3, The Wicket Gate

A Pilgrim Standing Before the Gate

A Pilgrim Standing Before the Gate

Christian, following the guidance of the Evangelist, finally arrived before the Wicket Gate.
The high wall and the small entrance cut into it seemed far too cramped to welcome many travelers.
Yet the gate was not closed.
It stood open—quietly, patiently—ready to receive anyone who would come.

He hesitated for a moment.
The heavy burden upon his back still pressed hard against his shoulders.
But from deep within, a voice stirred:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7)

With trembling hands, Christian knocked.
Soon a man named Goodwill came out to welcome him.

Fig. 3-1: Christian standing before the Wicket Gate

The Wicket Gate is always open,
but no one can force their way in.
Only the knocking of faith opens the door,
and only the hand of grace pulls it wide.

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The Counsel of Goodwill

Goodwill greeted him warmly and said,

“You have come to the right path.
Now continue your journey toward the Celestial City.
The way will not be easy,
but at its end, eternal life awaits you.”

He then offered several warnings:

“This path is narrow and rough.
You will at times face ridicule and persecution,
and the temptations will be many.
But do not lose heart—
hold fast to the Word.
God Himself will guard you to the very end.”

Christian’s eyes filled with tears.
He tightened his belt once more
and set his feet toward the narrow and straight way.

Fig. 3-2: Goodwill directing Christian toward the road ascending to Zion

The road of faith is neither broad nor splendid.
Yet along that narrow, straight path,
God always walks with His people
and raises Goodwill-like encouragers to help them forward.

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The Meaning of the Narrow Way

Jesus Himself spoke of the narrow gate and the narrow path:

“Enter through the narrow gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,and many enter through it.But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13–14)

Faith is not the path of the crowd.
It is a solitary, constricted road
that runs in the opposite direction of the world.
Yet at the very end of that path,
the gates of the Kingdom of God swing open.

Fig. 3-3: A pilgrim walking the narrow, straight path

The world invites us to walk the broad road,
but the narrow way can only be traveled by faith.
It is lonely—
and yet it is the most blessed road of all.

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Walking the Narrow Path with the Stork

As I meditated on the narrow way,
I found myself thinking of the stork.
The stork soars through vast skies,
yet when hunting for food,
it walks along the slender ridges of rice paddies
and narrow wetlands.

Those paths are never wide,
but they are places where life springs forth.

Fig. 3-4: A stork walking along a narrow path

I am a natural scientist who devoted many years
to restoring the Oriental Stork—
a species once extinct in Korea
and globally endangered.

On my own pilgrimage of life,
I once traveled all the way
to the vast wetlands along the Amur River in Russia
to obtain the breeding stock
necessary for restoring the species in my homeland.

After fifteen years of research and artificial breeding
in my university laboratory,
we succeeded.

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In 2015, following Japan’s 2005 release,
Korea returned ten storks to nature for the first time.

I then retired from the university,
and the restoration project was placed
under the authority of a local government.
But each year I watched with concern
as storks were released indiscriminately into nature—
not according to ecological principles
but according to public expectation.

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Most people believe that
if you simply release storks into the wild,
restoration is achieved.
And so, every year,
storks are released just as the public imagines.

I cried out that this should not be done—
but no one listened.

The majority opinion is not always the right path.
Without biodiversity and ecological recovery,
the storks will not live out their natural lifespan.
They will eventually disappear.

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Storks once bred in great numbers in Korea—
but that was before I was born.
Almost no records remain of
how they nested and lived in those days,
nor where they migrated after breeding season.

As a natural scientist,
I longed to discover
where Korea’s storks had originally come from
and how they lived as resident birds
in this “Land of the Rising Dawn.”

Fig. 3-5: A beautiful rural village where stork nests once stood

So I formed a hypothesis:

“Long before the Korean people lived on this peninsula,

storks dwelled in the wetlands of the Amur River in Russia.
They discovered the beautiful wetlands of the East,
and a few descended to settle there.

They flew to villages,
built nests atop tall trees near human homes,
and after raising their young,
migrated south—perhaps to the Yangtze River in China
for the winter.

When winter passed,
they returned again to Korea to breed.
For thousands of years,
this cycle continued.

But one day,
humans began clearing land for agriculture,
using pesticides,
and polluting farmlands with livestock waste
as meat-heavy diets grew common.

Thus a species that had lived for millennia
vanished in less than a century.”

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God created this earth
with His attention upon each person.
He calls birds like the stork by number,
yet calls humans by name.

My passion for the stork restoration project
grew from this conviction.
The wellbeing of the stork
was deeply tied to the wellbeing
of the farmers who shared its habitat.

But once the breeding succeeded,
I found almost no one
who shared my perspective.

And so the “narrow gate”
in my own life
became the very work of restoring the stork in this nation.

My pilgrimage is the same.
The narrow road appears uncomfortable and small,
yet it becomes a passage
through which life is preserved
and light enters the world.

Restoring the stork's habitat
was much like guarding the Narrow Gate itself.
People often asked,
“Why take the hard way?”

But in the work of preserving life,
there is no shortcut.
One must pass through
the narrow and rugged path.

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The Eyes of a Scientist, the Eyes of a Believer

Though I am a scientist by profession,
I realize—whenever I meditate on the narrow path—
that the way of science is filled with countless hypotheses and failures.
Yet just as we draw nearer to truth through failure and wandering,
so the life of faith deepens through suffering and perseverance.

Jesus invites us through the Wicket Gate
not to make our lives difficult,
but to lead us to true life
and to keep us from destruction.

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Laying Down the Burden Once More on the Pilgrimage

Christian, still carrying the heavy burden on his back,
passed through the gate called Salvation
and came to the hill of the Cross.
There he laid down his crushing burden.
And I—like him—lay down my own burden
aboard the “Cross spacecraft.”

3-6: Cross Spacecraft

Fig. 3-6: One angel receives Christian’s heavy burden; a second removes his filthy garments; a third seals his forehead and hands him a scroll.

God fashioned the earth as a kind of spacecraft in the beginning.

He first placed plants and animals aboard,
and finally welcomed the first human passenger—Adam.

But as time passed, more and more people came aboard.
They began to ignore the unseen Pilot—God—
calling the idols they made with their own hands “gods,”
and turning their faces away from the cockpit.

Worse still, humanity fell victim
to Satan’s deception called sin,
racing toward a final destination named death.
We wandered like beings mired in a swamp of futility—
that was our condition.

Yet God had a plan from the beginning:

“He designed a great blueprint
to restore the lives of those who love Him
and conform them to the image of His Son.”
(Rom. 8:28–29)

Now, in this very moment,
“I”—a Christian—have passed through the Wicket Gate
and finally stepped aboard this divine spacecraft.

A crew member approached
and guided me to a seat marked with the sign of the Cross.
He took from me the heavy burden of sin
that had weighed down my back.

Freed from its crushing weight,
I cried out in joy:

“The Lord came in the same flesh as we
and suffered for us—
so now I may rest.
He chose death for Himself—
so that I might receive life!”

Soon a second crew member approached.
He removed my filthy garments
and clothed me in new robes.

A Scripture rose within my heart:

“Take off his filthy clothes…
I have taken away your iniquity,
and I will clothe you with rich garments.”
(Zech. 3:4)

The Apostle Paul also wrote:

“Put off your old self…
and put on the new self,
created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.”
(Eph. 4:22–24)

Then came the third crew member.
He sealed my forehead
and handed me a scroll sealed tightly.

“During this pilgrimage—this voyage through the universe—
open this often,” he said.

Again, another Scripture came to mind:

“In Him you also,
when you heard the word of truth—
the gospel of your salvation—
and believed in Him,
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”
(Eph. 1:13)

I made a resolution.
As long as this spacecraft journeys onward,
I will open this scroll—the Word of God—often
and make it the compass of my life.

This earth is not merely a planet;
it is a vessel piloted by God Himself,
with Jesus Christ accompanying its passengers
toward the heavens.

And I am but one pilgrim-passenger
who has received his boarding pass
by grace.

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The Pilgrim’s Resolve

Christian passed through the Wicket Gate
and set out upon the narrow and straight path.
His steps were still heavy;
the burden upon his back had not yet been removed.
And yet a new hope rested in his heart.

He resolved:

“No matter what difficulties await me,
I will never leave this path.”

The narrow way is not a one-time choice;
it is a lifelong commitment—
a daily denying of oneself,
a daily taking up of the cross.

Only on this path
do we finally lay down our heavy burdens
and receive true freedom and hope.

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Closing Meditation

The Wicket Gate stands open before us.
But no one enters by force.
Only those who knock in faith
and bow in humility
can walk this path.

I too stand before that Wicket Gate.
Just as the stork walks a narrow embankment
to nurture life,
may my own steps on the narrow path
become a way that carries life as well.