Passionate LOVE- Building the Cross

Billy and I bought tickets at church to go to this conference together.  I gotta say, at first, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go...it happened to be on the same day that my sister was taking me to the Kid Rock/Sheryl Crow concert.  She bought us tickets months ago and we had the whole day planned out, but I could see that Billy really wanted us to go, AND I absolutely love the other couples at my church that were going. We went, and it was AMAZING !!!!

We got there and found our seats, they opened with some awesome worship music, then the lights dimmed and it got quiet...then from the back of the auditorium, a spot light formed on a man, carrying a full-sized telephone pole on his shoulder (you could hear his strained breathing)  he wrestled it all the way up onto the stage and dropped one end into a "holder" type of thing...then he took an axe and started chucking pieces of wood out...shards were flying everywhere as he spoke aloud.  He was back in time, a Roman cross-builder.  He was carving out the pole to build a crucifix.  He yelled aloud about the man named, Jesus, who would be hanged the next day.  He talked about how ridiculous the people were who spoke of such a man.  A man that was the son of a God that cannot be seen, how absurd that they believed that he would hang on this crucifix and rise 3 days later...he ended with admitting that he would probably hang around on that Sunday to see if he does indeed "rise from the tomb". 

Following the completion of his cross...music played and scenes from The Passion of the Christ filled four huge screens...I bawled at the thought and the sight of such torture.  I did not plan on crying today, I planned on learning about marriages and God, but NOT bawling like a baby...  the reason for the conference to start out with such a dramatic scene was to let us know "just how much" our Heavenly Father loves us. This conference is all about LOVE and there is no greater love than this.  He loves us so much that he gave his only son, to save us!

The man who showed us this unforgettable scene is Joe White.  He travels all around putting on this scene...in the center of college campuses, churches, and at conferences like this one. While on the subject, they then played a movie about an earthly Father's love for his child... a father of a paraplegic child pushes him through race after race, even pulls him in a raft and carries him on his bike during triathlons just because the son typed on his computer that he wanted to win and give the money to a kid down his street who needed it.  What keeps the father running races is that the son also typed out that when he crosses the finish line he doesn't feel handicapped!  ....more tears...actually it got so bad that since I didn't bring tissues, I ended up pulling out Taylor's spare pair of undies from my purse to blot my eyes...eventually I just held them over my eyes, I was crying so hard I couldn't see anyways!  Yes, the room was dark and hopefully no one noticed!

More to come...