Yesterday (Wednesday, 4/22/09) I was visiting with one of the most precious men I have ever known...Papa Ferguson. He has seen much in his long life (He will be 102 this year!) and it is fun to get him talking about the jobs he has had at the mills or the railroad. I have talked to nurses at the desk who said they just went into his room to meet somebody that old who still had a strong body and a sharp mind.
What is most amazing is that after we prayed together he said, "You know Pastor, I don't think we talk enough about Jesus and the impact His death has had on so many people." Now when a man like this talks he is better than E. F. Hutton because you really listen. Papa has never gotten over the cross! He is so much like Paul in his thinking. Remember when Paul wrote, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10). This was Paul's consummate desire, the end of all things for him. Paul's life was centered on the cross and he wanted to know the intimate details and powerful outcomes of the experience of a "cross-life."
What would it be like for us to be consummed with the cross? How would our life change? What would our friendships be like? Would our spending and giving habits change?
Paul set the standard for "cross-living" and Papa reminded me of it this week. If I could only be like them then life would be better.
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