As In a Mirror

Jungle Pilot by Russell T. Hitt is the story of the life and witness of Nate Saint, a missionary pilot to Ecuador who was martyred in 1956. A love for God and a love for airplanes led this young man to commit his life to serving the Lord and His people in the middle of the jungle. This book shows how such a man was made, beginning from the Bible-based household in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, all the way up to how the vision he lived is still being fulfilled today. Hitt frequently uses Saint’s own writings to show how through his years of preparation for his life’s work, his years in service to his beloved King, and even to the point of his death, he strove to be unconditionally surrendered to the will of God, labeling himself “expendable.”

Nathaniel Saint was born in 1923 to Lawrence and Katherine Saint, the seventh of eight children. His parents were Bible-believing Christians who worked to keep their family “unspotted from the world.” Nate was an innovative lad with a keenness in mechanical and financial things. When struck by osteomyelitis at age fourteen, Nate promised the Lord that if He allowed him to live, He would turn over his whole life to him. Nate lived, and when he was nineteen he joined the Air Corps, greatly desiring to become a pilot. The Lord soon spoke to Nate through a series of occurrences that convinced him that the Lord wanted him to be a missionary. He threw all his energy into preparing for this task, eventually joining the Christian Airmen’s Missionary Fellowship (later known as Mission Aviation Fellowship). In 1948, he and his newlywed wife, Marjorie, arrived in Ecuador, to begin what would be nearly eight years of serving missionaries isolated in the middle of the jungle.

Nate and Marj set up their base at Shell Mera, an abandoned oil company station right on the edge of the jungle. Nate’s job as a missionary pilot was to transport people and supplies in and out of their jungle stations. Every missionary Nate served could testify that air travel was far more efficient than ground travel, especially over the rugged jungle terrain. Nate was always trying to work out ways to make mission aviation safer and more efficient. He even invented an alternate fuel system, a “bucket-drop” system, and created a humidity-controlled room. Three beloved children were born to the Saints: Kathy, Steve, and Phil. Nate became close friends with many missionaries, all who greatly admired him for his intelligence, humor, and dedication to God. Once, when Nate’s older sister Rachel paid them a visit, she expressed her desire to someday work with an unreached tribe. Nate flew her near Auca territory and said, “There’s your tribe, Sis.”

Nate had long before heard of the feared “Aucas,” a completely alienated tribe renowned for their deadly spearing raids against outsiders for unknown reasons. Protestant missionaries longed to bring the gospel to these people, but until Nate’s time, a window had not been opened. After Nate had located some Auca villages from the air, he and a few others planned to make friendly contact. They first exchanged gifts with the Indians with the “bucket-drop” system, and when it seemed good will was expressed, they took the next step. Nate and four others, Jim, Ed, Roger, and Pete, set up camp on a beach of the Curaray River. Here they were peacefully approached by three Aucas, though unable to communicate with them. Three days later, on January 8, 1956, they were speared and hacked to death by the Aucas, despite the fact that they were well able to defend themselves. Nevertheless, the story does not end here, for Nate’s flame was carried on. Through a miraculous story of redemption, Rachel Saint, and Jim’s wife, Elisabeth Elliot, were invited to live with the Aucas and teach them God’s word.

Nate’s death was not the end of his witness, for it helped the “Aucas” understand what Jesus did for them on the Cross. Jesus did not resist death, but gave Himself up as a spotless Lamb to be a ransom for sin. Nate’s son, Steve, tells in the epilogue how he continues to carry on his father’s vision by working among the Waodani (the real name of the “Aucas”), and now sees the fruit of his father’s sacrifice in the God-followers of the tribe.

As I read this book, I felt as if I personally knew the man, Nate Saint, and was stirred by his whole-hearted devotion and Christian character. Thus I was captivated by every page, seeking to know the fullness not only of how and why he died, but also how and why he lived. Through this, I saw a picture of Jesus, giving everything he had for the glory of God, whom he called upon as Father. Every once in a while, we read or hear of a man with a nature just like ours, but who completely entrusted their being to the One who gave them life through His death, and hope through His resurrection. But how often do we see such a person whose imitation of Christ continued until their blood spoke to people whose language they did not know? Calvary was illustrated to the Waodani on the Curaray River, and they were willing to repent and believe in this God of love. For me, that is the whole essence of Jungle Pilot, and it has made a mark on my life. I will remember what a precious flow was poured out for me, what holy and blameless Lamb of God was despised to bring me peace with my Maker.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, even if you’re not a missions nut. This will satisfy lovers of adventure, biography, airplanes, Christian life, Christian witness, travel, humor, or even fiction. Reason being? It is a fascinating story, so fascinating that only God could have written this story. It is so cool to think that the same God is writing our story!

Filed under : Books, Missions, Operation Auca

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Give Me This Mountain by Dr. Helen Roseveare is an autobiographical account of an English missionary/doctor who served in the Congo during the 1950s and ’60s. Dr. Roseveare attempts to show what reality in a missionary’s life is like, how missionaries are very normal people, in the words of Jim Elliot, “Just a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.” She does not shy from telling the problems and weaknesses missionaries and evangelists face in their everyday lives, but still emphasizes that there is true honor and nobility in the work, because in our weaknesses, Christ can be strong in us if we allow Him. The title of the book comes from the Scripture Joshua 14:12, in which Caleb, who has been granted by God an inheritance of whatever land he desires, chooses to drive the treacherous Anakim out of Mount Hebron. I found the book quite riveting, because Roseveare, like Caleb, went into hostile and uncertain territory, and learned to not give up until she received the inheritance promised by the Lord.

Helen Roseveare, born in England in 1925, grew up in an Anglo-Catholic home, but in college realized that no ritual or intellectual understanding could get her right before God. The text of Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God,” spoke to her heart, and she finally grasped the wonder of the forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ. Roseveare applied at the World Evangelization for Christ as a medical missionary. In 1953, she was sent to the Belgian Congo, where she came to realize that missionaries, Christians, clash and make mistakes. In her book, she acknowledges that her own personal ambition often got in the way of what God wanted her to do, and that often she let the present circumstances discourage her, instead of looking at the valleys as paths to mountains. She was utterly amazed that at a point when her spirit was so burdened with her own failings, the Holy Spirit used her to bring conviction to an existing congregation of Africans, who with much weeping accepted God’s redeeming grace. Roseveare went on to establish hospitals and support churches in the Congo before its independence in 1960, learning invaluable lessons about partnership with God and man. During the horrific Simba rebellion of the 1960s when most foreigners fled the country, she stayed, soon to be one of those held hostage for five months, before the Belgians rescued them. Roseveare says that her years in Africa taught her that Christ wanted the preeminence in every area of her life, so that He could use her to show who He is to other people, all over the world. Indeed, the Lord asks this of all of us.

The book Give Me This Mountain by missionary doctor Helen Roseveare is an account of a simple missionary, who wrestled with all the difficulties and dangers a missionary faces, including her own will and ambition. She learned that to succeed in conquering territory for Christ, He must be the motivation and dictator of how that is accomplished. She learned that to obtain a mountain, she had to trust in the Lord’s promise to guide her through the valleys. Roseveare says that her years in Africa taught her that Christ wanted the preeminence in every area of her life, so that He could use her to show who He is to other people, all over the world.

Through this book, I have learned to see very clearly that missionaries are normal Christians, just like you and me, growing in the Lord and learning how to live in His ways. It has also defined once again that the only life worth living is one that is given totally to Jesus Christ, who asks us to carry our cross daily. The Lord does not ask us to do great things for Him, but simply to be obedient tools for Him to do a great work in the nations. Truly this surrender, this bondage, is freedom indeed!

Well, now, I have kept my promise.

Filed under : Books, Missions

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I just wanted to share some stuff with y’all! Today, an Mission Aviation Fellowship giving catalog showed up in my mail!

It’s so cool; through gifts of money, you can help spread the gospel and help God’s people WORLDWIDE!

MAF helps missionaries show the JESUS film project.

Hey, I know this guy!

That’s Kimo! Don’t remember? He’s one of the Huaorani who speared Jim Elliot and his partners, but is now an elder in the church that exists in his tribe! In fact, He’s one of the guys that baptized Steve and Kathy Saint, Nate Saint’s children!

Also in my mail today came “Give Me This Mountain” by Dr. Helen Roseveare, a British missionary to the Congo in the 1950′s and 60′s. I have wanted this book for a while, and my Mom recently found out and got it for me! Isn’t that so SWELL?! I am sure you will be hearing more from me about this book soon! Hey, don’t laugh… I’ll keep my promise and tell you about The Widow’s Might, too… sometime. Ehem.

Whew! And that’s not all that happened today! I discovered another Hillsong song! It’s I’m Not Ashamed from their Saviour King CD. WOW! I have listened to it 4 times today! This is the rare stuff that I like to turn up ALL the way! That CD is definitely on my wishlist! Maybe even the DVD… big bucks tho. The only reason I wouldn’t post it here for you to listen to is because it plays automatically, and even though it’s a good song, “autoplay” can get quite annoying… So please click the link and tell me if you can’t stop playing it! I’ve got that cool guitar stuck in my head!
I especially love these lyrics: “I live in the risen Son!”

So I am a happy turkey. Where did that phrase come from? Dunno. I’ll look it up later. Hope your day went well!

Filed under : Books, Missions, Music, Uncategorized

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This week’s inspiring story–my utmost sincere apologies for the unprecedented delay– once again focuses on Amy Carmichael, Irish Presbyterian missionary to India. Only, this time, the story focuses on when she was seventeen years old, still living in Belfast, Ireland with her family. It was just her, her mother, four brothers and two sisters; her father had recently died. Here is an excerpt from the book A Chance to Die, by Elisabeth Elliot.

The preocupations of seventeen-year-old girls–their looks, their clothes, their social life–do not change very much from generation to generation. But in every generation there seem to be a few who make other choices. Amy was one of the few.

The decisive moment which determined the direction of her life came on a dull Sunday morning in Belfast as the family was returning from church. They saw what they had never seen before in Presbyterian Belfast–an old woman lugging a heavy bundle. Amy and her brothers turned around, took the bundle, and helped her along by the arms. “This meant facing all the respectable people who were, like ourselves, on their way home. It was a horrid moment. We were only two boys and a girl, and not at all exalted Christians. We hated doing it. Crimson all over (at least we felt crimson, soul and body of us) we plodded on, a wet wind blowing us about, and blowing, too, the rags of the poor old woman, till she seemed like a bundle of feathers and we unhappily mixed up in them.”

In the middle of the street was a beautiful Victorian fountain. As Amy and her brothers trudged passed it with the old woman and her bundle, Amy distinctly heard a strong voice coming from the waters of that fountain. It said, “Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble–every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be declared by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work, of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide…” (1 Corinthians 3:12-14)

Amy turned to see who had spoken. There was nothing but the fountain, the muddy street, the people with their politely surprised faces. The children plodded on with the bundle of feathers, but something had happened to the girl which changed forever life’s values. That afternoon she shut herself in her room. It was time to settle some immensely important things, and things of that sort Amy Carmichael settled alone with God.”

Young Amy Carmichael began to organize meetings with the poor city children in the labor force. She worked at the YWCA, held classes for poor girls, and helped anyone she could. But she still felt it not enough. The Lord showed Amy that He was able to keep her from falling. (Jude 1:24) Would she trust Him with her life? Would she do what was right and leave the results in His hands, not fearing the people? More important, would she trust that He alone made her holy?

The Lord would eventually lead Amy to India, where she would stay for the rest of her life, rescuing His precious gems. But I won’t give it all away; I’ll let you find out for yourself!

Not every one of us can go to foreign lands and preach the gospel to the pagans. But every one of us has been given his part in laying “the foundation.” Will it last?

Certainly some of us have been blessed with the tool of blogs! This meme especially, hosted by Miss Symanski, is a great tool.

Filed under : Books, Discipleship, Inspiring Story, Missions

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Even in our modern information age, with all its gadgets, mp3 players, ipods, X-boxes, gameboys, cellphones, and MacDonalds, the old principle still stands that nothing beats a good book. But let us qualify, here; how exactly shall we define a “good book”? Action-packed? Vivid description of plot, character, and setting? Happy ending? Support of moral values? How about correct grammar? We might go a little deeper and say, “This book really made me think about the relevency of my own life,” or “Such values or practices will make us better people.”
Have you ever heard people say of a person, “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good!” Recently, I mean. Well, just to clarify, that phrase contradicts itself. The heavenly minded are the ones who “make this world a better place,” because they understand the truth that our actions here on earth have eternal relevency. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
In light of this, I believe that the best books are those that challenge us to live more heavenly minded, more sacrificially; those books are the best which bring us to a broader understanding of God or stimulate our desire to seek Him. No other book does this as well as the written Word of God, of course. There are many books which have done this for me, among them Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot, A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael, Through the Gates of Splendor, all by Elisabeth Elliot, Jungle Pilot by Russell T. Hitt, The Hiding Place by Corrie tenBoom, Brother Andrew and Gladys Aylward by Geoff and Janet Benge.
I want you to know that to describe these books as “inspirational” or “interesting” would be an understatement. They have greatly fortified me and encouraged me; I know that the same battles I fight with the devil have been and are being fought by others. Most of all, I see that in everything, God ALWAYS wins. We just need to completely entrust ourselves to Him so that we can win and reign with Him. (Revelation 5:10) The Lord says that He will divide the spoils with the strong, those who endure to the end. (Isaiah 53:12)
All the above books are biographies of people who put their faith in God. We need to remember that faith is not an emotion or a discipline; it is an assurance deep inside, just as our love for family members is. We didn’t work it up, it is just there, it is real. We did, however, have to nurture it with some things that were painful for us to sacrifice. If we nurtured it, it grows, and if we neglect it, it withers. Our faith is the exact same way, and one of the ways we nurture faith is by confession, then also by action. Faith requires a humbling of ourselves that the believed might be exalted; it requires an emptying of ourselves that we might be filled with confidence in another. “Faith is the realization of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
So, I ask you, where is your faith? Is it growing? If your faith is in Jesus Christ and you are nurturing it by confessing it, sharing it, and studying it in the lives of others, great is your reward if you persevere. As in the lives of the people examined in the above biographies, you must carry your cross down the road, but you have that assurance that the One who carried the sin of the world has conquered the enemy and given you the victory. Yes indeed, a life surrendered entirely to Jesus is a worthy pursuit.

Filed under : Books, Discipleship, Missions

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