End of the Spear

I am someone who can watch a movie over and over. I read the same books over and over too.  I don't really do book reviews, but there are 2 books in particular that I love and want to share with you.

The first is End of the Spear. I have it on my ipod and I must have listened to it at least 15 times. Crazy. I know! I know it inside and out. I always laugh (really hard) and cry (just as hard) at the same parts. Right now Micah is listening to it for the first time. That tickles me! When he is done, I will have someone to chat with about the book. (:

It's the story of Steve Saint (He is the son of Nate Saint, the missionary killed in Ecuador with Jim Elliot.) The book is about how he went back to the jungle as a kid and then again with his family later in life. It's about how he is letting “God write his story".

Through this book I also got to know the tribe that killed his father and how Steve and his family have adopted them as their family. The man who killed Steve's father is now in a way Steve's father. He calls him Grandfather Mancaye.

He has been such an example to me as he walks “God's trail”.  I think the part that touches me the most is when they lose their only daughter suddenly. The way he writes, we are able to live it with them. Mancaye is there with them and I just don't know what to say about it. We were able to see them giving their daughter to the Lord and surrendering all to Him. The grace and strength God gave them was beautiful. One time I was listening to that part and I was crying. They were not silent tears. It was messy. I went to Ken to chat it out with him and for a hug and he told me that when Micah was sick, he read a book called Suffering and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper. It's a compilation of a whole bunch of authors on suffering. Steve Saint wrote a chapter and Ken told me that, that one chapter was one of the of the most powerful things he had read up to that point in his life. We connect with this man.

Steve is so real and honest. But more importantly he doesn't make plans and have God sign off on them. He waits for God to plan and then he walks it. Time and time again we see God working in in the small and big details in his life. It's amazing and beautiful. I am not putting him on a pedestal. I am sure he has his struggles just like us. But I am thankful the example Steve and his family has set for me. Without him knowing, the Lord has used him as one of my teachers. (:

When Steve came back from living in the jungle, he started a company called I-Tec (http://www.itecusa.org/).  The one thing he designed is a car that can fly for people living in the jungle. It's a-mazing! Last year he was testing one of his flying machines and crashed. He is partly paralyzed. He is healing and getting movement back. Just recently he did his first talk since his accident. It's hard to see a man who is used to hiking through the jungle and flying planes being bound to a chair. But as hard as it must be for him, it's equally as amazing to see him giving all glory to God through his trial.

Read the book. You won't regret it. You may even find yourself going back for second read! ( :

I will talk about my number 2 book another day!