World-famous Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was sent to a Siberian prison because he criticized communism. Languishing there under intolerable conditions year after year, he decided to end his life. But suicide, he firmly believed, would be against God's will. He thought it would be better for a guard to shoot him.

So at a public assembly of the prisoners, he sat in a front row, planning to get up and walk toward an exit, compelling a guard to kill him. But to his surprise, another prisoner sat down, blocking his exit. That unknown man leaned over and, to Solzhenitsyn's astonishment, drew a cross on the dirt floor.

The cross! Wondering if that fellow prisoner might be a messenger from God, Solzhenitsyn resolved to endure his imprisonment. There in prison he became a Christian and was eventually set free to bear witness to the world.

Are you in the grip of difficult circumstances? Have you wondered if life is worth living? Focus your heart on the cross-it is the message of God's love, forgiveness, and saving grace for you. Invite the Christ of Calvary with His transforming power into your life. Discover for yourself that the Christ of the cross can change you.
  — Vernon C. Grounds