The gifts of the Master are these: freedom, life, hope, new
direction, transformation, and intimacy with God. If the cross was
the end of the story, we would have no hope. But the cross isn't
the end. Jesus didn't escape from death; he conquered it and opened
the way to heaven for all who will dare to believe. The truth of
this moment, if we let it sweep over us, is stunning. It means
Jesus really is who he claimed to be, we are really as lost as he
said we are, and he really is the only way for us to intimately and
spiritually connect with God again.