Jim Elliot spent years preparing for the mission field, taking each day as an opportunity to share the gospel with those who did not believe. He put everything else, including the love of his life, on the altar to follow the path God had for him. Lastly, he sacrificed his life for the gospel at the young age of twenty-nine. 

More than the ultimate sacrifice that he made at the end of his life, I am most impacted by the daily sacrifice that Jim made to give every day over to the Lord completely. He never wasted a day wishing he were in a place with greater spiritual poverty. Jim knew that each person he interacted with was an opportunity for God to work. 

He prayed this prayer, “Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” 

Even though he eventually traveled to minister in Ecuador, his time there made up very little of his missionary experience. Jim’s prayer to be a fork in the road of each person’s life caused him to be a channel of God’s word no matter where he was. 

May we also pray to be men and women who are forks in the roads of everyone we come into contact with, and may we be willing to open our mouths for the gospel’s sake.