End of the Spear --------->

So, since Christmas break started, I started reading this book that Rob had gotten me a long time ago that I just never had gotten a chance to read yet. It is called "End of the Spear" and is written by Steve Saint. If you've ever heard the story of Steve Saint, you know that it's one that is completely mind blowing. It is so hard to imagine how he can love and consider family those who brutally killed his father when he was a little boy.

I've heard the story many times, and have seen the movie, and even got to meet Steve Saint and Mincaye, the man who finished killins Nate Saint, but this book gives so much more insight into the story. It is incredible! Every time I pick this book up and start reading it, I start reading it as a story, and every now and then I will stop reading and remind myself that this is not just a story from a book, this story is true and all of this really happened! It has given me such a new perspective of forgiveness. It's neat because in the story, his Aunt Rachel who lived with the Waodani people before he did was "adopted" into the tribe by a certain Waodani family. When he went to the jungle to live with Aunt Rachel when he was 9, he also became part of that adopted family. When he introduces different members of the tribe while telling a story about them, he will give his "relation" to them if they are a member of the family that adopted him and Aunt Rachel. So, he has aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and siblings as if they were his blood family. He constantly refers to this tribe as his family, not his "ministry" or people he wanted to help. He talks about their true love for each other. They love him as much as he loves them...... yet, these are the people that killed his father.

When I saw him speak last year, he said something that I thought was incredible. When he went to live with Aunt Rachel in the jungle, he knew these were the people that had killed his father, but he said that "it never even crossed my mind that I should hate these people." That blows my mind. That is love and forgiveness in its purest form. It makes me think about how I react when someone does wrong against me. Do I allow it to ruin my witness of Christ with them, or do I keep loving them and keep desiring to show Christ to them? It's such a new and true perspective. I can't wait to finish the book.