Hey Wayne, was that you I saw holding a cross....

That was the beginning of a Facebook posting on my wall Friday evening when I got on-line to do a quick check of my email before hitting the sack.

I took off work a little early Friday and went home to quickly change into some shorts and a t-shirt before heading down to Town Lake parkway to debut the cross for the first time.

I'll have to admit that during the 35 minute drive to this high traffic spot I was getting second thoughts about just standing in one spot for an hour holding a cross that said, "Are You Ready".

I don't know if the enemy was giving me the doubts or if it was my flesh telling me how foolish this was going to look to lots of people.

When I got to the location I took out the cross, centered up the horizontal beam and tightened down the wing nut. I nervously (why was I nervous???) walked over to the public side walk and faced east toward the onslaught of vehicles traveling toward me.

I was shaking. I was already sweating. I held up the cross and proceeded to stand in that one spot for the next hour.

Several times over the next hour I counted the number of cars that passed me in one minutes time as they traveled the 35-45 mph down the parkway...55...58...49...63...61...59...61.

I stood there motionless with my baseball cap and sunglasses. Sometimes traffic would stop at the light and then the vehicles would start stacking up. Occupants of the cars and trucks would just sit there and look at me and the cross.

Sometimes someone would toot the horn and without moving my head I would follow with my eyes and they would give me a 'thumbs up'. One person appeared to give me the finger.

After about 15-20 minutes a group of kids (13-14 years old) with skateboards in tow came walking towards me. As they were about to pass me on the sidewalk, one kid asked the question; "Ready for what?"

Eternity I answered.

He said he wasn't ready for eternity. I asked him if he would like to know how to be ready for eternity and he said he didn't plan on dying today. I asked him if he knew when he was going to die and he answered by asking me if I was smarter than a fifth grader.

That got a good laugh from his buds and they hurried on past the crazy guy with the cross.

Time seemed to go by pretty fast as I stood there. I kept my mind busy with prayers for the people who saw the sign as well as reciting some Scriptures that seemed to just pop up.

At the end of the hour I folded up the cross and headed back to the car. Much later that evening when I checked my emails, I came across one that said, "Hey Wayne, was that you I saw standing on Town Lake parkway with a cross that said, "are you ready"?

Yes, that was me. I didn't think I would be recognized with the ball cap and the sunglasses. Not that I was trying to hide...I just wanted the cross to be the focus; not me.

Over 3,200 folks in cars and trucks and motorcycles saw the question.

Not a bad debut!