The goodness of God is powerfully demonstrated in a story about an American naval vessel, the USS Pueblo, which was hijacked several years ago by the North Korean Military.

The USS Pueblo’s 82 crew members were brutally tortured. In one incident, 13 of the men were forced to sit around a table. A North Korean soldier stepped in and began to beat the man in the first chair with the butt of his rifle. The second day, the guard brutalized that same man in the first chair, and again on the third day.

On the fourth day, a young sailor, realizing that the man would not live through another beating, sat in the first chair in his place, and the cruel guard beat this victim until he was nearly dead. For weeks, a different man took his turn in that first chair, knowing what would happen. Finally, the guards gave up – powerless in the face of that kind of sacrificial love.

Friend, I want to share the good news of God’s sacrificial love here on the streets of Skid Row.

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