the worst thing I have ever built

[ARKANSAWYER]

   I have built many many things over the years.  But today when I stood and looked at something I built several weeks ago saddness creeped into my heart.  It was the worst thing I have ever built.
    I built the house we now live in as well as some toys for my kids.  The shed for my mill as well as a house for my GrandMa.  I come from a long line of builders and we take great pride in the family trade.  I am even the father of a carpenter and have passed on the family trade.  I can now say I have seen the worst thing I have ever built.
    I have sawn millions of board feet of lumber to build many things with.  Most of the lumber I have never seen again since it left the mill.  I have sawn large timbers that gone out of state and have mailed lumber all over the country.  Some of what is sawn I personaly use to build for others and take great pride in the lumber as well as the construction of the project.  But not today it was the worst thing I have ever built.
   I am not the first to build one of these and have seen many of them over the years.  It was just the fist one I was ever asked to build.  I took great care in slecting the logs to saw the timbers from and did my notching with all the skill I could.  It was not a difficult task and went fairly quick.  All the pieces fit nice and tight as it was assembled.  Many have said that the workmanship was very good but I could not speak up and say I did it.  It was the worst thing I have ever built.
  But there it stands for all to see and many have looked upon it and marveled.   Glad I did not sign it and only a few know I had any thing to do with it.  I personally was ashamed of what at I had done.  There should be no disgrace in a job well done but in this case it was the worst thing I have ever built.

[Tom]

If you built it for the purpose that the Romans, a couple thousand years ago, intended then it is a horrible thing whether you did a good job or not.

If you built it as the symbol of Christianity and the saviour of all who believe, then you did a wonderful job, even if it falls tomorrow.

[Ed_K]

 Its not any worse than the one I built with holes drilled at a downward angle to hold flowers. Its in the eye of the beholder  8).

[Faron]

I made one for our church a few years ago.  It does give you an odd feeling when you think about someone building the same thing as an instrument of torture rather than a symbol of hope.

[EZ]

Know matter how bad it looks, it was God's plan.
EZ

[DanG]

Arkey, I built one of those once.  It was on my one and only foreign mission trip for the church.  We went to Haiti in eighty..1980, that is.  One of the assignments our little team had, was to build the furnishings for a church that many other teams before us had built.  We built a pulpit lecturn, some alter rails, and a cross.  As we would finish a piece, we'd prop it against the wall on the other side of the work room, and move on to the next item.  We cut the parts to the altar rails and assembled one of them, then as part of the team assembled the other one, a couple of us built the cross to hang behind the lecturn.  We completed it in just a little while, as it was just 2 boards intersecting at right angles, and propped it against the wall.  As we went on to other things, we began to hear murmurring sounds behind us.  As we looked around, we saw at least a dozen of the church members kneeling on that new rail and facing that crude little cross, giving thanks for those little symbols of a great gift.  I rank that as one of the finest moments I have experienced.  If that cross you built turn's just one soul one degree towards the Love that it represent's, then you have done a fine job of carpentry that you can be proud of.

Of course, I got a feeling that you knew this all along. ;)

[Linda]

Yep!.................Worst thing any and all of us have ever done! :'(  

Just like the singer, Ray Boltz, says in his song "The Hammer." When I listen to that song, tears usually fill my eyes.

We all crucified Him, an innocent man, our creator, with our sins.  I can't hardly think about the sacrifice He made for me without my heart tearing in two.  Just think, His last words were "Father forgive them!"    What a Savior!

Isn't it great to know He forgives and loves us anyway and has prepared a place for all who will love and accept Him?

Thanks for the post Arky, and thanks for sharing the monument of God's love by building a replica.

[TN_man]

Arky, Thanks for the post.

Linda, Ray Boltz is one of my favorite writers. I enjoy that song as well.

[tnlogger]

 Arky thank you 

[Grampa_Joe]

Thank you. It put tears in my eyes.

[sawman]

 Arkansawyer,
  I have to agree with those that have said that you absolutely positively have nothing to be ashamed of. As has already been said the cross like the tomb is now empty. I see the cross as a symbol of hope.
As Christians we know what the cross symbolizes , that that is where Jesus willingly gave himself for the sins of all mankind. When I sit and look at the cross it brings tears to my eyes as well, but for a different reason. My tears are of joy and happiness because there was One in this world who loved me in spite of who or what I was. He gave of himself because he possessed the purest love of all. No string attached, The greatest love we will ever experience in this world i believe.

Hold your head up high. IMHO you did good.
                                                    God Bless you and yours,
                                                             Larry