In these last days of Lent I’ve been living in the passion story with all of my Cornerstone friends.  We’ve been taking the steps with Jesus towards the cross as seen in Matthew 26 and 27…reading the story bit by bit, day by day…totally immersing ourselves in the story and grafting ourselves into each scene.

So today is Maunday Thursday and the cross is just hours away for Jesus.  And as I woke up this morning I captivated by the how he became obedient to death.  We all know this in our head but I wonder if we ever grasp the depth of this in our hearts.  As I get closer to Friday, it seems to become more and more real to me.

Then this morning I began to be flooded with thoughts of my own Dad’s death from cancer almost two years ago.  He did not die on a cross, but in a comfortable bed surrounded by his loved ones:  my mom, my sister, Leslie and I, his sisters and a best friend.  I remember sitting on the bed next to his frail body holding his face in the palms of my hands, praying for him and telling him that it was OK to go on home…my own tears falling onto his face.  He struggled for every breath until there were no more.  Some of you reading this know this place.  You’ve been there with a loved one.  It is holy ground…but a tremendous paradox, mixed with great joy and great sorrow. Death is so hard to watch happen.

But as I reflect on these images burned into my heart I can’t but help but think of Jesus, my rescuer.  That he, the creator and keeper of all things, humbled himself to this place of death, but one so much more severe.  He gasped for air over and over for hours.  Blood ran out from all over his body.  Pain shot through his limbs.  But above all of this, he was alone.  For the first time in all of eternity, the trinity was broken apart as the son of God, full of sin, was hanging on the cross.  It was a horrible.  He wrestled with his mortality in the most raw and primal place until there was nothing left of him but death.

It must really be true that he loves me.  It must really be true that he loves you.

By the way…the picture above is of my friend Brandon Frenzel at the Abbey of Gethsemani.  I took this shot on one of our visits over while we lived in Kentucky.  He’s strolling through the graves of the Monks…just feet away from the the Sanctuary where they spent much of thier life in constant prayer.

Mr. William Walker Agerton, age 71, passed away at Bethany House of Auburn on June 19, 2007. Mr. Agerton was born in Quincy, Florida on October 15, 1935. He graduated from Gadsden County High School, and went on to serve his country in the United States Air Force, where he flew as a gunner on the B66 bomber aircraft from 1954 to 1958. In 1958, Mr. Agerton enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. He participated in Auburn’s cooperative education program, working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1963 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 1967 Mr. Agerton graduated from Auburn University with a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering and continued working for NASA to develop space borne power supplies that were used in the Saturn V Rocket and Orbital Workshop Program. For the last twenty years of his life, Mr. Agerton worked as a National Sales and Contract Specialist with Epos Corporation, now Tier Technologies, in Auburn. He continued to work during his battle with cancer over the past eight years. Mr. Agerton was a dedicated member of the First Baptist Church of Opelika, Alabama, where he served as Deacon, Chairman of the Finance Committee and Sunday School teacher for both children and adults. Throughout his life, he has remained a loving husband, father, brother and friend. He is survived by his wife, Priscilla Ledbetter Agerton, Auburn; children, Josh Agerton (Leslie), Wilmore, KY, and Emily Agerton Prestridge (Chris), Auburn; sisters, Betty Agerton Chalker (Lee), Salt Lake City, UT, and Jean Agerton Eggersdorf, Tallahassee, FL; brother-in-law, J.C. Ledbetter, New Orleans, LA; and five grandchildren of which he was extremely proud, AnnaKathryn, Garrett, Benjamin, Liza and Grace. Visitation will be held Thursday at Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Funeral services will be conducted on Friday, June 22, 2007 a 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Opelika. Graveside service will follow at Town Creek Cemetery in Auburn. Memorial gifts honoring Mr. Agerton may be given to First Baptist Church of Opelika Building Fund, 301 South 8th Street, Opelika, AL 36801. Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home is directing.