Conviction

Last week I had the honor to join my pastor, Lukus Counterman, and to other men from my church, Mark Deboe and Josh Longoria, in attending a superb Christian leadership conference at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. We heard some exceptional teaching from the Bible on the theme "Trusted with the Truth."

On Thursday night, Dr. Mark Minnick used a poem by Amy Carmichael to illustrate how easy life is for most Christians. The few words from the poem he shared pierced my soul. Here is the verse in its entirety from a woman who spent 55 years in India ministering the good news of Jesus Christ:

NO SCAR?

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers; spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And piercèd are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who hast no wound or scar?