163. “. . . So she slipped a little pocket New Testament under his wool cap. The jailer saw what she had done. He rushed over and took the little book, and then he summoned his commander. The officer took one look at the book before furiously throwing it to the ground. He screamed at my mother with a great crowd of people around us. ‘Woman, don’t you realize that it is because of this book and because of your God that your husband is here? I can kill him. I can kill you, and I can kill your son, and I would be applauded for it.’ Stoyon was remembering something that happened decades earlier, but he recited the words of if they had been spoken yesterday. My mother looked at that prison officer and said, ‘Sir, you are right. You can kill my husband. You can kill me. And I know that you can even kill our son. But nothing you can do can separate us from the love that is in Jesus.’” ~ Nik Ripken