No one truly escapes asking that question of themselves once in a while. During the past few weeks, at Cross Road Church, we have been discussing “Mind Games.” Mind games are the mental gymnastics we go through as we seek to understand our place in this world and how we fit in.

Because of a world system where values are driven by self on the throne, our self-image can become distorted and our self-esteem downcast. After all, how many of us are as deep, compassionate, and contributing to our community as a Kim Kardashian?

Interestingly enough we are told in the Bible in Paul’s Letter to the Romans to “think of ourselves with sober judgement.” It means to look at ourselves realisticly. Now, for some people, the initial thought would be, “gee whiz, I don’t have much going on in my life and I sure don’t count for much in this old world.” And yet, the King of Creation, the one who placed us here in the first place, considered your life and mine so important He was willing to send His Own Son as a sacrifice that we might live a full and “abundant” life while we are here.

If you are spending your time measuring yourself against those around you, consider this, “God so loved the world (that’s you and me) that He sent His one and only Son. And whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.” Your life may not matter a hill of beans to those living around you in this day and age, but your life matters very much to the one who gave you that breath in the first place.

As you wake up this day and consider yourself with sober judgement, remember these words from Ephesians 2:10, “For you are God’s workmanship…” The word “workmanship” means you are His work of art, His poem, His masterpiece.

Find your self-worth in that!

ps: If you are suffering from depression, please watch Mind Games: Depression at http://www.crfbc.org/sermons/?sermon_id=65

If fear has you trapped and unable to move forward in your life, you might watch Mind Games: Fears and Phobias at http://www.crfbc.org/sermons/?sermon_id=66

This Week proved to be extraordinary in the life of one Cross Road Family and it is amazing to me how one life can affect so many others. Casey Thomas (Spanish Chica) died very suddenly this past Thursday evening. So like Casey, she had texted a friend just an hour earlier to inquire about the time of surgery for another friend because she wanted to be sure and be praying for that one during her surgery. Even though she did not feel well at all and would be with her Lord less than two hours later, Casey was focused on others to the very end.

Don’t get me wrong. Casey was no angel while she was on this earth. As a matter of fact, she could be downright onery. But she had an engaging personality and never say die mentality. Despite living challenged with Cerebral Palsy and all the difficulties that come with that territory, Casey never let that define who she was in her life. As a matter of fact, the only time most of us ever knew Casey to get truly upset was because of the way she was limited at times in her desire to live life to the fullest.

Casey Thomas came to our church family just three years ago. She might as well have been with us all of her life. She became an immediate family member. I know in every one of her other social circles, it was the same. Once is while God grants us a glimpse of the innocence of heaven and the complexity of eternity. Here was a young woman who showed grace to all of us and is gone from us all too soon. Our grief is not for her. We grieve because we know we lost something valuable in our own lives. We lost a smile, a hug and an authentic joy embodied in this one young lady. And another Spanish Angel went home!

I have scars on my body. I have one from a contest my brother and I had when I was eleven years old. We were trying to determine whose knife was the sharpest. Determinedly cutting into a piece of cardboard with my trusty cub scout knife, I finally managed to push hard enough to tear through it. Unfortunately the next thing stopping the knife blade was my upper thigh. The wound healed, but the scar remains. That is true with most physical wounds. It also happens inside of us when we fight our internal battles.

This Sunday I am going to talk about you at church, but most people won’t know that, only you. I’m going to highlight the ups and downs of life and talk about living with scars. I know that each of us bear scars. Some are external. Some are internal. Some the world will see, but most the world will not. I hope you will join me at Cross Road. The scars you bear won’t be seen by everyone in the audience, but you know they are there. I’m going to talk about your life and your battles, your defeats and your victories because…every scar has a story. Our scars tell our individual story. But there are some scars that are different. Those are the scars of sin that wound us eternally.

These are the scars Jesus bears. The wounds this man suffered were both external and internal. He has scars on his forehead from a crown of thorns. He has scars on his hands and feet where nails were driven. He has the scars from the whipping post and a scar where a spear was rammed into his body. And he has internal scars as well. We’ll talk about him some the next four weekends and why his scars remain thousands of years after he died.

I hope you will join me Sunday at Cross Road. We are going to talk about wounds suffered, hurts that seem to never end, and we are going to learn why His scars can make a difference in ours. Living with scars is something we all do. Healing with scars is something we are all offered. Discover with me how you can be healed while living with scars.

Pastor Brad