My mother-in-law and I were having a conversation about trusting God with your health while in third world countries where sanitation is poor, diseases abound, and hospitals are few and far between. There really is only so much you can do to insure good health - and some of the precautionary potions cause symptoms that are almost as bad as the disease you’re trying to avoid. “Sometimes, you just need to trust God and put your health in his hands.” She said simply. She then handed me a book about missionary Bruce Olson called “Bruchko”, the name the Motilone Indians had given him.
Bruce was only nineteen, had no money, education, or agency backing, yet he followed God’s calling to Colombia, left civilization, and lived with a fierce, stone-age Indian tribe in the jungle. Things never went perfectly - he was speared, kidnapped, shot, battled discouragement and depression, got sick and almost died on several occasions. Yet he obeyed God and stayed there, ministering to the people he soon learned to love.
Reading biographies like this really opens my eyes to see the power of God and makes me want to be more like Bruce Olson. He was bold, obedient, and compassionate. He didn’t put God in a box, thinking He only accepts a western-style religion, a set of rules to follow. Bruce didn’t have all the answers - as he told his friend Bobby when faced with the blackness of demonic powers, “I don’t know. You’ll have to talk to Jesus yourself. He is the only One who has the answer to your questions. He will speak to you in your heart.”
Not only is the story amazing, this book reminds me of who my God is - a loving God of miracles who uses us imperfect humans for his glory! The simple style of writing lets this amazing story speak for itself (no reality-TV-type drama, the author says it as it is); it’s easy to read and hard to put down!
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