There is a small event I remember in my life that has helped to shape my way of thinking. When I was in maybe 4th grade, a missionary spoke at my church camp. I remember him being an older gentleman. Why was there someone from an older generation at a church camp full of heat, mosquitos, and rambunctious 4th graders? It had to be insanity or compassion.
We were in the woods one early evening in an outdoor makeshift chapel. The leaders had us all sitting on long wooden planks held up by tree stumps. There were two rows of benches facing a small elevated stage. This gentleman was front and center on the stage laying his heart out for us. Besides his words, all you could hear was the occasional soft chirping of insects.
He told us about how he and his wife were young missionaries together. They had traveled to a place not visited by many outsiders. While they were there trying to share the Gospel, they had been captured. He and his wife were separated from each other. He was led into a small room where he was tied to a chair. For a long time, his captors tried to get him to denounce his faith in God. They tortured him for hours. When they couldn’t get him to say no to Christ, they then opened a curtain with a window to another room. There they had his young wife tied to a chair like him.
The next part is hard for me to relay, but as the young missionary sat there, they made him watch as they tortured his wife. They tried to get him to give up on Christ, and every time he said no, they would remove part of his wife. He said she kept looking at him and shaking her head to not do what they were telling him to do. She kept pleading with her eyes to remain faithful as he horribly had to stay strong, until they took her eyes and eventually her life.
Somehow his captors gave up and he survived.
Wow! His story has never left me. I think from the day I heard that older gentleman’s story as a young camper, my faith in my Redeemer and my God has been strong. How could I ever think what Christ has done for me is not the most important thing in life? How could I not believe in our God and Creator? Hearing that story helped me to realize that if my God could send His Son to this world to die for me, and if Christ would be tortured and killed for me… if necessary, how could I not do the same for them? Could I be as strong as this gentleman and Jesus’ disciples when tortured for their faith? I have breathed the same prayer many times in life, that I would never, ever say no to God no matter what.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21
-Amy