IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES
By Gracia Burnham

"That's the least I can do I think. …I’ve got one of their pictures on the fridge, and we pray for him... "

Can faith, hope, and love survive a year of terror?

For American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, what started out as a relaxing, once-in-a-lifetime anniversary getaway at an exotic island resort turned into one of the most horrific nightmares imaginable.

Kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group with ties to Osama bin Laden, the Burnhams were snatched away from friends and family and thrust into a life on the run in the Philippine jungle. During a perilous year in captivity, they faced near starvation, constant exhaustion, frequent gun battles, coldhearted murder and intense soul-searching about a God who sometimes seemed to have forgotten them.

In this gripping firsthand account of faith, love, and struggle in the face of unnervingly casual brutality, you’ll go behind the scenes of a real-life drama, told in gritty detail by the least likely survivor. You’ll learn about the methods and motives of a radical terrorist group whose members are determined to meet their objectives, no matter what the cost. You’ll be inspired by the ultimately triumphant faith and enduring love of an ordinary couple thrown into extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

Whatever the struggles of your life, you’ll find encouragement and hope in this refreshingly honest story of a yearlong struggle with the darkness that inhabits the human heart.

How would you react if you were suddenly snatched away from the life you knew and the people you loved?

Imagine the terror of being roused out of bed one morning at gunpoint. Of being kidnapped and held captive for more than a year, living on the run without warm clothes, enough food, or adequate shelter. Of being chained to a tree each night, sleeping on the ground despite painful body sores and debilitating intestinal viruses. Of never knowing if you’d have food to eat or water to drink, if you’d be shot at yet again by your would-be rescuers, or if your captors would make good on their threat to behead you-as they had several of your fellow hostages.

Martin and Gracia Burnham lived this nightmare as captives of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, having been kidnapped while celebrating their wedding anniversary at a resort in the Philippines. During a yearlong ordeal as hostages on the run in the jungle, the missionary pilot and his wife struggled to live the faith they had come to the Philippines to proclaim. In the process, they discovered the true condition of their own hearts — and of the heart of God.

- From “In the Presence of My Enemies” by Gracia Burnham and Dean Merrill.