Conversation with "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"

Well, it would be nice if someone I knew were simultaneously reading the same book, so I could have an actual conversation(s) about some of the topics in the book, but, hey, ... anyway...

Okay so for now I want to talk about the idea of the 'romance' or sensationalistic element of missions or helping those in need. I will begin with a couple of quotes from the book -

Were the Scraps accomplishing anything? Amy wondered. 'Do not say, 'Oh, they interest us.' I do not care about 'interesting' you.
(p.164)

Because missionary reports generally included more about successes than about failures, Amy tried to shift the weight to the other side. 'It is more important that you should know about the reverses than about the successes of the war. We shall have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but we have only the few hours before sunset in which to win them. We are not winning them as we should, because the fact of the reverses is so little realized, and the needed reinforcements are not forthcoming, as they would be if the position were thoroughly understood. . . . So we have tried to tell you the truth - the uninteresting, unromantic truth.'
(p.161-162)

From the book, though, I do get the sense that Amy did long for adventure and thrill in the missionary life, where she could see God work. I think that's cool that Amy wanted to focus more on the truth of what actually happens, rather than romanticizing her work.

I wonder if for me part of my interest in missions (even if it is a somewhat distant interest) and helping those in need is sensationalistic. I'm attracted to photography and videos and ministry fairs and learning about the stories and plight of those in need. But then...I think even when I was a child I was attracted to missions, so, probably the seed of interest was planted by God. Yet still I wonder if part of my interest is fueled in part by external factors...

Excerpts from "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"

"The girl from the Irish village on the North Sea, standing in the pouring rain beside her pile of luggage on the shore of Japan, laughing. 'All this was part of the going forth unto a land I knew not, and everything was just right, and if things went wrong it was so much the more fun. I knew they would come right in the end. And they always did.' So with the charming lightheartedness of faith she only wondered, What next?" (p. 68)

"During the few days' wait for the lady who was to meet her Amy walked one day along the seashore, talking with one of the Shimonoseki missionaries. A casual remark was dropped which elicited an astonished question from Amy. 'You don't mean to say,' the missionary replied, 'you think all missionaries love one another?' Precisely what she had thought. How coiuld it be otherwise? 'No faintest foreshadowing of the purposes of God was mine that morning,' she wrote, 'but I remember the thoughts that rushed through me then. What of 'See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently'? Was such a life of love lived nowhere?' It was a gray day, with a gray sea, a gray drizzle, and gray thoughts. But it spurred her to prayer, to an earnest beseeching that the Lord would enable her to love as He commanded us to love." (p.68-69)

Life Reminder #18

18. Expect the worst, hope for the best.

Life Reminders #14-17

14. "We don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future."
15. We don't always know when people have busy minds.
16. "Stress is overrated."
17. Trials can act as opportunities for faith tests.

Couple of quotes

Recent quote finds:

"It's not about 'us' going and saving 'them,' but it is very much neighbors extending hands to neighbors, helping to bear one another's burdens." ~ Darrah (an Invisible Children 'roadie')

"Be of good cheer, brother, for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it." ~ Ridley's (I think a martyr) last words