Grace for the Moment © 2000 by Max Lucado A Meeting of Moments [They] put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But this was God’s plan which he had made long ago. ACTS 2:23 The cross was no accident. Jesus’ death was not the result of a panicking cosmological engineer. The cross wasn’t a tragic surprise. Calvary was not a knee-jerk response to a world plummeting toward destruction. It wasn’t a patch-up job or a stop-gap measure. The death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril. No, it was part of an incredible plan. A calculated choice. The moment the forbidden fruit touched the lips of Eve, the shadow of a cross appeared on the horizon. And between that moment and the moment the man with the mallet placed the spike against the wrist of God, a master plan was fulfilled. God Came Near