Till We Are Home

The Christmas season was upon them at the end of 1955. The 5 men who would enter deeper into the jungles of Ecuador to make personal contact with the Waorani tribe, were about to celebrate with their families their last Christmas together on earth. Nate Saint, one of the 5, penned the following words during that advent season. 

“As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.” (Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, p171)

Jill and I lead the young adult ministry at our church; this past week, our group finished reading several chapters including the above passage and discussed this together at our home. If you know the story of the Ecuador Five, then you know what comes next; if you don’t, close your laptop or your phone, pick up a copy of Through Gates of Splendor and be amazed at what the Lord did through these 5 men and their families. 

My hope is to encourage our young adults to see their lives separated unto the Lord just like these young men and women did who entered the Ecuadorian jungles to share the good news of the gospel with people who never heard it before. Their story is one of encouragement for if the Lord could use them – the 5 families whose story is told in that book – to do great things, then surely He can do great things through their young lives as well. And this month, I’ve tasked the group to be praying toward that end as they finish the story of the Elliotts, the Saints, the McCullys, the Youderians, and the Flemings.

I love this story. The Lord’s amazing work to bring the gospel into the lives of the Waoranis through these families is nothing short of amazing. Amazing because these families, faithful through and through, are just normal people…amazing because they serve a great God who accomplished great things through their normal lives. 

I’m thankful to be reading this story again after so many years…to be reading it with these young adults from our church to hopefully inspire them as well. And I’m thankful for the fresh encouragement it has provided to this not-so-young adult as well, especially fresh from a trip to a land not too unsimilar from those jungles of Ecuador some 70 years ago.

My job took me to Tokyo for the past two weeks. Most of my days were spent in meeting rooms, including most of my nights either in team dinners or ordering room service as I was just too exhausted to do anything else. However, I did get some opportunities to be out in the city and explore bits of Japan while I was there.

The city of Tokyo is vast, to say the least. There are so many people, so many buildings, and so much going on. Though there is so much of this, it’s still one of the cleanest and quietest major cities I’ve ever visited. And, it’s pretty cool as well. 

I won’t bore you by telling you of the different things I experienced; however, I will mention one place. Toward the western side of Tokyo is a Shinto shrine called Meiji Jingu. Set in the middle of this enormous city, Meiji Jingu hosts large trees of different varieties, a quiet path winding through gigantic gates, all leading up to the shrine dedicated to one of Japan’s former leaders, the deified Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken. 

It’s quite beautiful and stunning struck in the middle of busy Tokyo. The quiet solitude and feeling of smallness set against the towering trees is thunderously noticeable. Yet, what struck me most is that feeling of solitude pointing to a greater emptiness telling a reality of the whole city and country. Watching the faithful pray at the shrine, bowing upon entering and exiting the grounds, knowing that their devotion – though sincere – is empty and meaningless. 

Their god is dead and no god at all, for there is only One God, true and alive.

Japan is a country lost. Going all the way back to the Edo period (1603-1868) when Christianity was banned, that tradition of pushing away anything non-Japanese continues especially as it concerns religion. According to most research, there is approximately less that 0.5% evangelical out of a total population greater than 122 million.

And you feel this walking through those towering gates of Meiji Jingu…through the streets of Shinjuku Station…among the maze of people crossing at Shibuya. 

I met some wonderfully warm and kind people from Japan. They are friendly, helpful, courteous, and genuinely interested in others. My heart breaks for them and their countrymen for they know not of their Savior who came to save them. My heart breaks for the sweet people I met for they don’t even have enough people around them to tell them of the good news.

Earlier this year, our young adult group attended CrossCon 2025. At this conference, one of the sponsors is a group called Reaching & Teaching International. It so happened that this year they have been focused on Tokyo, calling their campaign Pray for Tokyo. I encourage you to visit their website (prayfortokyo.com) to learn more and to hopefully pray for this city and the country…and hopefully more will go to Tokyo as well to bring the good news of the gospel to these people.

I’m writing all of this to say, may none of us be so complacent in our own lives to ignore the need of the lost. Like Nate Saint, may we consider not just at Christmastime “the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance.” May our hearts be broken as well for those who have not heard the gospel – whether they be across the world or across the street. 

May we pray big things to our God, to use our lives in a way just like the 5 families who went into the Ecuadorian jungle those 70 years ago to bring the good news of Jesus’ work on their behalf that they may have eternal life. 

May we pray big things to our God, to open our homes to our neighbors, engage with them and serve them however we can, but also to open our mouths through our fear and anxiety to share with them about Jesus. 

May we pray big things to our God, to help us see our lives not to be spent upon our selfish ambitions, but to be spent for the advancement of the Kingdom here and abroad. 

May we pray big things to our God, to make every breath we take from now until the very last one proclaiming the goodness of our Christ so that He will be known by a people from every tribe, nation and tongue…

Till we are home…