You sit inside, quietly invisible,
Steering consistently to serenity
Mighty floods floor you not
Nasty storms scare you not,
Tirelessly, steering still,
You ride waves and scale walls,
Faithfully, flawlessly,
You deliver your passengers.

A Father sent his son on an assignment with specific instructions on how to accomplish the task. The young man started out well and his Father was impressed. He showed a lot of promises and the future looked great until he lost focus, missed the way, and ended up in a deep and horrible pit. He failed and the fall carried eternally fatal consequences. At the time, he had gone so far from home but not out of his Father’s reach. Nevertheless, the Father, a King and a Judge, was forbidden by law to humiliate Himself, the only way He could reach the lost boy. Duty fell on Him to condemn His own son.

While his Father explored means of saving him from the inescapable judgment of the law he had broken, the young man strayed farther, drowning in his own mess. The web of failure twisted itself endlessly around his helplessness until hope was strangled. The situation appeared irredeemable. In as much as his Father would not prove an unjust judge, yet He was bent on saving His son from the damnable wages of his error.

The Judge thought hard and long, exploring substantial and sustainable means to prevent the extermination of His lineage. Meanwhile, pressure mounted on Him to promptly deliver judgment. Along the line, He met a young man named Love who was married to a very pretty lady called Grace. Seeing the obvious plight of this compassionate Father, the couple agreed on a classical rescue mission, the like of which had never been heard or imagined before.

When they got to the pit, they couldn’t believe what greeted their eyes. The once regal prince lay forsaken, seemingly forgotten at the feet of hopelessness while helplessness taunted his weaknesses. He had struggled for so long to get out and had given up in the absence of hope. Now, he was forbidden to ever look up again by disappointment, who also murdered his once great expectations. He was such a despicable sight, so abhorrent, yet pretty Grace agreed to follow her husband Love down to him. He led her down the disgusting pit and anchored the rope of mercy for the recovery of the lost. Love set it all up, left Grace with the lad and rose above them; protecting, upholding, directing the mission. Condemnation lifted its strangling hold on the fallen prince as Grace saturated the atmosphere with the sweet fragrance of an unusual Presence.

The trouble wasn’t climbing up or out, it was convincing the defeated man that his hope can live again, that there is life after the fall, a better life beyond the pit. Having displaced the suffocating stench of his wretchedness, at the promptings of Love, pretty Grace encouraged the young man to let the strength of faith support his now deformed neck, to lift up his head so he could look up, and see for himself, the ever Present Love, who is stronger than his captor, well able to fully deliver, in order that he might believe. It took time, it cost Grace but eventually, he opened his heart and allowed her to plant the seed of faith.

The warmth of Love was shining down from above, from within, radiating, reflecting everywhere. As the fallen prince absorbed the wisdom of Grace in that atmosphere, the Father’s seed within him stirred. The lad grew continuously uncomfortable with the same conditions that have become home to him. Yielding more and more to the gentle prodding of beautiful Grace, he began to move his neck. One day, he bent it backward and his eyes were shocked to blindness by a tiny ray that flooded his sight. How could such a tiny ray pierce and penetrate such a thick blanket of darkness? He had lived in this neighborhood forever it seemed, and was convinced that light does not and cannot exist here. Where did that Light come from? He desperately wanted to know but unfortunately, that was the only question Grace was unwilling to supply the answer. Instead, she encouraged him to find out.

“I would need to get out to find out and that is impossible for me,” he lamented. “Don’t give up,” Grace implored, “There is a way out.” “And where is it?” He asked helplessly. Grace pointed at the mercy rope which though had been there for a while, remained unnoticed by the young man until now. It was what he needed most and yet could not see and now that he has noticed, could not reach for. He felt so unworthy but Grace felt otherwise and said so. She encouraged him to rise up from where he had fallen and reach for the rope. That was the only way the power of that glimmer will shatter the shackles of darkness that engulfed him.

As soon as he stood, overwhelming peace wrapped gentle arms around his soul. The same peace he had struggled and suffered to attain for so long, came as a free gift of obedience. Now without effort, he surrendered his fears, aches, pains, regrets, and the devastating losses he had incurred from a past riddled in errors. Willing himself to the present, to the irresistible influence of Love and Grace, he freely inhaled the fresh fragrance of life which stirred within, a new hope, a new dream, a new desire – to live, in truth and in deed!

Light flooded his eyes as peace made room for love in his once congested heart. Strengthened by his ever increasing faith, he held onto the mercy rope and began to climb. It will be a tough trip but he was willing to go, one step at a time – an attempt to reach the light of Love shining from above. Surprisingly, he needed not labor to climb. Love pulled all the way up and Grace spread everlasting arms beneath him. It didn’t seem like anything was happening because he wasn’t doing much. He didn’t need to get himself out, Love carried him all the way up. Grace was his aid as Love lifted him!

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Rom 9: 16. The story continues next Friday. Until then, may the sweet fragrance of pretty Grace saturate your heart and life, supplying all the aid you need to move from where you are to where you ought to be at such a time as this, amen.

Glory!