A young martyr
A young martyr
I’m an addict to coffee, no doubt – the kind that cannot start my day proper without gulping down a cup of it. But recently, ever since both school and college began, I found myself surviving on a minimum of 2 cups, if not 3 cups of coffee!! Well, this is really not healthy, especially with the amount of caffeine intake I have everyday in the past 3 weeks …
There is however, a “good” side to all these coffee, though *SMILE* With the help of more cups of it, at least I could sit through lectures with a clearer mind … at least I could stay up a little later than I should to finish up my readings … at least I find the “extra” strength to cope with the recently stressful week in school, college and at home. Looking back, I really didn’t know how I managed to survive through.
Well, it was 4 days since I last blog. Let me try to give a quick recall of what I’ve learnt during the week and hopefully they can be an inspiration and/or encouragement to you as well =)
I’ve watched like, 5 movies within the span of 5 days??? 3 of the movies were needed for assignments – reflection in relation to certain passage of the NT, 1 was a documentary for interest sake, and the other 1 was in class yesterday in relation to M&E.
Out of the 5 movies, the one that spoke the “loudest” (at this point of time as I haven’t had time to think through and ponder over the movies for reflection assignments yet) was the one we watched in class yesterday.
“Beyond the gates of splendor” records the life of 5 young missionary families to the tribal people in Ecuador, one of them was Jim Elliot, from which this famous quote originated “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”. How apt it is! The 5 young men (late twenties, early thirties??) had ventured into the jungle area where the tribal people (the Aucas, an indigenous people group in Ecuador that had never had friendly contact with the outside world) were, and wrongfully died as they were made scapegoats for a very ridiculous internal tribal strife. Even to the very end where their lives were threatened, these 5 men (their wives and young kids in the missionary base waiting for them) chose not to defend themselves with the guns they carried with them. Their rationale? They were more ready for heaven than any of those (tribal people) whom they are going to reach out to.
The wives of these men had called upon the search team for help to locate these men who had “lost all contact” with them. And I felt really heavy-hearted and sadden as reports of their bodies and the manner in which they died were recounted.
They died young … they died a wrongful death … but yet they died for a worthy cause – “they were more ready for heaven than any of those”. After her husband's death, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries began working among the Aucas. They had a profound impact and won many converts.
How many of us would be willing to risk our lives for the Gospel? Paul says in the book of Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I guess for Jim Elliot, this must have been so to.
I’m an addict to coffee, no doubt – the kind that cannot start my day proper without gulping down a cup of it. But recently, ever since both school and college began, I found myself surviving on a minimum of 2 cups, if not 3 cups of coffee!! Well, this is really not healthy, especially with the amount of caffeine intake I have everyday in the past 3 weeks …
There is however, a “good” side to all these coffee, though *SMILE* With the help of more cups of it, at least I could sit through lectures with a clearer mind … at least I could stay up a little later than I should to finish up my readings … at least I find the “extra” strength to cope with the recently stressful week in school, college and at home. Looking back, I really didn’t know how I managed to survive through.
Well, it was 4 days since I last blog. Let me try to give a quick recall of what I’ve learnt during the week and hopefully they can be an inspiration and/or encouragement to you as well =)
I’ve watched like, 5 movies within the span of 5 days??? 3 of the movies were needed for assignments – reflection in relation to certain passage of the NT, 1 was a documentary for interest sake, and the other 1 was in class yesterday in relation to M&E.
Out of the 5 movies, the one that spoke the “loudest” (at this point of time as I haven’t had time to think through and ponder over the movies for reflection assignments yet) was the one we watched in class yesterday.
“Beyond the gates of splendor” records the life of 5 young missionary families to the tribal people in Ecuador, one of them was Jim Elliot, from which this famous quote originated “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”. How apt it is! The 5 young men (late twenties, early thirties??) had ventured into the jungle area where the tribal people (the Aucas, an indigenous people group in Ecuador that had never had friendly contact with the outside world) were, and wrongfully died as they were made scapegoats for a very ridiculous internal tribal strife. Even to the very end where their lives were threatened, these 5 men (their wives and young kids in the missionary base waiting for them) chose not to defend themselves with the guns they carried with them. Their rationale? They were more ready for heaven than any of those (tribal people) whom they are going to reach out to.
The wives of these men had called upon the search team for help to locate these men who had “lost all contact” with them. And I felt really heavy-hearted and sadden as reports of their bodies and the manner in which they died were recounted.
They died young … they died a wrongful death … but yet they died for a worthy cause – “they were more ready for heaven than any of those”. After her husband's death, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries began working among the Aucas. They had a profound impact and won many converts.
How many of us would be willing to risk our lives for the Gospel? Paul says in the book of Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I guess for Jim Elliot, this must have been so to.
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