God's Trail
Last night I got together with a friend who is about to go to India for a couple weeks. She’s never really done the whole missions thing, so she’s a bit apprehensive. I shared a bit about how feeling a burden for missions was one of the first things the Lord did in me after my salvation and told her about some of the more bizarre experiences I’ve had overseas (and since a portion of my missions experience includes several months in Amsterdam, there are some very bizarre stores). One of our rabbit trails landed with me telling her about Rachel Saint’s life and ministry.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the story, let me give a very brief sketch. On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCulley, Roger Youderian, and Pete Fleming were speared to death by members of the Waodani tribe as the men sought to reach them with the Gospel. Rachel Saint was the sister of Nate Saint and was a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators at the time of her brother’s death. Not long after Nate’s death, the Lord opened up an opportunity for Rachel and Elisabeth Elliot (widow of Jim Elliot) to go into the jungle and live with the very individuals who had murdered the five missionaries. To make a very long (and extraordinary) story short, let me just say that Rachel served, taught, and loved the Waodani people for the rest of her life. They named her “Star” and came to see her as a dear member of their community. She left to return to the USA only a few times and eventually died in the country she had loved and among the people she had come to reach. Rachel “Star” Saint was eighty years old when she died and had served in the jungles of Ecuador as a missionary to the Waodani for almost forty years.
Okay, that’s incredible in and of itself. After a group of people murdered her brother, she responded by sacrificing the comfortable and easy life she could have had to instead basically go into the jungle and not come out. She never saw the influence her family’s story has had on generations who have responded to their faithfulness with obedience to God’s call. But she did see generations of Waodani believers, biblically trained Waodani church leaders, and a transformed culture. To be honest, some of the methodology she used is uncomfortable for my formally missiologically trained brain–but then again, that’s easy for me to say from my couch with my DVR running and an entire theological library at my fingertips.
So what does this have to do with the conversation I had last night at Starbucks? Last night my friend asked me what I’d do with my life if there were no obligations standing in my way. As I shared my response, I told her about Rachel “Star” Saint and what strikes me most about her life, ministry, and legacy. The Waodani refer to Christians as “God Followers” and to a life of godliness as “God’s trail.” So, at the end of her life, as a tribe changed by the message she brought, they chose to inscribe the following on her grave marker:
That alone is remarkable and the sure sign of a life lived for the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus. Yet, Rachel’s own words are even more profound. When speaking to her nephew, Steve (Nate’s son) shortly before her death, she remarked the following, “’Isn’t it something,’ she asked, ‘that the Lord Jesus would have used someone like me to do His work in this special place? I was too old by the time I could apply for missionary service. I couldn’t help the Waodani much medically, I was not a Bible scholar, and I was never really a superior translator.”
When asked why it was that she thought God had given her this assignment and used her in this way, she answered, “Well, Stevie Boy, I loved the Lord Jesus with all my heart, and I trusted Him completely. And I guess I just learned to persevere in whatever He gave me to do.”
So, what’s the point? It’s simple. Rachel showed up and she trusted the Lord when she got there. We’re not all called to go to the jungles of Ecuador (but some most certainly are). We are all called to be faithful. We are not required to be perfectly prepared. We are required to trust. Frustrating, huh. Faithful and trusting are not things we can so much accomplish in one step and I, for one, like to be able to check things off my list quickly. Unfortunately, we cannot teach anyone to walk God’s trail quickly… not even ourselves.
One last thing, again back to my friend at Starbucks. She’s a dear friend, but she’s also one of my authors. She’s definitely walking God’s trail and teaching others to do the same. She’s stepping out of her comfort zone in faith and with the full knowledge that she will have to trust the Lord Jesus every step of the way. People ask me all the time what I’m looking for in an author—and that is it. She gets extra credit for throwing a direct missions connection in as well!
