Feel like you can't breathe?

I just read a story in the August edition of Voice of the Martyrs about a man named Bounchan who lives in Laos. 

Arrested in 1999 for telling people about Jesus, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.  (He was released two years early in February 2012.)   

“He was locked in a cell by himself for a year, without a Bible.  His stone and concrete cell had one large metal door with a small rust hole that provided his only ventilation.  I would stand up and put my nose on the hole and breathe, Bounchan said.  He asked the guard who brought his food to send a message to his wife.  Tell my wife, ‘Would you please help me?  Bring me a Bible.  I cannot live without the Bible.'” 

I know some of you can’t breathe. 

-Little kids wear you out.  And they’ll wear you out again tomorrow. 

-Living conditions aren’t what you wish they were. 

-Paychecks are way too far apart. 

-Work is a constant demand from a difficult boss. 

-Sickness goes away, only to strike someone else in the household, and you wish everyone could feel good at the same time. 

-Lice and nit combs and washing the bedding again is your evening entertainment.  (Sorry, sister!!) 

-Fear of the future is a concrete cell. 

You feel like you’re sucking air through a small rust hole. 

Here’s what Bounchan knew:  The Bible is oxygen. 

Job 12:10 (NIV) says, “In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

God holds in His hand the air we need.   

Open His word and inhale.