To give seven ways in which we can cope with, and grow spiritually, from going through severe trials and adversity. The main seven points are from a lecture I attended back on March 24th, 1986 in Seattle. The lecture was given by an Air Force Colonel who was the highest ranking military officer taken hostage and imprisoned in Iran for 444 days during the Iran Hostage Crises. At the end of the lecture, he gave the one thing we must always cling to at all costs and under all circumstances. All of these points directly relate to all of us in God's Church today.

Steven Shafer

Elder, United Church of God

Steve Shafer was born and raised in Seattle. He graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1959 and later graduated from Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas in 1967, receiving a degree in Theology. He has been an ordained Elder of the Church of God for 34 years and has pastored congregations in Michigan and Washington State. He and his wife Evelyn have been married for over 48 years and have three children and ten grandchildren.