2 Cor. 10, 11 [NIV Dramatized Audio]]

If you want to be impressed, look over Paul’s catalog of hardships suffered for the Gospel in chapter 11. It makes us blush with embarrassment. Very few have paid the price he did to minister for the Lord.

Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 

Can you beat that? I surely can’t.