Ray Stedman of Peninsula Bible church in Palo Alco, California, once asked a nine-year-old boy what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he answered, "A returned missionary." The boy looked ahead not to the years of graduate study, not to the years of separation from home and loved ones, not to the months and years in steaming jungles or parched deserts—but to the final state of recognition and acclaim. It's hard to skip the preliminaries and still reach a final goal. The musician's finger exercises, the Olympic athlete’s daily push-ups, and the Christian's daily stint in the prayer closet can't be bypassed.