The Cross Was No Accident.

being this a holiday weekend, i pulled out a coffee table book i picked up on sale a few years back as a discussion starter for morning devotions with my residents at work on friday. the book is simply titled The Cross by Max Lucado.
now, i'm not one for jumping on the latest hype bandwagon, listening to "christian leaders" harping about a particular author or book or resource, whatever. i would hope you folks know me better than that. nor do i take any author's or leader's word as solid gold....perhaps one of my biggest faults (always questioning something).
but for some reason, i've returned to this book and a few phrases within it once again....perhaps it's the unusual perspective the author presents.....painting the reality of the cross in an entirely different light. it definitely makes this quirky princess stop and think and try to grasp the reality of it all and the profound impact it has not only for the world, but for my life. makes me wonder what kind of love this truly is and why it's so difficult to wrap my simpleton pea brain around it....bah, i'm babbling.

so here's a lil food for thought from Mr. Lucado, should any of you dare to ingest.

"The cross was no accident.
Jesus' death was not the result of a panicking cosmological engineer. The cross was not a tragic surprise. Calvary was not a knee-jerk response to a world plummeting toward destruction. It was not a patch-up job or a stopgab measure. The death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril.
No, it was part of an incredible plan. A calculated choice."...

"The ropes used to tie his hands and the soldiers used to lead him to the cross were unnecessary. They were incidental. Had they not been there, had there been no trial, no Pilate, and no crowd, the very same crucifixion would have occurred. Had Jesus been forced to nail himself to the cross, he would have done it. For it was not the soldiers who killed him, nor the screams of the mob, it was his devotion to us.
So call it what you wish: An act of grace. A plan of redemption. A martyr's sacrifice. But whatever you call it, don't call it an accident. It was anything but that."...

"God on a cross. The ultimate act of creative compassion. The Creator being sacrificed for the creation. God convincing man once and for all that he would give anything, pay any price to save his children. He could have given up. He could have turned his back. He could have walked away from the wretched mess the world became, but he didn't.
God didn't give up."