Whitcomb Bluebook
Brevard, Transylvania County, North Carolina
| Heart Cross | |
| The symbol can be translated, "Love in Christ." Jim has used this with his signature or initials for years; thus signing letters and notes with, "Love in Christ, Jim". |  |
| The two parts of the symbol have expected meanings. The heart stands for Love. "The heart shape… is an ideograph used to express the idea of the 'heart' in its metaphorical or symbolic sense as the core of emotion, affection, and love."† | |
| The cross is the near universally understood symbol for Christianity, and thus for Jesus Christ. By associating the two into one image suggests the intimate connection between Jesus and Love. | |
| The symbol, however, has an opened heart (not a broken heart). This represents two important principles, the essence of which is that Jesus is not contained by love (and certainly not our limited concept of love). | |
| The heart is open at the top forming a funnel allowing our needs, hurts, feelings, and all else upon which we may lay claim into the Lord Jesus. He is willing to accept and redeem all we offer into something beautiful. | |
| The heart is also open at the bottom forming a funnel through which Jesus pours Himself out to us. He died that we may live. That redemption flows out from Him and is made available to each of us. | |
| Jesus cannot be contained. He is not restricted to any box of human origin. Thus, the heart (Jesus' Love) is open, indicating that the cross (Jesus) is not contained within any "box" of any shape or type we imagine. | |
| Just as the cross represents Jesus and not us, so too the heart represents the love of Jesus and not our own very imperfect love. Even if we cannot see love due to our circumstances, we can know that the love of Jesus is still present. | |
| † www.thevintagenews.com, accessed March 2019 | |