Under The Mercy

A time ago and who can say what time it was for a boy goes through many things,many changes before manhood takes hold of his heart.And even manhood has its coat of many colours for there is more to a man than age or gender bestows and this particular boy was,though he would not know it for many years, was at a crossroads in his life.What lay ahead of him, who can say,where was his guidance,who could he turn to.?Not his parents,they had both died within two years of each other and as devoted to him as they were they could not advise him now. He was fifteen,serious,introspective,shy, and was of a philosophical bent due to another earlier tragedy where he saw his best friend lying dead with the seaweed still wrapped around his cold blue face.This is what made him question everything.
Right now though,right at this minute,he was examining his newly cut knee which gave all the appearance of obtaining a sympathy vote from schoolfriends.Maybe even a shy kiss from Alma Anderson -well maybe that was too much to ask,maybe one from Sandra,his new friend would suffice for comfort.Just now he was walking slowly down from the high street of his West Highland village and had just been sneaking around the high Parish Church where the Mission team to the village were staying.It was night time,half past eleven and he was sad and tired. Sad because the mission team were going away and he had grown to love some of them.Tired not just by exhaustion but by the early insight in what was yet his youth that the world and particularly himself was starving for some meaning and purpose for life.

He was not interested really he thought in what the mission team were saying about the gospel. He had heard the same things from his father many a time and his mother always told him the same things too and blessed him before bending over and kissing him after a story at night.He knew all about the stable at Christmas and the wee bairn born to Joseph and Mary. wasn't he himself just one wall away from the cows who snuffled and grunted and moved around in his own wee but an ben,a two roomed cottage with the cattle next door where he had lived all his life.His father had told him of Isaiah of long long ago, a man in a country far away from Scotland,a man of great wisdom who said he had a message and that all should hear him for he had to tell of a great event that was going to happen.This was how the young boy's father had told it anyway. It was a story of a great comfort that the Father of all living would bring. The gift of his own begotten son. That means his father said that He would be born by a miracle from God and not by Joseph and Mary. Isaiah was one of many men who had spoken to the people through the years about this great gift which would happen. This gift of the Father’s only begotten son was to happen and he was to be born in a little town and among the animals in a stable like at home and he would be greater than even King Solomon or King David had been in the time of old. In fact his father had often told him he was named after King David. This gift of God's son was to be born in a little town in Judea called Bethlehem and He was to be called Jesus.There was great longing for this among the people for many long weary years and perhaps none more so when the country became terrorized and occupied by another country’s army – the soldiers of the Roman Empire who worshipped other Gods than the God of Judah. So the country was ruled with the rulers worshipping other Gods and following Roman customs that made life more dangerous for those who preferred the God who led by fire and cloud than the marble statues of the Roman Gods which neither spoke nor acted to save people from their failings. Life then for the people under the Romans was sometimes hard and dangerous. They even slaughtered all the babies once to try and kill Jesus.So the people of Judah longed for this great Saviour who would come to help them in their misery.The trouble was though for the boy that though this story was nice,that was all it was to this boy. He was alone,or as much alone as two older brothers would let him be and he needed a friend more than he would ever know.The girls of the mission team though were coming down the hill disturbing his thoughts. They after some conversation said to the boy "are you going to make a decision about Jesus ?" and the boy smiled, these were his two favorites in the team and he said "I'll see".Turning away they said goodnight and the boy was left alone again with his thoughts.

Wandering into his father's best friend's garden he looked up at the stars and said "God, if you are there,prove it". Suddenly,right there,right then,he felt his heart change,he knew with a burst of what could only be joy,that God was there, He knew now that God cared for and loved him-even before you were born -as his father would say:he felt waves and waves of sorrow for the bad things he had done like stealing apples and smashing up his go cart in temper after Dad had just mended it. He knew what he had done in the past and suddenly he knew he was washed,he was clean,he was under the mercy,there was nothing ever to fear again,even Death was to die at the hands of this great Provider and he finally knew the way home to God for himself.He could even imagine his mum and dad smiling through their tears in Heaven and God wiping them away.He tried to rebel but somehow He knew God's elastic arms would always stretch out for him even in the darkest night.He had arrived,he was under the mercy ,he was home.