Ron Brandon's Temple Talk on August 29th.   

During imprisonment Charlie suffered brutal beatings and torture at the hands of vicious guards.  There were periods of solitary confinement in a six foot square cell, always sleeping with rats and insects.  The food was unfit to eat.

After his 1973 release he wrote, “From the beginning I offered prayers of acceptance.  I remembered the experience of seeing the Christlike shadow in the Green Knobby Room and the comfort I felt in that time of great need.  That day I asked God for strength to endure whatever hardship I might face.”

Charlie reflected on how he survived the mental and physical cruelty: “My secret for enduring six years of hell is really not a secret at all.  First and foremost, I had faith in an omniscient God, knowing that His will would be done.  I never doubted that I could persevere; I simply trusted God’s promise to answer my prayers.”

Charlie Plumb had one priority, survival.  There weren’t any other priorities to rearrange.  Freedom lets us change our spending priorities and move the support of Grace higher on our personal priority lists.

God didn’t give Charlie more than he could handle.  The same applies to us. Faith will prevail and anxious times will pass.  In the meantime, it’s imperative to increase our funding of Grace’s mission.