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From the voice of the Martyrs Extreme devotion Extreme Missionary Irion Jaya Stanley Albert Dale Day 326 he has planted eternity in the human heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11. One by one the arrows struck his flesh, and one by one, Stanley Albert Dale pulled them out and broke the cane shafts over his knee. The blood flowed from his many wounds and on to the riverbank. The screaming Yali warriors feared that the white man, or Duong, was immortal. Already the Yali in another village had tried to kill Dale. They were frightened by his message, for his followers had burned their traditional idols and places of spirit worship. They had also shot Dael. But the Duong had walked away and been completely healed. Dale had come to the mountains of Irian Jaya, today's Indonesia, in the 1960s to share Christ's love. Now, facing hundreds of screaming warriors, he pulled arrows out of his body as fast as they pierced his skin. These Jali had been warned that the spirit inside him was very powerful. Finally, Dael and the other missionary fell. More than 60 broken arrows were piled at Dael's feet. The warriors then dismembered his body parts for fear that he would rise again. The Yali thought that would be the end of the gospel message in their valley. But it was not. Other Christians came, and many of the same warriors who had fired arrows into Dael's body became believers. The duang who would not die now celebrates Jesus alongside his own converted murderers. Although the Yali thought Dael's earthly body was immortal, it was actually his soul that would not die. The missionaries who followed in Dale's wake helped the Yali understand eternity. They shared God with the Yali. Think for a moment about what events, people and tasks took the bulk of your time this past week. Certainly, the practicalities of life call us to deal with things that are hardly eternal issues. However, Dael's story reminds us to prioritize things that matter for eternity. What part of your daily life does have eternal significance? If you don't make time for it, who will?
