The Cross of the Living Lord

I am thankful that my mother told me about "The Old Rugged Cross" being my paternal grandmother's favorite hymn. I remember how Grandmother patiently listened, prepared delicious food on a wood-powered stove, allowed my cousin and me to brush her hair and then try, awkwardly, to arrange it in a neat upsweep, which she preferred. Thankful for Dora Dickens Primm's life with John in a village called Broadway.

"The Old Rugged Cross
where the dearest and best 
for a world of lost sinners was slain...*

I am thankful for the scriptures that have survived the ages in the Bible, the library of sacred books: 

"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me."
His broken body and His shed blood 
upon the Cross brought new life.

He hung dying above them, the darkness 
early falling, and one had stood guard for hours
waiting for Him to die. 

That one was heard to say,
"Surely this Man
was the Son of God."

*The hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross"