He was born in an obscure village the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village

where He worked in a carpenter shop

until He was thirty, and then for three years

He was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office.

He never had a family.

He never owned a house.

He never went to college.

He never visited a big city.

He never traveled

two hundred miles

from the place

where He was born.

He did none of the things

one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but Himself.

He was only thirty-three when

the tide of public opinion turned against Him.

His friends ran away.

He was turned over to His enemies

and went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

While He was dying

His executioners gambled for His clothing,

the only property He had on earth.

When He was dead

He was laid in a borrowed grave

through the pity of a friend.

He rose again on the third day,leaving his enemies no word to say.

Twenty centuries have come and gone,

and today Jesus is the central figure

of the human race,

the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that have ever reigned

put together

All the most influential figures that have ever lived

Have not affected the life

of mankind on this earth

as much as that

one solitary life.