In The Now:

     Soldier of The Cross, do not miss the thing that is right before you.

     Remember, there is an enemy who is roaming about and is seeking to devour.  He would love to cripple you in order to deflect your attention from any point of ministry.

     Speaking of which, you have a responsibility to be a minister of Life.  His Life. 

     I have yet to meet a real Christian who says he has never gone through any fiery trial.  The issue is, how is that trial met?

     I remember a dramatic story of a man in North Vietnam who was a Christian.  So was his wife.  The communists arrested them, imprisoned him and put the  wife naked in a wooden cage and dragged her around the village for a day.  We do not know her fate, but the husband was buried alive.

     As the last shovel of dirt was about to be thrown on his face,  the Christian Brother said to the man assigned to the task, "Jesus loves you and so do I.  When you are born again, please find my daughter and tell her that you have met Jesus."

     I heard this story from the daughter's own mouth.  Several years after her father had been buried alive, the man who shoveled the dirt  found her in America.  He told her that he had met the Lord Jesus Christ and had accepted Him as his Savior.  Her father's killer then led her to the Lord.

     She gave the account in humility and in tears.

     Soldier of The Cross, do not loose the moment.
     It is about eternity.