I want to be like this...

The Menold Minutes:

Was reading some excerpts about Nate Saint, a once missionary to Ecuador and the Waorani tribe, to the kids for school the other day.  A quick synapsids of his story is this:

Nate Saint and 4 other men (one being Jim Elliot) had a heart for the Waorani Indians. The Waorani were an unreached people group in the Amazon jungle and lived lives of murdering and vengeance.  They were a fierce people.  The Waorani thought everyone, including their own people were an enemy.  Nate early in his life had a love for flying and love for Jesus.  

The 5 men would fly over the Waorani's and lower a bucket filled with goods..hoping to build trust. (An awesome testimony and story if you have time to read. ) For times sake I can share : these 5 missionaries were ready to land the plane on a sandbar in hopes of befriending.  They vowed not to retaliate if they were to be attacked.  That is what happened.  The 5 men thought the Waoranis were ready to meet and instead were planning a spearing party on that sandbar that day.  Wives and children became widows and orphans that day for the sake of the Gospel.  What came in the following years is a miracle that only God could have done.  Two years later,  Nate's sister and Jim Elliot's wife went back to these people and told them the men had firearms but chose not to use them because they didn't want them to die & never hear about Jesus and eternity.  They shared Jesus. One women listened and chose to repent and accept Christ as Lord.  She then shared.  The leader of the massacre,that day on the sandbar, was one of the first to repent and choose a life of freedom in Christ as well.  He also asked forgiveness to the families that he took their husbands and fathers. He shared with his people.  In years to come 7 other members of that massacre became Christians and many others are leaders in their church and witness about Jesus.  Ten years later, the same men who killed these missionaries had the opportunity to baptize Nate Saint's children in the same river that their father had died in.  (I love the picture of forgiveness!) There is much more to this true story that I don't have time to share.  

What I wanted to share was this.  I sat and cried as I read to my kids because it was beautiful, amazing, and challenging to me all at once.  I thought this to myself:

"What love for Christ.  What obedience for Christ.  What sacrifice. Nate Saint ...willing to do whatever God called him to do. He would reach the Waorani's in the Amazon jungle.   The five men got out of that plane KNOWING they may experience their last breaths and leave small children fatherless and wives as widows.  Why? I ask myself.  See, their love for Jesus must have been so deep.  Their relationship with Jesus must have been so intimate.  They trusted their Heavenly Father with their lives and their families.  Do I, do we, have this kind of love for the Father that we would commit our lives to sharing the Good News and even risk our lives to share Jesus?  I don't know about you, but I want to love Jesus that much.  There are things in my life that keep me from this, it's called love of the flesh.  It's called sin.  Sure the missionaries weren't perfect, but wow! To believe something that much ( the Gospel) and to love someone ( Jesus) that much...  To really follow the Fathers plan for our lives...  To say YES to whatever He is calling us too...to put our desires second so people who haven't heard could hear and know this same blessing that many of us have

 (eternal life in Heaven)...

I want to be like this.

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