281 Cleaning Toilets
Duc was a Vietnamese Christian man who was captured by the Communists for translating English sermons. He was thrown in a jail with only books by Marx and Engels translated into French and Vietnamese.
Duc prayed to God for weeks to be rescued from his imprisonment. However, he remained in his jail.
Duc slowly started to lose his faith as the months rolled by. He decided to stop praying. What was the point if God doesn't answer urgent prayers?
Duc was assigned the ignominious duty of cleaning toilets. The smell in the latrines was so bad that Duc had to wrap bandages around his mouth to keep from gagging.
One day, Duc was shocked to find a page of Romans in a toilet. Duc made sure no one was nearby then he carefully cleaned the page as best he could and folded it up. Duc hid the page in his pants and continued cleaning.
Later that night, Duc quietly unfolded the page and read it by moonlight. He started to read and he felt as if a fire deep inside himself was being lit.
Duc asked to be on toilet duty again the next day, much to to surprise of his captors. Duc cleaned the toilets dutifully and found another page of Romans in the same toilet. Apparently the commanding officer was using Bible pages as toilet paper.
Day by day, Duc's faith was being renewed and he began praying and praising God again.
- Recommended reading: Romans 8:28; Job 2:3-10
