The Cross on Grand

As you may have read in a former post, I built a cross and wrote the words "ARE YOU READY" across the cross beam. Last Friday night one of my brothers in Christ, Jarod, and I took it out to Grand Ave in Escondido, CA, for the classic car rally that takes place every Friday night during the warm months of the year (when is it not warm here in SoCal?). We had been fishing this even for the past few years and this particular year yielded little in the way of good quality conversations with folks about the Gospel. Sure, we had handed out thousands of tracts, but those great conversations were lacking. This is why I built this cross. I had seen a video of a saint who did the same thing and just stood on the corner with it. Over the next two hours dozens of folks had approached him to ask the meaning for his standing there with a cross and "Ready for what?" I took this as my cue and built my own.
Standing in the parking lot before heading over to Grand Ave Jarod and I were both nervous. We were going to be stretching ourselves out of another comfort zone. Sure, we had distributed tracts, shared the gospel, and I had even done some open-air preaching before, but standing on a corner with a cross. And this was a BIG cross! People would think we were weird! People would make fun of us! But it would be all worth it if we had the opportunity to tell the good news to just one person that night. Jarod and I prayed for courage and headed to Grand.
When we got to our corner I bolted the cross bar into the horizontal position and through up the cross. It was big and the words painted in red were bold under that street lamp, "ARE YOU READY!" Instantly we had the attention of all four corners of the intersection. As I held the cross Jarod handed out tracts.
Within five minutes three teenage girls approached me and began to ask about the cross. The one that showed the most interest was named Gabby. She had a lot of questions and criticisms. She though my message was not a positive one. I asked he what more could she want when i was proclaiming the greatest news there was, God has made a way for you to escape the wrath that is due to you through the blood of His son. Shortly after taking a picture of me for Twitter she and her friends left. But when she did you could see that the Law had done its work. Her heart had been penetrated. The mirror had been cast up and she saw who she really was.
Fifteen minutes later gabby returned alone. "We nee to talk; I have some question." Her head was hung low. She continued to through up objections to support her belief in her own righteousness. She was a little girl with a lot of hurt and a lot of lies. In the end I gave her a Bible and a tract. I asked her to read the gospel of John. She said she would. My heart broke for this girl.
Jarod and I rejoiced at this wonderful encounter . . . but that was just the start of it. As we stood there under the cross, taking turns holding it, we received jeers from some, encouragement from others, and still more people coming to ask about our message and this cross. We both had great opportunities to proclaim the Kingdom Message.
By the time we left we were exhausted and rejoicing! We made out way the few blocks back to our cars. As we crossed the final intersection we were headed toward a food court that was littered with teens in the shadows. One last time I threw high the cross as we walked passed them. Again, some read aloud the words on the cross and others cursed us. We passed by and finished out walk to our cars. But had we looked back we would have seen two teenagers (18 years old each) following us. They approached us in the parking lot. They wanted to know what I was talking about with those words "ARE YOU READY." I asked them, "Are you ready to stand before God at Judgement. Will God send you to Heaven or Hell?" They both said Hell. I asked if that concerned them. Simultaneously they reached for their pendants around their necks and held them towards me. They were inverted black crosses. "No, we are satanists." For the next 45 minutes we stood there talking of the law and Gospel. I pleaded with them to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus. They had some great theological questions and though I would have loved to have discussed all of them I wanted to keep to the reason God had stirred them to follow us, to hear the Message of the Kingdom, REPENT AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL. They would not take Bibles or tracts from me but they did take my card. I asked them to email me so we could dialogue. When they left Jarod and I both shed a tear and felt overwhelmed that the Lord had bless us with the privilege of sharing with so many that night. God is good!
We had more conversations that night than we had had all year. It was that wooden cross that made the difference. With us holding it there people knew why we were there. There were no false pretences. As a Church building has a steeple to distinguish itself from the structures around it so our cross caused us to stand out in the crowd. This cross also stood as an instrument of conviction for many. That cross had no power in itself, but God sure used it that night to bring many to hear the Good News.
We will be bringing it along on other evangelism trips.