I started crying long before it was time to cry.  I had seen the Pageant on previous Christmases, so I knew the part by heart.  Jesus would be coming down the aisle bearing a heavy wooden cross with the cracking of the whips upon his back that wrenched my soul.  It was all I could do to keep from screaming:  “Stop it!  Please don’t do that.  You are so wrong.  He only went about doing good!”

            I wanted to run upon the stage and grab the soldiers.  I had to tell myself, “This is a play.”  I remembered the account of Peter in John 18:10.  He was so upset he pulled out his sword and cut a guard’s ear off.  Wouldn’t you think those standing around witnessing such a thing would believe when Jesus reached out and put the ear back?

            Yet Jesus had a mission, a plan.  That plan would save mankind from eternal destruction.  It had to be, because Jesus is the only way to God:  “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”  (John 14:6 NIV).  Jesus came from heaven to earth to save mankind.  He voluntarily shed his blood “as a ransom for many.”  (Mark 10:25)

            John 3:16 is still the only truth of the ages:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

            Jesus’ love is extended to everyone who will receive Him.  Dick Innes of “Daily Encounter, actsweb.org states:  “We enter it at birth, we pass through it in life, we exit it at death.  It is our preparation for eternity.”

            Even though I see the pageant ever year, each time is an intense experience and I become more determined to tell the story of Jesus.

            There is a better way to live this life.  There is future life awaiting the believer.  Jesus is the only hope in this world.  An anonymous writer once said:  “Doubt limits you from what is already yours, but faith unlocks the door allowing you to walk in and receive it.”

            This world is not all there is.  The strongest person on earth is the weakest person on earth without God.

            With Jesus, you can make the great moments in your life.  Please don’t miss a single one.  The future of the child of God is always “the best that is to be.”  Even in death there is victory.  My grandmother used to sing about heaven.  My mother’s last words were “I see the heavenly lights.”  The Bible reminds us:  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”  (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV).

            1 Corinthians 15:51 reveals the secret.  It is the secret from death to life:  “But look!  I tell you this secret:  We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed.”

Verse 54:  “So this body that can be destroyed will clothe itself with that which can never be destroyed, and this body that dies will clothe itself with that which can never die.  When this happens, the Scripture will be made true: ‘Death is destroyed forever in victory.’” (NCV)

            Whatever you are facing today, there is hope.  The best is yet to be.  We have a destiny, and we will be victorious because we go from death to life!

            It’s the greatest story ever told and I’m going to tell it on the mountain, over the hills and to everyone I meet.  You can too!