09.18.06
Baby Toe
What’s the “right stuff” that makes a martyr? What’s it like to feel so passionately about something that you’re willing to die for it?
Not long ago I watched a documentary called, “Beyond the Gates of Splendor.” It was about five missionaries in the 1950’s who made contact with violent tribes people in the jungle of Ecuador. These missionaries “knew” that these tribes people were very violent, and their chances of getting speared to death was very high. Yet their desire to share the knowledge of Christ to these people was so great that they took that chance. Their first contact seemed to go well, but by the third day, these five missionaires were speared to death by those very people they were trying to help. These missionaries did have a gun and could have easily shot the tribes’ people in self-defense, but they chose not to. They literally laid down their lives for these people.
Then I saw another documentary called, “An Uncommon Kindness, the Father Damien Story.” Since his youth, Father Damien wanted to help people. As soon as he had the chance, he did just that. He went to Hawaii, and in 1872 when leprosy broke out among the Hawaiians, the infected people were forced to quarantine themselves on the island of Molokai. Father Damien went to them to help them. Many were sick and dying, so not only did Father Damien bury many of the dead, but he cared for the ones who were still suffering and started constructing shelter for them. He lived with the lepers for about 15 years when he finally contracted leprosy himself. Even while his health started to decline, he continued to help the leper community on Molokai, and finally died there of leprosy.
How can some people be so brave? I find it truly humbling that there are people who are so self-less. I’m blessed to live a relatively comfortable existence. Yet, sometimes the thought of how much others suffer makes me feel a bit guilty, even. I don’t want to be ungrateful for the good things I have, yet, I don’t want to be oblivious to others who are less fortunate. Thoughts like this makes me assess how I should be living my life. Then I realise that we aren’t all put under the same circumstances, and each person has different skills and ability. I am reminded of what the Bible says about the body of Christ, that is, the body of believers. A body has many different parts–eyes, nose, hands, ears, etc. And each part has it’s own function. The eye can’t do what the ears do, nor can the hands do what the nose does. Likewise, we can’t all be martyrs (not that I feel brave enough to be one anyway! That’s probably not my place in the body). And I recall what the Bible says about spiritual gifts:
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
And so I realise that I don’t have to be a martyr to help people or to be pleasing to God. I don’t have to be so brave or travel to distant lands to help others. There are people right here that can be helped.
Now I just need to figure out what my spiritual gift is, yikes! Right about now, I feel I’m a baby toe. Ha ha! But still part of the body. . .
Marlakins 
