Bruchko

Ok, so this is strange but I am simultaneosly posting the sames blogs from here now on my myspace...Basically it is good for me to look backward at later on in time and so this is a great way to keep track of things. Don't bother reading both but if you have not yet read any then great!


Missions is something I love and it stirs up a heartbeat inside me. Tonight…. today really I read a book called Bruchko. It had been sitting on my shelf for about 8 months and every time I had meant to pick it up I simply found something else that needed my attention at the time. I have been over the last year reading through certain missions books as my interest continues in that direction. On my cruise a few weeks ago I had read through the book "Shadow of the Almighty" by Elizabeth Elliot (technically by her husband Jim). That book was so awesome and falls hand in hand with the movie that came out last year called the Edge of the Spear (A good movie that was a better book called "Through the Gates of Splendor"). So, last night when I picked up the book I was not exactly sure what was to follow by I had been encouraged by a mission's friend who now is back serving the Lord in Uganda, that I should read it (and move to Africa with her).


The book was so amazing and the story was fascinating. It was absolutely a page turner for me and so I lost track of time and was unwilling to put it down until it's completion. Therefore, my homework is still unfinished…. I wanted the freshness of the book to resound on this page so that at a later date I would remember the encouragement and excitement the story stirred up within me. It was a story of a man named Bruce Olson (Bruchko, as he was named by the "hostile" Motilone Indians) who became a long-term missionary shortly after his conversion. The greatest part about it was the encouragement and the way he learned to trust in the Lord. I guess I was extremely encouraged by the things he battled through and the way he was able to respond. I loved reading about his adventures in the jungle though I think even more now it would be extremely difficult and God has some serious preparation involved in calling people to serve there. (I felt a bit nauseated thinking about eating bugs and monkeys, picturing the spears being pulled from your own flesh, the constant diseases and infections and blinding pain, and the stomach worm actually being so hungry for lack of food that he crawled out of Bruce's stomach via his mouth)




The things that struck me the most were great lessons God taught him and also the way that he approached witnessing. He grew up in a family that were church goers but it was not a believing family. He became a believer at 14 years old and Christ changed his life. By 19 he felt his calling…the deep aching to go and he sought to pursue this passion. It was against the wishes of his family and with many obstacles that he pursued the uncharted territory of the jungle. It's an incredible story of God teaching Bruce who he had to lean on to get him through it all.


When Bruce was able to live in the jungle and had began to see the fruit of his labor we get to see the heart of the Indians. It was beautiful to see the way that he was able to live out the gospel and continue his work with out even having an opportunity to communicate the gospel to the unreached people he lived among. I was so excited to hear how he was going to reach them. He decided that he would not "civilize" them and make him conform to what Americans would like to see, but like Paul he was going to meet them where they were! He found ways to share and used what ways of life he had learned. Through this he became more accepted by this 'unruly' people then he had in his own country. Oh I love that! That is one lesson I want engrained deep inside me. I want to passionately pursue God and opportunities not trying to change people to fit a standard but allow God to be in their culture and part of their lives. How cool is that?


The other thing that completely wretched my heart was the amazing faith of these people. When they accepted Christ it was more then the drugstore Jesus we often call upon but it was a great faith like that of Abraham. When the people were in need they cried out to God with belief and an innocent faith like a child. How beautiful the faces of those who know Jesus and walk with him that closely. He answers prayers and he was able to display himself in a new way to these people that even Bruce saw. He, the man who God had brought through so much had moments of lacking faith where the Motilone Indians were able to step up and believe. That is so great and I want to trust and believe like that. If we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains! I want to live and pray with a faith that great and in that close of a communion with God. This is the reason I wanted to share. Not of course for a book report though I have to recommend this book as a friend did to me. All I know is that it stirred me up and I love that. Now, I have thought a little more closely about missions as I am still not certain of my role. But, whether I stay or I go I want to live a missional life. God may not give me the strength and courage to step into the unknown and dangerous jungles, (though at times I think that's what I want) but he will continue to teach me how desperately the world needs the truth.