The Day the Radio Went Quiet

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. The rivers will not sweep over you.” — from Isaiah 43

On Sunday, 8 January 1956, Nate talked on the radio with his wife, Marj. He said they hoped to have visitors that afternoon, and he promised to call again at half past four. But when half past four came, the radio was silent. It never spoke again.

The next day, another pilot saw Nate’s plane on the sandbar, but no sign of the men. After some days of searching, the sad news was certain. Waorani men had come to the beach, and all five missionaries had been killed. The Waorani had been told a story that the strangers had attacked their own people, and they were very afraid. Jim and his friends had agreed beforehand that they would not use their guns against the Waorani.

Betty was twenty-nine. Valerie was just ten months old. Betty was very sad, and she missed Jim for a long time. But she did not stop trusting God. She held on to his promise that he would be with her, even in the deepest waters.

Years before, Jim had written in his journal that a person is not foolish to give away what he cannot keep forever, in order to gain what he can never lose. Now those words were read all over the world.

Most people thought Betty would go home to America. Instead, she took Valerie back to the house at Shandia and carried on Jim’s work with the Quichua people. It was simply the next thing to do. All her life she loved an old poem with four words in it, in old-fashioned spelling: “Doe the nexte thynge.” She wrote a book about the five men, and thousands who read it decided to serve God as missionaries.

When something very sad happens, we do not have to understand it all at once. We can hold God’s hand and do the next thing, one day at a time. He is with us in the sad days.

Dear God, thank you that you are with me even when I am very sad. When I do not know what to do, help me to trust you and do the next thing. Amen.