Short Stories
I walked along the city wall to my favorite spot just above the gate facing east. I used to come here to watch the sun rise, but I was not looking at the horizon today. There was something changing within these walls, and that is where I was looking. I watched the people go about their business as a buzz being passed from person to person. From the knights and nobles to the peasants and squires, everyone passed the buzz to everyone they met. The buzz was in the market and stores. It was in the throne room and at the gate.
Invasion. An army had been spotted in the land of Chattah a week ago. This was not a group of brigands raiding border settlements. This army was bigger, and it was marching slowly and directly to this fortress.
Morale remained high among the people. They were no strangers to fighting and war. All had been involved in the Great Battle and were alive to tell about it. Since they first came here no one had ever breached the walls of this stronghold. It was too high, too smooth, and too strong for anyone to get through. The people had confidence in the wall. And it was confidence well placed, for every person had participated in its construction, and daily they watched to its maintenance. There were no flaws, no weak points.
But I knew something that none of them knew. Before their scouts had returned with news, I had sensed something – a presence that I had not felt for a long time. For two weeks now, I had been coming to this point on the wall and looked – out to the east where a great army had been gathering and later into the castle where people prepared for battle.
***
I had arrived in this city six years ago. Then I was just a traveling carpenter looking for a place to pawn my wares. Six years I had spent in this city. I went to their weddings and built cribs for their babies. I went to their funerals, and prepared for furniture for that occasion too. In so many ways, I had shared their lives. In so many ways, they had become my people.
But now my time had come. Today, I could see the armies marching in the distance. I looked closely to see if I could make out the banner under which they marched. I wasn't sure if I actually saw the golden cross on the green background or if I just imagined it. Either way, it had been six years since the last time I had seen that standard.
I realized that I was holding my breath. I had to concentrate on acting normally. If these people suspected anything, they might not give me to opportunity to betray them. If they didn't expect anything then I would see my King at the gates tomorrow morning. That is the reason I stood on the wall – looking for a glimpse of my King. He was still too far away. I would have to wait until tomorrow.
I walked slowly down the steps and headed for my workshop. Once there, I headed to the back room. A chair sat against the far wall. I had been working on it for two weeks now. It was the best work I had ever done – a throne fit for the King. Today, I would fit cut stones and jewels into the places I had prepared for them. All the money I had made was now being invested into this one project. It would be my gift to the one true King.
I finished making touch-ups to the chair just before dawn – polishing the jewels and rubbing the wood with oil. I pondered if I should sleep to be prepare myself for the day ahead. But at that moment, the alarm sounded. The army was attacking, and the exact moment of my destiny was now upon me.
I looked out of the window of my shop. People were running to the wall. I watched for a couple of minutes, until the street in front of my shop was completely empty.
Then I took the chair, and made my way down the street. I stayed to the back roads for as long as I could, weaving through the narrow streets. When it could no longer be avoided, I stepped onto the main street. By then it didn't matter. Everyone was either on the wall or cowering in their houses. And those on the wall were not looking inside. They were entirely focused on the army that was now within bow shot.
Although I couldn't see it, I could picture perfectly what was happening outside. My King would be at the front of his army with his mighty men fanning out to his left and right. But the one immediately to his right would be his Son who was mortally wounded during the Great Battle.
And behind them as far as the eye could see were the soldiers on the kingdom. Each one dedicated to the furtherance of the kingdom and the glory of the King.
It only took me a moment to remove the locks on a door located a few feet from the gates. As soon as the King came through this door, his mighty men would open the gates, and his soldiers would come streaming in.
Then for the first time in six years, I would behold the glory of my King.
***
The King now sat on his throne, that I had carved with my own hands. He was seated at the gates to the city, and his son stood ever at his right hand.
One by one, I brought the people before my King. As we walked past their broken temple and smashed idols, I told them about the love of my King. I told them that he decreed that none would die today, and indeed none had, for when the people saw their wall had been breached they ran for their lives. I told them that he would forgive their treason and welcome them as sons and daughters if they would but ask for mercy and worship his Son.
Some spat at me and yelled. They called me traitor and killer of small children. Had they forgotten that it was they who had sacrificed their children to idols now fallen and broken? Their silence now mocked those that had given them their best.
Some walked in silence, as though they could not hear my words. Their only thought were on the Great Battle when they had pierced the King's Son. Still they were unaware that when the battle was over, he had risen from that battlefield in the arms of his Father.
Others wept, pleading for forgiveness that only the King could grant. These I pitied more then all, yet I knew they would stand with their King once again.
All who came before the King fell at his feet, for that is the greatness of his glory. Even I, who stood near him in the Great Battle and watched him enter this city, now threw myself at his feet. Every time, I brought someone before him, I would fall at his feet or the feet of his Son.
Then the King would talk to the one I had brought and would call them by name. And if they would ask for mercy it was granted. Then the Son would pick them up, and they would join their brother's in the King's army.
But there were a few who refused the King's mercy. To these he showed his great patience and grace. They were given food and water and ordered to leave the city.
Then the King's Son would lift me to my feet and tell me, "Go and find another one, and bring him to me."
And I would bring another past their ruined temple and smashed idols to the gate where the King sat with his Son at his side. And if the person repented, he would go to the right and into the city. And if he refused, he would go to the left and into the wilderness.
When all had appeared before the King, he turned to me. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. And then my King spoke, "Six years ago, I sent you to this place in the land of Chattah. I told you to prepare the people for my arrival, for I would be coming soon. I placed you here, and trained you with special talents, so that you could prepare their hearts. I warned you not to forget about me, but to be wary of their wicked ways. In this you have been faithful. Though you were in the land of Chattah, you were not of this land."
Then tears ran down my face and I knelt and kissed the feet of my King.
***
"I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still IN THE WORLD, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are NOT OF THE WORLD any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."
The prayer of Jesus as recorded in John 17:9-19 New International Translation (emphasis added).
Footnote: Chattah is Hebrew for sin according to the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
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Very, very good.
This is a very captivating story with a very relevant theme. Great job!
You are sooo good!!!!! Well done, good and faithful writing servant! -Carole
very good, very captivating. well done bro. it puts me in mind of the scripture "well done thou good and faithful servant"
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