the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to join the effort!
Daily Devotionals
Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
My home state of Ohio has some rather marked firsts. First men in flight. First man to set foot on the moon. First concrete pavement in North America. There is one item that I have never seen before in all my travels. I do not know if it is a first, but it is the first time I have ever seen it anywhere. South America has Christ of the Andes. Ohio has, what I call, "Arms Reaching Jesus."
It is basically a statue of Jesus from the waist up with His arms reaching upward toward heaven. The statue is ivory in color and has a rough hewn appearance to it. Resting in front of the statue is a cross made seemingly from the same material. It stands in front of the Solid Rock Church facing Interstate 75 just north of Exit 29. Oh, yeah, and it's about forty feet high.
I have no idea as to the reasoning behind the size of the statue or the fact that it shows Jesus with His arms raised upward toward heaven. It is the most impressive religious art that these eyes have ever seen. The times that I have passed it I first wondered why the arms uplifted. The second time I thanked God for a Savior that takes everything to God's throne on my behalf.
In an age when Presidential candidates have talked about legal action in an effort to secure the White House it is comforting to know that I have an advocate with the heavenly Father. He is bigger than life and has His Father's attention and my best interests at heart. He pleads my cause to His Father daily in my stead. As an old Gary S. Paxton song puts it, "Jesus is my lawyer in heaven, telling the Father why I should get in."
When Jesus is before His Father it is His blood which testifies for me. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 Every day that I pray, every time that my thoughts turn to my relationship with my heavenly Father, Jesus extends His hands upward to the throne and shows God the scars that He received for me.
'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' Copyright 2010 © Tom Kelley. 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with their complete bio and a link to https://www.studylight.org/ 2) 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.
