Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the worst sinner of all. I Tim. 2:15

Parenting is hard work and though it’s so very rewarding, it can be painful at times. Ask God. He created, fathered, and sacrificed, only to see the majority of His creation use His name in vain, shake their fist at Him, and chalk up His character as mean, stingy, and vengeful. I’ve heard more than one person say, “What has He ever done for me?”

If you’ve been a parent, it would be like crawling on your hands and knees from San Francisco to Maine to prove your love to your child.  But you arrive, only to have your child say, “You’ve never done anything for me!” With knees still bloody from the journey, you wouldn’t believe your ears nor begin to fathom such blindness to sacrificial love.

Yeshua means ‘savior’.  Jesus came to save. Dying for our sins was His response to the wounds He sustained in the Garden of Eden. The pain was severe. God does grieve. God does weep. The plan of redemption came as a response to our alienation from Him. He asked His Son to leave glory, put on mortal flesh, suffer rejection and persecution at the hands of those He created, and then die the worst death possible to buy us back with His blood.  And yet, the gift seems like a trifle to so many. I contend that, for me, the cross is not just central to Easter, it’s central to every day. At the epicenter of something so gruesome was a love so exquisite that I’ll never be able to fully internalize the power of it.

In closing, here’s another picture. After completing your San Francisco/Maine journey, you see your child waiting for you over the finish line. He is cheering, arms open to receive you, and his face is stained with tears. Today, I offer grateful tears  to Jesus, Yeshua. I cheer Him as being my Savior and Deliverer.

For the many years I treated You casually and the cross recklessly, forgive me. Amen