Foreigners Above the Trees

I finished reading the book, The End of the Spear, the other night. There is a story in it that gives me goose bumps. As the Auca natives were retelling the events of 1956, there was a recurring theme among those who had been present. They spoke of "the foreigners above the trees" as they speared the 5 missionaries who had come to help them. Understand, this is one of the most primitive tribes on the planet. They have no frame of reference for many of the images we take for granted in our culture. So, Steve Saint kept exploring this imagery as he tried to understand the events surrounding his father's martyrdom.

Then one day as he and Stephen Curtis Chapman and some others were sitting in a hut in the small village discussing with the natives a video that they were wanting to film, someone in a nearby hut was working on the sound system. He was playing some orchestra music. One of the men who had been present at the murders bolted upright during a certain movement in the music and said, "That's the sound!." Steve Saint and Stephen Curtis Chapman looked at each other confused. Moments later during a repeat of that same movement, another man who had been present came into the hut and said, "That was the sound!"

As he pieced the events together, Steve Saint finally figured out what those present were saying -- and their story was a common one. The only instrument the Aucas had was a hollow reed that, when blown in, sounded like blowing over a Coke bottle. Yet, they recognized the sound of harps, etc when the sound man was testing his equipment. They had heard it the day they speared the missionaries. And the "foreigners above the trees?" They were a multitude of angels!