Notes to the Lord: More Teachings on The Cross

Matthew 16

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Lord Jesus--This is not something that I like to hear in the middle of life that runs by me at 74 miles an hour. You and I both know that I always go just on the edges of trouble which right now on the New York State thruway is 74. That just is the way that I am. It is within the context of a careening life lived at 74 miles per hour, the lesson of the cross surfaces for me again.

At this point in my walk with you, Lord Jesus, I firmly believe in Divine appointments. Lessons learned from you do not come by accident...there is the Divine at work in the synchronicity of life. There are times of teaching when I need to catch what you are bringing into my life. Does that mean that you bring pain into my life? No, but everything and anything can be worked into the lesson...just like a good teacher does. Life is your class room for the formation not just of my mind but of my soul.

What was the cross for you Lord Jesus?

It was a place that you did not want to go to, but freely choose at the direction of the Father. It was a place of execution, and death. The cross was obedience summed up in two pieces of wood. You were there when trees were created and yet you allowed yourself to be stretched out on that wood. Amazing.

Lord Jesus--You know why this reminder has come when it has...I hear your call. A call to slowing it down a notch or to...listening and then obey even within a life that is lived out much too fast. It is in the middle of life that you form and shape my soul into your likeness.