| A FEW YEARS AGO MY BROTHERAlan purchased an unused church camp not far from theNatchez Trace in northern Mississippi. The site covered 110 acres,including a fourteen-acre lake stocked with hundreds of fish.Because the property had been neglected for about five years,everything had deteriorated. The levee leading to the conferencecenter had washed out, windows were broken, floors had buck-led, and the cabins were falling apart. Weeds had taken over aonce well-manicured lawn. While on an inspection tour of theproperty, my brother and I bumped into something lying on theground. I thought it was a log but it turned out to be a railroadtie. We cleared away the brush and discovered a twelve-footwooden cross that once stood sentinel by the lake. No one knew or cared that the cross had fallen to the ground. The fallen cross stands as a symbol for the spiritual conditionof the church of Jesus Christ in the early days of the twenty-firstcentury. In many places and, sad to say, in many churches, thecross has fallen to the ground. Instead of boasting in the cross,we have neglected it, substituting in its place religious activity and therapeutic language designed to help us feel better about |
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