The Shame of the cross

Joyce listened to the voice on the answering machine with a grim line on her face."Joyce,this is patti calling again. Listen, I'm really sorry about everything. Please call me back."
   Joyce didn't want to have anything more to do with her ex-friend. Joyce confided in Patti that she needed her emotions healed from a past victimization. How dare patti tell the women's prayer group at the church that Joyce had been raped!
    Joyce shut her bedroom door and went into her regular morning prayer. She sang praises to God. She thanked him for grace and mercy. What a blessing it is to be able to commune with God, to know God, to be his friend, she prayed.Joyce realized it was because of Jesus' death on the cross that she had salvation. She was no longer an enemy. She was reconciled."I am reconciled with you God,"Joyce repeated the sentence. It rang in her ears."....And I am a minister of reconciliation," she said slowly. If Christ had to die to reconcile her to himself, she would have to do the same to walk in harmony with others." but patti was wrong,wrong,wrong Joyce thought. Why did everything have to come back to her? Why couldn't God just let her point a finger? The telephone rang and Patti's voice came on the answering machine again. This time Joyce picked up the receiver.
     The shame of the cross is real. In fact, while Jesus died, people scorned and ridiculed him, and they challenged him to demonstrate his devine powers and liberated himself from the cross. That Jesus refused
is,indeed, the power and glory of his atonement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jczvtDxEcXY