The Cross

It's finished!

You may remember I mentioned briefly that our church decided to build a very large and significant cross on the corner of our campus. Well, it was finally erected a couple of weeks ago. If you live in the area, I'd be interested to know if you've seen it yet. If not, here are a few pictures. (Jason only took about 2500 by the time it was all said and done! He got some really awesome shots for the March issue of the church magazine!)

A cross of this magnitude has obviously generated quite a bit of controversy, but for what it's worth, here are my thoughts...

First of all, the words of our pastor keep ringing in my ear. Those who see this cross will either embrace it or reject it, but they will not be able to ignore it. How true of the Cross of Calvary. Once you encounter it, you have a choice. Embrace it or reject it. But you simply cannot ignore it. (Or, more accurately, you simply cannot ignore Him.)

Secondly comes the sad truth that there have been at least a couple of suicides from people who have jumped from the Beltway overpass, which begs the question: If someone in such a desperate state of mind were to look up and see this huge symbol of Love, would he still jump?

We are having a dedication service on Sunday, and it will be the first official event held at the cross. I am very much looking forward to it because I've only heard snippets of how God has already used the cross for His glory. I can't wait to hear more!

On a personal note, I can't help but feel a sense of godly pride for this project and the involvement our family was able to have. My dad and his company were instrumental in overseeing the construction of the cross. My brother, Jesse, worked on some of the design. My brother, Devin, worked on the renderings of the cross during the planning phase. And, of course, Jason is working on the dedication service. (Oh, and I've gotten to write articles about it too!) I am just so thankful God has allowed our family to be so intimately involved. Now that it's done, it's like having a 170-foot accountability partner for our family!

But, my last thought, and probably the one that keeps sticking with me the most, goes back over five years ago to Easter of 2003. That year our church erected a 30-foot cross in the middle of the sanctuary, and it was on that Easter that I saw Jason for the first time. He was on stage, standing in the shadow of that huge cross, getting ready for the service to begin.

That concept became somewhat symbolic for each of us as we planned our marriage, so much so that Jason wrote a song for our wedding called, "In the Shadow of the Cross."

"You found me there first, there you'll find me in the end.
So stay with me now, in the shadow of the Cross."

That remains our prayer to this day - that when people look at us, they would see Christ first. No matter what we do or who we become, our prayer is always to remain in the shadow of the cross.

And now, we have an actual cross that we can physically stand under at any time and literally be in the shadow of the cross to remind us of our rightful place in ministry. How humbling and how exciting!