[ampaterry]

I am 69 years old, and every ache and pain reminds me of my mortality. As I age, my own approaching death becomes more real to me, and life becomes more and more precious. I consider things like what I live for, and what I would die for, which reminds me of this story told by Ron Blue:

During the Korean War, a group of believers were in a little chapel when communist soldiers barged in with machine guns. One of the soldiers said, "All right everybody, get up!" So they got off their knees. He said, "Line up against the wall!" They did what the soldier said to do. Then that soldier ripped the picture of Christ off the wall and threw it down on the floor. He said, "All right, one by one, I want you to come by here, spit on this picture, and curse His name."

The first three in line were men of the church, they did what the soldier said to do. They spit on the picture and they cursed the name of Christ. The fourth one in line was a high school girl. She came up before the picture and she dropped to her knees. She wiped the spittle off with her skirt, and she said, "Go ahead and kill me. I cannot curse His name."

The soldier said, "Get up!" They blindfolded that girl and the three men, and marched them out behind the chapel. The people inside heard three shots. The soldiers came back in with the girl -- alive. The soldier said, "Anyone who gives up what they believe that easily is not fit to be a communist." And they marched out.

Matthew 16:25-26 (KJV);
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

If it should ever come to it, and God forbid that it would – do you KNOW what you would do? Perhaps none of us can KNOW for sure, but we need to think about this, because SHOULD we ever face it, we need to be prepared to give the only acceptable answer; in favor of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Our eternal lives depend upon it!

May God bless each one of you -