Reverend Dr.David Wong
first got in touch with Elisabeth
Elliot in 2000 when he was
still working on the musical
about the life of Jim Elliot.
“She stood six feet
as she came towards me and
shook my hand. Wearing a long
white and pink dress, she
smiled a warm welcome to her
cosy Boston home by the sea.
As we sat down on two rocking
chairs next to a window looking
out to the ocean, I explained
why I had come.
“I read your book ‘Under
the shadow of the Almighty’
almost forty years ago. The
journals of Jim Elliot helped
me when I was struggling with
many questions about my life
and my future.” I thanked
her for the part that she
had played in my life. She
nodded, smiled and waited
for me to continue.
“Six years ago, I started
writing a musical on the life
of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.
A church in Singapore is staging
the musical, and I have brought
something for you.”
I took out a CD which I had
received by courier only a
few days ago. I explained
how several of us have worked
together since the late 1970’s
on original musicals—telling
the stories of Elijah, Caleb,
Barnabas, John Sung and Augustine.
“This is the first
time we are doing a musical
on someone who is still alive.”
She sat back and laughed,
“By the grace of God,
I’m alive but not for
long.” She would turn
77 this December. I handed
her a file containing 22 pages
of the lyrics of the musical.
She suggested we move to the
kitchen where she had a portable
CD player. Her husband Lars
Gren brought us coffee and
chocolates as we settled around
a small dining table. I played
the signature song, “No
Fool.”
Elisabeth was lost in thoughts.
Lars spoke, “There was
another song written on those
words by Jim Elliot, but I
like this one.” I proceeded
to play “He Came Today”
based on a poem written by
Jim for Elisabeth after he
went to receive her at the
airport in Ecuador. “Yes,
that was what he said,”
she recalled. “‘So
good to see you’ was
what he said when we met that
day.”
I asked her if I could turn
on the tape recorder for her
to say a few words. She obliged.
“I’m really at
a loss to know what to say
at this point. Over the years
since Jim Elliot died, many
people have talked to me about
it and asked me what it was
like. Of course, I don’t
regret anything about it.
He was a man who had made
up his mind very clearly what
God wanted him to do and he
had the opportunity to do
exactly that—and I’ve
always felt that it was exactly
the way God wanted it to be.”
She asked if there was anything
in the musical about her daughter
Valerie. Yes, I said, and
offered her the song sung
by Valerie, “Goodnight,
tonight.” We sat and
listened in silence to the
voice of the little girl missing
her father. I felt tears in
my eyes and a gush of emotions
around the table.
Elisabeth continued, “After
Jim died, I talked to the
Indians about what had happened
and explained to them why
Jim had come. They sat there
just agog, telling me, ‘We
didn’t know it was like
that. We thought these men
had come to eat us.’
That was logical for people
like them; they had never
come across anybody like us.”
I played her the “Hammock”
song, and asked if it reflected
how she lived among the Indians.
She clarified, “I was
not the only one on a hammock;
they all lived on hammocks
too.” We talked for
a while about her time with
the Auca Indians. She brought
out a spear similar to the
ones which killed Jim and
his colleagues. I was struck
by the elegance and length
of it: eight feet long and
as straight as it was strong.
No one could have survived
such a weapon thrust through
the body.
Time was running out, and
Lars reminded me that I had
a plane to catch. I played
the final song, “No
Fool Finale.” When it
was over, Elisabeth sat still
in her seat. Then she read
aloud, deliberately, the words:
“He was no fool who
gave his life on the cross
Who died the world to redeem
He paid my debt and set me
free
And now I am no more my own
No greater love can claim
my life
To give my all, I gladly choose.”
“I like that,”
she said softly. “I
like all the pages that you
showed me.”
I asked if she could say
something to the audience
who would be watching the
musical or listening to the
CD. She could not find the
words. Finally, with Lars
encouraging her, she spoke
into the tape recorder, “It’s
been a delight to have Pastor
David here. He brought along
a CD when he visited me and
I was moved by the music.
I trust that you too who are
listening will be blessed
by God himself and it will
have an impact on your life.
“Jim Elliot’s
impact has gone around the
world. He would never have
thought of such a thing. But
how grateful I am for the
privilege of talking about
him, thinking about him, telling
people what he was really
like.”
I took her hands and thanked
her. When I wrote her some
years ago about the musical,
I expressed the hope that
I would have the opportunity
to meet her. That hope was
fulfilled, and in that brief
encounter, everything I wrote
about a story that happened
fifty years ago became alive
for me. I knew I had been
in the presence of one of
the living saints of our times.
Reverend Dr. David Wong
Lyricist,
Love Above All
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