This dude changed my walk with Christ. This might be peculiar because 1) you've never heard of Mephibosheth or 2) he's only around in the Old Testament or 3) his story is short and he's only mentioned a handful of times in the Bible period.
Well, lend me your ear (er... eyes?) for a second. Or like five minutes.
I love the story of David and Mephibosheth. You can find it 2 Samuel 9.
For those of you not too familiar with the Old Testament, here's a little back story. David grew up as the son of Shepherd (someone who herds sheep), and was chosen by God to be King. The current King was named Saul. Saul had God's favor for a while, but after a few misdeeds, God appointed David to take over when Saul died.
Saul had a son named Jonathan. Jonathan and David were best friends. Total bromance. One of the sweetest love stories between two best friends can be found within the relationship of David and Jonathan. So they make this solemn oath to each other to always to be friends and take care of each other's descendants and the such. Read 1 Samuel when you have a few hours to kill. It's honestly beautiful.
Anyways, so Jonathan has a son named Mephibosheth, who is lame (as in cannot walk).
Saul and Jonathan are killed in war when Mephibosheth is five years old. When a messenger tells this to the nurse that is caring for Mephibosheth, she grabs him (because he cannot walk) and runs to escape (I'll explain why later). As she is running, she drops him and he is crippled in both of his legs.
An extremely depressing opening to this story, right? Father and grandfather (who was King) dies, and he's crippled.
When Saul died, David became King. It was customary in this time that when a person became King, he kills all of the relatives that belonged to the former King so that none of the family rose up and tried to take the throne again (hence, why the nurse tries to flee with Mephibosheth).
Okay. Now go read 2 Samuel 9.
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