When I was a kid, I went to see all kinds of scary movies, and TV shows, but to me , there was something that was even more scary....church!! It felt like mom had to drag me by the ear to church...

.....I used to sit there, completely bored out of my mind...when they said "Son of God", I would think to myself..."son of Godzilla is on this afternoon!" That place used to scare me! I thought Jesus was this big scary statue..Man, if I did something wrong I was sure He would just swoop down off that cross and get me! They had a lot of other statues in the church I went to, and I'm telling you, one time,I'm sure I saw one of them move!!

And they used to have these great big lights dangling from the ceiling--and there was always one of them right over my head--I was sure if I had been a bad boy that week, God was going to drop one of those big old lights right down on my head!

The worst part was when you had to go up to the front of the church..they had Jesus up there on the cross..man, He looked like He was in such pain..it always made me feel guilty. Whoa yeah--heavy guilt just pouring out of that statue...I been bad..I thought a lot of bad stuff this week...He's gonna come down and get me for it!..Man I'm in big trouble now!

It's so sad really...I didn't know that He was winning His great victory up there! I didn't understand how He was conquering sin up there--for me! That cross was His triumph over sin--He was pouring out His blood for forgiveness, and healing and salvation and deliverance for all people, and for me too! You see, I had an understanding of Jesus, --I listened in Sunday school--and in church--I heard Gods' Word--but it just went into my head, not my heart, where God wants it...I wish somebody had told me the simple truth about Jesus...

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9-10).

"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." (John 3:16).

Now please understand, I'm not being critical of the church I was raised in..they tried their best..the message was there..I just missed the boat! I was just so afraid and bored , I couldn't wait to get out of church! Which is just the opposite of the truth, which is that God is alive and exciting and interesting and full of love and joy and peace and there is nothing in this whole world that is as exciting as being in His presence and worshiping Him and having His spirit move upon my life! So listen, it's fine if a church likes to have statues...the cross is important and should be displayed..but I have just a small suggestion--Besides the cross, how about a statue that looks like this...

....the scene three days later...when Jesus rose from the grave, and walked out of that tomb--alive! That was the moment when He conquered death! This was His triumph! Maybe then, church wouldn't be quite so scary for children and we all could have a more clear understanding of the great victory Jesus has won for us and how much He loves us!

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