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In 1989, news photographer Tony O'Brien, a U.S. citizen, took an assignment from LIFE magazine to cover the fall of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, after the Soviets pulled out. He found himself caught in the midst of a brutal civil war, and was thrown into an Afghan prison by Soviet-backed security forces.
During the traumatic experience, O'Brien shared a cell with a Shiite Muslim, named Nader Ali. The two men struck up a remarkable friendship and, throughout their incarceration, Ali proved to be a vital source of encouragement and hope to O'Brien.
In time, various diplomats and colleagues succeeded in securing O'Brien's release, and he returned to his home in New Mexico.
Three years later, O'Brien found himself once again, on a plane bound for Kabul. He explained his purpose for returning, in an article in the August 1992 issue of LIFE:
The last time I saw Nader Ali, he was behind bars, watching me walk to freedom.
I never thought I would see him again, never thought I would go back to Afghanistan.
But now I am on a plan, returning to the place I spent the most terrifying weeks of my life.
He is a man I need to thank...I have thanked everyone else- those who got me out of prison,
who called my mother every day. Yet I never thanked the person who gave me the strength to live, Afghanistan is free now, but I am not.
For days, O'Brien traipsed through a city of 1.5 million people, with few telephones, addresses, or street signs, unsure of whether or not Ali was even still alive, until his search was finally rewarded, and he was able to fulfill the obligation he felt to thank the man who had meant so much to him.
As I read O'Brien's moving account, I could not help but think of the infinitely greater debt that you and I owe to the One who came to us when we were in the prison of our sinful, selfish ways, and brought to us hope, deliverance, and life.
O'Brien felt that he could not be free until he had paid his debt of gratitude. In much the same way, I believe that you and I cannot be truly free, though we have been released from bondage, if our hearts and tongues have ceases to give thanks.
Tony O'Brien traveled half way around the world, to say "thank you" to one man who had shown him kindness. Perhaps right now would be a great time to take a trip to Calvary, to kneel before our incredible Savior, to look into His loving face, and to say, "Oh, Lord Jesus, thank You! Thank You! Thank You!"
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