A Story of God and All of Us Young Reade - By Roma Downey Page 0,10

deserted them."

"And my real mother? Where is she?"

Batya falls silent. Moses rushes out of the room. He must see these people--

his people--for himself.

Moses watches men, women, and children labor in the blazing sun. The heat is like an inferno. Their faces are weary and their spirits are broken. His people are without a hope or a future. In his eighteen years in the Pharaoh's court, Moses has never paid these people any heed. They have always been beneath him, a separate people he never noticed. Until now, he has never known or witnessed the cruelty they suffer in daily existence. His heart is in conflict, for this could easily have been him. Somewhere among them is a family he has never known.

Moses hears an anguished shout: "No!" He turns to see an Israelite slave being dragged into the shadows

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of a nearby building. "Please, no," the slave screams. Moses follows the sound into a blind corner, where he finds a slave master beating a young man with a large club.

"Filthy slave," sneers the overseer, spitting on the Hebrew.

He lands blow after blow, even though the man cowers and tries to cover his face. Moses doesn't know what to do. This is not his business. The slave surely did something to deserve these painful blows. As the stick rises into the air and comes down again and again, Moses can no longer be an innocent bystander. Without fully realizing what he is doing, Prince Moses--a resident of the great Pharaoh's palace and recognized throughout the land as the son of Batya--walks back toward the slave master and picks up a large stone. He approaches the slave master from behind and raises the rock high over his head.

The slave master turns just in time to see Moses preparing to attack.

Moses, stunned, stops. He is not sure what to do next. He runs.

Four decades pass.

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Rameses now sits on the Egyptian throne and Moses is a shepherd, living on Mount Sinai. It is a hard, lonely life. His beard is long, and his face is dry and bronzed by the sun. His body is strong from having survived the elements. His mind dwells constantly on his people enslaved in Egypt.

On this day, Moses sees something amazing. A small bush is ablaze. Yet the leaves and branches do not burn. And there is no smell of smoke. It is just a flame, brilliant as the daytime sun.

Moses approaches cautiously. As he does, the flames begin to roar with sound. Moses walks closer. He shields his face with his hand, lest the heat burn him and the light blind him.

In the distance, thunder rolls in a low growl. But in that growl, Moses hears a voice. "Moses! Moses!"

"Here I am," he replies cautiously.

A deafening clap of thunder. Moses raises his hands to his ears, exposing his eyes and face to the intensity of the fiery bush.

"You are real?"

The fire burns so bright that Moses must shield his eyes.

" I AM, " a voice tells him. "I am the God of your father. The God of Abraham.

The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob."

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Moses hides his face because he is afraid to look at God. "What do you want with me?" he asks.

Another clap of thunder. This one makes Moses jump back in panic.

"I understand the misery of your people-- my people. I hear them every night in my dreams. They cry out for freedom," says God.

A loud wind rages. The flames on the bush roar to a new and larger height.

But this time, rather than panic, Moses approaches the bush. He hears his instructions, but he is mystified. "Free? How can I set them free? I am not a prince now. I am nothing. Why would they listen to me? I think this is a mistake. There must be someone else."

The fire grows higher in response. Now the flames reach out to Moses, enveloping him. Yet he is not burned. Rather, he feels a new strength course through his veins. He is overcome with a new sense of purpose.

"I'll do it," he says, his voice now resolute. "Who shall I say sent me?"

Moses hears the answer on the wind. In that instant, the fire goes out. The bush, still unburned, lies on the ground.

"Lord," he marvels, rolling the word around on his tongue. "Lord... I will do it, Lord. I will set your people-- my people--free."

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Moses sleeps soundly the rest of the night. In the morning, as the sun rises high in a sky as clear and