"Everything looks wonderful. As soon as we receive the report on the background check, this position will be yours."
He winced. He knew what was on that report. He wasn't even sure why he'd applied for this position. As soon as they saw what he'd done, he'd be turned away.
He left the building, his head lowered, his heart downcast. He would never be able to escape his past.
"Excuse me."
He stopped, and turned toward the owner of the voice. He recognized him -- the son of the owner of the company.
"I understand you've applied for a position here."
"Yes, but --"
"But your background check will make you ineligible."
He narrowed his eyes, confused how the young man knew about that.
"I'd like to offer you my background check. It's entirely clean. All the good I've done will be credited to you, and all the wrong you've done will be credited to me." He extended his hand. "You need only ask."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She'd studied hard, but it hadn't done a lot of good. She'd failed, and she knew it. It had been her heart's desire to get into the class, and a passing grade on this test would have allowed her in. But she could not do it; she would not even be allowed to retake the test.
The next day, a boy her age approached her. "I got a 100 on that test yesterday," he told her. "And if you'd like, you can have my grade."
She laughed. "That's not possible." He was cruel for letting her hope.
"It's quite possible," he said earnestly. "I'm serious. Would you like your name to appear at the top of my perfect test?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For the multiple crimes you have committed, you have been sentenced to death."
Resignation began to set in. Her hand were bound, the chains digging painfully into her wrists. Her clothes were tattered from the long walk to the gallows. She prayed for a quick death; the man with the whip was eying her greedily.
There wasn't much of an argument she could make. She'd done it. Every single accusation was true. She was deserving of death.
A man approached the guard who had announced her sentence and whispered something to him. The guard looked shocked. "Are you sure?" she heard him say. The man nodded.
With a shake of his head, the guard approached her. "You may go free," he said in amazement, unlocking her chains. "Someone has agreed to die in your place."
She laughed.
It was all she could do. It was ridiculous. "There's been a mix-up," she said. "No one knows me, and certainly if they did they wouldn't agree to die for me. I'm guilty."
"Your record will be wiped clean, and all further infractions will be considered paid for by this man's death."
"I'm telling you you're wrong," she said, confused and baffled. "I'm a criminal, and you should tell this man the world's better off without me."
"Oh, I agree with you," the guard assured her. "But it isn't proper to disagree with the King's son."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ridiculous? Yes. Unlikely? Absolutely. Impossible? You might even say that.
Yet something even more ridiculous, even more unlikely, even more impossible was accomplished.
For us.
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
