Clay in the Hands

I just got back last night from a men’s retreat to Colorado.  Eight men from our church and two others left Saturday morning and headed for Freeman’s Ranch – a little north of Creede, Colorado.  If you have never heard of it, it is because it is in the middle of the Rio Grande National Forest – away from civilization.

It was beautiful but technology was not really an option – no cell service at all.  However, this year there was a new addition.  The camp does have WiFi.  If I stood at the light pole facing north, raised one hand in the air and stood on my left foot, I could get a weak signal.

Actually, it was not quite that hard to get.  But the point is, we were really out in God’s creation and not pulled in by email, voice mail and text messages.  It was a glorious time to experience God’s majesty and spend some time bonding with some great guys.

On our way home yesterday, one of the guys noticed a large cross standing in a field just off the highway.  I missed it, but he described it and said, “There was one folding chair sitting under the cross.”  We mused about why there would be a single chair by a cross in a field along the highway.

Honestly, I don’t have any idea.  But I can tell you what that image has come to mean in my mind as I pondered the picture all the way home.

Scripture tells us that Christ died for all.  He came to this earth to live among us, teaching us how to live and how to love.  He showed us the magnitude of his love by dying a cruel death in our place.  And he did this for all of us.

But while he died for all – he also died for one – each one.  For me, that is the significance of the single chair at the foot of the cross.  Jesus wants a relationship with you – so much so he was willing to die just for you.

Your parents can’t make the decision for you.  Your pastor can’t take care of it.  Your friends can’t cover you.  You have to make that decision for yourself.

Will you follow Jesus?

Will you take a seat in that chair at the foot of the cross?

You will never regret it!

(I don’t do this very often, but if you have questions about what it means to follow Jesus, I would be honored to talk with you about it.  Please email me at bhill33@me.com or leave a comment here)