There have been numerous times in my past when I have had the joyful experience of rubbing shoulders with men and women who have been tempered in such a desert. You can always tell—sometimes within moments— when you have met individuals so refined by God. They are some of the most secure, genuinely humble, gracious, honest individuals one can imagine. It took the desert to do it. As the hymn states so eloquently, their dross has been consumed, and their gold has been refined.
