Discover Grace Blog

The Smell of Death and the Aroma of Christ: Tom Little

The smell of death and the aroma of Christ

Like martyr Tom Little, we carry both | Mindy Belz

AFP Photo/Handout/Courtesy of Tom Little Family/Newscom

Sometime after Taliban affiliates gunned down Tom Little in northern Afghanistan, the FBI visited his wife Libby to give her personal items recovered from his body.

Included was a small notebook, and in between the pages listing medical equipment and supplies for the team he led to the upper reaches of Nuristan province last summer were what looked like penciled sermon notes. "They were stained with blood and blotted with sand," said Libby, carefully unfolding them before an audience of several thousand at Cape Town's Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in October. "Were these some of the things he shared with the team on that last Sabbath rest before they were killed? I'd like to think so."

There were several notations from Ephesians and a reference from 2 Corinthians 2:15, where Tom wrote, "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing, to one we are the smell of death and to the other the fragrance of life." To the side Tom had jotted, "Use the Nuristani goat cheese story."

As Libby explained, "Some aromas take some getting used to," and Nuristani goat cheese is packed on donkeys in animal skins and carried for weeks, permeating even the saddlebags with its strong sour scent. Herdsmen who carry it are smelled from far off, she added, but once you have acquired a taste for it, you're hooked. Folks travel miles for a taste of Nuristani goat cheese.

Think of Tom Little with his colleagues, hiking mountains and fording rivers in Nuristan and Badakhshan provinces last August, reeking of Christ as they delivered medical care to remote villages—before militants killed them one by one in a forest. The Taliban accused them of spying and proselytizing. Dirk Frans, the head of their organization, International Assistance Mission, insisted both charges were "out of the question" as they were "against the laws of this country and the rules of our organization."

What Frans didn't say is that those accusations were beside the point, the aroma of Christ already so strong among them. Little, a 61-year-old optometrist, had worked four decades in Afghanistan, spoke fluent Dari, was referred to among Afghans as one of "the ones who stayed": He and Libby reared three daughters there, survived the Russian occupation, civil war, and Taliban takeover. When a rocket attack flattened one of his eye hospitals, he built clinics and expanded into remote areas. He was on his fifth trip to the Nuristan region when he and nine other aid workers were killed Aug. 5.

The year 2010 has brought multiple encounters with people like the Littles, "ones who stayed," men and women of whom the world is not worthy, as the writer of Hebrews calls them. One is Joel, pastor of an evangelical church in Baghdad. Asked how to pray for a congregation that has faced death all year long, he didn't ask for safety or prosperity but for his church to experience deliverance from a "spirit of religion, where we worship creation instead of the creator" and from "our spirit of pride, rooted as we are so close to ancient Babylon."

Another, Baptist pastor John Bell in Zimbabwe, told me that living through dire crises has taught his church better to appreciate the reality of Jesus' life. Feeding 5,000 or walking on water are sought-after traits when grocery shelves are empty. "There are certain things about Christ you only learn in a storm. That has been our privilege here to have Christ manifest Himself in ways that you do not see in the calm," he said.

And there is my friend Labib, an Arab Christian living in a Jewish settlement facing the security wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. How do you survive this place? I asked him one day waiting in Jerusalem traffic. "The importance of the Christian community does not come from its numbers but from our presence and our service and our witness for Jesus Christ," he said calmly.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with endurance the race set before us in 2011, looking to Jesus.

From:   http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17439

Do You Glorify God in Your Movie Watching? - John Piper

"Yes. I assume the computer you are holding there was probably not built by Christians, and I hope that you are glorifying God as you tap away at it. And of course out from there, there are a 1000 things that we use all day long, and God says, 'whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.' And he knows that you are eating this meat that may have been sacrificed to idols, so that means it was probably butchered by an unbeliever, or handled by an unbeliever, shipped by an unbeliever, it may have been cooked by an unbelieving cook. And here you are savoring the product of all those unbelievers' work because you are in that moment giving thanks to God for it, recognizing that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and taking the strength and the joy that comes from it to render back to him.

Now with the arts and with media it is more morally complex than with food. But it is the same principle. The complexity of it is, in those moments what do you do with the moral elements of it that are so contrary to your faith?

I'll just point out one principle because we can talk about this forever. What concerns me is the distinction between entertainment and cultural analysis. To watch something, to study the culture, learn from the culture, be more able to interact with unbelievers for the sake of the glory of Christ is one thing. To just sit and bask in nudity, or bask in fifty f-words, or bask in a world view that is shot through with arrogance to the core, and enjoy it? Hmm. That seems to point to something going on in the heart. And frankly, I have tasted it big time. I think today we are going to have to work at not being shaped by the world because the world has made its world view so scintillatingly attractive.

Movie after movie after movie has come out and most young reformed people are, I would say, indiscriminate. "Let's go to a movie tonight." OK, and then we just choose the best. None of the movies in that theater at that night are any good, probably. But you are just going to do it, because that is what you do. You go to the movies on Friday night, or whatever. And then of course you think, we've got to Christianize this thing somehow.

I just think we need to test our hearts big time. Big time. Why are we able to enjoy hell bound, God ignoring, Christ dishonoring, false world views because we can give it a little twist at the end that it taught us this or that about the world? So, I think the main thing I'm saying there is, test your heart as to whether entertainment is defaulting to the world, or to something more wholesome. We live in an age where we tend to default to the world for entertainment."

Miley's Days as a Positive Role Model Long Gone - Jonathan McKee

Jonathan McKee writes an insightful article about Miley Cyrus' transformation from a child star to a teen/adult, sex star.  It is quite sickening to consider how this transformation, undoubtedly through a lot of pressure by business execs, will dramatically impact young women (and men) throughout the country with more normalization of provocative dress, dance, and lyrics.  The sexualization of a star is something we have seen before...it is a scary formula for a increased cultural decay.  

What is even more disturbing is that Miley & her family have claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ.  How could a (Christian) father prostitute out his daughter like this?!  No doubt partly a victim, Miley is now old enough to make decisions herself.  She is making bad ones.  Is this what Christian faith looks like?  Is this what Christ call us to?  The answer is clearly 'yes' to the millions of American students (fans / and non-fans alike).

Article

Remember the Persecuted in India

WARNING....these videos are graphic...and they will haunt you (at least watch the edited first one). 

http://ow.ly/1at2A

The Most Religious States V. Crime

VERY interesting photo of recent research to show the most religious states (AL is #2).  Take care to notice what very little difference it makes when you compare crime, divorce, and poverty.   This is stunning and eye-opening.   What are we (the Church) about?  What is our purpose?  Too often we look at external change and not heart change.  Time to engage hearts!

http://i.imgur.com/kpb5A.png

Matt Chandler - Don't Waste Your Tumor

I posted a great video a few days ago from Matt Chandler.  He posted this video to his church prior to going in for brain surgery.  It is worth your time:

The Village Church

Matt Chandler - Jesus Wants the Rose

John Piper - America's Debt to John Calvin

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15567

This is an interesting article by John Piper that connects John Calvin (on his 500th birthday) and our Nation's Independence Day.  Very Interesting...I look forward to hearing your responses.

John Piper - The Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility

The Gospel Through Football

This article caught my eye on ESPN last week. I read it during my sermon this past Sunday.  I have seen it circulated in emails already.  Truly it is a moving story of how Christians can make a huge impact in people's lives by doing not what is expected (which in this case as nothing), but rather doing what God has called us to do.

Life of Reilly

There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly

Melinda Wright

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.