One Solitary Life

My friend, Carl, posted this yesterday on his blog. This is one of my most favorite poems to read at Christmas and Easter, reminding me of the profound effect one solitary life can have on this world and its people. Read. Enjoy. Ponder. Ask yourself this - if we are to follow the example of Christ, what are you doing with your one solitary life? What is God calling you to do? What do you need to do to obey that call? We only have this one solitary life. Follow Him. Learn from Him. Be with Him!

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty

He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

He was only thirty three

His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth

When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend

Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind's progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life 

This essay was adapted from a sermon by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons.”