The "Way of the Cross"- A Faith Check...

What's your way of the cross? In other words, what situation comes to mind when you think of the cross...in your own personal walk with the Father. For some it is heartbreak-rejection of the opposite sex...loss of a loved one. For others it is letting go... giving up all that they know to be comfortable and moving into the most remote jungles to plant seeds of God's love. And for others...it is illness-suffering real tangible pain that comes to stay for a while...with no warning...or no train ticket set for departure date in the for-seeable future. For me...well I have to be honest and say that I have felt all of the above mentioned (minus the remote jungle-insert Europe for that :). But still I can relate to all of these.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the story, Beyond the Gates of Splendor. This is the story where 5 families all set out for the jungles of Ecuador to minister and share the love of Christ to a remote tribe called the Waodani...the fearsest tribe known at that time...and mainly known for their ruthless killings by way of spear. As God would have it-5 precious souls who were attempting to share about Jesus... were killed on the shores of a riverbank-speared to death by the very tribe they came to love. Death and suffering was their way of the Cross. But what happened after was nothing short of God's Glory revealed.

Shortly after the killings-the sister of one of the men..along with a tribe woman who had escaped many years earlier...and Elisabeth Elliot and her blonde, pig-tailed little girl all set out to join and live with the tribe in the jungle. Of course they must have had fear-but they must also have had complete faith that the Father was there.

Elliot in her book, The Path of Loneliness...speaks about a day where God met her on a boat on the side of a riverbank. She writes "I remember waking up very early one morning in a tiny reed-and leaf shelter on the banks of the Curaray River. My three-year-old and I had spent the night there with some Indians on our way home to a clearing about a day's journey beyond. Rain was sweeping over the river and the sandy beach in great waving sheets, and with the rain a huge LONELINESS seemed about to drown me. I felt that I could not face a day like that in a dugout canoe, nor did I have the least desire to get back to that clearing. Civilization was what I wanted that moment, not adventure, but I had no choice. God met me there that morning, and strengthened me with an It is written, reminding me of His promises, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you always.

She goes onto write "We may be earnestly desiring to be obedient and holy. But we may be missing the fact that it is here, where we happen to be at this moment and not in another place or another time, that we may learn to love Him-here where it seems He is not at work, where His will seems obscure or frightening, where He is not doing what we expected Him to do, where He is most absent. Here and nowhere else is the appointed place. If faith does not go to work here, it will not go to work at all." She refers to this time as "The Oil of Joy".

Wow is all I could think when I read this. I thought...okay my situation seems pretty bad...and I keep looking to the "future days" when I hope to be better. Or I am looking back at a time when I was healthy and wishing I could do the things I used to do. Then it dawned on me...I very well may be getting the richest blessing of all RIGHT NOW- a very special time to trust my Father, even though I don't understand why I am going through this...and a chance to increase my FAITH...and what about this joy thing.

Joy you may ask? If you have been anything like me and had any one of the way of the cross moments mentioned at the beginning...you very well may feel like hitting me upside my head right now. You may say to me "How in the world can you talk to me about joy...you might as well pour salt in my wound!" Trust me...I have been there...and a little advise...when someone has just recently started their journey of their own personal way of the cross situation...it might not be the best time to "preach to them about how joyful they ought to be". : )

BUT-stay with me here and don't miss this...joy does not always mean to be happy...but it can also mean to simply enjoy God's presence....knowing that you have a loving Father who IS there for you and has a plan for what you are going through for your good and His glory. The Bible tells us very clearly to be joyful when we are in hard times:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. -James 1:2-4

There is just something about that...that brings me security. It gets me through another "bad" day-healthwise. It gets me through those days that I would rather be out working in my previous state...then stuck inside unable to get off the couch. It sustains me to know that God has a plan for what I am suffering through-for my good...and His glory! So in that I will take the "faith test".

The fact is that most of you reading this have either experienced "a way of the cross situation" either in the past or are currently right smack dab in the middle of one. And you may be asking yourself...just like I did..."why"? But let me challenge you to stop asking why for now...and start asking-"Father...what am I to get out of this...how can this bring YOU glory". I will tell you from experience...it gets you off your pitty party with balloons and streamers and set you on a whole new level with Him...a precious gift...a way of the cross that He is walking with you...holding your hand...and asking you to walk simply by faith. Are you willing to walk that path?