“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” (Jim Elliott).

I’m sure that many of you are aware that today marks the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth. He would have been 87 years old today, if I did my math right. But I wonder how many know about another anniversary that falls on this day.

Today in 1956, Jim Elliott and four other missionaries were killed while attempting to reach the Huaorani people of Ecuador for Christ. I doubt you will hear about that in any of tonight’s news broadcasts or see it on any news website. In the eyes of the world, they didn’t amount to much. But the legacy they left is still ongoing.

His wife, Elisabeth Elliott, went on to become a famous Christian author and speaker. Because of her outreach, the lives of many are different. They’ve been changed for the better by the power of God.

She later went back to that same people that had killed her husband and those other missionaries two years earlier. This time, they listened. This time, these people gave their lives to Christ and trusted Him as Lord and Savior. It all happened because not because of infallible superheroes of the faith, but because of flawed human beings who put their finite trust in an infinite God who specializes in the impossible.