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LeRoy Eims was in the Marine division that wrested the island of Peleliu from 10,000 dug-in Japanese soldiers. A dying Marine grabbed him. "Mate, I need help," he pled. "Do you know how to pray?" LeRoy had no idea. But after the war, he bought a Bible. "I started where it tells about King James issuing a proclamation," he recalled. "Then I got to Genesis, and things picked up a bit." After reading the Bible to the end, he asked Jesus into his life, kept growing, and served with The Navigators for more than 50 years.

One spring our family was driving from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa, Florida. As far as the eye could see, orange trees were loaded with fruit. When we stopped for breakfast, I ordered orange juice with my eggs. "I'm sorry," the waitress said. "I can't bring you juice. Our machine broke."

I was dumbfounded. Was the problem no juice? Hardly. We were surrounded by thousands of gallons of juice. And since orange slices garnished our plates, they had oranges in the kitchen. The problem was they'd become dependent on a machine to get it.

Christians are sometimes like that. They may be surrounded by Bibles in their homes, but if something should happen to the Sunday morning preaching service, they'd have no nourishment for their souls. The problem is not a lack of spiritual food—but that many Christians haven't grown enough to know how to get it for themselves.

Adapted from The Lost Art of Disciple Making (Zondervan, 1978) 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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