Have you ever stood at a crossroad in life? If you think hard enough or if you remember long enough, there is no doubt that you will remember of a few moments in time that stood still. Places where you knew that whatever you did next, whatever decision you would make was going to change the course of your life forever.
I know I have a few that pop into my head. Moments lived out that have become stories of my own that are impossible to forget. In fact, most of these moments carry detailed pictures of the place where I stood as a decision was made. It took some time for the road that would be traveled to develop, but as I journey back in time these memories and these images etched in my mind represent very specific moments where I stood at a crossroad and a decision that was made changed the course of my life forever. As I take the journey back and remember the decision that was made, I can look down the paths of a different decision and though I can’t see very far, the road often gets very very dark.
There are other moments that I can remember where the path I took may have been one I thought I wanted, but where I came to discover it was not a good decision at all. These decisions led to treacherous paths that took me down roads of destruction some of which are hard to even talk about today.
On these parts of my journey, I can see sudden stops or dead ends where I would turn around to try and go back and realize that going back was not an available option, as they say there was too much water under the bridge. Although retreating back to where I had come was not an option, in turning around there was always before me a much clearer path to take that led me away from the fear, anxiety, destruction, and devastation that was no doubt ahead if I did not stop.
Sometimes this clearer path asked me to do things that seemed impossible but every time I persevered and took a step it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had thought it was going to be and every time, I found smoother more steady ground under my feet as I took those steps. In fact, as I think about these turning points, many of them are definitive moments that have become important crossroads of their own and carry significant meaning and stories I am not likely to forget.
Today we hear a story where the people who were closest to Jesus stood at a crossroad. They had traveled down a road that led them to the horrific death of their friend Jesus upon a cross.
He was betrayed by one of their own and arrested. He was tried in a mockery of a trial, and he was beaten. He whipped, he was stripped, he was insulted beyond what many of them could bare to watch. He was nail to a Roman cross and all who heard and all who saw this take place where stunned. Some in the crowd spoke out load thinking let’s see if he is who he claimed to be saying, “He healed others, let him come down off this cross and save himself.” And there on the cross the world watched as Jesus died. Some who cheered his death and who were charged to make sure he had died discovered in his final breath they had made a huge mistake. Some of the soldiers in charge of his death found no need to break his legs ensuring he would suffocate, for when they came to Jesus, he was already dead. Just to make sure one of them pierced his side with a spear and the blood cells had already begun to separate so that it looked like blood and water pouring out from his side. Everyone thought it was finished for sure.
We stand at a crossroad in life. It doesn’t matter how far down the road you have traveled. If you will turn around admitting, you are going in the wrong direction. You won’t be able to go back in time and chart a different path for all that you have lived, but you will see path full of light that is clear and p
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