"For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die." (Philippians 1:20, NLT)
You may have noticed in recent months that at the bottom of my e-mail page is a brief note about a young 18 year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, who, in 1910, when "he heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'" An Australian newspaper wrote of Peter-- "In 1918 he arrived in China as a Norwegian Evangelical Free Church missionary, under the auspices of the China Inland Mission" (the mission begun by Hudson Taylor). After two years of language study, Torjesen's childhood sweetheart, Valborg Tonnessen, was able to join him (They married in 1922). They were dispatched, at their request, to the toughest place on the map: Hequ, a city of 10,000 alongside the Great Wall, on the Yellow River, the gateway to Inner Mongolia, on the edge of a fearsome desert. It took five days to reach it by mule from Taiyuan. The previous missionary had been killed there by the Boxers.
"They survived civil war, famine, and, in Peter's case, typhoid. Then came the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. The Torjesens sheltered large numbers of Chinese refugees at their mission station....On December 14, 1939, they were bombed by Japanese warplanes. Peter died soon after, killed by the centre-beam of the collapsing house. He was the first missionary to die in that war."
"And my life," is not an addendum to the call of Jesus Christ. It is the call of Jesus Christ. "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and if need be, in dying also]." How can anyone be proud in light of all this?!?
Father, in Jesus' Name, I want to "disown, forget, lose sight of" myself "and [my] own interests, refuse and give up [my]self"--- to You. Amen.
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For a photo of Peter, go to: www.apfdevotionals.blogspot.com
Be sure to see updated news: www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com
When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
