Obedience is a word that not many like. It conjures images of subservience that makes people squirm, even if the subservience is to God. Yet, obedience is a critical element of the Christian journey, because it is inextricably linked to faith. Faith without obedience is like a cart with an unharnessed horse; it won't take you further than where you have reached.

Graham Staines was a Christian missionary from Australia who worked with lepers in Orissa, a city in the North of India. Early one morning as he slept in his Jeep with his sons, Phillip, 9, and Timothy, 6, a group of anti-Christian militants surrounded the vehicle and set it on fire, burning the man and his two children alive. Less than 24 hours after the incident, which shocked - and shamed - a nation, his grieving widow came out in front of the whole world and publicly forgave the killers.