When We Pray for Protection . . . .

Mary & I went to see the movie, End of the Spear, Friday evening. I had seen it before, but Mary had not. We were both inspired by this amazing story of faith and obedience. It was one of those movies that left us with a heaviness.
Later that evening I drove by my study at church to get a book that had been part of my library for a long time. It was Elizabeth Elliott's book, The Savage Are My Kinsman (published by Harper & Brothers, New York). Elizabeth's husband, Jim, was one of the missionaries who was murdered by the Aucas.
Cornell Capa wrote the forward for that book. He had been asked by Life magazine in 1956 to fly to Ecuador and find out what happened to the five missionaries who lost their lives there. In his Forward there is a telling conversation with Elizabeth Elliott that put me in reflection mode. It redefines protection. Cornell Capa wrote: "I wondered how Betty could reconcile Jim's death at the hands of the Aucas and the Lord's apparent failure to protect him from them. Her answer came back without hesitation: 'I prayed for the protection of Jim, that is, physical protection. The answer the Lord gave transcended what I had in mind. He gave protection from disobedience and through Jim's death accomplished results the magnitude of which only Eternity can show'" (page 13-14).
How many times have you prayed for protection for you or someone else, and thought of being protected from disobeying God? It doesn't take much reflection to realize that praying for protection from disobedience is a far higher priority than praying for protection from physical harm. It is one more way to transform our thinking to interpret life's events with Eternity's values in mind.

The Worse Thing That Can Happen

I was re-reading our Christmas cards again tonight to be sure I hadn't missed one. There was the letter from our friends, Richard and Becky. Becky passed away from brain cancer on November 28. Richard called us on New Year's Day. Then he stopped through and spent a night with us about ten days ago. It was so good to share this time of sorrow with him, and our joy in Christ. As I looked over Richard's Christmas letter again, one sentence caught my eye. Richard wrote about Becky: "She has consistently shared, ‘living without Christ as Lord is worse than having terminal cancer!'” What a powerful statement! The worse thing that can happen is living without Christ as Lord. Yes! Unless a person knows Christ, nothing else ultimately matters.

End of the Spear

Have you seen End of the Spear released this past weekend? I had an opportunity to see the film in October while attending a conference in Chicago. It was an uncut version, not the one released this weekend. I was deeply moved. What happens when someone lies about someone else? How do we deal with the potent force of anger? Is it possible to forgive someone who murdered a loved one? Would a close relationship with that person ever be possible? This powerful story needs to be told. And it is told very well. End of the Spear has come to the big screen on the 50th anniversary of the murder of five American missionaries in Ecuador.

Recently I received material from the companies who put this story on the screen: Every Tribe Entertainment (everytribe.com) and Bearing Fruit Communications (bearingfruit.org). Looking over their materials, I was drawn to their Websites. I was so excited about their vision, I could hardly get to sleep that night. Unfortunately, it was Saturday, only a sunrise from Sunday.

Their vision is simple: our culture needs better stories. Ponder, for example, this quote from the brochure by Bearing Fruit: “The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in” - Harold Goddard. Or, consider the moral mudslide in our county alongside this thought: “A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell themselves. Sick storytellers can make nations sick” - Ben Okri.

What could happen if a film making company like this succeeds? Let your mind imagine the impact by considering another couple sentences from that same brochure: “We don’t believe audiences are deliberately looking for ways to lower their moral sensitivity. Rather, we think they have a natural desire for story experiences, and would choose stories with biblical virtues if they were just as entertaining as those without them.”

Of course, Jesus was a master storyteller. He was way ahead of the game. Put it in your plans. See End of the Spear.

Stepping to the Plate

Well, it’s time to step to the plate and take a swing at a 21st century mode of communication. Our staff has been reminding me (i.e., bugging, nagging me) to get started. Write a blog (a Web log), they say. So what’s the problem? Writer’s block? Ideas going subzero? Nothing catching my attention? No. One more thing to do? Maybe. Then I saw this cartoon in the current issue of Leadership magazine (Winter, 2006, Vol. XXVII Number 1, page 11), and I knew immediately what had happened to me.



Jesus changed his methodology so he spoke where people were listening (or reading). And Jesus is my awesome model. So, here goes.

Stop by now and then. I’ll do some ruminating here. Join in the dialogue if you like. And by the way, what is the big deal about blogging? It reminds me a lot of the title of a column Joe Bayly used to write for Eternity magazine. He called his column Out of My Mind. Of course you can read that a couple ways. Yeah, and both ways could describe blogging.