In 2006, author Cormac McCarthy published a novel titled The Road. It is the story of a father and son who journey through the ruins of a post–apocalyptic earth. All that’s left in the world is a landscape that is dismal and drained of color. Nothing is able to grow on this earth, and there is no food available for anyone. Survival has reduced people to cannibalism. Yet, there seems to be a small glimmer of hope in this father who will do anything to protect his 10–year–old son from the world. His one desire is to protect him from cold, sickness, starvation and the people who are deemed to be “evil.”

As they journey along the road, the father’s health begins deteriorating and we can see his life dwindling away. He gets shot in the leg and his condition continues to worsen; he realizes he will die soon. The father tells his son that he must continue without him, and sends his son up the road alone. It’s a powerful, though at times disturbing, book. It highlights the depths of a father’s love, and shows what he is willing to go through to keep his son not only alive but thriving. The father sends the son off alone with the promise that he can talk to him in prayer and that he has prepared him for what lies ahead.