One and done.

'Cause Jesus, you came to us

And You did what had to be done

You put on our skin, you took on our sin

Your body broken, the work finished, finished

Sometimes I don't really think we understand the greatness of what Christ did for us, yes we know that He came and died for our sins and He made a way for us to live with Him eternally if we choose to put our faith in Him. For me personally, I believe that growing up in a christian family and going to church every sunday was and is a huge blessing. But I have heard these stories a million times, and honestly, I just kind of grew numb to them. They usually don't have a huge impact on my life, and even though of course I believe these stories, I have to question myself.. how are they allowing me to learn more about who God says He is and what He has done.

Being here has definitely opened my eyes to so much, I had an amazing experience the past couple of days that really made me understand the beauty of the cross and what Jesus did for you, me and everyone else. Me and my teammate spent the past 3 days at a national friends house, this was to help us better understand culture, language and to really live it for a few days. During our stay their, a hindu festival was going to be help, we were told that on Saturday many goats were going to be slaughtered on the streets as a sacrifice to their gods. They would skin the goat, take out the organs and then eat the meat. Because Hindus believe in many gods, and they want their gods to be happy with them, the goat must be skinned perfectly. Nothing goes to waste. 

The night before the festival we visited 2 hindu families. At one home, we were able to share what we believe and the story of the cross. We went on to tell the story and the history of the passover. Like many of you may know, when God's people were trying to leave Egypt, the pharaoh would not let them leave until the death angel came and visited his home. Pharaoh did not listen to Moses when he told him to kill the best lamb, eat all of its parts and put the blood of the lamb on your door post. The next morning all who did not follow as Moses had told them found their first born son dead. This became known as the passover, it lasted for 1400 years. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of blood that was shed after 1400 years. And it wasn't just the passover, there were also sin offerings. If I lived back then.. I wouldn't have enough animals to sacrifice to God because I sin so much. 

After we talked about the passover, we shared the Good News. Jesus came as a man and lived with His people. His purpose on this earth was ultimately to die for us, even though we are so unworthy. He was nailed to a cross, my sins and your sins were put on His perfect and spotless body. After being in the grave for three days , He rose again! He is alive today, no other religion can say that their gods, or idols are alive today... neither can they say that one put down his own life for a sinful people. Because God sacrificed his own son, the work is DONE. No longer do I have to go get the animal without any defect and kill it as a sacrifice. Jesus did it once and for all.

The day of the festival we went out to visit some more families and share with them. As we walked down different alley ways, the streets were filled with blood, goats from every corner and side were hung upside. Unfortunately we missed the actual slaughtering, sad day. People were working on skinning them, as organs were piling up right next to the dead body. Some people had blood on them from head to toe. These goats that I had seen yesterday were now just vain sacrifices to godless statues and idols. But as I was walking through this, I could not help but praise God for giving us the ultimate sacrifice. The one and only. My prayer is that these people would turn away from their idols and see that there has already been a sacrifice. Jesus Christ came to die for them and their sins. I am so thankful that I was able to witness this, and to better understand the magnificence of the cross and Jesus' crucifixion. 

P.S. I decided to leave the pictures out of this blog, but if for any reason you would like to see what it looked like, feel free to let me know and I can personally send them to you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyh1Feh9lyY