January 8, 1956 - January 8, 2006

They were convinced that Sunday, January 8, was going to be the day... And, in a sense, it was.

Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian -- an idealistic band of young men -- had been planning, praying, and preparing for months to make contact with a violent tribe of natives deep in the jungles of Ecuador. Driven by a desire to share the story of Jesus with this Stone Age society that had been cut off from the rest of civilization for thousands of years, they had deliberately disregarded the dangers (well-documented by a trail of blood through surrounding tribes and foreigners who had dared set foot in "Auca" territory) and developed a tenuous relationship with these curious people. Systematic distance interaction, gift exhanges, and a breathless first encounter had left the men hopeful. And on that day, early in 1956, it seemed that face-to-face contact with the "Aucas" (Quechua for "naked savages") was imminent. Exactly fifty years ago, this morning, the five young missionaries woke up with an expectation of something revolutionary.

And exactly fifty years ago, this morning, the five young missionaries were violently murdered by their jungle "friends," who revolted against them in fear and confusion. It's difficult to ascertain everything that happened on that January morning, but the only certainty of the day was that five corpses were left floating in the waters of the Curaray.

They were five men who were my age, with wives the age of my wife, and with kids the age of my kids. Like me, each one of the "Auca martyrs" was an American idealist, living "like a stranger in a foreign country... looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." And I cannot help but be impacted by their story. Fifty years ago today, Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian were rudely thrown off a sandbar in the Amazonian rainforest and consequently escorted into the immediate presence of the Living God; and in so doing, a process was begun which brought the light of the Gospel to a very dark place and revolutionized an entire society in South America.

I've long been inspired by the story of these men, recorded in the book, “Through Gates of Splendor,” by Elisabeth Elliot (widow of Jim Elliot). It only feels appropriate to remember them on this Sunday, January 8, 2006 -- the fiftieth anniversary of that fateful day in Ecuador -- and reconsider the words of Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”