WERE YOU THERE?

~~~An Old Spiritual engraved on the pages of my heart.~~~

" Were you there when they crucified the Lord?
Were you there when they crucified the Lord?
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified the Lord?"

" Were 'YOU' There?"

When first I heard it as a child,
I knew its message was written for ME.
The author may never know
the impact of his words.
Never know the depths
stirred in a soul.
Words so simple,
so complete.
Yet they echoed
thru the chambers of my heart.

Like Isaiah crying out his unclean lips.
I too, am undone in my lowliness.
My humanity screams to be saved.
Sin sweeps across the Heavens,
east to west.
Bathed in the Blood of a Lamb.
Then slowly fades and disappears.

" Were YOU there?"
(I hear the faintest whisper.)
" YES," I cry,
I see I WAS there."

Standing along side,
With hammer clenched in my fist.
Pounding nails into His flesh.
Pressing thorns into His brow.
Thrusting sword into His side.
His blood and water
splashed on my dirty hands.
I saw Him sweat in agony.
I heard Him cry His thirst.
"Forgive them."
(a tender, gentle prayer)

I stood there watching Him die.
Felt no pulse at His throat.
Helping to drag His body from the Cross.
I rolled the stone to seal His tomb.
" Finished,"
His words,
reverberated thru my soul.
and
I knew it WAS!

The shame that was me
is my reality.
I am aware of nothing else.
The Grave swallowed
His lifeless form.
BUT the Grave
had NO power
to keep HIM entombed.
HE AROSE!

JESUS WAS ALIVE!!

CHRIST TRULY HAD RISEN!!!

That FIRST Easter Morn in the Garden.
The Light of Life in His piercing eyes.
The LAMB prepared
BEFORE
the world was created.
The LAMB sacrificed on a crooked tree.
Stood there in the garden.
ALIVE!
Beckoning to ALL who passed by.
Speaking words of Love.
even to ME!

"If 'YOU' had been the only one, Jesus said,
I STILL would have come.
I would have laid down My life,
Shed My blood,
To ransom a child like 'YOU'
If 'YOU' had been the ONLY one.
I STILL would have come."

I bent my knee.
I bowed my head
Tears began to flow.
I confessed how GREAT my need.
I welcomed HIS SACRIFICE
on that crooked tree.
That crooked tree on Calvary.
I repented of my sin.
Welcomed His cleansing touch.
Realized NOW
my life would begin
and
my Eternity was sealed in HIM!

" Thank you LORD JESUS,"
I whispered.
And I gave Him
ALL of me.

Today, even today,
When I hear,
"Were you there?"
The gratitude enveloping
my soul causes me
to answer,
without the stain
of sin in my voice,
"YES! I WAS THERE!"
Today, even today,
I continue to weep.
When I remember ALL
He has done for me.
And ALL
that I owe
(but can NEVER repay)
to HIM!

BY - Roberta Rogers Wilcox
@4-1987
revised @4-2001