The Ostrich

Seeing the Vice-Principal was not my favorite way to start the afternoon, but I had nowhere else to hide.

Literally.

For several days I had avoided the necessity of completing my math homework by simply not showing up at all to math class.

Simple logic for an elementary school kid.

After recess, I’d make my way up with the rest of my class but would slip away to “use the bathroom”.

Use the bathroom was right. I used a stall as my hideout for several days. It was conveniently located between my regular classroom and the room we had math in, so I thought I was actually getting away with something.

How was I supposed to know they took attendance?

I spent the hour I had blissfully working on 3D paper Transformers that actually could change from vehicles to robots and back (hey, I couldn’t afford to buy a bunch of the REAL ones).

Anyways, it all finally caught up with me, and I stood before the VP. He was on the phone when I was led in for slaughter. I remember he stayed on the phone for what seemed like an eternity.

He had something to tell me, he just wasn’t ready to share what.

Meanwhile, I was a worm squirming on a hook.

I don’t remember what he told me, all I can remember is waiting with dread.

Procrastination in life has neither served me nor the ones I love well. I know I need to talk to someone about something, but I feel (or sometimes I know) it’s not going to be pretty. So I don’t do anything.

I play the ostrich and keep my head in the sand.

At the last possible moment I blurt out what I’m feeling or thinking, and I always seem to do it in the worst possible way and at the worst possible moment.

This has happened on two separate occasions in the past WEEK, and broken pieces are still falling.

Why do I wait and hurt those who I love dearly?

All of those who know me at all acknowledge that I’m not perfect. It’s very true, and I’m glad that I can recognize it. I’m a screw-up just like everyone else.

I don’t have it together.

I’m glad that God loves screw-ups. That He loves those who don’t have it all together (and never will). I’m thrilled to have a relationship with a God who doesn’t treat me like I deserve to be treated.

And it’s all because of the Cross.

Luke 23:26-49
As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are coming when they will say, ‘Fortunate indeed are the women who are childless, the wombs that have not borne a child and the breasts that have never nursed.’ People will beg the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and plead with the hills, ‘Bury us.’ For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine. They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” A sign was fastened to the cross above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!”And with those words he breathed his last.

When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.” And when all the crowd that came to see the crucifixion saw what had happened, they went home in deep sorrow. But Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching.