Tex and I laugh when people talk about my courage. When we were first married, I was overwhelmed by my new responsibilities. I was now to be the provider and protector. I felt so inadequate.

One night we received obscene phone calls. I was so frightened that I put a dresser in front of the door of our apartment. Then Tex and I slept on the couch in the living room. Tex found out real quick how courageous her new husband was!

I'm a chicken at heart, and yet, I've been to some of the most dangerous areas of the world. I've witnessed of Jesus in some of Chicago's most crime-ridden districts. I've been threatened by street gangs and arrested by the police. I've been chased out of one communist country and arrested in and deported from another. All of this happened while witnessing of Jesus.

It may seem contradictory to say I'm a man without courage, but in the natural, it's true. But when I know that the Father has sent me, I don't have to fear anything or anyone. The more I get to know Him, the more courageous I become for His Son.

Jesus said two things to His disciples about His sending them. First, he told them that He would send them the same way His Father had sent Him. Second, He said He was sending them as sheep among wolves.

Neither sounded very encouraging to the disciples. Jesus kept telling them the Father was sending Him to Jerusalem to die. Not only did He tell them about His cross, but He also told them they too had a cross to bear. The cross was one of the more cruel forms of punishment ever devised by man. No wonder most of the disciples were fearful and not around when Jesus hung on the cross.

But, hallelujah! The Father didn't leave Jesus on the cross! He raised Him from the grave and gave Him victory over man's worst enemies: death, hell, and the devil. After the resurrection, the disciples no longer acted cowardly, but courageously. Peter, the denier of Jesus, became Peter, the proclaimer of Jesus. The disciples beheld the power, provision, and protection of the loving Father. And that gave them courage to go anywhere He sent them. Almost all of those disciples died martyrs' deaths, proclaiming the wonderful grace of Jesus.

While I was at the Communist Youth World Festival, a young Catholic priest from Czechoslovakia heard me preaching and witnessing to the atheist young people in Alexanderplatz. He privately asked me to come to his country and tell the young people there about Jesus. He told me he had been praying in his home city and that the Lord had directed him to go to East Berlin to the festival. He felt he would meet some Christian who would help him witness of Jesus to the young people of his city.

This seemed a bit unusual. A Catholic priest from Czechoslovakia came to an atheist meeting in East Berlin. There he invited a Baptist preacher from America to preach the gospel to the young people of his city. However, after much prayer, Fred Bishop and I decided that the Father was sending us to Czechoslovakia to witness of Jesus.

We didn't know what to expect when we arrived a few months later. We rejoiced to see our new friend, who took us to his room and showed us a stack of papers. He had taken the little pamphlet "The Four Spiritual Laws" and translated it into the Slovakian language. He then personally typed numerous copies for us. " Please take these and tell the young people about Jesus."

The next day Fred and I went to the university to try to meet students and discuss Christ with them. Fred spoke with two young ladies who seemed very interested. Both spoke English very well and said they wanted to know Jesus. After Fred prayed with them, they told him they had many friends who needed to hear abut Jesus. They said that would arrange a secret meeting with many university students the next day.

We were so excited that we knelt in the middle of the large hall and thanked the Father. We began to sing the chorus 'Alleluia." I heard people gathering all around us.

When I looked up, the hall was filled with university students staring at two Americans on their knees singing praises to Jesus.

Fred and I stood and began to preach. I preached in German and Fred in English. We continued for about thirty minutes until university officials questioned me in German before kicking us off the campus. Fortunately, my German was better than theirs, so I was able to avoid giving them information about who we were.

Later that night in our hotel room, Fred sensed we were in danger. He didn't sleep all night and felt we needed to leave the country quickly.

I disagreed. "We can't leave now. We're supposed to meet those students."

Fred agreed to meet the two students, but only one of them showed up, and she was a nervous wreck. She said the meeting had to be canceled because the authorities had found out about it. She told us we must leave the country quickly or we would be arrested. The authorities were going from hotel to hotel, searching for two Christian foreigners but did not know their nationality. She said it was just a matter of time.

We quickly checked out and caught the last train for Vienna. We arrived safely, only to find another surprise.

We had cashed all our American money into Czechoslovakian currency, because we had planned to be there for the rest of our stay in Europe. Eastern European currency is worth very little in the West, so when we changed our money back we were left with just a handful of dollars.

Also, we had special airline tickets form Frankfurt, West Germany, and we could not fly from Vienna.

We figured we had enough money to ride the train as far as Salzburg, Austria, and rent an inexpensive hotel room. Then we would be broke.

After a good night's rest in Salzburg, I didn't want to get out of bed. Fred had got up early and spent time outside walking and praying. When he came in he said, "Come on, Sam. Get up and praise the Lord!"

I looked at him as if he were half crazy. "Fred," I said, "we're out of money, food, lodging, and transportation. We're stuck in this city, and we don't know a soul. What are we going to do?"

"Praise the Lord!" Fred said. "The loving Father will take care of us, Sam."

A few minutes after I got dressed and we checked out, I spotted a wadded-up piece of paper on the ground. I picked it ups and rejoiced. It was a West German 100-mark note! It was enough money to get us to Frankfurt so we could fly back to the United States.

God had taught me a valuable lesson. When the Father sends His child, He will care for that child.

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" is one of the most comforting promises in all of Scripture. As a child I was frightened in the dark. However, if my father or older brother went with me, I knew everything would be all right.