It's Not Too Late

Description

It's 2032, life is harsh. A mother is giving birth, the father next to her as their daughter is delivered. A flurry of doctors and nurses then the all too familiar tone of the flatline. We flash forward in the daughter's life, stopping briefly to see her getting into trouble at school. Flash forward through years 12-18, we see the daughter in and out of juvenile detention, the father always there to get her, always sacrificing to give his daughter another chance.

Then we come to the last time. The daughter has committed a capital offence. She will be sentenced and executed swiftly. The father is brought in to say his farewell and collect belongings. The father asks if he can take the place of his daughter. The system needs someone to die, it doesn't care who. The father gives his consent and the daughter is freed. There is no last goodbye.

On the street, she sits and picks out her phone, a video message is waiting. It's her father, explaining that he loves his daughter. We see clips of the daughter growing up from the fathers perspective, his love is obvious. Living as his father did is now the daughter's life.

Biblical Connection

The Gospel is message is about sacrifice born out of love. God the Father sacrificing his Son. The Son sacrificing himself so that people can be saved. It's through that sacrifice that we have been given a chance to right, to be healed from our past mistakes (1 Peter 2: 24). In this story, we see how much love the father had for his child through how far was willing to go. It's not an action that can be taken away, or changed it is an immutable juncture in the daughter's life. She cannot go on living the same way knowing what her father did for her. The daughter also now has a story of hope to tell others, just as Jesus asked his disciples to spread his message to all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).