Keeping an eternal perspective in mind

I applaud Georgie Anne Geyer's opinion piece in the Dec. 20 edition of the Daily Herald on John Chau, the Christian missionary who died in the attempt to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to a remote group of people on an island in the Indian Ocean. She notes that many, including some having the same spiritual persuasion, considered his efforts, and these are my words, a fool's errand.

In January of 1956, Jim Elliot, a graduate of Wheaton College, died along with four others attempting to bring the same message to a remote tribe in the jungles of Ecuador. Jim Elliot said before he died, "He is not a fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

And what does that person gain? Peter said to Jesus in the Gospel of John, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." John Chau knew the words of Peter and probably knew the story and had read the words of Jim Elliot. He was willing to put his life on the line with an eternal perspective in mind. That doesn't sound very "foolish" to me.

At this time of the year in the midst of the glitter and color of the secular side of the Christmas season, may those who believe in who Jesus is, celebrate His birth with this eternal perspective in mind.

Tom Paulsen

Wheaton