May 29 – Death to Life
On January 8, 1956, five men gave their lives up for the cause of Christ in the wilds of Ecuador. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint, flew into Ecuador to work with the Huaorani tribe.
Jim Elliot had felt the call to the tribes of South America and spent his college years preparing himself with languages and the skills necessary to translate the Bible for local tribes. He met Elisabeth Howard while in college and though they had a great relationship, he recognized that it would be difficult for him to be in the mission field while married. He forged ahead alone for several years.
He landed in Quito, Ecuador and began studying the local languages. He finally married Elisabeth and moved to the Shandia mission station where they began working with the Quichua Indians. He met the violent Huarorani Indians and felt God calling him to minister to them. He and several of his missionary buddies began flying over the tribe’s home dropping gifts and making contact from the air. The tribe finally responded by sending up a flower. Jim had managed to make enough contact so that with a loudspeaker they could speak to the people in their own language.
The best way to finally make good contact with them was to land within their territory, so they planned for landing at a small sandy beach. As they flew over, they saw several people making their way to the beach. They landed, built a pre-fab tree house and began speaking words of encouragement and friendship out loud, hoping to bring people to them.
On January 8, the wives expected a daily radio transmission at 4:30 pm. When it didn’t come, another pilot flew over the area and radioed back that he found the plane, stripped of all its fabric. Two days later, he spotted the first of the bodies. The Huarorani had killed them all. A group moved in on the ground to gather the bodies – all were taken home except Ed McCully, whose body had washed away.
While many of us might have reacted to this by leaving the tribe to their own devices, the wives of these men knew that they couldn’t allow their lives and deaths to be in vain. Elisabeth Elliot and her friends began working among the tribe and taught them about the love of Christ. Finally the day came when they were able to discover the reason for the massacre. The tribe was concerned that these men were cannibals and were simply fighting for their lives. The ones who had killed finally came to know Jesus.
In 1949, Jim Elliot had written in his journal, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." He gave his life to gain the lives of many.
On January 8, 1956, five men gave their lives up for the cause of Christ in the wilds of Ecuador. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint, flew into Ecuador to work with the Huaorani tribe.
Jim Elliot had felt the call to the tribes of South America and spent his college years preparing himself with languages and the skills necessary to translate the Bible for local tribes. He met Elisabeth Howard while in college and though they had a great relationship, he recognized that it would be difficult for him to be in the mission field while married. He forged ahead alone for several years.
He landed in Quito, Ecuador and began studying the local languages. He finally married Elisabeth and moved to the Shandia mission station where they began working with the Quichua Indians. He met the violent Huarorani Indians and felt God calling him to minister to them. He and several of his missionary buddies began flying over the tribe’s home dropping gifts and making contact from the air. The tribe finally responded by sending up a flower. Jim had managed to make enough contact so that with a loudspeaker they could speak to the people in their own language.
The best way to finally make good contact with them was to land within their territory, so they planned for landing at a small sandy beach. As they flew over, they saw several people making their way to the beach. They landed, built a pre-fab tree house and began speaking words of encouragement and friendship out loud, hoping to bring people to them.
On January 8, the wives expected a daily radio transmission at 4:30 pm. When it didn’t come, another pilot flew over the area and radioed back that he found the plane, stripped of all its fabric. Two days later, he spotted the first of the bodies. The Huarorani had killed them all. A group moved in on the ground to gather the bodies – all were taken home except Ed McCully, whose body had washed away.
While many of us might have reacted to this by leaving the tribe to their own devices, the wives of these men knew that they couldn’t allow their lives and deaths to be in vain. Elisabeth Elliot and her friends began working among the tribe and taught them about the love of Christ. Finally the day came when they were able to discover the reason for the massacre. The tribe was concerned that these men were cannibals and were simply fighting for their lives. The ones who had killed finally came to know Jesus.
In 1949, Jim Elliot had written in his journal, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." He gave his life to gain the lives of many.
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