We're hitting the trail on this week's edition of Liberty at
Home. Welcome back to our latest
edition of Liberty at Home, powered by the good folks at
Easton Community Access Television and produced by
Liberty Baptist Church where I, Adam Rivero, am the pastor.
Today, As always, we're broadcasting for me CAT Studios,
where I'm starting to get ready from the sports desk for Oliver
Ames baseball season if all the snow melts in the next month.
Today I want to relate an experience I had a few years ago
on a trail and how it got my mind thinking about the cross of
Christ. But before I begin, let's read
today's text, which is Hebrews chapter 12 verses one and two.
Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin
which does so easily beset us. Let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking into Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God.
A while back I was staying at a hotel in Springfield, MA that
was close to downtown and a few blocks from the Connecticut
River. I noticed on a map that there
was a trail that ran beside the downtown area with the river on
one side and the Springfield skyline on the other.
This piqued my interest since my normal running route involves
running around the parking lots of Target and the Big Y
Relishing the change of scenery. I laced up my shoes and went out
to the trail, but as I was running I noticed the terrain
had a bit more elevation that I was used to.
Those parking lots I normally run on or pretty flat.
The farther I went, the more hilly it seemed.
Now look, it was no Heartbreak Hill mind you, but it was more
than I was used to. I made it to one end and then
double back to retrace my steps and then run a little bit
further in the other direction. As I was nearing the end of my 5
kilometer run that I was trying to run, I saw it.
There it stood, a behemoth of steel and wire.
In the distance. It was a pedestrian bridge that
went over the railroad tracks. I'm not sure how tall it was,
but it might as well have been as tall as the Prudential
Center. Between the different terrain
and how hard I've been pushing myself, I didn't think I had it
in the tank to keep going. Yet I pushed ahead, too stubborn
to stop. My legs throbbed, My chest
heaved as I pushed myself to the limit, unwilling to slow down or
walk. As I finally crested the top of
the bridge and started my descent, I noticed something I
never expected to see on a running trail.
I saw a head in the distance, a handmade wooden cross.
It was so at a place that it was jarring now.
When I was done with my run, I circled back around to take a
better look at the cross, and immediately I thought about how
my body was screaming at me a few moments before going up that
hill. I didn't think I could make it.
Yet. On the other side there was the
cross, the symbol of Jesus Christ.
You know Christ was perfect in every way.
That wicked man laid a cross upon his back.
He went up a much different hill, the hill of Golgotha, for
you and me. As He went, He was in complete
and utter agony. When He made it to the top, they
nailed His hands and feet to the cross He had carried.
Immediately I compared my suffering to his and consider
the fact that what I endured was minimal and lasted but a brief
moment. But what He endured was agony
unlike ever recorded. Yet through the immense agony
and pain Christ endured it willingly.
We just read it in Hebrews 12 verse 2.
It says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finish of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. Why would he do that?
Well, Hebrews 13 verse 12 answers when it says therefore
Jesus also that He might sanctify the people through his
own blood suffered outside the gate.
Through the blood He so willingly shed on the cross, we
can have our sins forgiven. Knowing that man would be able
to be reconciled to God brought him great joy, as it says in
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2. The cross at the end of my
trail. No, it was a vivid reminder of
what Christ did for me. Yet His sacrifice was not just
for me, but for the entire world.
Take some time today to consider His cross and how you must heed
its holy call. Well, thanks for joining us on
today's episode of Liberty HOME. We may be done for this episode,
but don't forget that you can always find us at Liberty
Baptist Church. We're located 800 Washington St.
on Route 138 here in Easton. Call or text the church For more
information at 508-565-8281 or look us up at my
libertybaptist.org. It's time to go.
So until next week, I'll say that I'm Adam Rivera, reminding
you that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's Liberty.
Catch you next week on ECAT for Liberty at Home.