The Broken Cross

When I was in high school a friend of mine who was a fellow Christian gave me a cross. It was green and made of glass. I loved it, the color was my favorite, the cross felt so nice in my hand.

I wore it every day and everywhere.

One day at the favorite local hang out spot (the arcade) I was playing a game called Dance Dance Revolution. After the game was over, I noticed my cross had fallen from my neck and shattered.

I was heartbroken, there was no fixing the cross. My friend later asked me where the cross was? I had to solemnly tell him the news. You could tell he was disappointed.

He got over it quick because quite frankly his life had one tragedy after the other. It was a hard and cruel life.

Years later he now openly mocks God and faith on Facebook.  

The broken cross he gave to me ended up being a metaphor for what was to come, his faith would be broken.

It grieves me to think about and sadly of all my friends from high school I can think of only two who are believers in Christ.

Even worse they’re not just unbelievers but many of them bash God and hate Jesus Christ.

It breaks my heart.

I often times feel hopeless for my high school friends. But then I remember there is hope.

Hope in Jesus Christ.

Because truly in high school, I was broken. That broken cross could serve as a metaphor for me. I was vile, deep in sin. Filled with hatred and pain. I was completely shattered and seemed to be unfixable.

But then Jesus truly saved me from myself.

I owe all to God.

All glory to God!

Praise His Name.

Have a Blessed and Hopeful Week,
Chris

Fall

Throwback Thursday From October 2018

The Good Word

*First off I would like to thank my wife Jane and of course the Lord for this blog post idea. I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a topic this week and we prayed on it over breakfast and it came to Jane from God.* 

My favorite season is here, fall and it is beautiful. Thinking of the word fall it makes me think of the fall of humanity. We as a people fell and despite this God showed His love by sending the Son to die for our sins, it is a beautiful story.

During fall when a tree’s leaves die they are beautiful in their death and after a time the tree’s leaves are resurrected, during the beginning of spring, which actually coincides with the time of Jesus resurrection (Easter).

Jesus’ death was gruesome and horrific but the message of why He did it is…

View original post 49 more words

God Always Wins

Often when we hear someone say negative things about God we get angry, which is something I believe we should try to not do. I know it is hard when you love God and hear awful things being said. But we are supposed to be the light of the World.
Matthew 15 says, “14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

We must show the World God’s love, be the light that brings them closer to God.

People love to bash God, usually for personal reasons. It could be because of their own guilt, or bad things have happened to them so they blame God or say he can’t exist because how could he let this happen? Many times experiences with Christians or Church lead them to atheism or outright hatred towards God. That is why it is we must tame the tongue with people who have anger towards God. Don’t give them another bad experience.

We must not push people more away from Christ, the devil wants people to be atheists. Let’s not do the devils work. There is always a chance for a person to accept salvation, remember even the demons believe Jesus is Lord.

Mark 5:

“1On the other side of the sea, they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes.a 2As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met Him. 3He had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained, even with chains. 4Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now no one had the strength to subdue him. 5Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains, he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6When the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him. 7And he shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me.” 8For Jesus had already declared, “Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!”

9“What is your name?” Jesus asked.

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” 10And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.

11There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding. 12So the demons begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs, so that we may enter them.”

13He gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the water.”

Remember God can turn anything into a positive. When Jesus was crucified, God took the ultimate symbol of death and made it into the sign of salvation. The Roman Empire that executed Jesus later was converted. In every situation God always wins.

He can do the same thing in your life, anything negative can become a positive, you’re issue right now could become a testimony later. Trust in him always.
Psalm Chapter 9:18, “For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.”

Have a blessed week.

-Chris

The Journey: Conclusion

Woman on a Bridge

It was Memorial Day and we took Jane’s Dad out to dinner. We had decided to go to Double T Diner and take the back roads home. But at the last minute Jane suggested we go to TGI Fridays, so it made sense just to go the normal way home.

On the way there is a bridge you have to cross, when we arrived at that point we noticed two cars in front of us had come to a stop, the passenger in the second car was outside, talking frantically on his cell phone. Jane saw a young lady standing next to the bridge, peering over the side. Jane yelled at me to “STOP THE CAR!”

Jane rushed out of the car, when she did the young lady began to swing her leg over the bridge. By the time Jane got to her, she was sitting on the bridge, legs dangling over the side, getting ready to jump. Jane got to her just in time and began consoling her, rubbing her back. The young woman was a nurse who just got served with divorce papers, she had two little twin girls at home but felt like she didn’t want to burden anyone anymore.

I was frozen, not sure what to do. I wanted to pull her off the bridge but I was in her line of sight. What if she saw me and jumped? The wife of the man on the cell phone got out of the car and went over to them. As it turned out the woman was a nurse also, and began talking with her. Jane began to pray (she told me later it was the hardest she had ever prayed in her life). She was praying for a miracle to get this young lady off the bridge.

Than out of the blue a large man came from behind the young lady and pulled her off the bridge. The young lady began to weep, Jane patted the man on the back and thanked him. I watched the man lean over the side of the bridge, breath a sigh and stare out into to the water. Everyone was talking to the young lady now, I looked down at my watch and checked my cell phone, when I looked up the man was gone. I was puzzled who this was and asked the people in the other car if the man was with them, they told me he wasn’t.

No one saw the man arrive or leave, there was no additional cars, we heard no engines in idle, and we were on the middle of a bridge. Who was the man? Was it an angel from God? No matter what conclusions you draw if it wasn’t for Jane, the nurse and the mysterious man those children would have been without their mother.

After watching her help save that woman, I realized Jane had saved me, that’s what she had always tried to do for people. Since she was a little girl she would show kindness, giving to the homeless (one time as a child she gave a homeless man her Happy Meal), being there for friends and family in times of need, always being loyal and showing love to the people she cared about. She would forgive people, and love them, never giving up on her kindness. She was a better Christian than I was even before she was a Christian. God sent her to me, to change my life, to save my life, she was everything I had been asking for.

I realize now that no matter what you do in your life, no matter what bridges you burn there will be a cross for you to walk on to your salvation.