My relic is an old cross. It’s something that I found over fifteen years ago while visiting my Great Grandmother. She lives in an odd old town; used to be a mining town. Now only three people live there…well it was three at the time, I’m not sure it’s any now as she moved down south a year or so ago and now lives with my grandmother. Anyhow the town is named Dunmovin. It’s a great place to visit for a kid. We would go out there for visits in the summer or for holidays or whenever we wanted to get out of LA county. We live in California. Dunmovin is about two hours drive north of us. So, Grandma’s house is pretty fun, but all around her are other houses, small little shack like houses built out of river rock and mortar. My cousins, siblings and I would go rummage through the rubbish left behind when the town was abandoned. There were lots of clothes and old appliances which had all been deteriorated by rats and the exposure to the elements. None of those old places had windows or anything.

Up by the street there used to be a bustling little service center. A room for rent, a hot meal, etc. Many years ago, before GG-ma and GG-pa (Great Grandma and Great Grandma) moved out there, the place burned down…well half down. We went down one day to rummage through the mess. I found this old cross down there. I was probably ten, no more than twelve. That means I have had it over fifteen and it had been there at least another fifteen or twenty.

We went back up to GG-ma’s place and fished a scrubber and what seemed to be a twenty year old bottle of Brasso out from under the sink in the kitchen and went to work on the old cross. There was residue of some sort in all the cracks. That took some special pocket knife work to get clean. Then Mom or Grandma or someone helped me get a loop in it so I could wear it around my neck.

Some historical value: the cross was likely a crucifix in its original form and is to date, well over thirty years old. It rough cast out of some sort of alloy that turns green when it oxidizes. Probably nickel and aluminum.

Back to the story—it didn’t leave my neck for a good five years or so. Went through several chains in the meantime. One I found, another my Mom gave me and who knows what else I hung it with.

It got transferred to my keychain at some point, probably because I didn’t care much for what it reminded me of. We will talk about that in a minute. Several years ago now, my wife recalled me talking about it. I must have mentioned that I had it out in my toolbox on a key ring with a VW key and a trumpet pin I picked up in high school. She bought me a cool silver chain for Christmas and told me it was for my cross. I couldn’t wait to dig it out at that point. I didn’t even clean it off.

So look at how it is hooked on. I think I wore it two nights and the clasp broke in my sleep. I completely removed the clasp and hooked it on with a tiny key ring. It came off once since then and only because I had to get x-rays done. I plan to keep that record going…not because I believe it has magical powers, quite the opposite.

A few months ago, my wife was having a conversation with a friend of ours about Wicca or something like that. She had some sort of thing around her neck. She told my wife it brings her good luck just like the cross she wears. At that point my wife corrected her, “It doesn’t bring me luck, it is simply a reminder.”

See the cross is not a good luck charm. It’s nothing to be worshiped. Every Christian does not wear one. It is simply a reminder that Christ suffered on the cross, fulfilling the need for atonement for our sins. This is the greatest historical value of the relic. My cross is a daily reminder to trust if God for strength; it is not strength itself.

A Very Important Relic