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Key Bible Verses: The Good News of salvation … came by a direct revelation from Jesus Christ himself (Galatians 1:11–12). Bonus Reading: Job 42:1–6

Ninoy Aquino was the exiled leader of the Philippines' political opposition in the 1970s and '80s who returned home only to be assassinated on the Manila airport tarmac.

Earlier, in 1972, as dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law, Aquino was arrested with some 800 opposition leaders. All were released within three months—except for Aquino and Senator José "Pepe" Diokno.

For a whole month Aquino was held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell, allowed to wear only his underclothes and eat very limited rations.

He started out angry with his undeserved harsh treatment. But Aquino told how, in the midst of his frustration he heard a voice: "Why do you cry? I've gifted you with honors denied to millions of your countrymen. Now that I visit you with a slight desolation, you whimper like a spoiled brat." Aquino fell to his knees, asked God for forgiveness and "picked up my cross and followed Him."

Now, in long hours of meditation, he found inner peace and saw something providential in his persecution: "If only for my conversion, I should owe the tyrant my eternal gratitude."

—Gordon T. Smith in Beginning Well

My Response: In what situation did I pick up my cross?

Thought to Apply: God enters by a private door into every individual.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist and poet, 19th century)

Adapted from: Beginning Well (InterVarsity, 2000) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

I thank you, God, that although Christ is the only way to You, You draw men to Him in many ways.

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