Maybe we all are crazy

Tonight me, Shannon, Diane, Kenley, David, Lerah and Mr. Robbin went and saw "The End of the Spear" at AMC. (It's very good. I highly recommend it.) Watching a movie like that inevitably leads to me reevaluating a lot of stuff and that's certainly a good thing. The passion that Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and the others had for sharing Jesus with a tribe of people who were only slightly more famous for their life of killing than their intense brutality is absolutely inspiring. I sat there pondering what I would be thinking if I didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus and saw that movie. Honestly, I would think that those men and their wives were totally insane. And you know what? I'd be right. I think it was David Nasser who was telling us about how he was on a mission board for some organization and the board was considering sending a Christian psychologist on the field to kind of counsel the missionaries that were in remote areas and didn't have a lot of contact with "normal" surroundings. Most of the people on the board agreed that that would be a good idea. But when they got to Nasser, he basically told them that it was a terrible idea. He said that these were men and women who had given up every comfort, every friend, every family member for the purpose of sharing Christ with people who have no desire to hear about it. If you send them a therapist they will probably be on the next boat home.

It doesn't make any sense to the rest of the world. None at all. Why would Jim Elliot give up a life of ease in America to make his home among violent Indians in Ecuador who would eventually kill him? Why would Elisabeth Elliot go back and live with those Indians and devote her life to the people who killed her husband? Why would people like Hudson Taylor, William Carey, and Lottie Moon give up their lives of luxury to serve people with strange cultures, difficult languages and hard existences? Why didn't Steven just keep his mouth shut instead of preaching to an entire Jewish council? Why didn't Paul stay safe in Jerusalem instead of making voyages all over the world and ending up in a prison cell in Rome? Why did John have to get himself involved in Herod's affairs? Why didn't Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego just bow to the stupid statue?

It's because they all knew there was something more. It's because they were "sure of what they hope[d] for and certain of what they [couldn't] not see." Men like Jim Elliot had Matthew 28:19-20 stamped on their hearts. It wasn't just a verse to them. It was the meaning of their entire existence. In the movie, Nate Saint's son, Steve, who's about 10 at the time, asks his dad right before he leaves to visit the tribe if they will protect themselves with their guns. If they will shoot the Waodani if they attack them. Nate replies something to the effect of "No, son. We can't shoot the Waodani. They're not ready to go to heaven yet." As Mincayani is stabbing Nate Saint through with a spear, the only thing Nate says to him is "I am your friend."

Maybe the more crazy part of Christianity is the part where the God of heaven leaves his throne and comes to suffer and die to redeem a people who have only themselves to blame for screwing the world up. How crazy that the One who created us let us nail him to a cross. The One who formed our mouths let us spit on him and curse his name. God, who was more powerful than anything we could even imagine, subjected himself to death only to defeat it. To give us all a bridge to cross so that we wouldn't be under his judgment anymore. To give us hope and life and freedom. And that is why men travel to Ecuador to willingly sacrifice their lives so that those who've never heard about Christ can have a chance. Because the risk that they took to share that Hope with people was worth whatever the outcome. I can't think of a better way to put it than how Jim Elliot did: "It is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

The old-school Steven Curtis Chapman "Sake of the Call" CD is playing on my laptop. That's rather appropriate.

Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure
Was Jesus had called to them
He said, "Come, follow Me" and they came
With reckless abandon, they came

Empty nets lying there at the water's edge
Told a story that few could believe
And none could explain
How some crazy fisherman agreed to go where Jesus went
With no thought to what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name
And they answered...

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call

Drawn like the rivers are drawn to the sea
There's no turning back, for the water cannot help but flow
Once we hear the Savior's call, we'll follow wherever He leads
Because of the love He has shown
And because He has called us to go
We will answer...

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who called
And if we believe we'll obey.