Roy Angell tells the experience...
Illustration
Roy Angell tells the experience of a missionary friend, Mrs. McRae, who was serving in the Gaza Strip. She received a shipment of clothing sent for her school children from the United States. The clothing was sorted into small bundles, and marked for either a boy or girl. When Mrs. McRae opened one of the bundles she found that a New Testament had been placed in a pocket. In checking other bundles, she found the same thing. Since there was a severe penalty in that area for distributing religious literature to anyone unless requested, she had to remove the Testaments and take them home in a gunny sack. However, on her way home the sack was stolen by some boys who thought it contained food. When they discovered the contents, they dumped the Testaments in the street. As Mrs. McRae was picking them up she was seen by a policeman who arrested her for distributing Christian literature, and she was told to appear in court the next morning.
At 2 a.m. Mrs. McRae heard a knock at her door. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find a student there with her mother. The girl told her that her father, a captain in the Arab army, wanted to see her at once. She quickly went to his home, where he asked her to relate her story. He said, "Because you are a woman, it will be a disgrace for you to appear in court. You will lose the respect of everyone in the city. Therefore, I will stand in your stead."
At the time, she didn't realize what it would cost him to stand in her stead in the court, but several days later she learned that it meant disgrace for him too. She found that by saying a word in her behalf he had been banished from his country. As Mrs. McRae told the story, she said, "He stood in my stead."
This is what Jesus did for each one of us as he suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of each one of us.
-- Dessem
At 2 a.m. Mrs. McRae heard a knock at her door. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find a student there with her mother. The girl told her that her father, a captain in the Arab army, wanted to see her at once. She quickly went to his home, where he asked her to relate her story. He said, "Because you are a woman, it will be a disgrace for you to appear in court. You will lose the respect of everyone in the city. Therefore, I will stand in your stead."
At the time, she didn't realize what it would cost him to stand in her stead in the court, but several days later she learned that it meant disgrace for him too. She found that by saying a word in her behalf he had been banished from his country. As Mrs. McRae told the story, she said, "He stood in my stead."
This is what Jesus did for each one of us as he suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of each one of us.
-- Dessem
