Remembering January 6th, 1956

Jim Elliot has reminded us for over fifty years now that, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” January 6th marked the fiftieth anniversary of the spearing of Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Nate Saint, Ed McCulley, and Roger Youderian by the Auca Indians now known as the Waodani. The blood of their lives continues to call up from the ground inspiring, challenging, and calling us to a life of reckless abandon. Shadow of the Almighty, The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot first impacted my life as a young 20 something when I needed a hero who could say, “God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine.”

Let us also not forget that Elisabeth Elliot has been very instrumental in the telling of the story of those martyred on “Palm Beach”. Her spiritual insight, honesty, and powerful writing have not only been used to get the story out but have been an instrument in the Redeemer’s hand to call others to sacrifice. She has gone on to write many other works that have personally influenced our lives through the years. We recommend The Savage My Kinsman, Love Has A Price Tag, Let Me Be A Women, A Chance To Die (Biography of Amy Carmichael). She also has a website where you can read newsletters.

Currently our family is reading the life of Nate Saint. Nate provided the flying expertise for missionaries throughout the Ecuadorian region. He started out with an organization that was just getting off the ground at the time – Mission Aviation Fellowship. He too was a man surrendered to the Lord who gave the following challenge shortly after a plane crash almost took his life. “Some might say, ‘Isn’t it too great a price to pay?’ When missionaries consider themselves – their lives before God – they consider themselves expendable. And in our personal lives as Christians isn’t the same thing true? Isn’t the price small in the light of God’s infinite love? Those who know the joy of leading a stranger to Christ and those who have gone to tribes who have never heard the gospel gladly count themselves expendable…”

Thank you our friends and brothers. Thank you for not being fools but counting yourselves expendable.