Pastor Wurmbrand worked his way through the others prisoners to where another pastor sat motionless on the floor. He had just been thrown into the cell. He was badly beaten. Wurmbrand did not know if he would survive the night.
With loving compassion Pastor Wurmbrand knelt down beside the beaten pastor and asked, “My brother . . . can you say the prayer, ‘Father forgive them’?”
The man winced with pain, touching his swollen, bruised face. It was difficult to speak. The words came out slowly, “I cannot.”
Just as Pastor Wurmbrand began feeling sympathy for the man, the beaten pastor began to speak again. With tears in his eyes he said, “My prayer is not ‘forgive them.’ My prayer is . . . ‘Father, forgive them and me.’ If I had been a better pastor, perhaps there would have been more converted torturers.”
This weary pastor expressed his concern for the missed opportunities to convert his enemies to Christ. Both pastors realized a young member of Romania’s Communist Youth Organization was once arrested and unmercifully beaten by a supposedly Christian police officer. This incident hardened his heart toward Christ for the rest of his life. This missed opportunity for the gospel finally became the dictator of the former Communist nation of Romania. Nicolai Ceausescu was responsible for the torture of countless Christians, including Pastor Wurmbrand and his fellow beaten pastor.
No regret is greater than that from a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, life often brings missed opportunities like the birth of a child, a Christmas morning, or even that last flight out going home. However, nothing compares to the missed opportunity to change another person’s eternal destiny. We never know how the seemingly nominal person sitting next to us on the train one day might affect the world for Christ—if only we said something. Equally true is the possibility that breaking our silence might detour a determined Christian opponent. You may count many missed opportunities for the gospel in your past. However, you can change your future by seizing the opportunities given to you each day to share your faith.
