{"id":22516,"date":"2025-07-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=22516"},"modified":"2025-07-13T16:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T21:25:16","slug":"the-cross-still-stands-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=22516","title":{"rendered":"The Cross Still Stands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A few days ago, I started writing about the beautiful cross that once stood at Camp Mystic in Kerrville, Texas. That cross stood tall over generations of campers, many of whom made life-changing professions of faith beneath its silhouette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was simple. Wooden. Sacred. A symbol of the love of God and the price His Son paid on Calvary \u2014 for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But now, that cross is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its place, something new is rising. Not just one cross, but many \u2014 handcrafted by artist Roberto Marquez to honor those who lost their lives in the recent Hill Country floods. Along the edge of Nimitz Lake, he is creating a memorial \u2014 one cross for every life. It\u2019s sobering. Sacred. Painful. And yet, somehow\u2026 peaceful.<br><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"685\" height=\"418\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Crosses.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Crosses.jpg 685w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Crosses-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 685px) 100vw, 685px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Isn\u2019t that the tension of the cross?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What was once an instrument of horror \u2014 a Roman torture device \u2014 has become, for us, a sign of hope. A place where mercy and justice collided. Where grace took the nails. Where death met its match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just a few miles away in Kerrville stands &#8220;The Empty Cross&#8221;, a 77-foot steel sculpture inside &#8220;The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"726\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Cross-People-Praying.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22519\" style=\"width:693px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Cross-People-Praying.jpg 726w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Kerrville-Cross-People-Praying-300x185.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 726px) 100vw, 726px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Towering over the Texas hill country, it isn\u2019t just tall \u2014 it\u2019s wide with meaning: The Door. The Way. The Light. The Strong Tower. The Resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cross still stands \u2014 not just in steel and wood \u2014 but in hearts that believe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yes, it amazes me that God still commissions artists to tell His story. That even in the aftermath of heartbreak, He uses creativity to bring comfort and beauty. He redeems what the storm tries to destroy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we remember those who were swept away in the floods, may we hold fast to the truth of the cross: that Christ was swept away once &#8212; so that we could be held forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.\u201d \u2014 1 Corinthians 1:18<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wood, steel, or stone \u2014 the cross still stands. In Kerrville, in memorials, and in our hearts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few days ago, I started writing about the beautiful cross that once stood at Camp Mystic in Kerrville, Texas. That cross stood tall over generations of campers, many of whom made life-changing professions of faith beneath its silhouette. It was simple. Wooden. Sacred. A symbol of the love of God and the price His&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22521,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22516\/revisions\/22521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}