perfect...they are all perfect

Jim Elliot once descibed his overwhelming love for his future bride Elizabeth in a letter to her in which he called his situation 'perfect war'. This instantly strikes you as a contradiction - how could any war be perfect? We speak of 'just war' or 'necessary action', but never perfect war. It sounds as if the state of war itself is perfect, as if one caught in perfect war would never want to leave. It sounds crazy, like someone who wishes to go kill people forever. And rightly so, for thankfully no one holds this belief still (still?!?! yep - see Norse mythology and Valhallah).

My point on bringing it up, however, is that Jil Elliot was no crazy man. Indeed, his most famous quote states exactly the opposite: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Therefore, Elliot meant something different when he coined the phrase. That is what I love about the man, and why I relate so well right now to him. To Elliot, perfect war was a state of the soul in which everything seemed to be in chaos - future, love, security...everything. Yet at the same time, this war within the soul was exactly what God wanted - as if being in the heart of the hurricane (an outwardly stupid place to be) is directly lined up with the will of God (the smartest place to be hands down). Right now in my own life so many things are seemingly going wrong, yet there is a harmony in it all - a peace (of sorts, not like I'm happy with where I am or anything) that God is in my midst. My friend Meagen said it best: it's as if we're on the most terrifying roller coaster in history, diving, spinning, looping, twisting - I'm talking scream-your-lungs-out, pee-in-your-pants, hold-your-date's-hand-until-it-turns-blue-and-cry-for-your-mommy scary. But you knew when you got on that you'd get to the end in one piece. Why? You trust the coaster. Why do I trust my God any less?

Welcome to the war, Steve.

(Note:anyone guess what movie the title's from? It's one of my favorites - man experiencing new culture, amazing fight sequences, and the greatest love scene I've ever witnessed, and they don't even have sex!!! The warrior at the end of the movie, taking his final breath, looks at his fallen men, all dead, and says of the struggle for whivch they have given their lives, "Perfect...they are all perfect." May I be able to say the same.)