Day 63: Crosses: Some Assembly Required

Hello!

This week has been filled with an accumulation of busyness and frustrations: trying to help dissatisfied customers, keeping pace with the increasing number of guests checking in each night, keeping up with school, trying to complete arrangements for the ministry team's Sunday services, and trying to make time for resting.

In the midst of this, some great progress was made. My entire week was worthwhile when ACMNP received its final approval for our service location. We got the location we hoped for, at the time we hoped for. Furthermore, the first of my two ACMNP teammates arrived on Sunday. Her name is KelLee, and she is from Pennsylvania. This is her first year with ACMNP. She has jumped in to the ministry with both feet as we've been preparing for our first service this upcoming Sunday.

With our location secure, I spent the past two days preparing advertising to spread around the resort for both employees and guests. As this is a new location for the ministry, there are several additional details that we're having to do to prepare. One of them, as it turned out, was that we needed a cross for the services. In all the years that I've in ministry, I don't think I've ever needed to produce a cross for a ministry. They all came with the ministry, and I didn't have find a way to get one. This recognition made the task seem so much more special. I gathered the supplies needed to assemble, glue, paint, seal, and nail...yes, nail...my cross together.

Nailing my cross together was a bit surreal. I have experienced "surrender services", where I am suppose to write down a sin, burden, or idol in my life onto a piece of paper and nail that paper onto a wooden cross to symbolize Jesus taking it all upon Himself when He died upon the cross. I have also experienced role playing with drama teams in plazas, churches, or parks in which I have played the Christ figure and have had the other dramatists "crucify" me on a cross in these plays. Having lived so closely to crosses all of my life, the act of building a cross shouldn't seem all that much different, but it did.

When I think of nailing a cross, I instantly picture Jesus' crucifixion and the nails used upon His hands and feet, not the image of a carpenter assembling two beams of wood in full recognition of the product's intended purpose. But that is what struck me in doing this--Jesus once told his disciples that following Him meant taking up a cross. Often this scripture is read figuratively, indicating something we must surrender or die to in order to follow Christ, but for the disciples...as well as millions of Christians throughout the centuries, this figurative word becomes literal in martyrdom.  Within this, were the disciples aware that in following Jesus, their cross needed assembly? Their crosses weren't pre-fabricated; instead, their acts of ministry and words of good news were eventually pieced together to form the fibers, grain, knots, and beams that would eventually result in their own martyrdom. In building a cross this week, I was struck with the question of whether I would be willing to surrender myself on the very cross I was constructing to serve within ministry here (my cross is very small in size, but the thought remains true). The thought makes the realization of Jesus' sacrifice all the more weighty. Jesus assembled His own figurative cross through three years of ministry and took it to Jerusalem knowing He would be crucified upon an actual one caused by his ministry. There were easier ways to choose, or abandon the idea entirely; yet Jesus chose to His cross.

Thoughts about what it means to bear one's cross quickly became very poignant. After spending my morning designing and distributing advertising for Sunday's services, I was informed that we would not be allowed to hold these services in this location. After spending weeks trying to get this location approved, the plug was pulled, and we went back to starting our search again. I then had to walk through the resort pulling my signs, contact ACMNP about the situation, and try to figure out an alternative solution. To top this off, after weeks of preparation to launch a Tuesday night Bible study, no one arrived for the starting night. It wasn't a good complement to the day I was having.

In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. There are so many easier ways to spend my summer; there are so many other things I could be doing. Even complaining seems like an easier alternative to remaining steadfast to submitting to God, trusting that He has a plan in the midst of this. I didn't realize that cross-bearing in this situation was found with assembling the details, logistics, and preparations of getting this ministry launched at this location.

In the midst of my frustration though, God provided grace. As I was completing the paperwork to hold Sunday services at another location, our application was expedited even though, as the front desk worker informed me, the manager was currently swamped with work. That this manager would take time out to review our application so quickly meant a lot to me. We should hear the results of our application within the next few days, and if all goes well, KelLee and I will be on track for launching Sunday services this weekend.

Please pray for us as we try to complete the logistics for this location, and that I will be given grace to endure while learning to bear my cross.

Very few photos of the week due to my busyness, but are available.

Blessings!In the midst of disappointment and frustration, I considered cross-bearing. The