rested long; therefore almost none of the swallows felt at all tired. “Finally they came within view of the sea. Again the command came to rest! Many would rather have gone ahead at once, but the leaders would not allow them to do so. They needed the rest for their wings, and the strengthening they received in united prayer. “On that long, last rest, the leaders looked over the whole assembly. All those that had ever so small a scratch or possibly had some feathers damaged, or were in any
way sickly, were to confess it. The assembly would wait for them until they became quite well. Some swallows acknowledged a problem, but others did not ascribe great importance to a little scratch, thinking it could heal on the way. “Others - the disobedient ones - did not refrain from gulping
and gulping up the many flies that were buzzing around. The admonishings of the white swallows that only those who knew how to deny themselves and control their desires would be able to fly over the ocean, they let go in by one ear and out by the other. Those grew so fat in the few days that the assembly
rested by the sea, that they slumbered wherever they sat down, and when they did not slumber, they chased after the flies again. They slumbered during the great prayer meeting, and when they sang with the others, their thoughts were on the flies, not on the beautiful words of praise to God.
“‘Now then, in the Name of our Creator, let us go!’ sounded through the whole assembly. “‘Good-bye, Africa! Good-bye, Africa!’ sounded from thousands of throats. ‘Over the sea, over the sea, we are
going home!’ And the echo sounded, ‘Home!’ “Now the boys who yonder at the river said, ‘Never mind
the sea’ began to be convinced of how great the sea was how great! For a long time they flew and nothing was to be seen but water, water. Their wings were weary, their heads were drooping with faintness, and their eyes looked out longingly for a place of rest; but the leaders just commanded, ‘Fly on, fly on!’
“Those that on the shore did not take care of their bruises and damaged wings fell one after the other into that green water. If one of the healthy ones fell, the water carried her for a while, and then, with renewed strength, she aroseagain. “But the disobedient ones could not rise again, so they drowned and perished.
“Those that had fattened themselves on the flies began to lag behind one after the other, first just a little, then more and more as their strength was leaving them. ‘Wait for us! Wait for us!’ they cried, they begged - but in vain! “The command of the leaders was, ‘Fly on, fly on!’ “It was the command of God. For God Himself had given each obedient swallow sufficient strength in his wings that he needed to fly over the sea, but with each moment that strength diminished, and therefore none must delay nor drag behind. “The poor disobedient swallows! Yonder on the shore they did not know how to restrain their fleshly desires, and
now they were too heavy for the long flight. The result of their greediness was that their weight drew them down into the sea. “Suddenly there came a storm, wind, and rain. Hundreds and hundreds of swallows fell into the sea. But those that were obedient and knew how to pray were renewed with courage and finally rose again. But of the disobedient ones, not a single one rose up again. For because of their disobedience
they died in those terrible depths. They will not see their home nests again. Never, never will they come home! “When the swallows’ plight was at its worst, they saw a ship in the distance. They lighted upon it wherever they could find a place.
Oh, that was joy! The sailors of the ship did not like it very much, but the passengers, especially the children, rejoiced greatly to hear their friendly twittering, and by them sent greetings to their home countries. When one party of swallows had rested on the ship, others sat down, and then the third party; thus they were all relieved. “Still another storm and wind thinned out the lines of the migrating multitudes, and it seemed as though the swallows said, ‘It is impossible; we shall all perish!’ “We shall not perish!’ cried the white leaders. ‘Just believe, obey, and God will strengthen us!’ “Land, land!’ cried the first thousands.
“The whole company rejoiced. The faithful swallows praised God and gathered their remaining strength. But a number, in the last moment, lost confidence in God’s sustaining grace and thus the strength left them and they fell and perished at the very shores of Europe. The rest all reached land safely and landed for a long and joyful rest. “After everyone was refreshed, the swallows again held an assembly. This they started with prayer and a jubilant singing of praise to the kind Creator who had helped them so marvelously.
“Then important work and council awaited them. Thus far they had been flying jointly, but now the dividing up started. Each one had to announce his birthplace. “Some were English, some French, Russian, German, Italian, Austrian, Hungarian, and among them also Bohemian and Slovak. Thus they
were sorted, first according to countries, then by districts, finally by names of cities and,villages.
“The whole assembly thanked the brave leaders,for their faithfulness. The leaders admonished everyone
that as soon as they arrived home they should announce the return of the summer. Then, with a final farewell, they parted, each to his particular part of the continent. But even while flying they were calling to each other:
“‘Where are you headed for?’
“‘To Leningrad, to Moscow.’
“‘And you, where are you going?’
“‘To Paris!’
“‘We are going to Prague!’
“‘We are heading for Vienna!’
“‘We will stop at Rome!’
“‘God be with you!’
“When they began to separate and fly in opposite directions, those that were flying the same way to the same districts drew closer together. Then the swallows from Bohemia
began conversing with those from Slovakia.
“‘Where are you going?’
“‘We are going to Vienna!’
“‘And where do you live there?’
“‘We build our nests on the memorial church, which was built
in commemoration of an incident when a bad man wanted to
kill the emperor, but God did not permit it. It is true the
people did not like to see us build there, but we
asked the Lord God if we might and He agreed
- thus we live there (Psalm 84:3). Those swallows yonder live on the
very top of Stephen’s dome. And you, where are you from?’
“‘We are from Prague and live on Hradshin;
that is the old castle where formerly kings of Bohemia
lived, on the Vites dome. Often we considered whether
we should not help the people to finish it because they have
been more than a hundred years in building it.’
“‘We again are going to Trenchin.’
“‘Where is that?’
“‘In the valley of the river Vah.’
“‘And we are going to Budapest; it is good to live there, because it is full of mosquitoes.’
“‘Maybe you are living in the castle there?’
“‘Oh, no, we would be too lonesome.’
“‘And you, where are you from?’
“‘We’re from the villages, living close to each other; we just
have to fly over the hill to visit one another.’
“‘Well, here are the boundaries; here we must take leave
one from another. Remember us; God be with you!’
“‘God be with you!’
“Thus the swallows came from far-off Africa, across the
distant sea, each to his own country, particular town and village, yes, even each one to his own particular nest. They came also to our village and to our houses. They came with great jubilation. We also welcomed them gladly. ‘Look, the swallows come; the summer is nigh.’
“Thus the swallows returned home,” ended Methodius.
When the story was finished, Methodius soberly
looked at the children. “And how will you reach
home someday? Or do you think that you
are already home, and that
you will live here forever?”
“We will not,” said the children thoughtfully,
“since we have to die.”
“And where do we go then?”
“To heaven!” answered some.
“Yes, heaven is our true home. But what do you think? Will you surely go to heaven?
What did those swallows have to do on the way?”
“They prayed; they obeyed,” said one little fellow, “and did not eat too many flies.”
“Well, thus you see, if you want to go to heaven, you also
have to obey what the Lord God says, and must not do that
which He has forbidden. Now repeat the verse that I taught you.”
“‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which
was lost’” (Luke 19: 10).
“Do you remember who this Son of Man is?”
“The Lord Jesus Christ!” cried the children. “And whom
did He come to seek?”
“All of us.”
“Yes, for us He came, as I told you, to die on the cross for
your and my sins, and He is seeking us. Whosoever believeth
on Him follows Him, and does not have to die for his sins.
Such a one needs only to obey like those swallows, just to
obey. Thus the Lord Jesus will lead him to His home in heaven.
There will be great joy as each one flies safely to his own home,
his heavenly home, just like a swallow flies to his own nest.
“But now it is time that you were going. Your
cattle are restless. But do not forget, since the
swallows came home from the faraway countries, love them and be
good to them, because they have accomplished the great voyage. These are the obedient ones;
the disobedient drowned at sea and perished.”
The children scattered over the meadows to look after
their animals, and the young men remained alone in deep meditation.
“Listen, Methodius,” presently said Sammy,
“that is a very unusual story. It is just the picture of our journey to heaven, and we
in this village, Hradova, have not even gotten started yet.”
“Do you think so? And why?” The lips of young Methodius formed a lovely smile.
“Well, those swallows began everything with prayer, and they
got ready to go, but we live just as if we were to live here forever.
Yet we have a cemetery in the village. We do not stay here forever.
And we don’t start anything with prayer.”
“Why don’t you begin? Isn’t God good? Isn’t He worthy
to be praised by you? Isn’t He almighty so that you could ask Him for anything?
“Sammy, those swallows had their convocation and prayer meeting before they started home.
It would be the right thing to do if your whole village would come together with this intention,
to give yourselves to God in prayer and ask
Him to take you safely over the great sea to the shores of
eternal salvation. However, since everyone will not do it all at
once, why could not we two begin and do it here just now?”
“Just now and right here? Perhaps that should be done in
the church!”
“We are just now in a church built by God
Himself and He is in everyplace. Don’t you
think so?”
“That is true, but I don’t know how to pray.”
“Do you want the birds to put you to shame?
The swallows know how to tell their Creator what
they need; why not you? He is like a Father, a good Father.
Thank Him for what He has given you today. Tell Him you
are sorry because you have not been thinking about Him, and ask
Him to help you from this day to live so that you may some day go
to your heavenly home.”
It was quite late that evening when the two friends returned.
When they reached his home, Sammy noticed above the gateway the nest and the beautiful birds flying to and fro, and these words continued to sound in his mind: “Thus the swallows came home.”
“Oh,” he sighed to Methodius from the depth of his soul.
“Here, I have had them every year and I did not know that the
Lord was sending them to me as a living reminder, that even
I will go home one day and should prepare myself for the way.”
“Read the Word of God in your house and you will find
Christ,” Methodius admonished him as they parted. “He
will save you and teach you the way to be going home by the help of His Spirit!”
Sammy’s mind was on Methodius’ words, and in the days
that followed he was so deeply wrapped in thought that he did
not notice how joyful his parents were nor how kind they were
to him. He wanted to obey God, and he began reading the
Word of God. But he read only to himself because
he did not yet know how to read well. But later,
when he had learned, others would listen to him also.
