Thought for today - 07/10/2011

     YOUR CROSS
"The second command Jesus gives in Mark 8:34 is not so easy to define.  In Jesus' time, no one ever took up a cross unless they were going to die on it.  How do we "take up our cross?"  The idea has such a mystical, super-spiritual sound to it. Some have even gone so far as to allow themselves to be crucified in a modified way to show identification with Christ.  But your "cross" is not literal; it is instead an attitude of radical obedience to God in which you willingly accept any consequence for Jesus' sake.  If denying yourself is all about saying no, then taking up the cross is all about saying yes.  "Yes, God, I will do whatever you ask of me -- whatever, whenever."
     ~Kay Warren, Dangerous Surrender: What Happens When You Say Yes to God