Just Do It!

Tomorrow I celebrate my 19th birthday. It's hard to believe that I have lived so long! If not for the love of Christ I would not be here today, nor do I think I would want to be.

I watched, for the first time, Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ." I didn't watch it when it first came out because I felt unready for it. I can't explain this, but it is simply truth. But for several weeks I have yearned to watch it. I wanted to remember. Sometimes I think the story of Jesus' sacrifice becomes simply that; a story. I never want Christ's sacrifice to become unimportant to me. You might say I never want to be a fake Christian. So many Christian's seem afraid to realize the great reality of the crucifixion. When I was not even ten years old my church, as a group, delved into the crucifixion itself, to see how it worked. I was fascinated by what I learned. I found it more horrific than I had even imagined.

A common mistake in films and portrayal of the crucifixion show the nails through the hands of Jesus, when in reality the nail would have had little purpose there. They were actually driven in directly below the wrist, so that the bones of the arm would hold the nail into place. In the hand, the nail would have slit through the skin and in between the fingers, eventually releasing a badly misshapen hand.

The position of the body, with the arms held out and the feet nailed to a block, allows the person hanging to breath in, but not to exhale. If you want to breath out you have to push up with your feet (Which have nails in them! I can only imagine the pain of this simple task). Then you can exhale. But just try to imagine the pain. Your bones have probably come disjointed because of the loose hanging, and your muscles clench and tighten as you struggle for breath. Your body is pressed against unfinished wood that splinters into your already ravaged back. As you weaken you can no longer push yourself up for breath, and you eventually die of suffocation. If you, however, live too long for your torturers taste, your legs can be broken, to shorten the time spent in dying.

In Jesus' case, he died before the soldiers started breaking legs, to fulfill the prophesies of the Old Testament. But just to make sure he was dead the soldiers, "Pierced His side." Or His heart. Blood and water gushed out. This shows that He did not die of suffocation, but of heart failure, due to shock and constriction of the heart because of fluid in the pericardium (The sack that contains the heart and beginnings of major blood vessels). What a terrible way to die! And yet, our Savior did that.

I do not understand how someone could hear this story and not be touched! And I did not even mention his torture beforehand! The horrible whipping that tore his flesh until he was unrecognizable! (Isaiah 52:14 and Isaiah 53) The mocking and beating of the soldiers! The humiliation of his mock robing and crowning, and the eventual carrying of the cross for over 600 yards, while still bleeding and bruised.

Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;
I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder;
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art. How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art. How great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.
That on the cross, my burdens gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sins!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art. How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art. How great Thou art!


This story fills me with love for my Savior. I challenge you to spread it! Tell people that nothing they have suffered even compares to what Jesus did for them; out of Love! We are so blessed!

Heavenly Father, I Magnify Thee.
Heavenly Father, I Magnify Thee.
I love Thee, adore Thee,
I bow down before Thee.
Heavenly Father, I Magnify Thee.