The love of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for us may be illustrated by the following story as told by Harry Ironside. Many years ago, Czar Nicholas I of Russia knew a young man for whom he cared a great deal. He was the son of a good friend of his. Because of his interest in this young man, Nicholas had him assigned to a border fortress of the Russian army and caused him to be given charge of the money used for paying the soldiers.

The young man started well. But he fell into bad habits, took to gambling, and eventually gambled away not only his own wealth but also a great fortune taken from government funds. He had taken just a few rubles at a time, but these had mounted up and become prodigious.

One day he received notice that on the following day an official would be coming to inspect the books. The young man knew he was in trouble. So he took out the records to find out how great his debt was. He totaled the amount. Then he went to the safe, took out his own small amount of money, and counted it carefully. He subtracted the lesser from the greater. The debt was astronomical.

As he sat looking at the final figure, the young officer picked up his pen and wrote in large letters, “A great debt; who can pay?” Then, because he did not see how he could face the terrible dishonor the next day held, he determined to kill himself with his revolver at the stroke of twelve.

The night was warm and drowsy. So as he waited for the midnight hour, in spite of himself the young man’s head dropped lower and lower and he fell asleep.

It happened that Nicholas, who was in the habit of sometimes putting on the uniform of a common soldier and visiting the troops to see how they were getting on, did so this night, coming around to the halls of the very fortress in which the young officer was sleeping. Most of the lights were out, as they should have been.

But when Nicholas got to the door of this one room he noticed a light shining under it. He knocked. No answer! He tried the latch and opened the door. There was the young officer, whom he recognized, asleep. He saw also the books and the money. The whole thing became clear in a moment. His first thought was to awaken his young friend and place him under arrest. But as he read the young man’s note, his heart went out to him. “A great debt; who can pay?”

Moved by a generous impulse, the Czar leaned over, picked up the pen that had fallen from the hand of the sleeping officer, wrote just one word, and tiptoed out.

For an hour or so the young man slept. Then he suddenly awoke and, seeing that it was long past midnight, reached for the revolver. As he did so his eye caught sight of his note—“A great debt; who can pay?”—and under it the one word that had not been there before: “Nicholas.” He was astonished.

Dropping his gun, he raced to the files where the signature of the Czar was available. He pulled this out and carefully compared it with the signature on his note. It was the real signature. He said to himself, “The Czar has been here tonight and knows all my guilt; yet he has undertaken to pay my debt; I need not die.”

So instead of taking his life, he rested upon the word of Nicholas and was not surprised when, early the next morning, a messenger came from the palace bearing precisely the amount of money needed to satisfy the deficit. Later, when the inspector came, everything was found to be in order.

Boice, J. M. (2005). The Gospel of John : An expositional commentary (Pbk. ed.) (1003–1004). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Ben Johnson posted these on twitter. I am not sure where they came from but I like them!

Love is being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged but to look for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good

Love means being willing, when confronted by your spouse, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus

Love is a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.

Love is the daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.

Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward your spouse, while looking for ways to encourage and praise

Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of your husband or wife without impatience or anger.

An Overview of Monterrey

Monterrey was founded in 1596 by Diego de Montemayor and 12 other Spanish families. This city, now one of Mexico´s most important, celebrated its 400th birthday in 1996 with a series of spectacular and colorful events.

With a population of over 4 million, it is the second largest industrial and financial center of Mexico and headquarters of many well-known Mexican corporations. There are also over 300 US and European companies established in Monterrey, producing and offering a wide variety of products and services for the domestic market and export abroad.

Monterrey is also home to the world renown Monterrey Tec, Mexico´s most prestigious private university, plus a dozen other institutions of high education. It has three recognized and accredited schools of medicine and was just ranked at the levels of MIT, Stanford and Harvard in graduate studies. Although it is not a tourist town, Monterrey has some lovely surrounding areas, including typical towns and world-class museums to visit. Some of its most spectacular landmarks are its mountains (the name Monterrey literally means king of the mountain) like Saddle Mountain on the east, Chipinque, and the Sierra Madre mountain range to the south and the Mitre, to its west.

Monterrey is an interesting city to work and live in. But, perhaps one of its most valuable assets is its people. Known as regiomontanos, they are famed for being hard-working, straightforward and entrepreneurial. Best of all they are warm and friendly (source).