Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Love (04/27/06)
-
TITLE: The Mercy Seat | Previous Challenge Entry
By
05/03/06 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
As I stare at the chair, lost in thought, they suddenly move me towards it and force me to sit. I look out through the large viewing glass and notice my parents sitting there silently in thought. My mother’s eyes find mine, and we both smile. I look over to my father, and he is smiling as well.
My parents aren’t perfect, but they have always done their best to raise me right. I can remember as a child that my mother would always read to me from the Bible. Her favorite chapter was I Corinthians 13, and she called it the “Love” chapter. As I look back now, I realize that as I grew older I became less and less patient, never showed kindness on any level, I bragged a lot, and was extremely arrogant. When I became a man I embraced childish things, and left behind righteousness and truth. Indeed my life had become the “Anti-Love Chapter”.
I guess all of these things have led me here to this chair today. If you ask the authorities they will tell you the reason I am here is because I killed 2 clerks in a convenient store robbery. I don’t disagree with that, but I also recognize the downward spiral of bad decisions and choices that has led me to this moment.
Sitting next to my father is Thomas. For the past 6 months he has been visiting me every week with my parents. At first I called him things like “Reverend” and “Pastor”, but he finally told me that just Thomas was fine. At first I loathed these visits, but then I slowly began to look forward to them. Each week Thomas and my parents would tell me about this man named Jesus, who loves me no matter what I’ve done. They told me how Jesus was the Son of God, and how he died a horrible death so that my sins could be forgiven. In the beginning, I rejected this message. No one could possibly love me like that. I’ve done the most horrible and unspeakable things, and sometimes I even enjoyed them. One thing I was certain of. I was unlovable.
Then something happened that began to change me. They kept coming. Week after week they were there. No matter how many times I rejected them, they came back. They came back because they love me. They didn’t care what I had done, and they knew the love of Christ could change me. They never gave up. That’s when I realized that if they could love me like that, then this man Jesus must be real. His love for me is real.
So here I sit on this chair of death with a smile on my face. I don’t smile because I am crazy. I’m not happy because I have killed 2 men and done countless deeds of darkness. I regret the life I have lived, and the memories of those horrible things have haunted me up to this moment. I am relieved that the victim’s families chose not to be here, for I am afraid they would not understand why this killer and his family can smile at this moment. But the reason is simple. Since I have now become a Christian, we know that I will soon be with my loving Father. My parents will miss me and are sad to say goodbye. The life I have lived was certainly not what they had hoped or planned, and the end is certainly anything but ideal. But they smile because they love me, and they smile because their son, who was once lost, is now found.
As they pull the black shroud over my face, a deep darkness settles in. Suddenly light floods my vision and completely covers me. In this moment of death, I have never felt more alive. As I embrace the light the last sound I hear is the voice of my Savior, who is saying to me, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.