CROSS WITNESSING AT 4,245 PEOPLE PER HOUR

Fellow street evangelist and originator of the "Are You Ready" cross, Tony Miano, recently went to do what he does often in his home area in Southern California: stand on a street corner holding his cross for an hour or two at a time while cars and pedestrians pass by.

Tony produced and posted on his blogsite today a 7 and a half minute video of himself doing so, with a bite from one of Paul Washer's powerful sermons regarding the true meaning of the cross of Christ on the accompanying soundtrack.

The sermon is awesome and well worth the listen. That being said, what Paul Washer sermon isn't?

But what about the visuals? It's just 7.5 minutes of a guy with a cross with a question on it standing on the corner of a busy intersection as cars from all points go whizzing by.

"An excercise in futility!", one may think.

But it's what God sees, that we don't see, that's important to consider in this excercise which is: what's goes on in the hearts and minds of the people in the passing cars who spot the cross, the question and the fool.

We don't remember the mundane everyday things we see when we're going from Point A to Point B in our cars. But we do remember the unusual things and make mention about them or think about them at some point later in the day, do we not? I do.

But is the effort worth it? Well, check this out and see:

Tony's video only shows 7.5 minutes of however long he stood at the intersection with the cross. I watched the video a second time to count the number of cars that passed by in that time frame. (Yes, I do have a life. I was just curious about this.)

And in those 7.5 minutes, a total of 377 cars drove by via the 4 corners of the intersection.

Realistically, let's say inside, there are on average 1.5 people per car. If so, then in those 7.5 minutes on the video, a rounded number of 566 people saw Tony and read the question on the cross.

If Tony stood on that corner for 60 minutes (which he probably did) with an average of 566 people passing by per 7.5 minutes, then, let's seeeee...tickety, tickety, tick...ding!!

At grand total of 4,528 people drove home with something to think about!

Tony's work is done. From that point on the Holy Spirit continues His work in the hearts and minds of the passing motorists.

Because the sight of a man on a street corner holding a cross with the question "Are You Ready" is rather unusual, I believe many of those who saw this unusual sight talked to someone about it later and maybe even went to bed thinking about it that night.

For some, a seed may have been planted. For others, a watering of a an earlier seed planting took place. And, yet, for some others still, what they saw might be the the very thing that God uses to bring sinners under conviction and drive them to their knees in repentance and faith in Christ for their eternal salvation, once and for all!

Think of that while you watch the video. Listen carefully to Washer's message.

But don't bother counting the cars. As much as you wanted to, it has already been taken care of.