If you look at a map of the Rocky Mountain States, you will notice a serpentine line that winds its way from north to south, tracing through some of the highest peaks and roughest terrain in the United States. Look closely, you will see that this line represents what is commonly called “The Great Divide or the Continental Divide.”

It is a watershed that divides one side of the continent from the other. While traveling in Butte, Montana I stood with one foot on one side and one foot on the other side of the Continental Divide. What makes the Divide so special is that all the moisture that falls on one side flows into streams and then rivers that ultimately lead to the Atlantic Ocean. The moisture that falls on the other side of the line flows into different rivers and streams that ultimately end in the Pacific.

The Continental Divide that I write about today is not a winding course across a great mountain range, but a line that separates men and women, good and evil, even life and death. There is a Great Divide in all our lives and it is the cross of Christ. The cross and the message it represents divides us all. However, we must all decide what we will do with the cross of Christ.

The cross of Christ is of course a symbol. As “the fish” and the dove are symbols, the cross is the preeminent sign of Christianity because it represents the sacrificial death of Christ. This week we will examine how the cross divides. Do you believe in the cross of Christ? What happened 2,000 years ago is essential to what we believe today!