The Cross in The Middle

"When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left."  Luke 23:33

Two men deemed worthy to die by Roman torture and crucifixion.   Why are they here in the Easter story?  What had they done to be placed on the right and left of Jesus? 

Two men and a single choice.  Their lives were over, this is without a doubt and they knew it.  Romans had mastered crucifixion and they would all die that day.  Their final 6 hours on earth and they were granted the right and left of Jesus.  And they were faced with a choice - what were they going to do with the cross in the middle?

Two men watched the people of the crowd.  Some from the crowd looking at Jesus in disgust; some crying.  Some were angry; some were weeping.  They watched the people, they watched the cross in the middle.

Two men heard the words spewed from the crowd.  In the life they led, they would have been no strangers to hateful speech.  Yet today, the crowd was angry and vengeful and Jesus remained silent.  Jesus held no anger at their hate.  Instead they heard Jesus plea, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34  


Two men watching the cross in the middle.  

They each made their choice.

One hurled insults, the other rebuked.
One spewed hate, the other sought love.
One was lost, the other found.
One was blind, the other saw.
One wretched, the other grace.
One rejected, the other asked for acceptance.
 
And Jesus was in the middle.

The bridge between insults and rebuke.
The bridge between hate and love.
The bridge between the lost and the found.
The bridge between blindness and sight.
The bridge between rejection and acceptance.

The cross in the middle is the bridge between hell and heaven.

Easter is about the cross in the middle.  You and I are about the cross on the right and the left.  Those are our stories.  Those are our choices.

Two men.
One choice.
What are you going to do with the cross in the middle?

Salted With Fire

"For everyone will be salted with fire." Mark 9:49, NASB

Jesus continues in verse 50 " Salt is good: but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

Salt.  A preservative and a flavor enhancer.

​These verses have been in my forethought lately.  Words ruminating in my mind; specifically the word "everyone". 

For EVERYONE will be salted with fire.  It doesn't matter if you're a Christian or not, you will be tested with fire and it will produce salt in your life.  The key is Who do you turn to while in the fire?

As my mind swims in this verse I think back to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.  3 men kidnapped from their homes and forced to live another world.  A world where their beliefs were made fun of, their God ridiculed and everything was thrown at them to get them to conform.  They were even forced to change their names to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

​Yet they stood firm in their belief in God.  One would think being kidnapped and forced into a different life would be their testimony; their salt with fire.  It wasn't.

Refusing to bow and worship the king of the land, they were thrown into the fire.  Literally.  A fire burning so hot those stoking the fire died from it's exposure.

Stop and think about what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thinking at that moment standing outside the fire.  Their life was over.  They were about to be thrown into a fire that killed those near it.  There would be no escaping this.  How would you feel standing there?

Maybe they still thought God would save them.  That single thought giving immense power to a small flicker of hope.  But then they are thrown into the fire and they find themselves air born and falling. 

They knew it was over.

Until it wasn't.

Jesus showed up.

When the despair had taken all the hope - as they stood IN the fire - Jesus showed up.  In the midst of the flames, Jesus was there with them.  Did they look around at the flames with faith?  Did they become fearful like Peter did when walking on the stormy water? 

I don't know.  But what I do know is Jesus didn't put out the fire.  He stood in it.

As the king knew 3 men were thrown in the fire and now could see 4 men walking around, he called them to come out of the fire.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out.

Jesus did not.

You see, the men had been salted with fire and it was their story to share.  Jesus left it to them to tell others how He showed up in their most desperate moment.

Most of us won't find ourselves in a literal fire.  But pain and trials and testing may lay a fire to us unlike one we've ever known.  For everyone will be salted with fire.  Everyone. 

So when you feel those hot flames licking at your soul, look around.  You'll find Jesus standing in the flames with you.

The Upside Down & Stranger Things

My lungs are burning.  I'm running fast.  Every running coach will tell you one can out run the pain.  I'm hoping they don't mean just physical.

The memory of today finds me staring at The Upside Down.  I'm trying to outrun it.  I don't want to go back. 


Four years ago today, my siblings and our families found ourselves in The Upside Down.  In a single instant our world turned upside down, the single worst day of our lives.  The thing about The Upside Down is sometimes you walk into it.  A decision you make, a choice you choose and you walk into The Upside Down.  Other times, you hear the hurricane siren and you can brace yourself before The Upside Down comes.

Not us.

We were picked up and heaved in.  We fell hard, hitting ourselves on the rocks of that long shaft into The Upside Down.  At the bottom, we lay broken, bruised, bleeding.   We clung tight to each other and tighter to God.  We navigated together in The Upside Down.   

In The Upside Down you can see from where you fell.   It's Christmas Eve and everyone is happy and singing and sipping hot cocoa.  All appears to be merry and bright.  The Upside Down is dark.  You question if you'll ever get out.  Or if your Christmas will ever have singing again.

As we tended to each other's wounds, stranger things began to happen.  The healing came.  We spent fewer days in The Upside Down.  God held us together and together we lifted each other out.

It's not to say there won't be days we tumble back into The Upside Down.  Like today.  I ran hard to avoid it. 

Looking back I remind myself of the people who surrounded us, walked alongside us, loved on us.  I remind myself the wounds and brokenness heal.  It leaves scars, but healing does come. 

You see, the scars don't heal.
Scars are the healing.

And if there is one thing I've learned about The Upside Down it is this - the beacon out of The Upside Down are the scars of those who have navigated out of it before you.  

You will heal.
You will have scars.
The Upside Down will become upside right.

If you are in need of a beacon, I've got some scars I can show you.