Compassion

Senator and presidential candidate John McCain tells of an experience he had as a POW in North Vietnam. At the infamous prison called the Hanoi Hilton, McCain had been tied up in a way to create maximum pain. A guard came in for the evening shift, put his forefinger in front of his own lips as if to say, “shh” and loosened McCain’s bonds. As the guard prepared to leave the next morning he came back to tighten them again.

Later, on Christmas Day, McCain was given a brief ten minute break outside his cell.  That guard approached. He stood next to McCain and with his foot, the guard traced a cross on the ground and very quickly erased it. There in that horrible prison, the love of Christ had gotten through to one guard and had been extended to a hurting stranger.