Always The Cross
It seems like such a short time ago, but…well, we won’t say how long it really was! Almost every year our youth group at church would go on an overnight retreat, usually to some place in the woods or on a lake…you know, one of God’s favorite places.
It
was always our custom that upon our arrival, before we got out of our vehicles,
a couple of us would go into the woods off from where our camp would be and
build a cross. There we would make a
place to sit complete with Bible and devotional books.
After completing our “sanctuary in the wood” someone would take the
first thirty-minute shift at the cross. They
would pray and focus on God. Once
that began, the retreat started. We
would put up our tents and get the food ready.
But always there would always be someone at the cross.
We would take our thirty minute shifts until
the next day when it would be time to
pack and go home. When
everyone was loaded up, that last person would leave our cross, get in the car,
and we would leave. We always left
the cross right where we had placed it and I often wondered what stories would
come from others who would find a cross standing in the middle of nowhere.
What impressed me the most that I still remember so vividly is how holy that
little section of woods became when the cross was placed there.
Before we got there, just trees and ground.
But put a cross on that ground and it became sacred…like the altar of
the church. When it would come my
turn to go there, the power of God was so evident.
Amazing how the cross changes everything…like the woods…like our
lives.
There we were, just a bunch of average people…nothing special, full of
sin…empty…lonely…no direction in life.
But place the cross in our lives…that greatest symbol of God’s love
for us, a reminder of the sacrifice of Christ for our sins…well, everything
changes. For once in our life there
is hope. We are not alone.
Christ is with us…forever. We
have direction. We have purpose.
Put the cross in our lives, there is life!
We have the assurance though all else fails, God’s love for us is
unconditional.
I
thank God for the cross, how it changes lives, how everything it touches becomes
a channel of God’s love for us. Much
has changed since those wonderful teenage years, but one thing never
changes…the cross…always the cross!
Thanks be to God!