(In my new novel, Before the Trumpet Sounds: When Jesus Came to the Tennessee River Valley, Jesus returns in a manner nobody expects. During this visit, he is known by everyone as Jay.)
There was a farmer who lived near a river. Each fall he would send his two sons downstream to the city to sell the harvest.
There was a farmer who lived near a river. Each fall he would send his two sons downstream to the city to sell the harvest.
One year the youngest son headed upstream instead. He built a shack in the woods and lived off his share of the father’s produce.
In the cold of winter the son ran out of food and firewood and decided to return to the farm and tell his father he was sorry. Three-fourths of the way home his boat hit a rock and began to take on water. Just as he was about to sink into the icy river, he saw his father paddling upstream in his brother’s boat.
“Get in, my son!” he said. “It’s time for you to come home.”
Once safe in the boat, the son looked at his father and said, “I’m sorry.” The father responded with tears and an embrace.
As they neared the farm, the son asked his father a question. “Why didn’t you send my brother to save me?”
The father frowned. “I told him to come, but he refused. He is angry with you.”
“I’m sorry,” the son repeated.
“You are forgiven, my son,” the father assured him, “and have been for a long time.”
The son responded with tears and an embrace.
Jay probed his four listeners. “Tell me, my friends, which son was disobedient to the father as they ate supper together that night?”
Hector responded. “The older son was not obeying his father.”
Jay went further. “And how was the older son disobedient?”
Michael answered, “He had not forgiven his brother like his father had asked.”
“No,” Jay replied. “The father didn’t ask him to forgive his brother. He asked him to come to his brother’s aid, and he refused. That’s why he was disobedient.”
Corey was the last to respond. “But it’s too late now for him to come to his brother’s aid. What is the older brother to do?”
“He should say to his father, ‘I’m sorry’. And the father will tell him he is forgiven, and has been. And brothers will once again become brothers, for they will respond with tears and an embrace.”
That night Corey heard a truth he would later learn the hard way –
In God’s kingdom…
“I won’t” is disobedience.
“I’m sorry” is repentance.
“I’m forgiven” is grace.
“I forgive” is gratitude.
It’s a formula that makes heaven rejoice.
Before the Trumpet Sounds:
When Jesus Came to the Tennessee River Valley (December, 2026)
Before the Trumpet Sounds:
When Jesus Came to the Tennessee River Valley (December, 2026)
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