The Ecuador 5

 

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Sunday is the anniversary of the death of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian. I mark this date since Jim Elliot was one of my best friends in college. We went through similar crossroads of faith during our young adult years and his example assured me of my calling to live as a missionary wherever God had me.

"Wherever you are, be all there," he said. "Live to the hilt any situation you believe to be the will of God."

My heart pleaded the same, when he prayed, "Father, make of me a crisis [person]. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me."

He didn't let his pursuit of holiness stop him from befriending those who weren't like him. He told of this opportunity: "These are the days of exercise over Herb Gundelach and Bill Wilbur. They came last Sunday and were startled by the claims of the resurrection. Both men stirred and responsive. Spent eight hours in their smoke-filled apartments yesterday. Ah, it is a privilege to speak of the honor of Christ while choking on tobacco smoke."

After hearing his heart's cry, I started to let my own grasp loosen on things never really mine: "Father, let me be weak that I might lose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of a grasping hand...Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary - as Christ's was opened - that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me here. He thought heaven - yea, equality with God - not a thing to be clutched at...so let me release my grasp."

Yes, he lived 49 years before me and was killed before my mom was even born. But he, like Abel, through his faith still speaks (Hebrews 11:4).

Last summer, I had the joy of introducing Stella to him through this video. His life story is a little heavy for a then 5-year-old, but it's one she needs to know. Believing the gospel and following Jesus aren't easy, contrary to what much of American Christianity portrays.

Living in the 'land of the free', we aren't sure all the ways we can communicate to our kids the historical norm of suffering for His name. We personally don't experience it, so we can barely lead by example in this area. We know we can do better taking risks for the gospel, though.

Because, as Matt reminds me, we need to be ready to suffer. The expectation of suffering has to be on our radar.  No, we shouldn't seek it out unnecessarily, but we shouldn't be shocked or frustrated when it happens either.

I Peter 4:12-14: "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

Another verse that helps keep Bible perspective before me on this topic is John 12:24: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

Suffering and physical death for His sake bears gospel fruit. God used Jim Elliot's death to convince me that Jesus is better than life! And I am just one of 'many seeds'! A tribe of Auca Indians (now called the Waodani) in the jungles of Ecuador are convinced of the message too!

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All Jim Elliot quotes taken from, The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. by Elisabeth Elliot, 1978.

Facing the Fear of 2012

Sometimes there is joy at the beginning of a new year - the excitement of the unknown, the freshness of a clean slate, the optimism of new opportunities and adventures. But often for me, a new year is ominous.  It causes an unsettled fear that some bad things are lurking around the corners of the calendar page. Will this be the year of an unwanted diagnosis? A life-altering accident? A death?

There are ways of dealing with these fears. Some calculate the likelihood of certain things happening and find comfort in the odds of the unlikely. Others practice the power of positive thinking, or to put a "Christian" twist on it, believing in "faith" that God has good things planned for His children which don't involve suffering. Some turn to medication to help calm anxiety and ease the harshness of reality.  And others enter the year as Epicureans, eating drinking and being merry with no thought of the future.

None of those options are really helpful to me. They can even be harmful, unnecessary crutches, keeping me from relying on Christ completely. So how do I face 2012?

My fears remind me of my humble position. I am finite. I have  limited knowledge and am dependent on God for everything from the care of my family to the next breath I take. Going to sleep reminds me of the same things.  When I close my eyes, I'm humbly admitting  my weakness - I need sleep, and my dependence - I trust One who needs nothing and sees everything when I am unable to see anything. Those reminders are magnified at a new year, when it's not just 7 hours I'm depending on Him for, but 12 months...52 weeks...365 days!

A few years ago, I read Womanly Dominion, by Mark Chanski. Although I don't prefer the way he handles some of the subjects in the book, there are a couple chapters that more than make up for the weaknesses. The chapter, "Womanly Dominion in Facing Your Fears," is one of them.

Time and time again, I have gone back to the Bible truths he posits. He says, "Fretting and paralyzing fear is no condition for the spiritually healthy, well-adjusted child of God. Psalm 37:1 says, "Do not fret..." The wise woman will continually tell herself, "Do not fret." "The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). Lion-like confidence is the fitting face and heart for a woman of God. Retreating and paralyzing fear is the handiwork of the Devil."

So he counseled me, as he did a 20-something woman sitting in his office fighting oppression and depression stemming from the fear she'd never marry:

'"Stare your worst fears right in the eye...You need to climb into that attic [of your worst fears]...It seems unbearable. But is it really? Shine the light on it. I know it seems unendurably bleak and dark like 'the valley of the shadow of death.' But shine the light of God's word on it. Look! You're not alone at all. Your Good Shepherd is with you there in that...valley. He's pledged, 'Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age' (Matthew 28:20). Your Father promised to provide all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). If you spend some time meditatively exploring this attic in light of the Scriptures, you'll sleep much better and glorify God much more."'

These gospel truths enable me to stare the fears of 2012 in the face. Not in a presumptuous way, as if I'm the master of my own destiny, but in bold humility. I can step with joyful confidence into another year. This stepping isn't a blind, existential leap of faith, or a superstitious, rub-the-rabbit's-foot-before-I-jump, leap of faith. It's a step that is backed by all the promises of God in Christ that are "Yes!" And in Him, "Amen!" (2 Corinthians 1:20). It's a step that knows He is faithful to me because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Faithful is who He is. It's a sure step, because "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him [the salvation of my soul] until that day" (2 Timothy 1:12).

With that kind of gospel confidence, I can truthfully say, "Happy New Year!"