Well, Ken and I were jogging partners, but he was in much better shape than me. We would often climb one very difficult hill. I knick named it "Difficulty" because of how hard it was to run up the hill. Ken would always make it to the top long before me. I would be struggling up the hill when Ken would yell out in true military fashion, "Up the hill, over the hill, through the hill, conquer the hill. Come on Sammy you can do it."

Ken was a dreamer, a planner like me. We'd dream together about reaching the world for Christ. We dreamed about the very things I'm doing today.

Then one day I received a phone call from another friend. He said, "Sammy, sit down. There's something I have to tell you. Ken has just been killed in an automobile accident."

I couldn't believe it. Ken was so young, so strong. He had so much potential, so much to give. I was shocked. His wife Lynn asked me to preach the funeral. I didn't know what to say to his dear godly wife and four beautiful daughters. As I prayed, I remembered the hill called "Difficulty." It was almost as though I could hear Ken calling from heaven, "I know I've already made it to the top. I know I've left you a tough hill to climb, but you can do it. Up the hill, over the hill, through the hill, conquer the hill. Come on, you can do it" (Romans 8:37, ESV).

His four young daughters stood to sing at their father's funeral. They sang with tears streaming down their faces, "Our God Reigns, Our God Reigns."

I don't have all the answers to Ken's death. I don't understand why God let Ken to be taken from this earth in the prime of his life. But I've come to understand this great truth sung by Ken's daughters, "Our God Reigns." He is Sovereign. That doesn't mean that we are exempt from the hurts of life, but it does mean that we can be more than conquerors of that hill called "Difficulty". Remember the Bible says, "We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us."

Up the hill, over the hill, through the hill, conquer the hill. Come on, you can do it.