wound

Most people want to avoid as much pain in life as possible. Think about it; you don’t know anyone who likes getting stung by a bee, banging their knee on a piece of furniture, or breaking an arm. But the parents of Gabby Gingras want one thing for their daughter above all else: for her to feel pain.

In late 2001, most Americans were still reeling from the coordinated terrorist attacks that shook the entire world. However, a very select few – members of the CIA’s highly trained Team Echo – found themselves in Afghanistan leading Operation Jawbreaker, America’s first retaliation against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Unfortunately, some of them would learn that friendly fire is just as deadly as the enemy’s.

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

Joseph was a proud Maasai Warrior living in eastern Africa when he first heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the side of a hot, dusty road. In that moment, he dedicated his life to Christ and immediately made plans to share the Good News with members of his tribe.

But this warrior had never been in a fight like the one he was about to walk into.

If you want to know what the face of forgiveness looks like, just take a glance at the face of Rev. Johannes Christian. Now…be warned: it’s a horribly disfigured face…one that has required approximately 40 reconstructive surgeries in the past decade.

But his is literally the face of forgiveness, nonetheless.

The act of baptism is usually a painless event. There’s not much to it: take a sinner who desires to follow Christ…and add water. Ta da! That’s baptism: as profound as it is simple.

But history tells of at least one very painful baptism in the life of the Christian church.