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Steve Brown is a broadcaster whose rich bass voice is a familiar sound to radio listeners on his Key Life Network. Hashing It Out, the TV program discussion of issues he shares with Tony Campolo, has won a wide audience for their refreshingly candid approach. Steve also teaches preaching at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He served as a pastor for more than 25 years, is a sought-after conference speaker, and writes books. His latest: What Was I Thinking?

Have you heard the story of how boys were initiated into manhood and admitted to the circle of braves in one American Indian tribe?

The boy was taken from his family and led out into the forest. Then he was told that he must spend the entire night there alone—and left to his own devices.

You can imagine what an ordeal this would be. To untrained senses and to an unleashed imagination, every sound would seem to foretell an attack by some fearsome night predator, and every shadow would conjure up a huge monster.

But, as day broke and the sun rose over the mountains, the boy's first sight would be his father. All night long, in silence and just out of the boy's vision, his father had stood, bow and arrow ready, watching over and protecting his son. With incredible delight, the boy would run to his father, shouting, "Father, you were there all along!"

Father, for me, too, You have been there all along.

Adapted from Jumping Hurdles (Baker, 1992) by permission.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, You see me, guide me, hold me close. Nowhere can I be lost from You. I am safe everywhere because You are near.

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