Friends,
Someone has been kidnapped by a cruel and ruthless enemy –one that has a king even more merciless. The Good Commander has asked for volunteers… to train to go, to infiltrate the land, to find the one who’s been captured, and rescue him from the hand of the enemy.

No one volunteers. They’ve heard the reports about this evil realm… that few come back alive. That often the efforts to save any who have been taken to their prisons are wasted efforts. Besides, no one there knows this particular prisoner; only that he was some sort of vile scoundrel.

The Commander looks around, and waits. Strained silence…

Then a lad steps from the back. It’s the water boy, the one who does the chores… serves the soldiers their meals, and cleans up after them… a very scrawny, unimpressive lad…

He makes his way through the crowd of men to the front, and kneels before the Good Commander. “I’ll go, Sir, if You will have me.”

There is a long pause. The Commander looks grimly toward the horizon, as if waiting for the boy’s courage to spark the same in a few men. But… –nothing.

“You are wanted,” The Commander says. “Stand up. And come with Me.”

The training is grueling. But the boy’s small frame strengthens and he memorizes all instructions.

The day comes. The boy goes. But… as soon as he crosses into the enemy’s territory, he’s promptly shot down. The boy winces in pain as he lies quietly, trying to catch his breath. Blood from the shrapnel spreads across his clothes. But he remembers the instructions: Keep going forward. Never retreat. Use wisdom. Rehearse My Words.

The boy remains motionless, then in one split second, he bolts to the nearest tree. He waits. All is quiet. So he continues on, zig-zagging his way from tree to tree, hiding, waiting, going forward. He comes to a wide, treeless area. It’s a long way to crawl on one’s stomach, but he starts out. He crawls and crawls, rests, and crawls some more. The man in the dungeon somewhere ahead is the vision he keeps in his mind. It compels him on. He doesn’t even know the man, but a love for him has been growing mightily within. The love is not from himself, but is a love the Commander put inside of him as He was training him. The boy knows the Commander loves and cares for everyone deeply, and because he himself has loved the Commander all his life, he continually strives to be just like Him.

There is a sudden deafening noise and the boy feels something hot go through his arm. He looks down and it is a mangled mess. Another loud noise. The boy puts his good hand to his stomach and feels his intestines spilling out. He’s dying. Why did the Commander think that the salvation of the vile prisoner was worth this? One life for another? A righteous youth’s life thrown away in an attempt to save some old bum? How many more lives would the Commander ask to be wasted for him?

These questions come to the boy, but he remembers that no one else had volunteered to save this man. So the boy forces his thoughts back to rehearse the Commander’s words: “If you start to die, think about Love, about Me, and about My desire that we save that captive one. Keep going forward, and you will not die, but begin to heal.”

The boy obeyed the instructions. He squirmed forward, dragging his torn-up arm, and his exposed belly scrapping across the stones was excruciating. But, as he crawled forward, the Commander’s words were coming true. Soon he was able to get up and run and dart afresh –but only to be shot down again!

Through the night, through the days, through the weeks, this continues. The bursts of joy and energy are short-lived, the durations of pain long-lasting.

One day the boy comes to a high hill. He looks back and sees that he’s indeed come a long, long way. How much further forward he doesn’t know, for the signs he’s to be watching for are not yet in view.

But the boy remembers his assignment, and his love for the Commander, and the love the Commander put into him for the scoundrel. So once again, with simple determination, he continues forward.

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