Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”  (Mark 8:34-36)

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        It was on the first day of this month, May 1, 1960, that President Dwight Eisenhower was preparing to meet Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev for a summit in Paris when news came of the capture of Gary Francis Powers. Powers was shot down with a surface to air missile after he was detected flying his U2 spy-plane over the Soviet Union. At first the United States leadership, believing Powers had detonated a self-destruct mechanism on the plane, released a cover story, saying a U.S. weather plane had strayed off course after the pilot had difficulties with his oxygen equipment. They did not realize at the time the plane had crashed almost entirely intact. So, the United States government, when accused of flying a spy plane over Soviet territory, denied the accusation—until evidence entirely to the contrary was displayed. The incident was a rare example of public exposure and embarrassment for the young CIA.

        In fact, because of the exposure and embarrassment, poor Gary Powers, after he was eventually brought home, was greeted with a cold reception and criticized for not following protocol. Although Powers gave a reasonable explanation for why he had been unable to deploy the plane’s self-destruct mechanism, his account was dismissed at the time by his CIA handlers [he was later vindicated]. He was also criticized because he had not made use of a “suicide pill” the CIA had issued him in case of capture. This too, however, was judged soon after the incident as a demand that was both unnecessary and extreme—even though the CIA disagreed.

        Of course, most people agree that there should be something [or somethings] in life for which we are willing to die, for there are things more precious, more valuable, than life itself. Where most people would say their children belong to such a category, Christians believe they have been called to die for even more than this; they are called [and ready] to die for Jesus and his gospel. The verses cited above from the gospel of Mark make it clear, if we would save our lives, Jesus and his gospel must be valued more than life itself. We must be willing to give our lives wholly over to Jesus and his will, to service of the gospel message with our very lives, that we might inherit true life!