GOD IS GRACE
Lessons to a Father from a Son
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The day before Easter 2010, Alexander, then age 4, took my understanding of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to another level. We had taken Alexander to church to practice for the Easter program scheduled for that Sunday as well as to participate in the church's egg hunt. Naturally, he, like all of the other children present, was excited about the egg hunt most of all. The younger kids were allowed to begin the hunt a minute or so ahead of the older, swifter kids to give them a fighting chance to gather eggs. Alexander was among the younger kids. He dashed ahead like everyone else and quickly began dropping eggs into his basket. Some of the eggs were in plain sight, and as we turned the corner at the front of the church, there was a tree with about four or five eggs sitting beneath it. “You see those, Alexander?” “Yes,” he said. His eyes lit up. Excited myself, I started walking toward the tree. But I soon realized that Alexander was headed in a different direction. I turned and asked him where he was going. He was just a couple steps from dropping even more eggs in his basket (there was a prize for collecting the most, and some of the candy-filled plastic eggs had special prizes inside as well), but was drawn away by something else. That something else was the cross. Alexander walked up to the three crosses in front of our church and laid himself upon the middle cross, the one symbolic of that on which Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice. After a few minutes at the cross, Alexander came back and we resumed the egg hunt. Of course, the eggs that were under the tree had been snatched up. Then Alexander made a profound impression on his father. “Dad, did you see me on the cross?” “Yes. What were you doing?” He told me he wanted to be like Jesus. Wow. Did I see him on the cross? What a question, I thought. Before I knew it, I was asking myself, “Do I see me on the cross?” That's a good question for us all to ask. After all, we were all there 2,000 years ago. Our sins were there. Our burdens were there. Our hurt and pain were there. Yet Jesus was on the cross. It should have been me. It should have been you. It should have been all humanity. Alexander, fully embracing Jesus, managed to do something many who have walked with Jesus for years have failed to do: recognize that while Jesus went to the cross, He was in our place. Needless to say, I can't imagine my son -- or myself -- choosing to be on any cross. Yet, because of Alexander, I understand the need to see me on the cross. I need to see my son and family members and friends on the cross, just to understand how far God went and how powerful a sacrifice it was. I believe that if we could see ourselves on the cross we would much better understand Jesus' work on the cross. If we could see ourselves on the cross, we would understand why it had to be Jesus and not us. If we could see ourselves on the cross, we'd get out of some of those dead-end situations we put ourselves in, we would give up that sin we so easily commit, we would better understand the sacrifice Jesus made for us and embrace the sacrifices He expects of us. As I reflect on that Easter egg hunt, Alexander made a sacrifice of his own that day. He chose to forgo a stash of Easter eggs to go to the cross. Giving up those eggs was but a small sacrifice, for sure. But for a kid to turn away from those prized eggs at that moment spoke a truth to me. Let's be real. For many, Easter is about the eggs, the jelly beans, fresh new clothes, ham, tradition. But that's not what Jesus, the Messiah, was about. Sacrifice and eternal glory occupied his mind. He went to the cross to save us. “Dad, did you see me on the cross?” Alexander had asked. Thank God that He preferred not to see us on the cross but yielded His holy son on the cross, a perfect sacrifice for imperfect people. Next to the obvious gift of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection -- the salvation of man -- the lesson He taught us about sacrifice is tantamount. Think for a moment: When was the last time you made a real sacrifice? Put someone else's interest ahead of your own? Took the wrong to quell a squabble when you knew you were right? Let others go ahead of you even if they hadn't earned it or deserved it? Shared with someone because you had been blessed with plenty? We're implored by the Bible to look on and be concerned about the things of others and not just our own well being.
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About the Book
From the mouths of babes “Dad, did you see me on the cross?” What a question, especially coming from a 4 year-old -- and not Jesus! “Yes. What were you doing?” The son explained that he wanted to be like Jesus. As he pondered his son's question, Warren Bolton was compelled to ask himself, “Do I see me on the cross?” Not only that, but he learned a priceless lesson about sacrifice through the exchange with young Alexander. It was just one of a number of occasions on which this son's words, actions or prayers served as a teaching moment, not lessons from a father to a son but from a son to his father. Learn the power of God's grace and the value of listening to the wisdom that flows from the mouths of babes.
About the Author
Warren Bolton is an Associate Editor at The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C. He began his career in 1986 as a reporter with the Columbia Record, and has been employed with The State Media Company for 25 years. In 1988, he joined The State and covered county government for six years. In more than nine years as a reporter, he covered education, police, courts and the Legislature. He has served as assistant night news editor as well as an assistant assigning editor over sports, government and community life reporting teams. He became an assigning editor in 1996, supervising reporters covering the environment, health, housing and food. In April of 1997, he became education editor. A month later, he joined The State’s Editorial Board. In January of 2000, he was promoted to Associate Editor. Bolton, the recipient of numerous journalism, civic and community awards. In 1998, he received the Columbia Urban League’s Lincoln C. Jenkins Jr. award for community service. In 2000, he received the top column writing award from the S.C. Press Association as well as the Ambrose E. Gonzales Award for excellence in journalism, given by The State. He is the 2008 recipient of the S.C. Press Association’s E.A. Ramsaur Award, given to the top editorial writer in the state. He was selected as one of 12 honorees to be included in the 2010 AT&T South Carolina African American History Calendar. An associate minister and member at Bethel AME Church in Columbia, he and his wife, Tanya, co-chair the church’s Married Couples Ministry. He has taught Bible study and Sunday School and serves in various other capacities in the church. In addition, he has volunteered at the Department of Juvenile Justice, the United Way of the Midlands and the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands. He regularly volunteers as a reader and speaker at schools across the Midlands. Bolton, a Columbia native and University of South Carolina graduate, is the youngest of 11 children. The Boltons are proud parents of two sons, 6-year-old Alexander and 3-year-old Christopher. Bolton clings to Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."