Say Prison is Good, Not Jesus

“You are saying it wrong,” the exasperated guard instructed the elderly Chinese believer. “You are supposed to say ‘Prison is good,’ not ‘Jesus is good.’”

    Al Ling smiled. “But prison is not good. That’s the point. Am I supposed to lie?”
    

“Then give me fifty push-ups!” the frustrated Communist guard commanded. “Just like yesterday.”

    Seventy-year-old Al Ling did her push-ups and returned to her camp. Ling’s husband had been arrested for spreading the gospel, and he had passed away. Now she was in prison for telling her fellow Chinese people about the love of Christ.

    “Food is good, prison is good!” the prisoners were forced to shout as instructed after a hard day’s labor in the field. “Jesus is better!” Her strong voice stuck out from the crowd.
    

“Al Ling, do you want more push-ups today?” the guard asked.

    “I want you to know how much Jesus loves you,” she smiled in response. She was thrilled at the opportunity to tell the Communist guards and other prisoners how good Jesus was, even if it meant doing daily push-ups. Upon her release, the guards decided to interrogate her one last time. “Where does your husband work?” the young guard asked.

    “Oh, he is doing underground work,” she answered. The interested guard took out a notepad. Al Ling smiled, “He passed away years ago.”

Al Ling was no theologian. She was not a practiced orator. Yet with her innocent, steadfast, and even humorous replies, she was able to confound the Communist enemies. We may play mind games, wondering what we would say or do if we were in the same situation. Could we think on our feet? Jesus reminds us that we ought not worry about what we will say when we are asked to defend our faith. We are not asked to give a prepared speech. We are asked to rely on him for words of wisdom—at the moment we need them most. When that moment arrives, God will give you the words to say to be an effective witness for his sake.

Source: Extreme Devotion