“Why I Need Ash Wednesday”

Crossing the Line

It happened when I was seven.

My brother and I were riding bikes when he tired of me tagging along. At ten, Brian was allowed to do something I wasn’t: cross Harbor View Road. I could ride anywhere in my neighborhood, but not across that busy two-lane road.

Brian pedaled into the next subdivision to be alone for awhile. Unwilling to accommodate, I crossed the boundary set by my parents. I stubbornly followed my brother across Harbor View Road.

Immediately he turned around, so I also made a U-turn. I was so focused on keeping up with him that I broke the cardinal rule of crossing a road. I neglected to look both ways before crossing Harbor View.

I never saw or heard the Volkswagen coming from my left.

The father riding shotgun saw me and told his teenage son to step on the gas. Instead of the car knocking me into the windshield or under the tires, I T-boned the passenger side door. The bike shot out from under me into the ditch.

My back landed on the pavement. God’s grace also kept another car from coming at that exact moment.

The VW pulled over to check on me. But my parents had said, “Don’t cross that road,” so I rolled over and grabbed my bike. I ignored the frantic pleas to stop and pumped the pedals toward home.

Brian and I made it to the woods near our house before the VW could catch us. We hid while they circled the block several times.

At last my brother said, “The coast is clear.” We were almost home when the WV rounded the corner one last time. Soon the man and his son sat on our couch telling Mom and Dad what happened.

Lent Starts Today

For those who observe the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day countdown to Easter. Sundays in Lent aren’t part of the 40 days of preparation. Even in Lent, each Sunday is a “little Easter.”

“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a, NIV). One day our bodies will return to the dust from which we were made. Death is the wages of sin.

In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit because they treated God’s limits as leashes of restriction, not barriers of protection. Like Adam and Eve, when I cross a boundary set by my Father, I can hide among the trees until I think the coast is clear. But I can’t stay there forever. Eventually I must go home and face my Father, because nothing stays hidden from Him.

Will my Father discipline me? Yes. But He’s also relieved I’m back home safely.

“But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b, NIV). On the cross Jesus paid the wages of sin for us. For Christians, when our body returns to dust, our Father will give us a new body. Our resurrection body will never grow old, never get sick or injured, and never cross any of His boundaries again.

When we’re safe in our Father’s house forever, we’ll never again run and hide.

The climax of the story of Easter will mean so much more if we've been in on it from the beginning. No matter how often I’ve heard it before, I need to hear it anew.

Death will come to us all. But to the believer, death doesn't have the last word. In Christ, God has the last word.

That’s why I need Ash Wednesday.

David