We are called not only to follow, but to take up our cross daily.  That means there is a choice.  Some people will say of something over which they have no control that it is just their cross to bear, but the cross is something that we have a choice about bearing.  Paul, with his thorn in the flesh, nerve wrote that it was just his cross to bear.  So, if we are following Christ, what was the cross to Him?  It was a way to die totally to sell and sacrifice everything to the will of the Heavenly Father.  That is the cross we must take up daily.  We must surrender totally to the way that God leads us each day for the advancement of His kingdom.  That means having a burden for lost people everywhere, even those who revile and persecute us.  This is our cross and it is our choice.