03/31/2026
Long ago I heard a story about a missionary sharing the Gospel in a place where embracing Christ meant being disowned, shamed, and shunned by one's own family. He preached on a beach, and a translator conveyed his words into the native language. The missionary shared the story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. He explained that there is one true God who loves them and offers the gift of eternal life.
Then the missionary picked up a stick and drew a line in the sand.
“If you are willing to renounce this world and the false gods of this world, and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, step across this line,” he said.
The translator hesitated. "Are you sure you want to say that?" he asked. "If anyone crosses that line, they can never go home again. They will be outcasts. Their families will hold funerals for them, because to them, they will be as good as dead. If anyone crosses that line, they will walk away with only the clothes on their backs—and nothing else.”
But the missionary was firm. “Translate it, please.” And so he did.
Nobody moved.
Then, a thirteen-year-old boy stepped forward. He didn’t cross the line. He stopped just short of it, staring down at the line in the sand. He knew exactly what that line meant. He understood what it would cost him if he crossed it: he would lose everything.
He paused. Everyone watched.
And then he stepped across the line.
He was the only person who received Christ that day, and it cost him his family, his home, and all that he had.
Later, he said, "As I looked at that line, everyone was thinking about what I would lose, but I was thinking about what I would gain.”
Today, that same line stands before each of us—not on a beach, but across eternity.
A line of surrender to Christ.
A line between life and death. �Between heaven and hell.
A Crimson Line.
Will you cross it?
