The Morning Mercy Walked Through the Door, a fictional Jesus story based on the Gospel of Luke
Chapter One Jesus prayed before sunrise in a quiet place above the city, where the windows of a borrowed apartment looked out over streets that had not yet decided what kind of day they would become. The room was small, with one wooden chair near the wall, a narrow table beneath the window, and a Bible that had been left open by someone who had fallen asleep trying to read through a hard night. Outside, delivery trucks moved along wet pavement with their lights low and their engines tired. A bus sighed at the corner. Somewhere below, a man shouted once and then stopped as if even his anger had run out of strength. Jesus knelt beside the chair with His hands folded loosely before Him. He did not hurry the silence. He did not fill it with many words. The city below Him carried so much hidden noise that morning, but His prayer was still and whole. He listened as only He could listen. He knew the woman sitting awake in a hallway three blocks away because she had lost the courage to open an...