The 'Cross' Necklace

"Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something." --God v. Science

This came to mind today as I sat in on my first day of a case in jury duty. Although I was very apprehensive about the time I would have to spend away from work, it is turning out to be an amazing experience. Without discussing the case, a twelve year old girl took the stand, and after an hour of questioning, she voluntarily spoke of guilt, carving names and pentagrams into her skin, and suicide. It was enough to break anyone's heart. You could tell her words were unprompted and were spoken out of a need to get them out in the open. What happened next though, was amazing. The Prosecution asked a question that I deemed 'very odd.' She asked about a necklace with a 'cross' charm that the girl had been given as a present by her mother (after she had begun inflicting herself). She seemed taken back that the Prosecuting attorney had any knowledge of the necklace.

Her response was priceless: 'It's a cross necklace, with fake diamonds, but it made me feel better. It helped take away my guilt. (Long Pause) Our family believes in God."

I was moved. What an amazing example of what the cross can do for a person's life, and even though this fairly inarticulate girl was not looking to make a spectacle of her religious beliefs, I couldn't help but think that she had. People would look at you funny, if you wore a necklace with an 'electric chair' around you neck, but the cross is well accepted. The cross was a torture device that people suffered and died on, but somehow wearing that sign of capital punishment served as a reminder of a Savior that takes away guilt. "Darkness is not something, it's the absence of something" rang in my head. It took a 12 year old girl to bring the best true-life example that I could have ever witnessed to this quote. Light truly can illuminate darkness. Think about it.