Your hands.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.  Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”  Galatians 5:24-25 (NLT)

My sins, your sins and the sins of these children from Ouanaminthe in the attached photo were nailed to cross of Christ some two thousand years ago.  Nailed to the cross, His hands and our hands; what a sacrifice He gave for us.  While living in Haiti and worshipping at Pastor Thomas Bernard’s Church in Caredeux, there were many occasions when he asked me to share a message with the congregation.  He said it was good to hear God’s word from a North American from time to time as my life’s journey had been down different roads than his, and theirs and it was good for them to see God’s world from a different perspective from time to time.  One Sunday I shared with them about the hands of Christ being nailed to the Cross and invited the members to stop for a moment and look at their hands, where they had been, what ‘they’ had done with them and how God used them.

Have you ever looked at your hands, I mean really looked at your hands?  You are probably sitting at the keyboard or looking at a smart phone in a climate controlled house, but please look at your hands, palms up, palms down clenched and open.  Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years.  My hands, though wrinkled, shriveled, and scarred have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab; embrace life.  They have held a surveyors Philadelphia rod for years, held a hammer while inspecting a bridge while immersed under 30’ of ‘black’ water, plunked on a computer keyboard and held my daughters when they were only a few seconds old…and they have been together in prayer.  They tied my shoelaces and also pulled on my cowboy boots. They’ve been lava soap dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent.  They have scooped manure in the barn and changed diapers.  They once carried a wedding band and trembled when I was with my mother when she left this world and held on tightly as I walked my daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

Today it seems that they are wearing out at a fast pace.  My strength is being sapped with every coming year, but I still remember when I could do so many different tasks with these hands.  Today, these hands are doing God’s work, reaching out to you to share the message of Trinity/HOPE and scrolling through Scripture to embrace my human thoughts, words and memories.  One day our Triune God will reach out and take your hands, my hands and the hands of children living in Haiti and take each of us home.  One day, our hands will touch the face of Jesus Christ as our Heavenly Father will tell us “well done good and faithful servant.”  Guard your hands, may they continue to do His work in this world.  

Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen. 

May God be with you…Jay