4340
Pt. 1
I have a little wooden plaque on my desk which bears a poignant slogan.
"He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
And as it fell together, the man who uttered these words, a Christian missionary named Jim Elliot, ultimately surrendered his life as a martyr in Ecuador.
The year was 1956. Jim and four other missionaries made the decision to reach out to a previously unevangelized tribe referred to as the Aucas. However, (and it is a big 'however'), this tribe had a fearsome reputation among neighboring tribes of brutality and wholesale murder.
In their quest to evangelize the Indians, the missionaries began a long daily series of fly overs, and dropped small gifts as they drifted over the Auca village; gifts such as children's dolls, hunting knives, and even doughnuts and cinnamon rolls.
Having pursued this portion of the plan for several weeks, the missionaries informed their wives that they would be "going in" the next day.
Pt. 2
The little yellow aircraft sank lower and lower, and now the pilot dropped it down on a sandbar; in a creek which served as a source of water for the Indian village.
Having landed, the missionaries were soon joined by three scantily clad natives; two men and a woman. The consensus among the five missionaries was, no doubt, "so far so good."
The day was far from over
During the course of the next few hours, a band of Auca warriors made their way out of the jungle, and...
speared the five well-meaning missionaries to death!
It goes without saying the wives and children of these five dear men were absolutely devastated when Ecuadorian soldiers discovered the light aircraft in tatters, and the bodies of five missionaries strewn along the banks of the river.
What happened next is the stuff of legend
Jim Elliot's wife, Elisabeth, and another missionary widow made the decision to, as it were, pick up the figurative batons their husbands had dropped, and to continue the proverbial race which they so nobly began.
Pt. 3
Over the next two years Elisabeth and her partner began to communicate with the Aucas by way of another tribe which spoke a similar language. And while the reception was, at first, less than favorable, over time the previously hostile tribe became receptive to Mrs. Elliot's desire to meet with them, and to prove, by all means available to them, the sincerity of their words.
And now, and now the two missionary wives and Elisabeth's young daughter were invited to not only take up residence alongside the murderers of their husbands, but to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
"When a grain of wheat falls into the ground..."
On January 8, 1956 five grains of wheat fell upon the rich earth of the Ecuadorian jungle, and the harvest was nothing short of amazing!
Ultimately, virtually every member of the fearsome tribe came to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior!
You can read more about it in Elisabeth Elliot's wonderful volumes, "Gates of Splendor" and "Beyond Gates of Splendor."
Pt. 4
Yesterday was the 69th anniversary, January 8, 2025, of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot and his four missionary friends. And it occurred to me that I had a very valuable item in my possession.
The autograph of Elisabeth Elliot
This dear sacrificial lady left us a decade ago and has, by now, experienced a joyous reunion with the husband who left her so long ago.
35 years ago, I managed to procure her autograph. And since I wished to scan it, download it, and share it on social media, I removed the 3x3 little piece of paper from beneath the cellophane, and now, I
looked on the reverse side
I honestly don't remember seeing this 10 line typed paragraph before. I found myself reading a prayer.
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