Crickets And Crosses Poem by Loyd C Taylor Sr

One early Easter morning I stood before a graveyard; the crickets were chirping their morning song for me.

I saw three crosses that had been placed there by the church;
erected as a reminder of the crosses on the hill called Calvary.
Calvary... where Jesus was crucified between two thieves.

The middle cross represented the one upon which Christ died.
As I stood still and gazed upon the scene, I let my mind drift back in time.

I moved slightly closer as the crickets grew strangely quiet.
My eyes scanned over the graves, shadowy in the early light;
The crosses stood on a small hill between the graveyard and me.

A thought played upon my mind... Without the cross, the empty cross, what would this mean for you and me? What would it mean for me?

I pondered... and I came to this one conclusion: we would be nothing more than crickets. They are born, they live... and then they die... for them it all ends at death.

Graves would just be holes in the ground for decaying bodies; no hope, it would end at the grave. We would live and then die. We would die.

But the empty cross gives hope for life beyond this life, for all humanity!
I thought of the empty tomb;
I thought of how Christ came forth on the morning of the first day:
He came forth alive. Alive! Alive!

I was suddenly filled with praise, as joyful tears came to my eyes.
I will always remember that cool, still, early morning; there in communion and worship on this mortal journey, Jesus once again made his presence so obvious. Just as the True Gospel teaches and the Son began to arise, the only thing between us and cold death was beautifully symbolized by the rugged cross that stands between.

O, thank God for hope!
O, thank God for the cross!
O, thank God for the empty tomb!
Thank God for Easter. Because He lives, we may live eternally!

Not like the crickets which die... they just die.