One Solitary Life


He was born in an obscure village - 2000 years ago.
He worked in a carpenter's shop until he was 30.
He then became an itinerant preacher.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn't go to university.
He had no credentials but himself.
He was only thirty-three when the public 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.
He was laid in a borrowed grave - for three days.

Twenty centuries have come and gone,
and today he is the central figure of the human race.
All the armies that have marched,
all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat,
and all the kings that ever reigned have not affected
the life of people on this earth as much as that
One Solitary Life.