A yellow model airplane

[Please join me in praying for the Church on Sundays this year.]

Once upon a time there was a little boy of about eight years old who loved and idolized his dad, as many eight-year-old boys do. Their family served as missionaries in a jungle region of Ecuador in the 1950’s, seeking to help the native people come to faith in Jesus Christ. Together, the boy and his father had built a yellow model airplane that was a miniature version of the father’s two-seater aircraft. One day that little boy, his little brother and sister, and his mom gave their dad hugs, helped him load the model airplane on the big plane, and watched him fly away for the last time. The father had gone with four other missionary dads/husbands to try to make contact with an especially violent tribe of native people. Several days later the aircraft and the speared bodies of the five men were found, but the model airplane was not.

The mens’ attempts to build spiritual bridges with these natives had ended in their deaths. The remaining members of the boy’s family stayed in Ecuador for a time, but then made their way back to the United States, still remembering the father’s sacrifice of his own life in order to help others. Eventually, the boy – now a grown man with a family of his own – went back to Ecuador where his aunt had lived with the natives, helping them with medical needs, educational needs, and spiritual needs. In those intervening years between his dad’s death and the man’s return, many changes had taken place in the village. His aunt and other missionaries had taught the people about God’s love for them, the Son of God, and the writings God left for them to read. Over the decades the village had come to faith in Jesus and had stopped killing other people. When this man returned for his aunt’s funeral, a man in the village took him to a place on a riverbank where the buried remains of his father’s plane were resting. And from those remains he took the model airplane, lost so many years ago, and returned it to the boy-man.

The boy’s father had understood that the lives and eternities of the villagers were not set in Christ. How could they call upon the God of Peace if they didn’t believe? How could they believe in the One True God if no one had told them? The missionary men knew that the villagers needed to hear the Good News, and they were willing to risk their lives for the chance to share Hope and Peace with the natives. Because those five men had this outlook on life, eventually a whole group of native people put down their spears, ceased killing other people, and lived in peace. The boy-man understood the sacrifice his father had made for these people, even though it meant he had had to endure great pain and loss. And the boy-man understood the value these people have in God’s eyes – so much value God would send his Son to die for them. In the end, the boy-man saw the fruit of these sacrifices in lives of the people.

Eventually the model plane was returned to the boy-man. Maybe this was God’s way of reminding him that, even in the midst of tremendous loss and pain, his Heavenly Father never forgot the love he and his earthly father shared. That yellow model airplane was a symbol of their love.*

God,

As your Church gathers for worship today, may we always remember how much you love EVERYone on this planet. Each one of these “jars of clay” you created are worth Jesus’s atoning death on that cross. Thank you for the gift of grace you extend to us, and give us a burning desire to do whatever we need to to help the Lost come to know that grace. Help us remember your heart to love all people, and to have that same heart as we go about our daily lives. Thank you for the gifts of bread and cup that serve as symbols of your Love. Holy Spirit, empower your Church in this day so that every person will bow in worship before you, and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. AMEN.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14 NIV)

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11 NIV)

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26 NIV)

*story from “End of the Spear” movie (2005)