
This
past week I had a wonderful - although short - visit with my parents in
Amarillo. Other than a wonderful family time of visiting and catching
up, I especially enjoyed a second trip out to the famous "world's
largest cross in the western hemisphere"
in Groom, Texas.
For those of you who travel -
it's along the old Route 66 about an hour outside Amarillo. It's
definitely worth the stop. This time - we planned it close to sunset
so we could see what that God-made affect - as well as the manmade night
lighting - had on the cross. I took a few pictures and wanted to show them
to you.
Although being present in person
is where the real experience happens - maybe these pictures will share
a bit of the emotion. It's very moving.



The
cross is 19 stories tall and the construction was funded by just one
gentleman on forty acres of land. That's my dad at the bottom left of the
cross illustrating the scale.

Not
for the feint of heart - standing at the bottom looking up for this last
picture nearly caused me to fall backwards. I had never experienced
that sensation before. It's just too massive to capture.


Along
the bottom of the cross there are life size statues of Jesus during the last
moments of his life - beginning with his meeting with Pilate. It
continued on with various scenes leading up to his crucifixion - then the
cross - and an extremely moving depiction of the empty tomb. I will
only share a few pictures - to whet your appetite to view it on your own.

(I do apologize for the absence of trees in these photos. I couldn't see
one in any direction I looked. It seems to be a strange phenomenon
common to this part of Texas. As they say - 'a nice place to visit,
but . . . "



The
stone by the Open Tomb . . .

The
angel inside . . .


These
are pictures of the cross showing the changes as the sun set. Of
course, magnify these 100x as to how amazing it actually looked.


And
now lit by the spotlights . . .


Here's
an amazing shot of the crosses - with the moon seen above them . . .

And last - the
replica of the Shroud of Turin they also house onsite . . .


Thanks
for allowing me to share this experience with you. Hopefully some of you
will be able to add it to an agenda of a trip you plan in the future. It's
worth it to try to time it at evening though, although the statues are not
lit - so make sure you get there with daylight left to appreciate the entire
experience. There is also a wonderful gift shop with a vast collection of
spiritual art work. That itself was worth the price of admission
(which is all free, btw.)


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