During World War I, a soldier discovered his friend, wounded, had fallen between the trenches out in "no man's land." Ignoring his officer's orders, he dashed from the safety of the trench to try to rescue his friend. He returned mortally wounded with his friend on his shoulder, now dead.

The officer was angry. "I told you not to go. Now I have lost both of you. It wasn't worth it!"

The dying soldier replied, "But it was Sir, because when I got to him, he said, 'Jim, I knew you'd come!'"

Out there is the devil's no man's land, our friends are harboring a secret, often unrealized hope, that we will come with some rescue from an ever-increasing hopelessness.

There are no seasons to the search - it goes on around the clock throughout the calendar. No one is excused from the task. All are commanded to go. I don't know what reasons you might conjure up for not going or for the possibility of failure. All I know is that your friends are "out there" wounded, dying, waiting. Will you hear them say, "I knew you'd come"?