Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot

Instead of the usual “It’s been nice knowing you,” or some equally meaningless platitude, he wrote: When I was a student at Wheaton, I asked Jim to autograph my yearbook.

It is hinted at in the lives of Quechua Indians who have determined to follow Christ, persuaded by Jim’s example in the lives of many who express to me their desire to know God as Jim did. The interest which accrues from this legacy is yet to be realized. No legacy then? Was it “just as if he had never been”? “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” Jim left for me, in memory, and for us all, in these letters and diaries, the testimony of a man who sought nothing but the will of God, who prayed that his life would be “an exhibit to the value of knowing God.” There was no funeral, no tombstone for a memorial (news reports of “five wooden crosses set up on the sand” were not true). The men who went to try to rescue the five brought back to me from Jim’s body his wrist watch, and from the Curaray beach, the blurred pages of his college prayer notebook. So, of material things, there were few a home in the jungle, a few well-worn clothes, books, and tools. They were not told to lay up for tomorrow.

When the children of Israel were given manna in the wilderness, they received enough for one day. In that way we share with each other, as the Scripture says,Īnd he that gathered little had no lack.’ ”

At present your plenty should supply their need, and then at some future date their plenty may supply your need. We would store our goods in heaven, share what the Lord gave us as long as we had it, and trust him literally for the future, in accord with the principles Paul set forth to the Corinthians: “It is a matter of share and share alike. He and I had agreed long before that we wanted no insurance. Somerset Maugham, in Of Human Bondage, wrote, “These old folk had done nothing, and when they died it would be just as if they had never been.” Jim’s comment on this was, “God deliver me!” When he died, Jim left little of value, as the world regards values. Two days later, on Sunday, January 8, 1956, the men for whom Jim Elliot had prayed for six years killed him and his four companions. Suffice it to say that on Friday the thrill of Jim’s lifetime was given. All that we know of those four days is told elsewhere. Your lover, Jim.”Īs far as I know, these were the last words Jim wrote. “We’re going down now, pistols, gifts, novelties in our pockets, prayer in our hearts.-All for now.

Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot