My wife and I have been quietly giving these crosses out for the last 20 + years. But it wasn’t until a few years ago when we heard a story that explained how they work. I was early for a board meeting at a client’s offices when another lady, named Pat, also showed up early. She looked depressed and worried, so I asked her how she was doing. She began to tell me about her thirteen year old daughter who was having a very rough time fitting in at school. She hated to come out of her room at home, was not hungry, not eating much, and in general seemed very depressed. I took out a pocket cross and offered it to her to give to her daughter. She looked up at me and clearly was embarrassed and told me that they have never been in a church as a family. Her daughter had no idea who God was, and Pat was sure she wouldn’t want the cross. But I offered it again saying that things may change, and it would be good to have it on hand. She took it and she never mentioned it again to me. A whole year later I was at a party and Pat arrived shortly after me. When she saw me, she rushed over to me and gripping the lapels of my jacket, she told me this story. She said, “Paul!! Remember that cross you gave me? Well just the other day I was making my daughter’s bed and as I pulled the sheets off, out came the cross and it fell onto the floor! I could not believe my eyes. When I asked my daughter how that pocket cross got into her bed, she sheepishly answered that she found out that when she took the cross to bed with her and held it tightly in her hand, it was like having a direct cell phone line to Jesus! And that gave her great comfort and a deep sense of security.” Since then she has been doing wonderfully in school and in her life. She also mentioned that she had no recollection of ever giving her daughter that cross. Somehow she must have found it in a drawer and recognized it for what it was and kept it with her.
How To be Saved The Bible gives specific reference as to what we must do to receive eternal life. St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, chapter 10, verses 9-10:
“That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
Being saved is not a very complicated process. God looks at what is in the heart of a person to see if they truly believe and mean what they are proclaiming. And by making this statement of faith we become justified (righteous) before God and our sins are forgiven. We simply have to honestly believe in our hearts and say out loud with our mouths, that Jesus Christ is our risen Lord and Savior. The end result is a personal relationship with Jesus and salvation for all eternity.
