Ever feel like Jesus is hindering your "progress"? If you were not so burdened down with all these restrictions, moral codes, and limitations you could really get ahead in life.
A couple of nights ago we were returning from a Bible study in Llano Grande and, not unusually, I was attempting to return via a different, and unfamiliar, route. Of course, I missed the turn and we didn't get on the new route. Mitzi asked, "Are we lost?" Of course we weren't "lost", but we weren't where I wanted to be, so I was a little impatient with the whole situation. (Funny how that works.)
To make matters worse, there was some sort of traffic bog down that was impeding our progress. At first we couldn't see what the problem was. There seemed to be a lot of people on foot, milling around. Then Erika, our 20 year old granddaughter, exclaimed, "It's Jesus with the cross!"
The traffic cleared a little and we could see what was going on. Sure enough. It WAS Jesus and the cross...well, of course, not the real Jesus, but a statue of him. There was a processional of some sort with a hundred or so people slowly moving along the street and blocking traffic.
It reminded me of how often we think that believing in Jesus and his teachings will only serve to limit us in life. They only slow us down and hamper us from doing all the things the world says is important.
In this case, it was Jesus (or an imitation of him) carrying the cross. But we are told in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"
Oh, that more of the people of Costa Rica (and us) would take up the cross of Jesus and follow him.
