The Nails...

I am so humbled by my teeny tiny wound that I got yesterday evening. I was walking up the old steps to my front door using the handrail. Sometime during the time that I never noticed... and it happening... a large headed nail had worked itself loose on the handrail. It stuck up about a quarter inch. The nail head was large and flat... and sharp around the edges. Somehow... that nail head found itself ripping into the "movey" part of my right hand between my thumb and first finger. It was not a large rip... but it was very painful... very instantly. I am a baby when it comes to any kind of pain. I did not cry... but... it stopped me in my tracks. I looked at it and decided that we should go to the hospital. It wasn't large... but every time I moved my thumb and finger to open my hand... it spread open just a little larger... and I was worried that in normal daily activity that something would get in there and cause infection. We had just gotten home from a trip to town... so it was quite tedious to have to return back into town again. I ended up spending two and a half hours waiting for three stitches. It was worth getting it done. I was supposed to keep my hand clean and dry for at least 24 hours... so work was out for today... since my job today would have been the one that does all the bakery dishes. Bummer. Had I been doing a different shift... I would have went to work. I had a huge nail go through the bottom of my foot when I was eight... that... hurt... really... really... really... bad! I didn't have to have a tetanus shot this time... what a relief!

Anyways... that was the excitement for last night.

What humbles me is this: There is this guy... he is God's son. His name is Jesus. He is a really great guy. He is able to heal sick people with just one touch or one word. He is able to raise people from death. He is able to perform miracles beyond our imaginations. He lived his life here on earth teaching people a good way to live... how to be worthy of an eternal life... kind of like giving us the knowledge to pass the test to win a ticket to heaven. He is the best of all kinds of goodness all wrapped up in one person... and he was sent to this earth to save us all. Only there were these awful people (who what I believe was afraid of his power... they were insecure and probably didn't like the thought that people followed him freely and willingly instead of them). They decided to crucify him. They gave him the death penalty. They made him carry a huge wooden cross on his back. He carried it through the town all the way to a place called Golgotha...(which means place of the skull). I am sure in my heart that he was beaten along the way. Which ended his life..... (or did it?)

In the footnotes of my bible it says this: (carry the cross) Men condemned to death were usually forced to carry a beam of the cross often weighing 30 or 40 pounds, to the place of crucifixion. Jesus started out by carrying his, but he had been so weakened by flogging that Simon was pressed into service. (the place of the skull) It may have been a small hill (though the Gospels say nothing of a hill) that looked like a skull, or it may have been so named because of the many executions that took place there. ((Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh which was supposed to deaden the pain but he refused to drink it)) (Crucified) A Roman means of execution in which the victim was nailed to a cross. Heavy, wrought iron nails were driven through the wrists and the heel bones. If the life of the victim lingered too long, death was hastened by breaking his legs. Archaeologists have discovered the bones of a crucified man, near Jerusalem, dating between A.D. 7 and 66, which shed light on the position of the victim when nailed to the cross. Only slaves, the basest of criminals, and offenders who were not Roman citizens were executed in this manner. First-century authors vividly describe the agony and disgrace of being crucified. (dividing up his clothes) It was the accepted right of the executioner's squad to claim the minor possessions of the victim. Jesus' clothing probably consisted of an under and outer garment, a belt, sandals and possibly a head covering.

These are just the footnotes! There is a lot more to this story. You can read about it in the bible... Matthew 27 and 28...Mark 15 and 16...Luke 23 and 24... John 19 and 20 and 21. Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven. If we believe in him... we will be saved. John 3:16-21 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly what he has done has been done through God."

What humbles me about all of this? Jesus willingly went through an excruciating death... so that I can have the opportunity to have eternal life in heaven with him. I had a teeny tiny nail head accidentally cut through my hand... my friend Jesus... he had huge iron stakes pounded through his hands and feet... and died horribly... for me. ((AND YOU!)) But he rose from his grave...and all we have to do... is believe... and have faith. Faith is believing in things unseen. For me... having faith and believing is just simple to do. I know that for others... it may be very hard to understand... and others say..."I will believe it when I see it"... and I have heard and read other things that try to compare other gods with the one and ONLY God. I think those who cannot fully accept a simple faith that Jesus is the only way to God who is in heaven... they try to explain themselves away with other "teachings" or other books that claim to be just as important or more so than the bible. There is only ONE word of God. You can try to persuade me otherwise with comparisons all you want. But I am not sorry to stand on the faith that I have. I pray every day that those who are lost will have their eyes opened to the truth... and those who try to make less of the bible (which is the one and only word of God).. I pray they find in themselves a heart that is undivided between two beliefs and that their hearts be willing to accept only one true and simple faith. I can only say to them... that it must be hard to spend your life searching for the truth... and some people have it right in front of them and chose NOT to grasp it. Some are swayed by whom they are around at the time. Others... have no clue at all. Yet others believe other teachings and are afraid of what others may think of them. I am not afraid of what others think about me for believing the way I do. I am not afraid to tell the world the truths I believe in. I will NEVER compare God's word to any other book or beliefs. I will honor God with my life... he has my soul. I pray that the truth reaches out to everyone's heart... and that Jesus fills their life, heart, and soul with peace, truth and knowledge... and mostly a DESIRE to seek out that peace, truth and knowledge.

It's amazing what a little nail can remind me of. My life is filled with instances that I keep forefront in my mind. The only reason I am here... to share with you the love and peace of my God... is by grace.