(Matthew 26:74 NLT) Peter said, "I swear by God, I don't know the man."

This war in Kosovo has pulled my mind off the greatest war of all: even the war Christ is waging against the Devil—and winning. Isn't it terrible that the temporal so easily pulls the mind from the eternal!?

Here it is Easter. It's the only time of the year when the world gives any notice at all to the greatest moment in human history and it's been pushed off the center stage of my heart by a small war against a small country in a remote corner of Europe. I want to be thinking about the Upper Room, the Garden, the Trial, the Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection. Instead I'm remembering Tet and how a tactical defeat for the NVA was a strategic victory for North Vietnam; I'm remembering President Nixon trying to bomb Hanoi to the conference table; and I'm remembering that the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. (As a soldier, I'm starting to dread the holiday seasons—with good reason! Panama, Saudi, Somalia, Haiti, and now Kosovo—if we have to go to battle, I wish we'd do it at some time other than Christmas and Easter!)

The now has always be the enemy of the eternal. I'm not unique. The leeks and onions of a known Egypt looked better to the just-freed Israelites than the milk and honey of an unknown Canaan. And even Peter the Peter who had walked on water with Jesus let the ridicule of the crowd drive him to deny the man who had been his dearest and best friend. The man who once said, "I know who you are. You are the Son of the living God!" could say, "I don't know the man."

Well, by God's grace, I'm going to know him. No war in Kosovo, no war in Europe, no World War III is more important that knowing Christ, and him crucified.

Lord, when other things press in—especially when other things press in I want to know you. I want to know you in your Passion and in your death and in your resurrection from the dead. Bless the people of Yugoslavia, both Serb and Albanian. And bless the national leadership here. Give the President and his advisors wisdom from above. Bless our flyers and the soldiers and marines who are preparing for whatever awaits. Keep us in your presence. May we never deny you in word or in deed. Amen.

—Dale Forrester