What an AWESOME service at Emmaus Baptist Church last night as we honored @DrPhilKidd on 40 years in the Ministry. Mrs. Kidd spoke beautifully about her husband, the speakers spoke eloquently, @pkuplift preached a powerful message, God's man was honored, & Jesus was magnified!
To you, it's just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it's where I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I'd made mistakes. Real ones.
I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn't accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn't. But every day, I was carrying them.
One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can't fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.”
It knocked me back.
I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”
I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.
That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there.
I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.
I still get emotional about it. Because I know what I was before that moment, and I know what He's done since. He gave me a wife who shares my faith. He gave me three sons. He gave me a career, a community, a calling I never would have dared to ask for. He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn't make sense apart from grace.
People ask me sometimes why I talk about it. Why I bring up the parking lot. Why I don't just keep that part private and let folks see the polished version.
I'll tell you why.
Because there's a young man out there right now — maybe in Tallahassee, maybe in Tampa, maybe in Miami, maybe in a small town in the Panhandle — who thinks his story is already over. Who thinks the mistakes he's made disqualify him from the life he could have had. Who thinks God doesn't want anything to do with somebody like him.
I'm here to tell him: that's a lie.
In life, you're not who you are at the lowest point. You're who you choose to become after.
The Lord met me in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. He'll meet you wherever you are.
You just have to stop running.
Heaven ushered in a hero of the faith last night as my Dad was welcomed home!
Many will say sorry for your loss but the truth is he’s not lost, we know exactly where he is.
He’s home.
Forever!
I asked him last week what he looked forward to most about Heaven, and he simply said, “Jesus.”
He couldn’t wait to see Jesus face to face.
Praise God that his wait is over.
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
He’s healed and whole now.
So we don’t mourn as those with no hope.
See you soon Dad!
Having Pat McAfee, Jason Kelce, Bert Kreischer and Kevin Hart at The Masters is the epitome of ESPN's cultural degradation of sports. Augusta National should be the ultimate place of dignity and reverence and these ignominious dullards debase it with their sophomorish hijinks.
Understand this: The movies and shows about the crucifixion have been tame when compared to what He actually went through.
Even The Passion Of The Christ was forced to hold back a little in order to avoid an X rating.
Crucifixion was, and still is, arguably the most excruciating death someone can experience.
The night before in Gethsemane, He was sweating blood. This is known as hematidrosis. This would have caused His skin to become extremely sensitive, thus making the beatings to come even worse.
The fear He felt was the beginning of His feeling the weight of our iniquities being laid on Him.
Yet - in this moment, He didn’t demand that the Father take it from Him. He only asked for the cup to pass Him over if it was within the Father’s will.
Up next came the Cat of Nine Tails, or a Roman Flagrum. This was a weapon with long leather “tails”, each embedded with sharp bones and metal.
He was flogged 39 times as Jewish law mandated “40 minus one”, because 40 was said to kill a man.
This flogging wasn’t like being punished by your father’s leather belt.
Every strike tore flesh, every strike exposed muscle. Every strike exposed nerve endings. Every strike tore flesh to the bone.
This would be like getting struck with razor blades over and over again, leading to hypovolemic shock from blood loss.
Oh, and the crown of thorns? These weren’t rose thorns. These were thorns which were 2-3 inches long. Beaten into his skull.
These thorns would have pierced his skull, tripping the trigeminal nerve, thus causing unimaginable pain and even more blood loss from the dozens of head wounds.
At this point, extreme nausea and dizziness would begin to set in.
What came next? Carrying the cross. Which weighed around 300lbs. This would be like carrying two full kegs on your back.
Splinters and wood grating against the open flesh on His back. And He had to carry it 650 yards, or close to a half mile.
Imagine carrying a log on your back after being skinned alive.
Up next? He was nailed to the cross with spikes 5-7in in length. Piercing His wrists - this no doubt pierced the median nerve, causing extreme burning sensations up and down His arms.
A spike was driven through his ankles - severing nerves and tendons. This would have felt like standing on broken glass every time He pushed Himself up in order to breathe.
He suffered for 6 hours.
His chest muscles collapsing, making every single breath a fight for life.
His shoulders were dislocated, His arms stretching unnaturally long.
His heart was struggling to pump blood.
He was extremely dehydrated, His lips cracking.
His heart more than likely literally ruptured from the stress.
And on top of all of that, He had to feel a separation with the Father for a period of time in order to REALLY bear the weight of our sin.
He took up this burden for ALL sin before Him, and ALL sin which came after Him.
HE DID IT ALL FOR US.
To free us. To defeat sin. To give us a pathway to the Kingdom.
Every sin we commit is exactly why He had to do it.
And the real kicker? He knew what was coming when He rode into Jerusalem … and He didn’t turn around. He kept going.
For us.