Written by: Lourieke Haller
Article source: JOY! Magazine
Uncle Denis Oliver is the founder of Crosses for Christ, a South African ministry that has been making beautiful wooden crosses out of yellowwood and olive wood for more than 22 years. The comfort crosses have rounded edges so that cancer sufferers and others who are seriously ill can easily hold the cross with the encouraging words in their hands.
Each cross is packaged with either a salvation prayer or an encouraging text, which is why churches, ministries, evangelism workers, hospital ministries, and similar charities have been using it with great success.
Koinonia Discipleship Training Academy in Mossel Bay recently took over the business from Uncle Denis and also uses the crosses for their evangelistic work. However, Uncle Denis is still involved in quality control and, as always, not a single cross is sent without praying over the cross and blessing the work it will do.
Calling in 1983
The remarkable story of faith and God’s calling started in 1983 when Uncle Denis knew God was calling him to surrender his life to Him, but at 45 years old, Uncle Denis was too busy building his own dream. However, within the short period of 18 months, Gill (his wife) and him lost everything they had due to unforeseen circumstances. Now, God had Uncle Denis’ full attention…
Uncle Denis and his wife, Gill
A Crisis moment
“Things went from bad to worse and I finally had to surrender my life to Jesus Christ unconditionally,” he says. “But where do you begin when everything is lost, you are unemployed, you need to provide and you do not have a clue of what Trust and Faith mean? I was desperate and wrongly thought that now that I had given my life to Jesus all would be good to go in no time. How wrong I was! Instead of improving, it seemed to go from bad to worse. We survived the first year by me doing odd jobs, but clearly I was not making progress.”
It was at this moment of crisis that the calling for Uncle Denis became clear.
“Have you ever experienced a day in your life when no matter what you did or said, things simply went from bad to worse and you could not wait for the day to end? Well that day for me was the 1st of December 1986. The day ended with me wanting nothing more to do with the day or with anyone around me. All I wanted to do was to get to bed early and hope the next day would be better. I did just that and as I lay in bed with my new Bible at my side, I tried to get a grip on things and figure out what had happened to my life. I wondered if life as I knew it was even worth living. I am by nature a positive person but at that time I felt that I was running out of fingers and thumbs to stop the dam wall from bursting and washing me away completely.”
A vision in the night
“Then it happened. I had a strong urge to get out of bed, go on my knees and pray as best I knew how, and confront God directly, boldly and demand an answer as to any hope or purpose for my life. This was my prayer to God on the night of 1 December 1986.
‘Lord, I feel completely drained and I am desperate to know if there is any purpose for my life. I also need to know from you if you are God and if you are, that you will speak to me and help me. I know I am being demanding but I have to have an answer to my prayer tonight as tomorrow could be too late. Also Lord, the answer, if there is one, must come directly from you and not through someone else who may think they have a word for me from you. Amen.’
“I crawled back into bed and fell asleep immediately. Around 3 am the next morning I awoke, sat up in bed and in front of me I saw the brightest and clearest vision reading Genesis 15:1. I immediately reached for my new Bible to look for Genesis knowing it was somewhere near the front as I was sure I had seen it before. To my surprise, there it was, the very first book in the Bible, so easy to find. Genesis 15:1 is the Lord’s covenant with Abram. ‘After these things the Word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying ‘Fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.’
I immediately replaced Abram’s name with my own and I have claimed that vision and answer to my demanding prayer since that day and have no doubt that God heard my prayer and answered me.”
Wooden crosses of hope
“I very quickly found myself being drawn to the cross and felt a great sense of peace whenever I saw a cross or the cross was spoken about. Little did I know that the Holy Spirit was at work and gently leading me to become involved in the making of wooden crosses.”
Uncle Denis started small, but as his work progressed, he offered my limited range of crosses to churches and ministries and was surprised at the response he was getting.
Examples of some of the cards that are included in the packaging with the crosses.
He had the following to say about the cross and the meaning of the little wooden crosses: “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18: ‘Jesus, use your word powerfully in my life and help me be a faithful witness of your saving love, Amen.’
My prayer is, ‘Jesus, use Your Word powerfully in my life and help met to be a faithful witness of Your saving love.’
I give thanks for the Comfort Cross, because of the comforting reminder of all that has been done for us that we may enter into such a personal relationship with God. It is to know the Holy Spirit’s presence wherever we may go and whatever we may be experiencing in life. It is also a reminder that this world is not the end of all that is lovely. Pain will no longer be a part of this new life. Death itself will have been left behind. Beyond all these things there is a new life waiting for us which is far beyond our imagination. In this new life we will be in the presence of and see God for who He really is. The Comfort Cross, whether it is carried on our person or held in the palm of our hand while praying silently or aloud, is a reminder of all these things. Allow the river of your life to flow freely. If an obstacle appears, God will make a way around it or remove it completely. Trust Him always.”
Click here to KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE weekly newsletter.
Date published: 21/05/2023
DISCLAIMER
JOY! News is a Christian news portal that shares pre-published articles by writers around the world. Each article is sourced and linked to the origin, and each article is credited with the author’s name. Although we do publish many articles that have been written in-house by JOY! journalists, we do not exclusively create our own content. Any views or opinions presented on this website are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.
