On the Inside
Author: John K. McColl (Stirlingshire, Scotland)
Once, when I was a small boy, we visited my grandparents’ house, and I went into the garden to see my grandfather. He welcomed me and chatted to me for a while, and after a pause he reached down and picked up a book, a Bible. He turned over to the place where Jesus speaks of himself as the shepherd, holding out the Bible so I could read it. In the margin I saw the word ‘Bruce’ and the date. Grandfather said that the last time he had seen Bruce he had read this passage to him and said ‘There is one door, but two sides, the inside and the outside. On which side are you?’ Bruce had replied, ‘I’m on the inside.’ Bruce was my cousin, and he had recently been killed in a car accident. I knew that I could not have answered as Bruce had done, though I did not forget what my grandfather had said.
A few years later, I was sitting with my mother in front of the fire on a cold winter’s night. When she told me it was time for bed, I got up to give her a goodnight kiss, and she gently held on to my hand. ‘Kenneth, would you not like to give your heart to Jesus?’ she asked simply. It was the question I had been waiting to be asked, so I replied ‘Yes’, and there at my mother’s knee I did just that. Now, over 80 years later, I can still say with assurance, ‘I’m on the inside.’
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help us to remember that you are the good shepherd who cares for your sheep. Amen
