Crosses All Around

The traditional gold

Wooden

Silver

With diamonds

Small

And somewhat large

Of every variety.

When I least expected, someone would turn around, the least suspecting person, and a cross would be tied to a necklace around their neck.

People with tattoos, people with sunburns; heavyset and thin. All dressed up and bathing suit-clad. Men and women.

~

I went to Australia to visit a friend. I was going Down Under, to sweet summertime, to the opposite hemisphere.                      

And I kinda think God went with me, turning up every time I was least expecting it, in the form of the crosses I'd see people wearing.  … So many crosses… Not one every day, but maybe every couple of days - just enough to make me think about the hold Jesus might be having on my travels, keeping me safe as I went from place to place.

In a way it was comforting to see those crosses … like they were a small sign from Jesus.  The crosses also made me realize - people down here - international people from every corner of the world - they've been touched by God, too? Intellectually, of course, I know they have. But the variety of people I saw wearing crosses is indescribable.  People I'd hardly expect to be the 'religious' type - would surprise me when I'd notice the cross hanging from their neck.  Somehow we are all pursuing to know the same God?

Then, one of the rare times I get Wi-Fi long enough to check my email: I’m in for a surprise – another sign.  The one email the entire trip I open from The Holy Experience is about Ann giving her son a cross necklace before he embarks on an overseas journey…

So many crosses.   In the back of my mind, I get skeptical… am I being super alert to noticing these crosses?  Are there really more than I normally see?  I start casually looking at people's necks in big crowds. Kind of a source of entertainment.  Are there any crosses out there, waving back at me?

And then.

The plane ride back home after I’d gotten to LAX: I've hardly gotten any deep sleep on the previous 13 hour plane from Sydney and it's like 3 am on my 'body time'.  But I perk up and get excited as I board the plane home.  Despite my weariness, I'm somehow in one of those talkative moods.  Hopefully I’ll sit next to someone interesting. 

And there, in the seat next to mine - she's wearing sunglasses (…on the plane) and her headphones are in.  Somehow we spark up a conversation though, and it is so nice to have someone to chat with while the plane finishes boarding and taxiing.  Our conversation is deep, heart to heart, she's fairly open with almost a complete stranger.  No cross necklace by the way... I mentally registered that detail.

In the air, I fall completely asleep for about the next 4 hours.  After, with a short amount of time before we land and get off, I notice she's holding a small statue of Jesus.  She says she feels Him in her life and can't live without Him.  All the good things in life - are thanks to Jesus.  She asks me those uncomfortable questions that I never really know how to answer ... do I believe in Jesus, and if not, what do I believe?  Do I pray?  Where do I think I'm going after I die?

All those signs throughout the 3-week trip.  And then, the very last leg, the very last plane of my trip home – more than just a necklace… more than a passive visual – she’s there in person asking me all these questions, opening up to me how Jesus is the centerpiece of her life. 

It was like a finale.  It was like a finale, to the story, the quest, that doesn’t ever really end.

much love, and

sorry for the long absence... 

the ink is flowing freely again :)