“If the Tree Could Speak”

Hello Friends,

Well, did you have a wonderful Easter? Were you able to hunt for Easter Eggs, gather a bag full of candy, and spend time with family and friends as you celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Here at the Church, it was a busy but glorious weekend. On Friday, the church held its annual Good Friday service. On Saturday, several of you gathered for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt that consisted of learning about Holy Week, finding a lost sheep, hunting for eggs, and then having a meal. Then on Sunday, just after the sun rose, we gathered for our Annual SonRise Service which involved having breakfast afterwards. After breakfast, many gathered for Sunday School and then stayed for Worship where Pastor Daniel made paper disappear. It was truly an wonderful Easter day!

For today’s post, I simply want to share with a book I read Easter evening. The title of the book is If the Tree Could Speak: The Story of the Cross that Saw It All. It was written by Tim Tebow. Tebow is a speaker, entrepreneur, college football analyst for ESPN and SEC Networks, and author of five New York Times bestsellers.[1] Prior to his current endeavors, Tebow was an NFL quarterback, a two-time NCAAF national champion, a Heisman Trophy winner, and a College Football Hall of Fame inductee. He’s also the founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation, dedicated to bringing Faith, Hope, and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. Since 2010, the foundation has served some of the world’s Most Vulnerable People—“the real MVps”—across more than one hundred countries through ministry focuses in Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation, Orphan Care and Prevention, Profound Medical Needs, and Special Needs.[2]

Tim Tebow’s book is 121 pages in length and is filled with beautiful and touching and moving pictures of Jesus’ remaining hours on earth, and authentically gives voice, through poetry, to the one thing that carried the weight of Jesus as Jesus carried the weight of the world: the cross. Tebow wrote in the introduction to his book: “The wooden cross—once a brutal instrument of public torture, humiliation, and execution for Rome’s worst criminals—was the closest thing to Jesus of Nazareth during His crucifixion approximately two thousand years ago. [The cross] carried His weight. It felt His blood. It heard His breath.”[3]

From the perspective of the cross, Tim Tebow’s ends his book with these words, “You see, for on my beams there was a price: not only a man’s death but a King’s sacrifice. He didn’t just die on one broken tree. The King came to defeat death, to set you free. And how ironic that I—the cross—once a symbol of pain, would now be a symbol of hope in Jesus’ name. What once brought fear now brings peace instead, for love poured out where His blood was shed. Through my wooden arms, the world can see the depth of God’s love for all humanity. So why should you trust or consider what I say? Because I was the closest thing to Jesus that day.”[1]

In most churches, a cross is visible all year round. Every time people gather for worship, a cross can be seen. The cross is not just an Easter item: it is a sacred icon, a representation of the church’s DNA, a proclamation of what the church has committed to follow and carry, an eternal message of hope, love, and forgiveness, and a constant reminder of what Jesus did for us and what Jesus needs us to do for him and others: to deny ourselves, carry our cross, and follow him. The cross is what leads us and is what we carry. What if the cross could speak?

Today, I invite you to really spend some time thinking about the cross. What if the cross of Christ could speak, what would it say? What if the cross in the church could speak, what sort of stories would it tell? What if the cross in your house could speak, would it share a message of neglect or acknowledgement? So I ask you again, what does the cross mean to you? What is it trying to tell you?

I hope you find some time to read Tim Tebow’s book. It’s a wonderful story that reminds us of the importance of the cross and how the cross changes us.

Have a blessed week!

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!

[1] Tim Tebow, If the Tree Could Speak: The Story of the Cross that Saw It All, Nashville, Tennessee: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc, 2026, pg. 117-120.

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[1] including Shaken, This Is The Day, and the children’s book Bronco and Friends.

[2] Tim Tebow, If the Tree Could Speak: The Story of the Cross that Saw It All, Nashville, Tennessee: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc, 2026, pg. 126-127.

[3] Tim Tebow, If the Tree Could Speak: The Story of the Cross that Saw It All, Nashville, Tennessee: HarperCollins Publishing, Inc, 2026, pg. 3.