ADOPTION PRICE
(fictional story)

      In Old England of the time of 1623 there lived a father and a son. The father was a widower who's wife had died from one of the bad plagues of that time. The son was a sole child in the family having no brothers or sisters. In talking together one day the father and the son discovered that both of them had a desire to enlarge their family of two. The father had loved his wife dearly and had no desire to marry again. They talked it over and decided that adopting a boy from the orphanage who could become a new brother to the son and a new son to the father was what they both wanted to do. They made the journey to the nearest orphanage which was in the large city in that section of England. The journey took several hours and finally they arrived in the city. Being it was a long journey they sought out a local Inn, got something to eat, and secured a room for their night's stay. Since they had started their journey very early, nearly before the sun was up, they had yet enough time to go visit the orphanage. Upon their first visit they spoke with the Master of the orphanage to introduce to him what they would like to do. The Master was very pleased in their desire to adopt one of the boys. He told them there was a process which had to be followed and none of it could be ignored or left out. The father and the son were pleased with this and told the Master they would like to come back the next morning and meet the boys. The Master said that would be fine and they set a time for the next morning. The father and the son went back to the Inn with great joy and expectation.
      The next morning they were up bright and early with anticipation in their hearts of finding a boy who would become a new brother to the son and a new son to the father. They arrived at the orphanage and spent most of the day with the boys talking to them and observing each one of them. At the end of the day they told the Master of the orphanage they would go back to the Inn and decide which one of the boys they would like to adopt. They told the Master that they would be back in the morning to tell him which boy they had decided on. The Master was very pleased that one of the boys would finally have a good home. The father and son went back to the Inn and spent most of the evening discussing all of the boys. They final came to the conclusion that this one boy got both of their attention, that already they were both beginning to feel a bit of love in their hearts for this particular boy. The next morning they went back and met with the Master of the orphanage and asked how they were to begin the procedure of adopting one of the boys. The Master felt very good about this now because he could see the father and the son were very serious about this. He told them of the procedure that needed to be followed and began with the paper work and the application that had to be filled out. All had to be done by long hand at that time, each document being written by hand from beginning to end. After an hour or so of working on the documents with them the Master ask what boy they had chose. The father and son told the Master who they had chose and he said Oh no, they couldn't have chose him, that he was one of the worst trouble makers in the whole orphanage. The Master tried his best to talk them out of it but the father and the son both said they would not change there minds, their hearts were set on the boy and that they still wanted to adopt him even though he might be one of the worst. With regret and dismay the Master continued filling out the paper work with them wondering in his mind why anyone who could choose any would choose such a bad child. After a few hours the Master said the paper work was complete and he would submit it to the trustees of the orphanage for review. He told them he would send them a letter with the results of the review. The father and son were very happy with that and made arrangements to return home the next day. The whole journey home they were so excited thinking about how it was going to be to have another in the family. Another to eat at the table, another to set by the fire at night, another to say good night and good morning to, another to occupy the home they lived in.
     Once they were home in a few days the son came to his father and said he would like to make a new room for his new brother so for the first time the boy could have a bedroom all his own. The father thought this was a great idea and told the son they ought to get started right away. The son said to his father he would like to build the room himself, that all he needed was for the father to supply the things he would need. The father agreed and the room was built. After several weeks the letter finally came. They were both so excited wanting to open the letter right away and yet hesitating thinking it could be bad news, that their application to adopt the boy had been denied. With courage they opened the letter and read it, their application to adopt the boy had been approved. They were delighted and unable to contain their excitement. They told everyone they knew there was going to be a new member in their family, a new son setting at the father's table. The father's and son's expectation was so great that soon there was even an excitement in the whole village that there was going to be a new boy in the community.
      Finally the day came that the letter said they were to come to the orphanage to sign the final documents of adoption. They were both up long before the sun came up fussing around the house getting ready to leave. They waited for the sun to come up and departed as soon as it was light. The journey which didn't seem that long before now seemed to take days. They both had difficulty in waiting until they got to the orphanage. Finally, after seemingly forever, they arrived at the orphanage. The father and the son met with the Master and began filling out the final documents of adoption. The father was trembling so with excitement he could hardly sign his name on the documents. This was the day the father and the son had spoke much of in the past weeks. It was what they had been dreaming of. It was what had been occupying all of their thoughts since they were last at the orphanage. It was a great step, a fulfillment of their dream. The excitement of the moment penetrated them both. The signing was finished, the documents were complete, the adoption was now legal. The father and the son were so excited, for the son to have a new brother and the father to have a new son, such a blessing. They then ask the Master to make the arrangements for the boy to go home with them. The Master replied that the boy could not go with them. They told the Master that they understood the adoption was compete and that they did not understand why he couldn't go. The Master told them the adoption was compete but the boy could not go with them that day. They asked what day then could the boy go with them. The Master replied the boy could not leave yet and he didn't know how soon the boy would be able to go. At this point the father and son became very disappointed and ask the Master why this was so. The Master replied that he had told them this was one of the worst boys in the orphanage, that his behavior was terrible. The father and son told the master that they knew this and now that they had adopted the boy it was no longer the Master's concern. The Master informed them that there was a rule at the orphanage made by the trustees that no boy could leave the orphanage until all of the punishment he had accumulate was completed. At this point the father and son ask how much had this boy accumulated and how long it would be before it was given out. The Master said that because of the boy's bad behavior the boy had accumulated ninety three wacks and the trustees had also made a rule that any boy under 14 years old could only receive one wack a day.
      The father and son were heart broken that the boy would have to receive such a large amount of punishment and that it would be more than three months before they could take him home. Sadly they told the Master they would make arrangements to come back for him in three and a half months. With a very serious face the Master said it may take longer than that. The father and the son ask how that could be. The Master explained that for the boy to leave in ninety four days the boy would not dare do any thing more wrong until then. The Master told the father and son that he knew the nature of the boy and that the boy could not behave that long, that by the time he had received the ninety three wacks he would probably have accumulated many more. The Master of the orphanage said the boy could leave any time the punishment that he had accumulate was complete. At this the father and son were nearly in tears not knowing what they were going to do. They left the Master for a while to discuss the situation and come to a decision. They came to the orphanage with such excitement, with such expectations, desiring greatly with the love that now dwelt in each of their hearts for this boy, and now to find out because of his behavior it seemed he was locked out of being in their family. They talked for a while and then the son said he had an idea and told his father what it was. The father said he didn't like the idea but the son told his father he wanted to do this for him who he already considered his brother. The father gave his approval and they returned to the Master of the orphanage. The son clarified with the Master that the boy could leave when all punishment was complete and the price for what the boy had accumulated was paid. The Master said that then the boy could leave, that all the rules would be met, and the adoption then would be complete in the sense that the boy could go home with them. Then the son ask the Master if in the rules it said that the punishment had to be given out to the boy who accumulated it. The Master said not exactly but it was assumed that the one who accumulated the wacks of punishment would receive them. The son then confirmed with the Master that the rules did not say that the boy who accumulated the wacks actually had to receive them, only that they had to be given out. The Master reluctantly conferred this was true. The son then said that he was 17 years old and that he would take the ninety three wacks so that the boy could come home with him and his father to live. The Master told the son that even if he took ten a day it would be more than a week to complete. The son said he didn't want to do it that way, he wanted them all laid on him the same day, all at the same time, from beginning to end, all of them. After this was done the punishment the boy had accumulated was complete and it was written across the adoption papers 'punishment complete'. The boy went home with the father and the son and they lived happily ever after.

      This is what Jesus Christ the Son and the Heavenly Father has done for each of us. We are the boy who has accumulated more punishment than we could ever pay for. We are the ones who had no hope before the Son came along and offered to take all our punishment, from beginning to end, all of it. The Son Jesus Christ dying on the cross paid for all our sins and allows us to live happily ever after with the Father and the Son. And Jesus said He has went and prepared a room for us in His Father's mansion. If this story touched something in you and you are not yet a child of God why do you wait? Jesus Christ has already paid the price you owe, from beginning to end, but you have to accept that which He has paid for you. To receive what Jesus Christ has done for you, you need to accept Him into your life, confessing you have accumulated punishment you can't pay for, asking Him, Jesus Christ, to come into your life to live with you and be Lord of your life. He loves you and wants the best for your life the same as in the story the son wanted for the boy from the orphanage. To receive Jesus Christ into your life and allow the punishment He receive to count for you also it only takes a small prayer. A prayer is nothing more than sincerely speaking out loud or silently in you mind to God, that you want the punishment Jesus has already taken to count for you, that you confess to Him you are a sinner and that you want Jesus Christ to come into your life to live with you and be Lord in your life. That is all it takes and the sincere prayer God will hear and He will forgive your sins, beginning to end. The Father God and the Son Jesus Christ will bless your life in ways you can not even imagine.

                                                                              Robert L Doudna 2009