Through Gates of Splendor

I'm still a little behind, but I did finish reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot for Carrie's book club in June.  While life has been busy and my reading time has been limited lately, I do have fond memories of Destry's obsession with The End of the Spear, a movie based on this same story of five missionaries who were killed by the Waodoni of Ecuador who they were trying to reach with the gospel.

I am very glad I read this book and recommend it.  At times it's a little tedious as Elisabeth heavily quotes letters and diary entries from the five men, yet at the same time, that's part of what I most appreciated about her account.  The men's reflections on their commitment to Christ and their willingness to literally lay down their lives are both inspiring and convicting.  In a culture saturated with selfishness, covetousness, greed, materialism. . . .well, their perspective stands out.

Jim Elliot's perspective on life--or its thorns that choke the seed:
"The Lord has given me a hunger for righteousness and piety that can alone be of Himself.  Such hungering He alone can satisfy, yet Satan would delude and cast up all sorts of other baubles, social life, a name renowned, a position of importance, scholastic attainment.  What are these but the objects of the 'desire of the Gentiles' whose cravings are warped and perverted.  Surely they can mean nothing to the soul who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ. . .No doubt you will hear of my receiving preliminary honors at school.  They carry the same brand and will lie not long hence in the basement in a battered trunk beside the special gold 'B' pin, with the ruby in it for which I studied four years at Benson.  All is vanity below the sun and a 'striving after wind'.  Life is not here, but hid above with Christ in God, and therein I rejoice and sing as I think on such exaltation" (17).

"He makes His ministers a flame of fire.  Am I ignitable?  God deliver me from the dread asbestos of 'other things.'  Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame.  But flame is transient, often short-lived.  Canst thou bear this, my soul--short life?" (18)

His ruminations were so good and reminded me, yet again, that my desire is to "set my affections on things above, not on things on the earth"--and to share that vision with my children.

Commentary on the American church:
"What if the well-filled church in the homeland (America) needs stirring?  They have the Scriptures, Moses and the prophets, and a whole lot more.  Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers" (20).

Distraction of day-to-day life.  Even on the "mission field":
"It's hard to stay on top of it all, hard to keep rejoicing, hard to love these ungrateful Indians.  It's hard to keep our primary purpose in view when we get so swamped with secondary things" (56)

I found this quote regarding Ed McCully's discouragement interesting.  I think it's easy for us to think a life serving God will be more exciting, more fulfilling, more meaningful "somewhere else."  But the daily tedium of life can distract us from our mission wherever we are serving, whether it's in our homes with our husbands and children, in our local community, or in some faraway land and culture.

Reactions to the men's murder (applicable to other times of suffering):
"I want to be free of self-pity.  It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life" (236).  (spoken by one of the wives--now a widow.  Isn't that so true?)

"(The massacre) was interpreted according to the measure of one's faith or faithlessness--full of meaning or empty.  A triumph or a tragedy" (270).

I consider how we interpret the events of our lives.  Do we view them through a lens of faith?  Or the lens of our own selfishness?

The way the Lord uses our interests and passions:
I've heard elsewhere that the very things that our children drive us crazy doing give us clues as to their giftings and what they will do with their lives.  Consequently, I couldn't help but grin as Nate Saint served the missionaries by fixing up broken planes just "as he used to rig model planes as a child" (70).  I can't wait to see what my children end up doing in their service to the Lord and how I will reflect on the foreshadowing I was privy to in their early years.