What A Fine Chap You Are!

Over the last week I have been immersed in a book that has been
floating around the Western RLGS circuit for a number of years:
"Jesus Freak" (Not just a song by the greatest hiphop/rap/soul
CHRSTN band of all time featuring Kevin, Toby Mac & Michael T -
three men who held my heart for ransom through most of the 90's)
I picked the book up in a bored whim, attracted by the tattered pages
 and the promise of an easy read post the mind-numbing confusion
that was Stein's "Three Lives".  But I was instantly surprised and
challenged by the contents of this "JSS Freak" phenomenon's child. 
The stories of those persecuted and murdered in this book took on a
whole new meaning to me when my mind put faces to the names of
 these martyrs.  The Chinese child killed for her mother's devotion was
 Rose, the two Chinese girls who PRYD for their PSTR'S conscience
seconds before he betrayed and murdered them were Zoe and Halley,
 and the boy who smuggled books across the Yangzte on his back
was David.  I was blown away.  There are people back home in
America who are constantly praising my efforts, talking about the
things I have given up to live here in China.  Honestly, who am I? 
What have I done?  How does only having hot water for 3 hours a day
compare to watching your children die for their own small FTH? 
Its true, we cannot all die for our FTH; we are called to different things
 by the Father.  What I do envy and what I can glean from these shining
examples, is the joy.  There is joy in suffering, there is joy facing the
barrel of a gun, and there is joy in the discovery of a passionate SVR. 
There is joy to be had and I love this story I included below.  I hope it
will challenge you the way it challenged me: to remember the joy that
we have in our GD           

"CHRSTNTY has become dramatic with us," wrote PSTR Richard Wurmbrand, a
leader of the underground CHRCH in Communist Romania. "When CHRSTNS in free
countries win a soul for CHRST, the new BLVR may become a member of a
quietly living church. But them those in captive nations win someone, we know
that he may have to go to prison and that his children may become orphans. The
joy of having brought someone to CHRST is always mixed with this feeling that
there is a price to be paid.

"When I was still living behind the Iron Curtain, I had met a Russian captain.
He loved GD, he longed after GD, but he had never seen a BBL. He had never
attended RLGS services. He had no RLGS education, but he loved GD
without the slightest knowledge of Him."

"I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of JSS. After hearing
them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy, proclaiming, 'what a
wonderful beauty! How could I live without knowing this CHRST?' It was the
first time that I saw someone jubilating in CHRST."

"Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion and crucifixion of CHRST,
without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it. When he heard how
CHRST was beaten, how He was crucified, and that in the end He died, he fell
in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a SVR and now
his SVR was dead!"

"I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called myself a CHRSTN and a
PSTR, a teacher of others, I had never shared the sufferings of CHRST as
this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him was, for me, like seeing
Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross or at the empty tomb."

"Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. When he heard this wonderful
news, that the SVR arose from the tomb, he slapped his knees, and shouted
joy: 'He is alive! He is alive!' Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed
with happiness!"

"I said to him, 'Let us PRY!'"

"He fell o his knees together with me. He did not know our HLY phrases. His
words of PRYR were, 'O GD, what a fine chap You are! If I were You and You
were me, I would never have forgiven You Your sins. But You are really a very
nice chap! I love You with all my heart'."

"I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen
to this sublime PRYR from this Russian officer. When this man received
CHRST, he knew he would immediately lose his position as an officer, that
prison and perhaps death in jail would almost surely follow. He gladly paid the
price. He was ready to lose everything."