There we sat, a cluster of six. A stubby orange candle burned at the center of our table flickering eerie shadows across our faces. One spoke; five listened. Every question was handled with such grace, such effortless ease. Each answer was drawn from deep wells of wisdom, shaped by tough decisions and nurtured by time. And pain.

Are you living every day (as if it’s your last) for His glory? Do you work diligently at your job and in your home (as if He isn’t coming for another ten years) for His name’s sake? Do you shake salt and shine the light every chance you get? Do you remain balanced, cheerful, winsome, and stable, anticipating His return?

Volumes are written about the mind, our emotional makeup, our “inner man,” the soul, the spirit and the spiritual dimension. But by comparison, very little is being said by evangelicals today about the physical body.

Leaders with power and brains are common. So are leaders with riches and popularity. But a competent leader full of integrity and skill, coupled with sincerity, is rare indeed.

One winter day while a Chilean peasant was tending his cattle along a long, deep gorge in a remote area of the Andes, he saw two gaunt, bearded figures across the chasm. Thinking they were terrorists, he ran and hid. The next day he returned and saw they were still there. He quickly gathered a pencil, some paper, and a stone, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and heaved them across to the strangers.