The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected

by Nik Ripken

“I have given Him everything! My body has been broken. I have been jailed. I have been starved. I have been beaten. I have been left for dead!” His words sounded a lot like the apostle Paul’s recitation of all that he had suffered in the service of Christ. “I have even been willing to die for Jesus,” he pleaded. “But do you know what I fear? When I go to bed at night, what keeps me awake, and what actually terrifies me, is the thought that God might ask of my wife and my children what I have already willingly given Him.” “How can He ask it? Tell me! How could God ask that of my wife and children?” I paused for a few moments and prayed that the Lord would guide my words as I responded: “Brother, my wife is safe in Kentucky,” I said. “My two living sons are in school, doing well.” I told him a little bit of Timothy’s story; we had already talked together about my time in Somalia. Finally I told him, “I personally cannot answer your question. But I would ask you another question that I have had to ask myself: ‘Is Jesus worth it? Is He worth your life? Is He worth the lives of your wife and your children?’”