A tribal war was raging in Uganda. The soldiers led a line of prisoners to a bridge over a crocodile-infested river where they could shoot them and dump their bodies into the water for the crocodiles to dispose of.

Among the prisoners that day was a young Christian. When his turn came to be shot, he asked permission to say a word first.

“Make it quick,” his captors ordered. The young man looked at them calmly, without fear.

“I am a Christian,” he said. “I am not angry with you, for the same Jesus Whom I shall see in a few 

moments died for you as well. I forgive you. May you accept His forgiveness also.”

They shot him.

Turning to the next in line, they recognized a man from another tribe. “What are you doing here?” they demanded. “We are not at war.” And he was abruptly dismissed.

But that young man was never the same again. He spent the rest of his life sharing the discovery of the risen, transforming Savior.

He had watched a Christian die.

Taken by permission and adapted from “Legacy of a Pack Rat,” By Ruth Bell Graham. ©1989 The Ruth Bell Graham Literary Trust.