Cross is Always in View

 

As I took a walk around my church buildings this morning, I was startled by the piercing shriek of a crow. As I turned around to find the bird, I was serendipitously lined up exactly with the cross on the cupola, and there sat the obnoxious crow. Instead of seeing the full cross, it appeared only to be a pole with a bird perched and balanced on the end. Since I couldn’t resist the “against all odds” moment of being in perfect line with the cross, I grabbed my phone and got lucky with the shot.

Where we stand determines what we see doesn’t it? Our perspective is always just that, our perspective. Our view is effected by our own experiences and by the influences that shape and form us across the years. We would do well to remember this in these troubled times. Whenever I hear someone say - including myself - that “I just don’t understand how they can see it that way”, perhaps our first thought should be to respond, “That is correct , I don’t.”

Many factors go into our perspective on things. Age. Race. Economic and social factors. Our upbringing. Our faith. Where we stand determines what we see as we look at the world. Our experiences as human beings are what they are; we view the world from where we stand.

As I looked at the cross from my unique location this day, I realized that, wherever I was in my walk, I could see the cross. Different angles and different perspectives, yes, but the cross was always in view. No matter where we stand, the cross is ours to see. As is written in Colossians, God is at work in Jesus “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” God loves us all, regardless of where we stand.

Peace.