Christian martyrs faced death in such a different way than Jesus did, and I wonder why.  I am not thinking of the means by which they died, i.e. burning at the stake, crucifixion, etc.  No, I am reflecting on the major contrast in spirit and attitude. 

Several years into my ministry as a pastor I stopped praying.  It wasn’t something I planned or intentionally decided to do; it just happened- slowly and almost imperceptibly.  I live in the Northwest where is it rainy and wet much of the time and where, without my noticing, moss grows very slowly on my concrete driveway.  For quite a while I don’t even see it, and then suddenly it is there.  That is how it happened with my prayer life.  It slowly eroded without my awareness until one day I realized I had completely stopped praying (the exception, of course, was in