There is a story about two brothers who enlisted in the Army during World War I and asked to be assigned to the same unit. They were soon sent to the frontline, to the trenches. In the trench warfare of that period, each side dug a network of trenches along the frontline of their territory, then laid siege to the other side's trenches. From time to time, one side or the other would launch an offensive to try to break through the enemy's lines. During one such attack, the younger brother was mortally wounded in no man's land--that exposed, deadly area between the opposing forces.

The older brother, still safe in the trench, saw it happen and knew instinctively what he must do. He worked his way through the trench, around other soldiers, until he came to his lieutenant. "I've got to go get him!" the older brother called out over the din of battle.

"That's impossible!" his lieutenant fired back. "You'll be killed the minute you stick your head out of this trench!"

But the older brother tore himself loose from the officer's grip, scrambled out of the trench, and plunged into no man's land to find his brother, amid heavy fire from the enemy.

When he did, the younger brother could only manage a whisper. "I knew you'd come!"

By this time, the older brother had also been seriously wounded. He barely managed to drag his brother back to their lines, where they both fell into the trench, dying.

"Why did you do it?" asked the lieutenant, himself at the point of tears. "I told you you'd get yourself killed!"

"I had to do it!" the older brother replied with a final smile. "He expected it of me."

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"Hereby perceive we the love of God: Because He [Jesus] laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16 KJV).