Alvin Lai

What does it mean to die on a cross? It sounds so trivial - just nail your hands and feet to wood and stay that way till you die.

I found a better description..

"Death by crucifixion seems to include all the pain and death can have of horrible and ghastly - dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleepiness, traumatic fever, tetanus, shame, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds, all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.

The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the arteries - especially at the head and stomach - became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood."

Whilst clearing my room for a certain visitor, I chanced on this old church bulletin which contained an article that moved me then and even now.

Finaly found time to type it out to share with you guys. Here goes:

In that place between wakefulness and dreams, I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features save for the one wall covered with small indexcard files. They were like the ones in the library that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, which stretched from floor to ceiling and seemingly endlessly in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was one that read "Girls I Have Liked". I opened it and began flipping through the cards..